ATC150508: Report Strategic Plan & Budget of the National Youth Development Agency, dated 08 May 2012

Standing Committee on Auditor General

REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ON THE STRATEGIC PLAN AND BUDGET OF THE NATIONAL YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, DATED 8 MAY 2012

REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ON THE STRATEGIC PLAN AND BUDGET OF THE NATIONAL YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, DATED 8 MAY 2012

 

1. Introduction

The National Youth Development Agency (herein after referred to as the NYDA) was launched on 16 June 2009 (Youth Day) by the President of the Republic of South Africa , His Excellency J.G Zuma. The NYDA came about as a result of the merger of the National Youth Commission (NYC) and Umsubomvu Youth Fund (UYF) in 2007 and subsequently the National Youth Development Agency Act, No 58 of 2008. In terms of reporting the NYDA reported to government through the Office of the President. Furthermore, the NYDA was established to address youth development issues at National, Provincial and Local Government level.

 

In summary the mandate of the NYDA was as follows:

 

· To Lobby and advocate for integration and mainstreaming of youth development in all spheres of government, private sector and civil society;

· To initiate, implement, facilitate and coordinate youth development programmes;

· Monitor and evaluate youth development intervention across the board; and

· To mobilise youth for active participation in civil society engagements.

 

The strategic outcomes of the NYDA in order to fulfil its mandate as articulated above would be discussed hereunder.

 

2. Strategic Outcomes

The Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan of the NYDA were informed by the following 4 strategic outcomes:

 

· Improved Sustainable livelihoods opportunities for young people in South Africa – To provide a comprehensive suite of interventions that would lead to decent employment, skills development, education, and entrepreneurship to all young people between ages 14 to 35.

 

· Enhanced enabling environment that promotes youth development – Fostering a mainstreamed, evidence based, integrated and result oriented youth development approach through relevant research, policy development, capacity building, regulations, monitoring and evaluation, communication and advisory service.

 

· Enhanced Sustainable social capital for young people in South Africa – Promoting and maximising initiatives for the active participation of young people through social cohesion, sports and recreation, health and well being, information provision, community participation activism for improved social conditions of young people in South Africa.

 

· Maintain accountability, prudent, efficient centre for youth development – Efficient and effective utilisation of resources through the provision of judicious governance, technology and systems, business operations systems, human capital, financial management systems that adhere to legislative requirements for public funded entities.

 

In pursuing the abovementioned four strategic outcomes, the NYDA would use 10 programmes over the next five years. The 10 programmes and the strategic objectives related thereto would be listed hereunder.

 

· Economic Participation – This programme would have four strategic objectives which are as follows:

- To enhance the participation of young people in the economy aimed at entrepreneurship participation, job creation, funding opportunities, skills development, and business and funding opportunities. An amount of 170 000 youth entrepreneurs would be assisted to start or sustain their businesses over the next five years.

- To provide financing support to young entrepreneurs. An amount of 15 000 youth enterprises would access funding and businesses opportunities valued at R500 million would be sources over the next five years.

- To facilitate and provide employment opportunities to 6 500 young people over the next five years.

 

· Education and Skills Development – This programme would have two strategic objectives which are as follows:

- To facilitate and implement education opportunities in order to improve the quality education attainment for the youth. An amount of 20 050 learners would be placed in education opportunities over the next five years.

- To facilitate and implement life, professional and technical skills training programmes through various interventions by the NYDA skills development programmes. An amount of 117 210 youth would be enrolled in various training programmes over the next five years.

 

· Policy, Research and Development – This programme consists of three strategic objectives which are as follows:

- To create and produce youth development information and knowledge that informs the public sector, private sector, and civil society in developing policy, planning, implementation and review of all of their programmes related to the government priorities.

- To make the abovementioned youth information and knowledge available and accessible.

- To facilitate youth development work as a recognised profession.

 

· Partnerships and Stakeholder Management – This programme has one strategic objective which is to lobby key stakeholders and institutions in the public, private and civic society sectors, including international donor agencies to work with and support youth development initiatives.

 

· Communication and Advisory Services – This programme consists of two strategic objectives which are as follows:

- To provide career guidance service sessions to 2.4 million youth over the five year period.

 

· National Youth Service and Social Cohesion – This programme has one strategic objective which is to build a culture of community service amongst the youth at the same time providing young people with the opportunity of learning skills and culture of working whist serving their communities. An amount of 125 00 young people would be targeted and enrolled and 125 projects would be registered in all 9 provinces of the country in the next five years.

