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By Paul Mabote “We are generation 2020! We don’t want a hand-out, we want a hand up!” That is the inspirational slogan found on the face of the National Youth Policy (20152020) document. The document is the middle child, being that it succeeds an earlier version of itself (the NYP 2009-2014) and precedes the most recent version which is still in development (the NYP 2021-2025). The documents are meant to set out government’s aims and strategies regarding youth development in the country. However, there’s a national cloud of doubt as to whether the government is up to the task of implementing these policies.
KZN focus grouphosted by Nkosikhona Mpungose
Out with the Old For the development of the most recent version of the National Youth Policy (NYP 2021-2025), submissions were made by various youth development structures across South Africa, to the National Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME). ACTIVATE! participated by mobilising more than 350 young people (a total of 17 focus groups) throughout the country, in sessions where young people got the opportunity to review and give comment on the contents of the (NYP 2015-2020). Based on the views and comments from Activators from across the country, ACTIVATE! carefully consolidated the Networks submission and sent it to the DPME. “Under the Youth Making Local Government Work (YMLGW) Campaign, we made the decision to mobilise the network and host focus groups with young people from different communities. Reading through the policy, one can see how detailed and how important the policy is for the development of the youth. However, many of the youth are in the dark about the existence of such a policy which governs many things that affect them. Likewise, for a number of the young people, the sessions were an important learning curve,” says YMLGW Coordinator, Bongiwe Ndlovu.
GP focus group hosted by Phathuxolo Ndzimande
Good on Paper “An interesting thing about the (NYP 2015-2020) is that it has inside it more than 190 ‘should’s,” says Bongiwe, “but the big problem is that ‘should’ does not necessarily hold anyone accountable,” she continues. So one of the questions was how do we change the wording, so that we do not end up with another 5 years of an unimplemented youth policy?
So what do the youth want? There were several common issues expressed by young people regarding the implementation of the National Youth Policy. Some of them were access to youthfriendly services at health institutions and the reduction of the gap between small and big businesses. Bongiwe says that there were submissions that spoke of substance abuse and the bigger role that the private sector could be playing in the effort to reduce it. Activator and Youth Hub manager Lebogang Ditsebe led a focus group in Kimberely in the Northern Cape, he says, “The development of youth sports is included within the framework of the policy, as sports is regarded as a big and important instrument of nation-building. However, the development of sports at grassroots level seems to be abandoned in most of our communities. Arts must also be incorporated as a mandatory part of the public schooling curriculum to make the most of our young people’s various capabilities.”
Limpopo focus group hosted by Mercy Rambuawani
“Looking at the policy, it is important to remember that the visions included therein, are not going to be brought into reality just by words, but by action. Hosting a focus group in a school in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, I got the opportunity to speak to matric students and get a sense of what they think the National Youth Policy is about and how can we make sure that the visions contained in the latest version are implemented,” says Activator Mordecai Ndlovu, who is the founder of Africa Youth Entrepreneurship.
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