03 Dec 2013

The Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe says under employment of youth is a global phenomenon.

In his response to the State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Monday, December 2, Dr Kedikilwe stated that there was need for a more balanced and multi-faceted approach targeting the under employment of youth and pave way to open up opportunities for the youth.


In as much as the causes of the youth under employment in the country were multi-faceted, the Vice President indicated that so must be the government’s approach to the challenge, which defied simple solutions.


He said the current sluggish growth in the domestic economy, which was aggravated by continued volatility in international markets were some of the factors that contributed to the youth hence in this respect the challenge of youth under employment was a global phenomenon.


“We appreciate that even without these immediate constraints we would still be facing long-term obstacles to achieving labour intensive diversification and growth,” said Dr Kedikilwe.


Both the National Internship Programme and the soon to be introduced National Service , he said, combined provision of productive opportunities for unemployed youth with practical skills transfer.


He highlighted that the National Service Programme will further reduce the number of youth participation in the Ipelegeng, by combining a monthly allowance with the attraction of practical skills which in the long run will combine immediate relief with long term investment.


Dr Kedikilwe indicated that overarching these programmes and other skilling initiatives is the Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES), which was introduced to enable the youth to develop good work ethics and business training through character building and technical skills as carried out through boot camps and attachments.


To date, he said 3299 young people have participated in six boot camps and 2039 of these graduates have been attached to various government departments and private sectors, with the benefits of the participants ranging from the first instance work place experience as well as monthly living allowance.


In addition, he said 150 young people attended a faith based youth leaders boot camp in August 2013 and another 360 graduates from Tsetsebjwe Health Champions Boot camp have been enrolled for duration of 12 months to undertake paramedic and public health training, with the intention to absorb them into the public service as family welfare officers.


He further stated that government’s focus on youth empowerment is further reflected in the continued provision of youth business training workshops to capacitate young people with requisite skills for generation of quality business ideas and proposals, for ultimate submission to the youth development fund ENDS