03 Feb 2015

Young people in Kasane are not utilising the Youth Development Fund (YDF), the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture (MYSC) programme coordinator for Chobe has said.

Mr Pako Sikuku said this at a workshop held to orientate youth on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) recently. He said only P600 000 was used from the initial P2 million that was allocated to the district. “We still have money that has not been used, he said.

Mr Sikuku attributed this to the small population of young people in Chobe compared to other districts. “This could also be due to the success of the youth lodges internship programme, which helps youth in Chobe find employment in lodges,” he noted.

Another reason, he noted, could be incompetence or reluctance by youth to apply for the programme. To address these challenges, he said that they run business awareness workshops to educate young people about their programmes. 

“We also liaise with dikgosi, Village Development Committees and political leaders to spread the word for us about YDF,” he said.

Commenting on the success rate of applications, he said that on average three out of five applications normally make it through.He noted that most young people who apply for the funds are are normally not from Chobe district.

“We have noted that youth from Chobe become very successful when they run boat businesses,” Mr Sikuku said. Also, he said businesses that succeed are those that are funded for expansion, as opposed to start ups. 

However, one young person, Mr Mandela Kgowe disagreed saying that young people show interest and apply for the programme but their proposals are rejected. 

“I applied for YDF in 2007 with a good proposal but yet it was rejected,” he said. 

Working in the tourism industry now, he said that he applied for the program to open a sports shop. He never re-applied as he had given up on that project and has now branched to tourism, he said. BOPA