Umsobomvu Youth Fund; National Youth Commission's Plans for Youth Day: briefing

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Meeting report

JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF CHILDREN, YOUTH AND DISABLED PERSONS
30 May 2001
UMSOBOMVU YOUTH FUND; NATIONAL YOUTH COMMISSION’S PLANS FOR YOUTH DAY: BRIEFING

Chairperson
: Ms H Bogopane

Documents handed out
Umsobomvu Youth Fund presentation
National Youth Commission presentation (email
[email protected] for document)

SUMMARY
The Umsobomvu Fund outlined their objectives, expressing the need for research policy and co-ordination of human resources. Interim measures would be set up to assist the needy NGOs dealing with youth development because of the urgency of facilitating skill development and job creation for the youth.

The National Youth Commission highlighted its programme for 16 June in Gauteng.

MINUTES
Umsobomvu Youth Fund
Mr Kekana set out the objectives, principles and a framework for strategies that will inform the operation of the Fund. He highlighted the following points:
-The need for the Fund to narrow the gap between knowledge and policy and also between policy and practice. There was a need for research-informed policy formulation and the need to develop research capacity within the Fund.
-The Fund was not a source of skill development and job creation for the youth, but rather it would act as a facilitator. This implied that it will co-operate and co-ordinate with other relevant organisations. There will be a need for expert co-ordination in terms of human resources.
-The Fund was only five months old and has a span of five years after which it will be evaluated on the basis of five "performance indicators" namely, job creation, skills development, transparency, management and communication strategies.
-The definition of a youth is 18 to 35 and that this differed from the definition in the National Youth Commission Act of 1995. The age range was extended because of the large extent to which the youth in South Africa face unemployment and lack of skills.

The youth had no access to information and the Fund needed to build information capacity and recruit quality staff. The Fund was going to set up interim measures to assist the needy NGOs that deal with youth development because of the urgency of facilitating skill development and job creation for the youth.

The Fund needs to develop capacity for the monitoring and evaluation of its performance and of the organisations that it will be working with.

It will also look into the problems of disabled youth and try to formulate a strategy for intervention.

At the end of the briefing the Chairperson commented that the Government had a National Strategy for Disabled People Act and that Mr Kekana should familiarise himself with it and see how their policy for disabled youth fits in with government policy.

Discussion
Ms Ghandi asked if the Fund had programmes for juvenile delinquents.

Mr Kekana replied that there are organisations dealing with that and the Fund will definitely liaise with them.

Ms Ghandi asked if the Fund will have a resource centre for information on youth.

Mr Kekana replied that that was one of their aims and they have already begun to gather local and international information on youth issues.

Ms Ghandi asked how the Fund was going to evaluate it benefits and if the Fund has a way of tracing dropouts from our higher and further education.

Mr Kekana replied that some of the organisations dealing with the youth have evaluative measures and they will build on them and that there are organisations dealing with tracing dropouts and they will liase with them.

Mr Da Camara commented that the funding was little relative to the Fund’s objectives. Were any programmes the directly linked the youth to existing jobs?

Mr Kekana agreed that funding was little but that they would make an informed financial request to the government if there were a need. There were programmes in place that link the youth to jobs and in some instances the public and private sector have approached such organisations.

Mr Moss commented that the Fund should be run by young people and asked how the Fund co-operated and popularised itself with the youth.

Mr Kekana replied that communication was one of their performance indicators and they are striving towards greater communication with youth and other organisations. The youth should be employed within the Fund as part of its objectives but that there was a need for an adult support structure and a balance between youth-adult with the Fund.

Mr Morkels asked if there were any linkages with organisations such as SBDC, IDC, IDT, and if there were any disbursed funds yet and also asked the location of the Funds headquarters.

Mr Kekana replied that there were linkages and meeting with organisations such a Telkom, Eskom, IDC, NDA, IDT. No funds have been used for youth development so far. The headquarters will remain in Gauteng but provincial structures will be set up. He also emphasised that the Fund had been established a mere five months previously.

