Upskilling Youth for Rural Development

National Rural Youth Service Corps

By Jessie Taylor

Youth unemployment in South Africa remains a key priority for the national government. Among the numerous programmes in place to increase employment among young people is the youth flagship programme of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, the National Rural Youth Service Corps.

The latest quarterly labour statistics from Statistics South Africa indicate that the youth (aged 15 to 34 years) remain vulnerable in the labour market. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the total number of unemployed youth increased by 87 000 to 4,7 million. There was a decrease of 97 000 in the number of employed youth to 5,9 million.

The skills development provided by the National Rural Youth Service Corps programme focuses on construction, agriculture, disaster mitigation, office management, basic administrative skills, project administration and enterprise development. This skill development aligns with the identified need to promote economic development in rural areas.

Teaching Multidisciplinary Skills

The National Rural Youth Service Corps aims to develop youth with multidisciplinary skills through specifically developed programmes linked to community needs in rural areas.

The National Rural Youth Service Corps provide character-building programmes and soft and hard skills training. It also dispatches the youth to rural areas to undertake various rural infrastructure and other development projects. The programme aims to upskill youth from rural areas, allowing them to become entrepreneurs and employment creators and breaking the cycle of dependency on social grants.

Among the skills that participants are taught include smallholder livestock and dairy production, and vegetable gardening and soil sampling. The first two years of the programme focus on skills development while the latter two focus on enterprises' incubation.

The programme has been specifically designed as part of the National Youth Service and focuses on aspects of discipline, patriotism and service delivery in rural communities. In this vain, after completing the skills-development phase, participants enter a community-service phase, where they apply their newly acquired skills in rural communities under the mentorship of the responsible department.

The final phase of the Narysec is linked to the maintenance and operations activities of local and district municipalities. When participants complete the four-year National Rural Youth Service Corps programme, they can be employed or contribute to the economies of their respective communities through building enterprises.

Training Youth To Uplift Rural Communities

At the recent passing out of National Rural Youth Service Corps graduates, President Cyril Ramaphosa called on businesses and other bodies to support rural economic development by hiring graduates and assisting them to start their own businesses. “We can only overcome the challenge of youth unemployment if we work together. Let us build better, stronger and safer rural communities. Let us leave no one behind,” he said.

President Ramaphosa said that through the National Rural Youth Service Corps, the government has been working to change the high rate of unemployment amongst rural youth and lack of developmental opportunities in their areas. "There are less factories, industries and businesses in rural areas. As a result, there is less economic activity than in metros and urban areas. Access to tertiary education in rural areas, though it is improving, is still limited," said President Ramaphosa. "As a result, young people in search of opportunity are migrating away from rural areas to the cities. This affects development in rural areas. Through the National Rural Youth Service Corps, we have been working to change this."

The president added that the government aims to continue to scale up the National Rural Youth Service Corps programme, to ensure more young people can feed into the District Development Model. The District Development Model is designed to address problems with service delivery by allowing all spheres of government, from local municipalities to national government, to work together in a more effective and coordinated way. This will help municipalities to better plan, budget and implement projects and programmes.

President Ramaphosa added that National Rural Youth Service Corps graduates can contribute to making rural areas sources of job creation, self-employment and entrepreneurship, and models of excellence in service delivery.

“Youth must be at the forefront of bringing development to rural communities. It is our responsibility to provide them with the knowledge, skills and experience that will enable them to play their part in bettering their communities," he said. “You have been given the tools. Now it is up to you to use them to better your own lives and to bring about change in your communities. Use what you have learned to work with government and other social partners to alleviate poverty, unemployment, inequality and underdevelopment."

Recruitment for the National Rural Youth Service Corps is done through advertisements and selection by community structures. Narysec participants are expected to stay in the programme for 48 months following their recruitment from rural communities. For more information, visit www.dalrrd.gov.za

Source: SA News, DALLRD, Stats SA