05 Feb 2014

The Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Mr Shaw Kgathi says his ministry has been implementing various programmes aimed at creating employment for youths inn the Shoshong constituency.

Responding to a question from the Member of Parliament for Shoshong, Mr Phillip Makgalemele, Mr Kgathi said 96 projects had been funded in the constituency through Youth Development Fund (YDF) creating 154 employment opportunities.

He said 27 youths had attended Youth Empowerment Scheme boot camps and were attached to various government departments where they drew an allowance of P500 per month hence provided with temporary relief.

Parliament heard that 71 young people from the constituency had also attended District Youth Empowerment festivals meant to equip them with requisite business skills for generation of quality business ideas and proposals, for submission to the YDF or any funding agency.

Minister Kgathi said the festivals also exposed them to existing opportunities in various entities, both governmental and non-governmental.

The ministry, he said, also ran a Youth Empowerment Scheme disability camp for 24 young people living with disability in the constituency. “The camp exposed them to economic empowerment opportunities so that just like other young people elsewhere in the country, they can utilise them to improve their lives,” the minister said.  

The ministry in collaboration with the office of the Shoshong MP has also funded 10 young people from Shoshong towards the end of last year, to go on benchmarking trip to see some farms in the North West province in South Africa.“The youth concerned will use the skills and knowledge acquired from the trip to improve their lives,” he said.  

Talking about anticipated interventions during the remaining part of National Development Plan (NDP) 10 outside Ipelegeng, Botswana National Service Programme and the National Internship Programme, the minister said it was important to note that the issue of youth unemployment is a national concern. He said this calls for concerted efforts to create employment opportunities for the youths hence there are various programmes such as ISPAAD, Young Farmers Fund, CEDA, LIMID, EDD and others.

Minister Kgathi said through the Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES), his ministry has adopted a multi-sectoral approach to youth development where all critical players are engaged to develop and implement pro-youth economic empowerment interventions. “In that regard, principal youth officers have been deployed to all line ministries to facilitate sectoral responses to challenges that young people encounter,” he said.

Furthermore, he said the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology has thus reserved 15 per cent of their annual maintenance budget for allocation to youth companies. Minister Kgathi said since the beginning of the current financial year, 26 youth construction companies had been awarded maintenance works amounting to over P28 million.

He said the Ministry of Lands and Housing has allocated 9 794 plots to young people since the beginning of the current financial year across the country for various uses. “This would help address the issue of operating space for youth businesses,” he said.

He said during the remaining period of NDP 10, his ministry would continue to collaborate with other stakeholders to ensure that the youth benefit from various programmes meant to address their employment situation. “I also intend to come up with ways of improving the uptake of YDF in all constituencies having realised its potential to create more opportunities for the youth in Botswana,” Mr Kgathi said.

He said they would also strengthen monitoring and mentoring of youth projects to ensure sustainability of the projects adding more officers would be deployed to the districts following a restructuring exercise.

Minister Kgathi said through his ministry’s intervention, cabinet has approved the local procurement scheme which provides for a 20 per cent reservation of procurement activities for vulnerable groups such as the youth, women and people living with disabilities.  Ends