In order to fight unemployment among the youth, which currently stands at at a staggering 34.4 percent, government has funded 11,494 Enterprises to the tune of P1.1 Billion Since 2009/10 with a success rate of 78.8 percent, the Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Tumiso Rakgare has revealed.
Speaking at the youth engagement session in the honour of the governor general of The Commonwealth of Bahamas, Dame Cynthia Alexandria, Rakgare said the government continues to make some strides to support Botswana’s youthful population.
The engagement was held at Botswana National Museum in Gaborone on Wednesday where Alexandria toured a business exhibition by young people to appreciate products made by Batswana youth.
In the face of global recessions and economic meltdowns, youth unemployment in Botswana stands at 34.4 percent despite the available efforts of growth of youth owned businesses as a solution to youth unemployment.
One of those initiatives is the Youth Development Fund (YDF) which was established in 2009/10.
The programme is a conversion of the Out-of-School Youth Grant Programme where youth are given P50 000 grants, to increased project ceilings of P100 000 and P450 000 interest-free loans, except where the beneficiary defaults in repayments, thereby attracting 5 percent interest.
“To alleviate the misfortune of collapsing projects, several initiatives continue to be devised to increase sustainability. This include partnership with the private sector to enhance business acumen, advocacy for Affirmative Action and the transfer of the YDF to the Ministry of Entrepreneurship to enable the Ministry of Youth to focus on other youth development spheres of the continuum,” said Rakgare adding that youth development in Botswana takes supremacy in the socio-political and economic empowerment of young people.
YDF has funded around 11,494 projects at the tune of P1.1 billion therefore creating 21,262 jobs in the process since inception.
“Sustainability of the projects and loan repayment have been the downside of the achievements outlined, owing to various causes ranging from business acumen amongst the funded youth, limited capacity to monitor the projects and limited funding to provide adequate mentorship and coaching,” added Rakgare.
Botswana has a youthful population with 66 percent of the population between 0-35 years according to the 2022 Population Census. Of the 66 percent, 34.9 percent are youth aged between 15-35 years.
