21 Jun 2016

The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture Mr Kago Ramokate has emphasised the need to invest more in empowering and developing skills in young people.

Addressing SADC senior officials at the preparatory meeting of ministers responsible for youth on June 20 in Gaborone, he stated that nurturing young people will help mould them into responsible and competent leaders. 

He said at present, young people faced a myriad of challenges and vulnerabilities of unemployment, poverty, ill-health among others.

However Mr Ramokate said these challenges represented a fertile ground for reinforcing a cycle of poverty and vulnerability, violence and political instability for the region.

He noted that these forums offered them an opportunity to gather together as a region, to reflect on these challenges and propose to effectively address them.

He highlighted that as experts and leaders of government ministries their primary duty and responsibility was to ensure that they advised the ministers to take the most appropriate decisions and to follow-up on their full implementation at national and regional levels.

Mr Ramokate stated that during the preparatory meeting they would review progress made on the implementation of decisions that ministers took in 2014, as well as regional policy positions in the context of the Revised SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2015-2020 and the industrialisation strategy as they relate to the youth.

He said they would also deliberate on a road map towards implementation of the SADC Declaration on Youth Development and Empowerment, as well as on strengthening platforms for youth participation and effective contribution to regional and national development.

“In our overall coordination role of youth development, we will also review how we can work and collaborate with other sectors to accelerate youth development and empowerment in the region because youth mainstreaming is central to attainment of the regional youth development and empowerment agenda,” he said.

The SADC senior officials will on Wednesday attend the launch of a project to strengthen monitoring, evaluation and reporting of youth development and vulnerable children which is being coordinated by the SADC secretariat. The SADC ministers will attend the meeting on Thursday where they will be briefed on issues discussed at the preparatory meeting. ENDS