Deputy Minister for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation on National Youth Development Agency's strategic plan and budget for 2011

Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities

22 March 2011
Chairperson: Ms D Ramodibe (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee received a briefing from the National Youth Development Agency on its strategic plan and budget for 2011/12. Ms Pule Dina Deliwe, Deputy Minister for Performance Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration in the Office of the Presidency was present in the meeting.
The NYDA (the Agency) identified three categories of young people in the country in need of assistance from the Agency. Under
the first category, the NYDA placed unskilled and unemployed youth. That category was made up of young people who may have matric or dropped out of school but with no vocational skills. Under the second category, the Agency identified skilled and unemployed youth and those which were employed but unskilled as well as those in skills programmes. Under the third category there existed skilled and employed people and those in self-employment. The Agency would target certain groups to assist them with their problems. The Agency would target youth in rural areas, out of school youth, young persons with disabilities, and unemployed youth.

The NYDA would seek to promote opportunities for young people to serve their communities. It would aim to create a platform for young people to participate in and benefit from democratic processes. It would seek to develop capacity building materials for youth development practitioners, and to create and support social networks to benefit young people. It would seek to enhance the participation of young people in the economy through targeted and integrated programmes. It would aim to provide business support to young people, provide financing support to young entrepreneurs, provide employment opportunities to young people and to design and implement specific interventions for women, persons with disability and youth in rural areas.

The Agency would further seek to develop IYDS and guidelines for the implementation of youth development programmes, identify  annual  national youth development priorities, promote, lobby and advocate for a uniform approach by all sectors on matters relating to youth development. It would endeavour to conduct research and evaluations to inform policy and programme on youth. It would provide inputs on policies and legislation by government and other relevant structures. The NYDA stated that 155 000 young people would be involved in the Naqshbandi Youth Forum (NYF) project to provide them with an opportunity to serve their communities whilst gaining skills and training through projects facilitated. The NYDA would provide support for 26 600 youth with Business Consultancy Vouchers, business opportunities support services, and mentorship. The Agency would register 14 050 companies through the programme of assisting youth having their companies registered with CIPRO. The NYDA would assist 281 entrepreneurs with provision of funds through the voucher program. A sum of R331 million would be sourced for BOSS deals, voucher support, and mentorship. A further R243 280 million would be set aside to be accessed by youth owned small and medium enterprises. The Agency would aim to create 89,089 jobs through various NYDA programmes ranging from Business Consultancy Vouchers; business opportunities support services, and mentorship programmes. The Agency would enrol over 8000 youth to rewrite grade 12 exams through its matric re-write programme. The NYDA would assist 293 900 youth through providing them with various skills covering critical areas such as business management skills, life skills and job preparedness skills.

The NYDA had been allocated R425 676 million in the 2011/12 financial year. The Agency would spend R109 324 million on operational costs; R174 502 million would be spent on employees, R42 086 million would be spent on capital expenditure, R28 100 million would be spent on loans and investment. The NYDA would spend R71 665 on Core Programme Direct Funding Intervention. The NYDA would spend R71 665 on Core Programme Direct Funding Intervention. The Agency would receive R442 961 million in the 2012/13 year and R462 405 million in the 2013/14 financial year.

Members asked how the Agency intended to meet its increased targets with respect to its budget. They asked who the NYDA’s partners were and what sort of partnerships it entered. They asked how much interest the NYDA charged on the loans it gave out and where that money what that money was used for. They asked why the annual youth development priorities were set to change annually when they were supposed to inform the Agency’s strategic plan over the MTEF budget period. They asked how the Agency would reach rural areas and be more to disabled people. They commented that the Agency had a lot of policies which accessible seemed to overlap with other Departments and questioned whether that was wise.

The members raised the issue of artisan training; they commented that it was important for the Agency’s focus to also incorporate that form of training. They asked whether the NYDA had signed performance agreements and if it had, with whom had they signed them with. Members asked why it would take a year to get the Integrated Youth Development Strategy approved by the NYDA Board and the Cabinet. They asked when the NYDA would submit the report on the IYDS to the Committee.



