Question NW557 to the Minister in The Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities
11 March 2021 - NW557
Mphithi, Mr L to ask the Minister in The Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities
Given the impact that COVID-19 has had on youth and unemployment, what measures has her Office put in place to address the challenge of youth unemployment?
Reply:
Covid-19 is having massive implications for the economy, mainly hitting hard the unemployed youth. As a result, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), an agency reporting to the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) has put in place the following measures in the 2020/ 2021 financial year up to 31 December 2020 (Q3):
(ii) The Youth Micro Enterprise Relief Fund, which provided relief funding to 1104 youth entrepreneurs;
(iii) The NYDA Grant programme, which provided 930 youth entrepreneurs with start-up and survivalist funding. Of the grant recipients 63% were male and 37% were female and most grants were disbursed in Gauteng at 18%, Mpumalanga at 15%, Eastern Cape at 15% KwaZulu Natal at 12% and Limpopo at 12%. The least were disbursed in North West at 9%, Western Cape at 7%, Free State at 6% and Northern Cape at 6%;
(iv) The NYDA Job Placements programme, placed 1845 young people into jobs, with more females than males placed at 63% females vs 37% males placed. Gauteng had the highest placements at 28% and Northern Cape at 25%, whilst Limpopo was at 9%, KwaZulu Natal at 14%, Free State at 0%, Eastern Cape at 8%, Mpumalanga and North West at 11% and 6% respectively;
(v) 1575 youth have been supported through non-financial business development interventions;
(vi) 1164 young people have been capacitated with skills to enter the job market; and
(vii) 2095 young people have been capacitated with skills to participate in the economy.
It is worthy to note that, the DWYPD developed a Cabinet approved National Youth Policy (NYP) 2020-2030. The NYP 2030 was launched on the 05th of March 2021 and, amongst others, proposes policy priorities to tackle long term structural and systematic youth unemployment. Key amongst these are measures to ensure economic transformation, entrepreneurship support, and provision of second chance opportunities for improved participation and inclusion of vulnerable youth.
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Approved by Minister
Ms M Nkoana-Mashabane, MP
Date _____________________