15 Sep 2022

The current round of the Youth Development Fund (YDF) is the last under the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture. 

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Mr Kitso Kemoen informed a press conference on Tuesday that when the current round completes, YDF would then be administered by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship.

“The YDF has been our flagship project, but as part of government’s initiatives meant to drive us forward as a nation, it had to be taken by another ministry. We were challenged as a ministry to live beyond the YDF and to come back stronger to show that youth agenda was not only about the YDF,” Mr Kemoen said.

He said there was need to build a youth whose future was brighter and also find ways to assist government to fight youth unemployment, reduce juvenile delinquency as well as develop a youth with a solid character and further create a letting environment for the youth to prosper.

Again, he said it was paramount for the youth ministry to revisit the youth desk operations and the Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC) who, several years ago, lost a larger part of their autonomy.

“They lost their autonomy due to what was seen as sustained acts of instability largely as a result of pursuit of other agendas by their leadership that was not quite aligned to their mandate,” he said.

He added the ministry would soon revisit youth structures with a view to lay a foundation for a better future for Botswana youth.

“With youth unemployment currently at 34 per cent, we cannot continue with our business as usual approach. Although this task is not left to us alone as a ministry, the leadership of youth prosperity lies with us. We need to stand up and be counted, from headquarters down to our smallest of offices at the districts and sub-districts. Our presence has to be felt,” he said

On gender affairs, he said they recently took over the Department of Gender Affairs following government’s rationalisation exercise to position each ministry in a better stead to drive the government agenda.

“Over and above advocating for a better future for our youth across the board, we now have to also advocate for gender equality throughout national activities and projects. After taking over the gender affairs department, we are concerned about continuing incidences of Gender Based Violence and we urge all perpetrators to desist from these barbaric tendencies,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Kemoen expressed concern about the slow take up of political leadership positions by women.

He therefore called on all concerned to ensure gender equality in political leadership across the board.

“We also note with interest, topical issues around sexual orientation and gender identity and through our appropriate structures, we will continue to participate in national debates that seek to address these issues,” he said. BOPA