Meeting report

Briefing by the National Youth Development Agency on its Strategic Plan and Budget
Ms Pule Dina Deliwe, Deputy Minister for Performance Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration in the Office of the Presidency was present in the meeting.

Mr Steven Ngubeni, Chief Executive Officer: NYDA presented the Committee with the Agency’s strategic plan.

The NYDA (the Agency) identified three categories of young people in the country in need of assistance from the Agency. Under the first category, the NYDA placed unskilled and unemployed youth. That category was made up of young people who may have matric or dropped out of school but with no vocational skills. Under the second category, the Agency identified skilled and unemployed youth and those which were employed but unskilled as well as those in skills programmes. Under the third category there existed skilled and employed people and those in self-employment. The Agency would target certain groups to assist them with their problems. The Agency would target youth in rural areas, out of school youth, young persons with disabilities, and unemployed youth.

The NYDA would seek to promote opportunities for young people to serve their communities. It would aim to create a platform for young people to participate in and benefit from democratic processes. It would seek to develop capacity building materials for youth development practitioners, and to create and support social networks to benefit young people. It would seek to enhance the participation of young people in the economy through targeted and integrated programmes. It would aim to provide business support to young people, provide financing support to young entrepreneurs, provide employment opportunities to young people and to design and implement specific interventions for women, persons with disability and youth in rural areas.

The Agency would further seek to develop IYDS and guidelines for the implementation of youth development programmes, identify  annual  national youth development priorities, promote, lobby and advocate for a uniform approach by all sectors on matters relating to youth development. It would endeavour to conduct research and evaluations to inform policy and programme on youth. It would provide inputs on policies and legislation by government and other relevant structures. The NYDA stated that 155 000 young people would be involved in the Naqshbandi Youth Forum (NYF) project to provide them with an opportunity to serve their communities whilst gaining skills and training through projects facilitated. The NYDA would provide support for 26 600 youth with Business Consultancy Vouchers, business opportunities support services, and mentorship. The Agency would register 14 050 companies through the programme of assisting youth having their companies registered with CIPRO. The NYDA would assist 281 entrepreneurs with provision of funds through the voucher program. A sum of R331 million would be sourced for BOSS deals, voucher support, and mentorship. A further R243 280 million would be set aside to be accessed by youth owned small and medium enterprises. The Agency would aim to create 89,089 jobs through various NYDA programmes ranging from Business Consultancy Vouchers; business opportunities support services, and mentorship programmes. The Agency would enrol over 8000 youth to rewrite grade 12 exams through its matric re-write programme. The NYDA would assist 293 900 youth through providing them with various skills covering critical areas such as business management skills, life skills and job preparedness skills. The organization would work in partnership with other stakeholder to raise over R480 million which would go into the National Youth Fund.

Mr Michael Mashinini, Acting Chief Financial Officer: NYDA presented the Committee with the Agency’s budget. The NYDA had been allocated R425 676 million in the 2011/12 financial year. The Agency would spend R109 324 million on operational costs; R174 502 million would be spent on employees, R42 086 million would be spent on capital expenditure, R28 100 million would be spent on loans and investment. The NYDA would spend R71 665 on Core Programme Direct Funding Intervention. The Agency would receive R442 961 million in the 2012/13 year and R462 405 million in the 2013/14 financial year.

Operational costs would increase gradually within the 2013 and 2014 year end together with the employee costs, this would be by 6.1% in 2013 and 5.5% in the 2014 year end. This increase was based on inflation based on the actual costs estimates for the 2011 year end. Capital Expenditure would decrease by 21.6% in the 2013 year end and again by 26.17% in the 2014 year end due to the initial capital investment in capital expenditure automatically resulting in lower marginal increases in subsequent years. Loans and Investments would increase with a steady 10% due to the expectation of a similar increase in the collection to fund the loans and investments of the organization. Core Programmes as a separate line item would increase by 8.74% in the 2013 year end and then and larger increase in the 2014 year end due to an increased forecast in core programmes as a result of an increase in allocation.

