WITH an eye on the immense challenges of joblessness facing the youth in the rural sector, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform is making deliberate and measurable strides forward in laying the foundation for a success story.
The youth development programme, the National Rural Youth Service Corps (Narysec) was only started in 2010 by the department with a small complement of trainees. By last year more than 14000 rural young people between the ages of 18 and 35 years of age had enrolled into the four-year programme for training in skills and life-skills that will help them become productive, marketable and start their own businesses.
Among the life skills being acquired by the Narysec trainees are discipline and patriotism which they are required to learn from our South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers during a three-month stint at our military bases.
Some argue that the South African Army is the only institution left that still retains a semblance of discipline in the country. And the army training instills not only discipline but builds self-esteem among the trainees.
When Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti conceptualised Narysec in 2010, he wanted to do two things: first, to fight unemployment among the rural youth who are hardest hit by joblessness; and second, to create a pool of skilled young people who are able to develop their rural areas.
We all know there is a lot of underdevelopment in the countryside which is due to lack of infrastructure and people with the requisite skills.
The Narysec trainees have rewarded the minister for the trust he placed in them by building houses for poor families in their respective areas, assisting in building bridges and helping upgrade the rural roads by paving them – things that had never been thought of five years ago.
Now some of these trainees who have acquired advanced skills have ventured into other fields, such as community libraries, waste water management and business.
This augurs well for the local governments because the municipalities will now have a pool of trained young people who can assist in the development of the local areas.
Not only is this programme addressing rural development and joblessness, but Narysec is also a strategy to reverse the legacy of the 1913 Natives’ Land Act which brought about immense disparities and suffering.
Rural people were marginalised and unable to gain training and experience in technical and financial skills.
In a concerted effort to turn the tables and provide the best for our children, the national government intends expanding this highly successful Narysec programme to 50000 trainees by 2019 so that more youngsters from the rural areas can benefit.
This is a decision that is strategically on target if the department is to succeed in reversing the grinding poverty that characterises the rural areas. Eradicating poverty from the rural areas is a long haul, and requires that the rural development department graduate 400000 people out of poverty each year.
There are an estimated 12 million rural people in the 23 most economically depressed districts of the country. These people live in abject poverty and are in critical need of poverty alleviation programmes such as Narysec.
Former president Nelson Mandela said education was a powerful weapon that people could use to improve their lot. Empowering the poor rural youth with knowledge and skills is a means to rescuing them from the clutches of poverty and deprivation.
Later this month the minister will officially open the Narysec headquarters at Thaba Nchu outside Bloemfontein in the Free State.
The headquarters will serve as a nerve centre for the national rural youth training and development programme under the auspices of the department of rural development and land reform.
These strides in the development of our children have been widely welcomed by the people on the ground and the country’s leaders in the various tiers of government.
A group of Narysec youths, accompanied by senior department officials is currently visiting the People’s Republic of China, where they are expected to study rural development methods and skills training.
It is also anticipated that this trip will broaden their minds about future rural development strategies.
Thousands of trained rural youths will be empowered to be productive in their rural environments and to make a much-needed contribution to infrastructure development projects which the government recently announced would run into billions of rands.
The Narysec programme is the way to go in order to harness the future for a better South Africa.
Mtobeli Mxotwa is the spokesman of the Ministry of Rural Development and Land Reform
Youth corps pushing back poverty frontiers
The youth development programme, the National Rural Youth Service Corps (Narysec) was only started in 2010 by the department with a small complement of trainees. By last year more than 14000 rural young people between the ages of 18 and 35 years of age had enrolled into the four-year programme for training in skills and life-skills that will help them become productive, marketable and start their own businesses.
Among the life skills being acquired by the Narysec trainees are discipline and patriotism which they are required to learn from our South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers during a three-month stint at our military bases.
Some argue that the South African Army is the only institution left that still retains a semblance of discipline in the country. And the army training instills not only discipline but builds self-esteem among the trainees.
When Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti conceptualised Narysec in 2010, he wanted to do two things: first, to fight unemployment among the rural youth who are hardest hit by joblessness; and second, to create a pool of skilled young people who are able to develop their rural areas.
We all know there is a lot of underdevelopment in the countryside which is due to lack of infrastructure and people with the requisite skills.
The Narysec trainees have rewarded the minister for the trust he placed in them by building houses for poor families in their respective areas, assisting in building bridges and helping upgrade the rural roads by paving them – things that had never been thought of five years ago.
Now some of these trainees who have acquired advanced skills have ventured into other fields, such as community libraries, waste water management and business.
This augurs well for the local governments because the municipalities will now have a pool of trained young people who can assist in the development of the local areas.
Not only is this programme addressing rural development and joblessness, but Narysec is also a strategy to reverse the legacy of the 1913 Natives’ Land Act which brought about immense disparities and suffering.
Rural people were marginalised and unable to gain training and experience in technical and financial skills.
In a concerted effort to turn the tables and provide the best for our children, the national government intends expanding this highly successful Narysec programme to 50000 trainees by 2019 so that more youngsters from the rural areas can benefit.
This is a decision that is strategically on target if the department is to succeed in reversing the grinding poverty that characterises the rural areas. Eradicating poverty from the rural areas is a long haul, and requires that the rural development department graduate 400000 people out of poverty each year.
There are an estimated 12 million rural people in the 23 most economically depressed districts of the country. These people live in abject poverty and are in critical need of poverty alleviation programmes such as Narysec.
Former president Nelson Mandela said education was a powerful weapon that people could use to improve their lot. Empowering the poor rural youth with knowledge and skills is a means to rescuing them from the clutches of poverty and deprivation.
Later this month the minister will officially open the Narysec headquarters at Thaba Nchu outside Bloemfontein in the Free State.
The headquarters will serve as a nerve centre for the national rural youth training and development programme under the auspices of the department of rural development and land reform.
These strides in the development of our children have been widely welcomed by the people on the ground and the country’s leaders in the various tiers of government.
A group of Narysec youths, accompanied by senior department officials is currently visiting the People’s Republic of China, where they are expected to study rural development methods and skills training.
It is also anticipated that this trip will broaden their minds about future rural development strategies.
Thousands of trained rural youths will be empowered to be productive in their rural environments and to make a much-needed contribution to infrastructure development projects which the government recently announced would run into billions of rands.
The Narysec programme is the way to go in order to harness the future for a better South Africa.
Mtobeli Mxotwa is the spokesman of the Ministry of Rural Development and Land Reform
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