BY REGINALD KANYANE

MORE than 100 unemployed youth benefited from a YouthBuild programme that was kickstarted by The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) in partnership with the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality in the North West province on Sunday.

YouthBuild programme involved 100 unemployed rural youth from Taung and its surrounding villages who were being trained in plumbing and welding.

NYDA executive chairperson, Yershen Pillay 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. As the agency, there is nothing more fulfilling than witnessing young people involved in building a better South Africa for all.”

Pillay said that the YouthBuild volunteers were embarked on possibly one of the greatest skills transferred programmes of their lives for what they were about to learn is practical, real-world expertise.

“This programme represents the very first of its kind in this community. The project, which the NYDA has contributed over R1.9 million towards, involves unemployed young people who are becoming prone to risky behaviours due to being out of school and unemployed. The youth will commence short skills development training using the YouthBuild programme model to learn technical skills that they can use to empower themselves and generate income for themselves and their families.” he said.

According to Pillay, the YouthBuild project was a comprehensive programme that integrated academic achievement, work experience, social action, leadership development, and personal transformation in a single project. He said that they had witnessed all of the above being imparted to previous YouthBuild participants in communities around the country with life changing effects and were confident that the same results will be delivered in the North West.

Victoria Mohale from Leshobo Village, 15km from Taung who was one of the beneficiaries said: “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.”

Mohale completed matric in 2011 and has been unemployed since then, but she said that she kept herself busy with various volunteer opportunities to gain work experience and skills.
The training identified for the project will be an accredited construction skills programme at NQF level 3 and it will be in the plumbing and welding trades as identified by the municipality. The programme was part of the Building and Civil Engineering Qualification approved by the Construction SETA.

According to NYDA, a total of 2 342 young people participated in structured YouthBuild programmes implemented by the NYDA in partnership with various other stakeholders such as the Human Settlements and Extended Public Works Programme back in 2014.

-TDN

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