Discussion
The Chairperson asked how the Agency intended to meet its increased targets with respect to its budget.

Mr Ngubeni replied that there was a need for the NYDA to make a broader effort to assist the youth of the country regardless of budget constraints as the youth were becoming impatient with the slowness of delivery. The estimates given by the Agency on indicators and numbers were informed by past experience; the NYDA could not be the sole contributor to assisting the youth of the country.

Ms P Maduna-Peterson (ANC) thanked the NYDA for its presentation. She asked who the NYDA’s partners were and what sort of partnerships it entered. She asked where the Agency had obtained the number of matrics set to rewrite their exams (8000) and which provinces the youths would be drawn from. She asked how much interest the NYDA charged on the loans it gave out and where that money what that money was used for. 

Mr Ngubeni responded that the Agency had sought and created partnerships with several government Departments, amongst some of the partnerships the NYDA partnered with the Department of Human Settlements for a programme called the Youth Build Programme. The NYDA had a partnership with the Department of Basic Education and worked to try and address problems relating to education and the youth. The Agency had obtained the figure of 8000 Matrics set to rewrite from all nine provinces. The NYDA had worked out an agreement with the Department of Basic Education which allowed for Matrics to rewrite the exam despite initial resistance from the Department. The NYDA charged prime plus two interest on the loans it gave out and used the repaid money to loan out to other people needing money to start a business.

Ms D Robinson (DA) asked why the annual youth development priorities were set to change annually when they were supposed to inform the Agency’s strategic plan over the MTEF budget period. She asked how the Agency was going to create a uniform approach on partnerships. She sought specificity from the Agency on the numbers it had presented in its strategic plan. She asked what sort of jobs the Agency would seek to create. She asked how the Agency would reach rural areas and be more accessible to disabled people. She commented that the Agency had a lot of policies which seemed to overlap with other Departments and questioned whether that was wise. She asked how the Committee could keep track of the Agency’s activities and progress without specific numbers and targets from the Agency.

Mr Ngubeni replied that the National Youth Development Act mandated the Agency to create annual youth development priorities, therefore the Agency had to do that task by legislation annually. The three year strategic plan highlighted what the Agency intended to do with the money it had allocated to it in the MTEF period but it did not affect the Agency’s focus on key performance areas (KPAs). Youth development was not separate from human development thus there would be overlapping issues. The NYDA would naturally have areas where it overlapped other Departments such as the Department of Education because that was an area with a particular concentration of youth. The Agency had sought and created partnerships with several government Departments, amongst some of the partnerships the NYDA partnered with the Department of Human Settlements for a programme called the Youth Build Programme. The NYDA had a partnership with the Department of Basic Education and worked to try and address problems relating to education and the youth. With respect to the indicators and numbers provided by the Agency, there was a need for the NYDA to make a broader effort to assist the youth of the country regardless of budget constraints as the youth were becoming impatient with the slowness of delivery. The estimates given by the Agency on indicators and numbers were informed by past experience; the NYDA could not be the sole contributor to assisting the youth of the country. However the Agency would formulate means and ways of assisting the youth with some help from the private sector.

Mr D Kekana (ANC) raised the issue of artisan training. He commented that it was important for the Agency’s focus to also incorporate artisan training. He asked for the Agency to take the Committee through its artisan categories. This would be potentially important for the Committee as it sought to measure the NYDAs progress.

Ms B Blaai (COPE) asked whether the NYDA had signed performance agreements and if it had, with whom had they signed them with.

Mr Ngubeni responded that he had signed a performance agreement with the NYDA Board and his staff had in turn signed agreements with him.

Ms Blaai asked how the NYDA was monitoring and evaluating the 155 000 youth in the Naqshbandi Youth Forum (NYF) project.

