02 Sep 2025

 The youth have been encouraged to form groups and develop viable, sustainable business project ideas in preparation for the upcoming call for applications under Youth Development Fund (YDF) programme.

Minister of Youth and Gender Affairs, Ms Lesego Chombo encouraged them at kgotla meetings held in Shorobe and Maun recently, noting that unemployment remained a serious challenge among youth and women and urged youth to take advantage of the programme as well as identify projects with high job creation potential.

Currently, she said the programme was under review because it did not produce expected outcome as well as not addressing the needs of the youth in terms of monetary as some needed more than the stipulated amount. YDF aims to foster sustainable and viable income generating projects to promote the active participation of youth in socio- economic development.

However, Ms Chombo said that some youth projects were collapsing while some beneficiaries were failing to service their loans and believed that working in groups, young people could easily leverage on the programme for business and economic growth.

“Running a business requires patience and working as groups is ideal as it helps you share ideas and expertise and overcoming business challenges. I encourage you to form groups and identify projects that can be funded,” she added.

She informed young people that she would ensure that they underwent orientation on business plans, entrepreneurship and operational skills among others before they could apply for funding so that they run successful businesses.

Ms Chombo also informed the meeting that in an effort to improve the livelihoods of the youth, the ministry was intending to establish youth centres across the country to provide platforms for youth empowerment, training and engagement in national development.

“Our intention is to refurbish the existing ones and identify more idling buildings to be established into centres which will serve as hubs for personal growth, skill development, mental health and information dissemination aiming to empower youth to actively participate in their community development,”

The minister was of the view that the centres could provide a platform where young people could explore their talents and enhance employability as they would learn basic principles of employment.

Ms Chombo further said that the ministry was working in collaboration with UNICEF and other ministries to enhance youth employability through various programmes such as Youth Employability workshops that provided practical skills training in entrepreneurship, interview techniques, and communication as well as utilising platforms like Generation Unlimited to connect young people with opportunities and digital resources.

She appealed to parents to encourage their children to effectively utilise the available schemes as some aimed to equip them with the skills demanded by the current labour market and empowering them to shape their future.

Furthermore, she also said that the ministry was also fostering economic empowerment among women because they were mostly economically challenged and yet they played a huge role in alleviating poverty in families.

She apprised residents on programmes such as Women Economic Empowerment. She said it aimed to revive the economy of women. The programme serves to provide women with resources, opportunities and skills to achieve economic independence and participate fully in the economy.

Ms Chombo also mentioned that EntreprenHer programme empowered women through training and provision of resources to manage and grow their micro-entrepreneurs, and appealed to women to come on board to benefit from the programs. ENDS