NYDA partners with National Planning Commission to host Status of Youth dialogue

The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) in partnership with the National Planning Commission hosted a successful Status of Youth dialogue on July 7.

A dialogue held at NYDA’s premises in Midrand aimed at diagnosing and addressing the challenges faced by young people in this modern-day society, especially those with no counterpart in the formal education, employment, and training systems.

Young people from various sectors of society were present to share their views and learn from one another.

Youth Development practitioner and managing director of Youth Lab, Pearl Pillay said the Status of Youth Report provides an analysis of youth status in the country.

“It is an excellent document. The report builds on the extensive work that NYDA has undertaken. A series of focus groups were conducted in various parts of the country. Young people from rural, periurban, and different races have been involved,” Pillay explained.

“The report gives us a refreshing perspective of what you people are experiencing in South Africa and allows a foundational tool to create policy and programming from them.”

There were several subjects that were addressed during the dialogue, including high unemployment, inadequate technology, education inequality, and a panel discussion with the theme ‘Crafting a way forward for youth’.

Local youth, Musawenkosi Buthelezi said, “For South Africa to come out successfully – not just in unemployment – it will require us to play a meaningful role in the entire value chain, starting from mining to beneficiation and on to technology acquisition.

” Currently, in South Africa and other parts of Africa, we are mainly responsible for supplying the critical metals that are used in the production of the technologies, and in doing so, we lose a great deal of value on the backend of the value chain.”

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