What is the National Youth Service Programme

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• What is the National Youth Service Programme

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NYS is a government initiative launched in August
2004 to engage young South Africans in community
service activities in order to strengthen service
delivery, promote nation-building, foster social
cohesion to assist youth to gain occupational
skills necessary to access sustainable livelihood
opportunities. The primary beneficiaries of this
Second Economy intervention are the communities
receiving services. The unskilled unemployed
youth are secondary beneficiaries.NYS seek to
give further meaning to the Constitutional
principle of citizens rights responsibilities.
It offers youth an opportunity to express their
civic responsibilities in a structured manner.
What is NYS
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The NYS Vision
Through the NYS Green Paper the draft NYS White
Paper, the following VISION was articulated
To provide a long term effective means of
reconstructing the South African society through
physical rehabilitation, reconstruction of
community resources as well as rebuilding the
fabric of communities. The National Youth
Service will enable young people to promote the
spirit of nation-building by inculcating a sense
of service culture, a common appreciation of
nationhood ensuring integrated youth
development through service learning
activities.
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Origins of NYS

• SA has a history of service racially-based
  military conscription of white youth who, apart
  from military training, received further learning
  opportunities as technicians professionals.
• Parastatals by large offered exit opportunities
  for white youth returning from military service.
• At the dawn of democracy, progressive movements
  called for a new form of youth service grounded
  on nation-building national reconstruction
  values.
• The National Youth Policy (1997), the
  Presidential Jobs Summit (1998) the National
  Youth Development Policy Framework (2002)
  identified Youth Service as one mechanism of
  proving skills development occupational
  experience for unemployed youth as they
  contribute to the overall development of South
  Africas poorest communities.
• Umsobomvu is the 1st the biggest investor to
  NYS since it was established in 2001. Most of the
  funds went to NGOs.
• Public Works was the 1st Dept to launch youth
  service as part of Community Based Public Works
  Programme in March 2001, Grahamstown involving
  420 youth from KZN, EC Limpopo

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Origins of NYS

• The National Youth Policy set a direction
  rationale for the design
• implementation of NYS which highlighted a
  combination of the following
• themes
• development where the skills and capacities of
  young women and men can be employed on projects
  activities which promote development in South
  Africa
• skills training an opportunity for young people
  to gain new experiences develop new skills
  which will benefit them later in life
• national unity where young women men from all
  walks of life are given the opportunity to work
  together with a spirit of reconciliation
  national unity
• service where young people the country as a
  whole benefit through volunteering their services
  for the benefit of the broader community.
• National Youth Policy, 2000

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Origins of NYS

• The National Youth Policy advocated NYS that
  embed these values
• Participation of youth, regardless of race, sex,
  or geographical location
• Promote a common sense of nationhood
• Promote reconstruction development
• Link community service internships to
  career-oriented studies
• Be accredited within the National Qualifications
  Framework (NQF)
• Be linked to the national skills development
  strategy
• Be linked to the national strategy for economic
  growth
• Tap into public private sector society
  resources
• Give special emphasis to rural development
  projects
• Be linked to financial support for education
• Combine compulsory incentive measures to
  encourage young people into the programme.
• National Youth Policy, 2000

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NYS Objectives

• To promote social cohesion build social
  capital
• To inculcate a culture of service to communities
  by young people
• To inculcate the spirit of patriotism in young
  people an understanding of their role in the
  promotion of civic awareness national
  reconstruction
• To develop the skills, knowledge abilities of
  young people to enable them to make a meaningful
  transition to adulthood
• To improve youth employability.

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Operating Principles

• NYS value drivers provides that
• Learning should part of service
• Service activities should support sustainable
  development (at community-level in terms of
  personal development for participating youth)
• There should be appropriate incentives to support
  the participation of young people e.g. accredited
  training support to access sustainable exit
  opportunities
• Sites for youth service should be selected on the
  basis of service delivery priorities
• NYS should develop a culture of self-reliance
  community ownership
• Effective partnerships should drive successful
  implementation of NYS.

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NYS Criteria

• Priority target is out-of-school youth under the
  age of 35
• Projects run between 12-18 months to give
  unskilled youth sufficient time to acquire
  portable work experience
• Service activities should be aligned to national,
  provincial or local government service delivery
  programmes be supported by budgets
• Benefits to the community must be evident
  measurable e.g. number of houses built, number of
  households received health care services etc
• The activities within the service project should
  provide a diversity of tasks for participating
  youth to gain the experience necessary to access
  identified economic learning opportunities
• There should be formal learning to support
  quality service delivery to help youth access
  economic opportunities e.g. work or further
  learning.

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NYS CriteriaThe ideal NYS infrastructure project!

• Service Labour intensive construction of water
  sanitation infrastructure, access roads, houses,
  schools etc (MIG projects)
• Duration 12 months or more to give youth
  sufficient time scope to gain skills work
  experience
• Training Accredited technical skills which are
  integrated with life skills enterprise
  education to prepare youth for self-employment
• Funding MIG, PHP PIG (bricks mortar). UYF
  (youth development support costs). DoL/SETAs
  technical skills training
• Exit opportunities further studies, contracts
  from local government or formal employment

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Target Groups Sectors

• Target groups for NYS include HE FETC students,
  unskilled youth
• youth in conflict with the law. But the
  priority focus is on
• Unemployed unskilled youth
• Rural youth
• Women
• Youth with disabilities
• Youth in conflict with the law
• Youth accessing social grant (those that are
  medically fit to work)
• Sectors targeted include (emphasis on labour
  intensive activities)
• Water sanitation
• Heath social development (incl. HCBC poverty
  alleviation)
• Housing community infrastructure
• Environment nature conservation
• Education (incl. ABET promotion of Maths
  Science)

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The NYS MODEL

• For young people to operate effectively in
  identified occupations, service activities are
  complemented by formal learning which covers
• Life skills
• Technical skills
• Entrepreneurship education
• Aftercare support is important for tracking
  success sustainability

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Delivery Partners
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Delivery Partners
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The Registration Process

• NYS projects are expected to Register with the
  NYSU. The Registration process is intended to
• Encourage an awareness of the criteria
  pertaining to youth service
• Build a culture in which departments
  increasingly wish to participate
• in a larger national process which contributes
  to national reconstruction
• build social cohesion
• Create a quality assurance mechanism which can
  ensure that the
• different requirements of the NYS programmes
  are addressed
• The registration process allows the NYSU to
  mobilise resources for
• technical support capacity building for
  organisations intending to
• implement NYS
• Registration is seen as an important indicator
  of quality
• Registration is also critical for branding
  purposes.

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Voices of youth in service
A TREE AMONG TREES, A PLACE AMONG PLACES You grew
up in a lonely place Where there were no trees
around Where nobody visited you, Where nobody
thought about you or watered you, And where
nobody thought you will bear fruit one day But
you stood up under all those circumstances Today
you are a tree among other trees You bear fruit
and youll continue to bear More fruit, fruit
that gives life, fruit that Heals the broken
hearts You provided shelter for the people People
who were homeless People who had given up in
life You gave them hope And all of that you
provided talent to us Today you are being
noticed That you are a tree amongst trees A place
among the places 17 Shaft Im not afraid to
praise your name. 21-yr old NYS participant
17 Shaft Construction Project, 2004