An assessment of youth development from the National Youth Commission to the National Youth Development Agency
Date
2014-01-15
Authors
Morgan, Anneline Lorencia
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Abstract
The South African population comprises largely of young people who make up
41.2% of the population (NYDA, 2011). The youth of the country are faced with
many challenges such as unemployment; poverty; lack of skills to access the
job market; limited access to education and social challenges related to
HIV/AIDS; teenage pregnancies; substance abuse and crime. Since the new
democratic government youth development has been a key priority for the
country. The government made a concerted effort to respond to youth
development by establishing the National Youth Commission (NYC) in 1996,
the Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF) in 2001, and the National Youth
Development Agency (NYDA) in 2009 which resulted as a merger of the NYC
and UYF.
The focus of the study was to assess youth development from the NYC to
NYDA and whether the NYDA will be more effective in advancing youth
development in the country. The study was of a qualitative nature and used
semi-structured face to face and telephonic interviews to gather data.
Secondary data was also gathered from policy documents, reports, and articles
related to the topic.
The key findings of the research indicated that the majority of the respondents
or participants felt it was the right policy decision by government to merge the
NYC and UYF to form the NYDA. It was also indicated that the funding
allocated to support the NYDA was not sufficient for it to fulfil its mandate
according to the NYDA Act of 2008 to facilitate, coordinate and implement youth
development programmes. The majority of the respondents also felt that the
NYDA needed to play a more active role to better coordinate and mainstream
youth development in all spheres of government.
Description
Thesis (M.M. (Public Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, 2013.
Keywords
Youth development, Government policy, South Africa