Mr Ngubeni responded that the NYDA had recently engaged with the Public Service Commission to get independent evaluation on the NYF. The Agency had done this so as to get a fair feeling of the impact of the NYF programme. The NYDA had its own monitoring and evaluation arm which conducted its own evaluations. A report would be tabled on the impact of the NYF.

Ms Robinson was delighted with the confident answering style of Mr Ngubeni; she commented that that represented the confidence of youth. She commented that in her opinion the NYDA received a substantial amount in appropriations despite their complaints on having a limited budget. She sought specificity on what the NYDA would do to assist the Department of Basic Education. She was concerned that the NYDA was spending money which should simply be allocated to the Department of Basic Education. She asked why the Agency’s KPAs had changed from the ones noted in 2009.


Mr Ngubeni replied that he had not seen any programme which allowed young people to rewrite their Matric. The NYDA had worked with the Department of Basic Education to allow for that to happen and the Agency would be submitting a report on the impact of this project to highlight the successes of it. The partnership with the Department was therefore useful and necessary. The NYDA still felt that its budget was limited and was not sufficient for the NYDA to fully carry out its mandate, the Agency needed to have offices across the country but the budget allocation did not allow for that. The NYDA had received one-third of the allocation it had sought. The KPAs had changed because the NYDA leadership was new, the KPAs evolved as the leadership became more aware of the challenges facing the Agency.   

Ms Teboho Sejane, Business Strategist: NYDA replied that the Matric rewrite would be undertaken for young people who were outside the education system after failing their initial exams. This would incorporate people in the age range of 22 to 23. The figure of 8000 was lower than what the Agency had wanted but it was mainly due to budget constraints that the Agency had only sought to register that many people. 

Ms M Nxumalo (ANC) asked why it would take a year to get the Integrated Youth Development Strategy approved by the NYDA Board and the Cabinet.

Mr Ngubeni responded that the IYDS was a new programme started in the current financial year. There needed to be more consultation and debate, with contribution from the youth, on what the IYDS should focus on thus it would take time to finalise and get approved.

Mr Kekana commented that the Committee needed the NYDA to broaden its category on artisans so as to incorporate more out of work youth.  

Mr Ngubeni replied that the NYDA would focus on artisans in the future and there had been a shift to focus on artisan training as the Agency moved forward.

Ms Robinson thanked Mr Ngubeni and Ms Sejane for their response to her question on Education. 
She asked who the NYDA was linking up with for the rewrite project outside of the Department of Basic Education. She commented that the Committee wanted to see the money that the Agency gets used wisely. She asked why the Agency had 50% of its budget allocated to staff salaries. She said that she hoped the Agency would not use money for excessive celebratory events.

Mr Ngubeni responded that the NYDA was operating with a staff which it had inherited, the staff salaries were around 42% of the Agency’s budget. The NYDAs cash injection needed to be increased so the Agency could meet its targets on unemployed youth, products and services. The 42% also took into account the Provincial Advisory Board of the Agency. The NYDAs June 16 celebrations scripted to take place in the North West province would not merely be for celebratory purposes but would provide a platform for discussion with other youth leaders on strategic ways for forward progress. 

Ms Sejane replied that the rewrite project would also take in tertiary institutions to gain assistance in reaching the 8000 youth who would rewrite their Matric exams.
 
Ms Blaai asked when the NYDA would submit the report on the IYDS to the Committee.

Mr Ngubeni replied that the Agency would submit the report on IYDS as soon as the consultative process was completed.

Mr Kekana commented that the NYDA should focus on addressing youth unemployment through extensive artisan training. 

The Chairperson acknowledged the presence of the Deputy Minister of Women, Children, Youth and People with Disabilities. She said that it was important that the NYDA use its budget wisely. She advised the NYDA to provide disaggregated information on its next visit to the Committee so as to avoid extensive questions from members.

Ms
Pule Dina Deliwe, Deputy Minister, Performance Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration in the Office of the Presidency, thanked the Committee for allowing the NYDA to present and highlighted the importance of such engagements.

The Chairperson thanked all those present for their attendance. 

The meeting was adjourned.


 

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