Issued by: Office of the Deputy President
17 September 1998
The National Youth Commission will be sitting down with South Africa's 60 leading national youth organisations today to agree on a joint plan of action for youth development. The initiative is the third and final component of the NYC's National Youth Action Plan (NYAP), the comprehensive national framework for youth development the NYC is required to complete in terms of both its founding Act and the National Youth Policy. The first two components of the Action Plan, the 1998/99 Programme Plan for Government Departments and the Strategy Plan for the National Youth Commission, have already been completed and submitted to government via the Office of the Deputy President.
Leaders from the youth wings of all the major political parties will be attendance. Organisers expressed confidence that the three day indaba in Johannesburg would result in a clear, collective strategy to ensure that the stipulations of the National Youth Policy became a reality for all South African youth. "The National Youth Action Plan is the logical practical implementation framework to ensure the National Youth Policy becomes a tangible reality," said Youth Commission Deputy Chair, Nomfundo Mbuli. "Already the work programmes for government departments and the NYC in terms of the Policy and Action Plan are well under way. Ensuring that youth development organisations of civil society move in alignment with the policy is the final aspect of consolidating the national plan. "Mbuli said matters were helped significantly by the fact that the 167 youth organisations who had helped create the National Youth Policy had overwhelmingly endorsed the final product. "The only objection raised was by the Freedom Front - against the idea for National Youth Service," she said.
NYC communications director, Paul Johnson, said the completion of the National Youth Action Plan would provide the pretext for a more aggressive public information campaign to make youth people and key stakeholders more aware of the work the Commission has been doing. "As we speak, consumable packs of information detailing the NYC's work are going out to every known youth organisation in South Africa, every Member of the national and provincial legislatures, key members of media and as many schools as we can reach through direct contact," said Johnson. Additionally, the NYC was on the verge of launching its own newsletter and had a community outreach roadshow visiting towns across the country. "For budgetary reasons, we spent the whole of last year over-reliant on news media to get our message to the public with results which were disappointing, though not surprising," Johnson said. "Thankfully this year we can afford to do much more to ensure the effective resolution of this sorry situation where the majority of people have no idea what on earth we're doing."
Issued by Bongani Dladla For further information please call Paul Johnson on Cell - Voicemail 082 771 8466