Kokorwe explains programmes for the youth

KEOBONYE MAJATSIE
Correspondent | Friday August 21, 2009 00:00

Speaking during this year's commemoration of International Youth Day themed 'Sustainability: Our Challenge, Our Future' in Kasane last Saturday, Kokorwe said according to the 2001 Population Census, youth constitute about 40 percent of the population and that 'this has a bearing on our national planning and budgeting'.

This means that their challenges are national challenges and must therefore be addressed at the national level.  

Kokorwe said the theme was relevant to issues of sustainability that are currently high on the development agenda of every nation. She defined sustainability as the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being and/or the responsible use of resources. As a nation, Kokorwe said, Batswana should challenge both their individual and collective resolve to do better than in the past by ensuring that young people are  given every opportunity to realise their potential.

'As a way of ensuring sustainable national development and growth, the Government of Botswana has, since 1996, come up with the National Youth Policy,' she said. 'The policy highlights challenges faced by the youth and has outlined key strategic areas according to thematic areas to enable mainstreaming of youth issues in national development.'

She said in accordance with the National Youth Policy, the government had employed youth officers in all ministries and local authorities as focal points in mainstreaming youth issues and ensuring youth participation and contribution to national development. Youth officers were also employed to serve the youth in all the country's 57 constituencies.

She added that the creation of different programmes such as the Youth Development Fund, youth awards, youth recreation and youth rallies was aimed at promoting meaningful participation of young people in the country's socio-economic development process.Kokorwe said it was necessary to promote the establishment of viable income-generating projects because youth are tomorrow's leaders.

'Government's contribution on this year's theme of sustainability is to promote active participation of young people in the country's economic diversification process,' she said.

'Some of the key priorities of the government are to develop an enterprising culture among the youth, create sustainable employment opportunities, promote the development of rural industries and reverse rural-urban migration.

She explained that the Youth Development Fund came as an effort by the government to include youth in sustainable national development. The fund, unlike the Out-of-School Youth Programme, had a loan component that seeks to empower the youth to own up to the sustenance of their projects and in turn create opportunities for the next generation of youth to access the fund, thereby making it sustainable. The programme also provides the youth with support services in the form of supervision and monitoring to enable them to initiate viable projects and ensure that sustainability is achieved.

'Let me recognise and appreciate the good performance of our youth in the different sectors of the economy and call upon all of them to utilise the programmes in place to develop and empower themselves in order to recognise that sustainability is indeed our challenge and our future,' she said. (Sila Press Agency)