Mr Mangwanishe asked who would be part of the advisory Committee of the Fund.

Mr Kekana responded that it would include different representatives from youth organisations, government, business and other interested parties.

Mr Dithebe asked if the Fund needs to be acknowledged by organisations that it will be funding and if the Fund will financially intervene in organisations that approach it with a view of development rather that solving a financial crisis.

Mr Kekana agreed to both questions.

At the end the Chairperson commended the fund and made the following comments:

-The Fund needs to clarify the role of the National Youth Commission
-The Fund should observe other funding organisations and learn from their mistakes.
-Funding cannot be isolated from the country’s politics and the youth are influenced by politics too.
-The Fund did not mention the youth wings of political parties and how they fit into their strategies.
-The Fund should look into the Skills Development Act and see if the youth are catered for and how they can fit into each other.

Ms Mahlangu interjected by stating that Committee members need to familiarise themselves with the Umsobomvu Youth Fund Act before they could interrogate the executives of the Fund.

National Youth Commission on 25th anniversary of June 16
Ms Makhaya, Deputy Commissioner of the National Youth Commission, highlighted the programme of the 25th anniversary of June 16.

The theme will be "Non-racialism: A Youth Vision for the 21st century", and will be hosted in Gauteng. The theme is meant to mobilise the youth against racism and xenophobia. The objective of celebrating June 16 as Youth Day was to:
-Use it as vehicle to mobilise the youth about political issues and prevent apathy.
-Promote the participation of youth.
-Continue the progress that has been achieved by the National Youth Commission
-Show the government’s commitment to youth development.
-Acknowledge the 1976 youth struggles.

She outlined the actual programme as follows:
-A Youth Race in the morning from Orlando Stadium to the Hector Peterson Memorial.
-Wreath laying at the Memorial by the President, Thabo Mbeki
-A march back to Orlando Stadium under the banner "Retracing the steps of our forebearers". At the stadium there will be speeches and entertainment such as music, dance and poetry.

She made a note that on the 16 June there will be a rugby test match between South Africa and France at Ellis Park Stadium in Gauteng. And that they have agreed with SARFU to issue 500 tickets for interested youth to see the match. During the match there might be cross-over transmissions between the match and the Youth Day celebration.

Discussion
Mr Maloyi asked Ms Makhaya to brief the Committee on what was happening in different offices of the Commission. What is the nature of the interaction between the Commission and the Committee?

Ms Makhaya said that provinces were involved in similar activities even where there are no youth commissions. The nature of the interaction between the Commission and the Committee was to gain technical background and support.

Mr Dithebe commented that the venue and the programme were monotonous. Why are pressing issues such as women abuse and disability not covered? There seems to be a misunderstanding of what the National Youth Commission is.
Ms Makhaya explained that the venue was the same because Gauteng felt that when they hosted in 1999 the focus had been on the installation of the President rather than on issues. Some provinces have hosted before (KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape) but others simply had no capacity to host such an event. Further the Western Cape Youth Desk had problems with communicating with the Commission.
She continued that the question of what the Youth Commission was all about is daunting and - that while Mr Dithebe was himself once a commissioner - there were no clear answers. She mentioned that the Commission’s role is also a political tool whereby politicians can acknowledge it or criticise it depending on their motives

Mr Setona commented that Mr Dithebe’s questions were correct but irrelevant to the briefing. Crossover-transmissions should also look into the issue of Tshepo Matloga rather than the match.

Ms Makhaya said that on June 16 the Commission would release a newsletter dedicated to the memory of Tshepo Matloga.

Mr Nzimande wanted to know why integration is one-sided.

Ms Makhaya replied that it was the Commission that asked for the rugby match tickets and that the issue of integration is about taking risks. She also said that there was an agreement of partnership between the Commission and SARFU that goes beyond match tickets.

The Chairperson commented that the Commission needs to look deeper into youth issues and try to link them to celebrations such as the Youth Day.

The meeting was adjourned.

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