YOUTH BY FIONA WAKELIN
The National Youth Service Programme Promoting nation building and job creation
T
he National Youth Service Programme (NYSP) is a government initiative aimed at engaging South African youth in community service activities to strengthen service delivery, promote nation-building, foster social cohesion and to assist the youth to acquire occupational skills necessary to access sustainable livelihood opportunities. The National Youth Development Agency provides a secretarial function to the National Youth Service, which is the single largest service programme for young people in the country. The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) was established to address challenges faced by
48| Public Sector Leaders | June 2024
South Africa’s youth and focuses on economic development through youth entrepreneurship, decent employment through jobs programmes, social cohesion and pathways for economic emancipation through the National Youth Service, and the monitoring and evaluation of the integrated youth development strategy. ADDRESSING YOUTH CHALLENGES The NYDA has developed an Integrated Youth Development Strategy that coordinates programmes to alleviate poverty,
generate urban and rural development, combat crime and substance abuse, and alleviate anomie among youth. It also lobbies other organs of state to consider national priorities in respect of youth development. The Agency is taking practical steps to increase youth volunteering because of the benefits that come from involving young South Africans in community service programmes - helping youth break the poverty cycle by facilitating access to decent work and help reduce South Africa’s high unemployment rate.