01 Apr 2013

Chobe District Council has been urged to mainstream youth issues in all their activities.

Addressing the Chobe full council recently, deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, Mr Jefferson Siamisang said that mainstreaming issues would mean ensuring that youth issues feature in councillors’ meetings in their respective wards, as well as encouraging parents to play their role as parents to their children.

“In fact, a District Development Plan with no provisions for young people should not be allowed to pass in council,” he said.

Mr Siamisang further explained that since issues of procurement were within councils’ control, they could therefore give youth enterprises preferential treatment in procurement to address the issue of lack of markets for youths’ products.

On the Youth Development Fund (YDF), Mr Siamisang told the council that in Chobe district, a total of 32 youth projects have been funded since the inception of the fund in 2009, creating 150 employment opportunities.

He explained that three of such projects have temporarily shut down due to various reasons representing 90.6 percent success rate in their district, something he said was commendable.

Mr Siamisang also told the council that the fund was equitably divided amongst the constituencies, with each constituency allocated P2 million to fund at least 20 projects at a maximum of P100 000 per project.

Giving feedback, councillors complained of some youths who have turned constituency games into an opportunity to abuse alcohol and engage in unprotected sexual acts.

To that, Mr Siamisang explained that the idea of constituency sport tournaments was to promote recreation amongst unemployed young people and to use them as an opportunity to mainstream HIV and AIDS issues into the games.

Some councillors also complained about players who were leaving other leagues for the constituency tournament because of the financial incentive.

“These are just rumours, we have heard of such but even if somebody quits one league they would have to undergo a waiting period before they can play. It is not immediate,” Mr Siamisang answered.

Councillors also called on government to practice selective tendering so that youth enterprises could compete amongst themselves since they were not well established.

In response, Mr Siamisang explained that it was not unlawful for organisations or departments to set their own standards, especially in procurement where a certain quota could be reserved for young people.

On allegations that some Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) graduates were being abused in some offices where they were assigned duties like washing cars, making tea for staff and being turned into messengers, Mr Siamisang noted that while the job description was not clear, the objective was to allow graduates to familiarise themselves with the daily operations of the workplace. ENDS