Question NW2499 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Reply:

(a) Below is the list of programmes that the department has put in place to promote youth development and empowerment

MISA’s Capacity Building Programme

1. The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) has a capacity-building programme that provides opportunities for young people who qualified from TVETs, Technical Colleges and Universities with a civil, electrical, town planning or other related studies, required for infrastructure development and maintenance in municipalities.

2. Since 2012, MISA’s Programme coverage has been of a national magnitude. The biggest component of this Programme has always been the artisan development (Apprenticeship) sub-programme for the purposes of building capacity to operate and maintain existing infrastructure. Between 2014/15 and 2015/16, this sub-programme registered over 400 apprentices. Two hundred and fifty-nine participants qualified as artisans between 2013/14 and 2014/15. The intake for 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years stood at 303 and 230, respectively. In this regard, work opportunities have been offered by MISA to 100 young people in eight (08) targeted municipalities across the Northern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces as Artisans and Water Process Controllers.

3. Experiential Learners referred to the group of candidates pursuing studies to be technicians, yet requiring practice and workplace experience to continue with their academic training. Forty-two of these groups have been registered from March 2014 to March 2016 for experiential learning at qualifying municipalities. They have since completed their required experiential training and have gone back to complete their academic studies. The intake for 2017/18 and 2018/19 experiential learners stands at 90 and 100, respectively.

4. In as far as the Bursary Scheme is concerned, one hundred and eighty-six candidates were registered from 2014, whilst in 2016, one hundred and sixty-four (164) young people have been awarded bursaries for technical infrastructure-related studies. For the current financial year 2018/19, MISA plans to award bursaries to 150 disadvantaged students studying towards town planning, civil and electrical engineering qualifications.

The table below provides a breakdown of the various sub-programme in-takes:

MISA PROGRAMMES
2017/18 FY	2018/19 FY
1.	Experiential Learners
	90	100
2.	Young Graduates
	70	150
3.	Apprentices
	303	258
4.	Artisan Placement Programme
	100	101

Table 1: MISA’s Capacity Building Programme 2017/18 and 2018/19

The Disaster Management Bursary Programme

1. The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) introduced a Disaster Management Bursary Programme under the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC). The overall objective of the bursary programme is to contribute towards building capacity and skills enhancement in disaster risk management, through advanced education, training, public awareness and research services.

2. In the 2017 academic year, the NDMC successfully awarded 39 bursaries to qualifying students. Out of the 39 students, 33 completed their studies in the 2017 academic year and 5 are still continuing with their studies in the 2018 academic year. In the 2018 academic year, the NDMC successfully awarded 41 bursaries to new applicants and 30 of the recipients were young people. Applications for the Disaster Management Bursary Programme are published annually through print media and the NDMC’s website.

The Community Works Programme (CWP)

1. In addition, the Department is also implementing the Community Work Programme (CWP), as part of the government-wide Expanded Public Works Programme. The CWP’s youth participation rate for the 2017/18 financial year is broken down in the table below:

Total Participation Rate	Total Youth Participants	Youth Female Participants and Percentage	Youth Male Participants and Percentage
264909	98954	76950	22004
	37.35%	29.05%	8.31%

Table 1: Youth Participation in CWP 2017/18 FY

2. The Department is forming partnerships with institutions of higher learning to ensure the up-skilling of participants. Sixteen (16) CWP participants have graduated with a 3 year Grade R Diploma from the North West University. On 8 June 2018, 55 participants in Mahikeng obtained NQF Level 2 qualification in Environmental Practice through training provided by LGSETA. Young participants are also being supported to establish their own cooperatives through training provided in partnership with the Reggio Emilia municipality in Italy. The Department has further partnered with the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) and GIZ to train young participants on crime prevention in Orange Farm, Ivory Park and Khayelitsha; as a result of this, crimes against women and children have been reduced in the pilot sites in these areas.

(b) Funding for the programmes:

(1) Below are the allocations for MISA’s Capacity Building Programmes for the 2018/19 financial year.

Programme Name	Numbers	Budget
Apprentices	258	R 5million
Young Graduates	150	R 30million
Experiential Learners	100	R 5million
Artisans and Process Controllers	101	R 21million
Total	609	R 61million

3. The annual budget for the Disaster Management Bursary Programme is R2million.

4. Young people benefit equally from the CWP budget with other vulnerable groups from poor communities.