29 Jun 2015

Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Mr Thapelo Olopeng, has underscored the importance of the Graduate Volunteer Scheme (GVS) in imparting youth with job market experience.

Mr Olopeng says GVS is basically a volunteer programme that was never meant to be a solution for unemployment.

Also, government did not initiate the scheme as some critics would like to believe, says the minister.

Generally, a volunteer is a non-salaried worker; someone who spends his valuable time doing something that will benefit a person, a group of people, or society in general without expecting any remuneration.

“I got very disappointed how this initiative raised controversies and criticism, after it was introduced despite the fact that the name of the programme itself is self-explanatory; ‘Graduate Volunteer Scheme’; I even visited the dictionary to confirm the meaning of the word,” says Mr Olopeng.

He says government’s involvement is only in as far as assisting the youth with some pocket money towards their volunteerism.

The minister says for a long time the youth, under the National Internship Programme, were sometimes made to wait for their turns, and that during such periods, some of them opted to volunteer.

“When these children are out there volunteering their services, they are bound to incur expenses and that is when government made an effort to assist,” he says.

He adds that government encourages volunteerism as a spirit that has subsisted as far back as 1965 hence the introduction of the P600 token to meet volunteers half way as they gain some job market experience.

He says some organisations, especially the private sector, require employment recruits to have two or more years experience. As such, GVS will give young people an opportunity to be ready for such requirements.

Mr Olopeng says at the moment, the ministry is still working round the clock to see how the GVS uptake unfolds. Currently, there are 105 applicants registered under the scheme.
The programme is yet to be launched and it focuses on youth from 18 to 35 years.
 

It will strictly be reserved for government entities for purposes of management, accountability and access to information.

Regarding reduction of unemployment amongst youth, minister Olopeng says his main focus is on the Youth Development Fund, which he intends to use to change the lives of young people.

He says currently he has assigned officers to come up with an informative and systematic database that will address specific issues pertaining to YDF projects.

“We want to evaluate existing businesses to know why they are collapsing and in future consider refinancing those projects that can create employment for more young people,” he says. Ends