17 Feb 2022

The Department of National Service and Internship has launched a ‘life skills messages’ campaign aimed at  instilling positive behaviour amongst the youth enrolled in the three volunteerism programmes.

Speaking at an annual consultative meeting in Palapye on Tuesday, Principal Intern Officer Research & Marketing in Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Ms Opelo Sebeso said the messages were meant to equip participants with skills for marketability as well as to provide knowledge to deal effectively with the demands of contemporary society.

Meanwhile, Ms Sebeso revealed that the programmes’ review process was completed in November 2020 and the findings were still being discussed for implementation.

She said some recommendations, such as digitisation, were being implemented and placement was being done online, adding that the expectation was for the confirmations to start in April 2022. She said that with the digitisation of the government online system (SmartBots), payment of allowance would be done once, without batches.

Furthermore, she said, government had introduced an online application platform for internship, which is among the prioritised services for the government online project.

Ms Sebeso also said once the process was successfully piloted, it would be rolled out to other programmes.

She advised participants to ensure that they were engaged at suitable organisations, to curb misplacement issues and encouraged them to declare if they had partaken in programme before, to avoid incurring debts from second placement allowances.

 She also urged participants to work all the official days of the month, for them to be paid the full allowance.

For his part, the MYESC Coordinator for the Central District, Mr Caiphus Kopelang said they relied on National Service Programme for youth empowerment as it catered for the majority of youth, compared to others like Youth Development Fund.

Mr Kopelang also said that the programmes were aimed at facilitating skills transfer among the youth, leaving them experienced.

He urged participants not to lose hope as the host organisations were encouraged to consider absorbing them should vacancies arise within their departments.

He said host organisations were also encouraged to send participants for short courses/training when slots permit.

Ms Precious Ofentse, a teacher at Khurumela Primary School expressed concern that some of the programme beneficiaries seem relaxed in their host organisations, without any dreams of seeing themselves progressing elsewhere.

Stanbic Bank Palapye branch manager, Ms Tsholofelo Gorakanwe urged the youth to utilise their allowances wisely and to save the little they had.

 She further said the bank had accounts which accommodated all types of customers, including those earning minimum wage. BOPA