Cape Town - The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), in partnership with the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality in the North West, launched a programme on Thursday that would equip and empower unemployed rural youth in the province with training skills.
The YouthBuild programme, available in the Taung community for the first time, involves 100 unemployed rural youth from Taung and surrounding villages and would see these youth being trained in plumbing and welding.
Yershen Pillay, NYDA Executive Chairperson said, “this programme is another example of the real work carried out by the NYDA in rural areas with life-changing impact for the participants”.
Over R1,9 million has been allocated to the YouthBuild project, which is an accredited construction skills programme at NQF level 3, and is part of the Building and Civil Engineering Qualification approved by the Construction SETA.
The purpose of the programme is to provide training to “unemployed young people who are becoming prone to risky behaviours due to being out of school and unemployed,” said NYDA spokesperson, Nawhal Kara-Foster.
The programme, which Pillay explained is “a comprehensive programme that integrates academic achievement, work experience, social action, leadership development, and personal transformation in a single project” would see youth learning “technical skills that they can use to empower themselves and generate income for themselves and their families”.
Victoria Mohale, who is from Leshobo Village, 15 kms from Taung is one of the youth who has already benefited from the programme. She matriculated in 2011, and has been unemployed since, but keeps busy with volunteer programmes through which she can gain skills.
“I joined the NYDA YouthBuild programme to learn the plumbing trade, which I was first exposed to in primary school where artisan training was part of our curriculum. I have already started a plumbing cooperative with other young people from my community so when I heard about the YouthBuild programme in Taung I knew I had to be a part of it,” she said.
Pillay said, “As the NYDA, there is nothing more fulfilling than witnessing young people involved in building a better South Africa for all”.
He added, “our YouthBuild volunteers are embarking on possibly one of the greatest skills transfer programmes of their lives for what they are about to learn is practical, real-world expertise. This programme represents the very first of its kind in this community”.
ANA