 

· Sport Recreation and Arts – The strategic objective of this programme is to promote youth participation in sport, arts and culture activities and 20 000 youth would be targeted to participate in NYDA programmes in all 9 provinces over the five year period.

 

· Health and Well-being – The strategic objective of this programme is to increase awareness on healthy lifestyles that promote good health practices amongst the youth, including dangers of substance abuse, unprotected sex, nutrition, sexual transmitted diseases and the impact of HIV and AIDS. An amount of 30 000 youth would be provided with information and educational material on healthy lifestyles.

 

· Governance and Administration – The strategic objective related to this programme is efficient and effective utilisation of resources through provision of judicious governance, technology and systems, business operations systems, human capital, financial management systems that adhere to the relevant legislative requirements for public funded entities. Over the five year period, 289 NYDA access points would be established.

 

· National Youth Fund – The strategic objective related to this programme is to mobilize and leverage financial contributions from third parties to implement entrepreneurship and skills development programmes.

 

3. Budget Allocation of the National Youth Development Agency

 

The National Youth Development Agency received a total budgetary allocation of R376 million for the 2012/13 financial year. The budget consists of 6 programmes, i.e. Administration; Economic Development; National Youth Service and Social Cohesion; National Youth Advisory and Information Service; Policy, Research and Development; and Education and Skills Development. The budgetary allocations for the 2012 MTEF would be depicted in Table 2 below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2: Budget allocation for the 2012/13 financial year

BUDGET FOR THE PERIOD 2011/12 – 2014/15
	PREVIOUS YEAR	TO BE APPROPRIATED	MTEF PROJECTIONS
Period	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
Amount	R385.9 million	R376 million	397 million	R420 million

 

4. Deliberations

The Committee sought clarity in respect of the recovery rate of loans that were made to young entrepreneurs. Concerns were expressed that the NYDA could not provide the Committee with a figure in that regard. The NYDA reported that it had intensified its efforts to recoup the loans that were made to young entrepreneurs and that 20 people with the highest outstanding amounts were targeted through utilising legal services. This process has yielded good results thus far and the NYDA was predicting to recoup R34 million during the 2012/13 financial year.

 

With regard to the NYDAs budget allocation for the Administration programme, concerns were expressed at the high personnel costs which constituted more than 40 per cent of the total allocation. The budget allocated to compensation of employees for the 2012/13 financial year was as follows:

· Board of Directors – R4.3 million (2 per cent)

· Provincial Boards – R13.7 million (8 per cent)

· NYDA Staff – R155.8 million (90 per cent)

 

The Committee requested that the NYDA submit a breakdown of the budget allocation of the Administration programme.

 

Reference was made to the bad publicity that the NYDA was getting from the media, especially related to the high salaries that the board members and staff were receiving and the world festival of youth and students that was held in South Africa from 13 to 1 December 2010.

 

It was stated that the NYDA needed to do more to communicate the services that it was offering to youth throughout South Africa . The Committee lamented that the youth of South Africa was not in dialogue around the issues which affected them, especially at a local governmental level. The NYDA reported that there were 144 access points throughout the country and that these included 14 full service branches. It was agreed that the NYDA should submit a breakdown of all programmes and projects that it supported at a Provincial and municipal level.

 

The Committee stated that it could not evaluate the performance of the NYDA given the fact that the past performances has not been presented to the Committee, to this end it was agreed that a report thereon be provided to the Committee.

 

5. Findings

Having considered the strategic plan and the Budget of the National Youth Development Agency, the Standing Committee on Appropriations identified the following findings:

 

5.1 The personnel costs under the Administration programme of the National Youth Development Agency were more than 40 per cent of the total budgetary allocation. This was a cause for concern.

 

5.2 There was a decrease in the proposed budget of the NYDA while the number of programmes has increased in the Agency.

 

5.3 The lack of dialogue amongst the youth of South Africa regarding issues affecting them is an indication of poor communication bet ween the Agency and young people at large.

 

5.4 The National Youth Development Agency experienced challenges with regard to the recouping of loans that were made to young entrepreneurs. The exact amount owing could not be provided to the Committee during the briefing.

 

6. Recommendations

 

Having considered the Strategic Plan of the National Youth Development Agency (2012/13 – 2016/17 period), and as well as the budget of the Agency for the 2012/13 financial year, the Standing Committee on Appropriations recommends as follows:

 

6.1 That the National Assembly approves the budget of the National Youth Development Agency for the 2012/13 financial year.

 

 

Report to be considered.