DAFF Youth News

Plenty of opportunities for young people

There is a critical need to support young people in disadvantaged rural areas, and LandCare provides such opportunities.

Youth in South Africa are the most targeted generation since the future of the country relies on them. LandCare as a programme has realized the need for capacitating and involving youth in the activities since the future of the natural resources lies in their capable hands. The programme has initiated the sub programmes such as the junior LandCare in and out of school and also the involvement of the young adults in the implementation of the projects in the rural communities. Training is also offered that are accredited and non accredited to the youth and those training also improved the knowledge and the ability to work as young people and also to encourage youth to take part in agriculture as a whole. The main aim of involving young people in the projects is to encourage them to be young agricultural entrepreneurs since they have a raw deal in the labour market and the financial crisis and it’s under math has unusual big effects on their livelihood.

Junior LandCare is part of the LandCare programme themes designed to empower the South African youth particularly disadvantaged youth in rural areas. Junior LandCare seeks to address issues of youth unemployment, skills development, school nutrition and environmental Education. It is divided in to two legs which are Junior LandCare in-school and Junior LandCare out of school.

HOW JUNIOR LANDCARE CAN HELP OUT OF SCHOOL SOUTH AFRICAN YOUTH?

In the financial year 2012/13 the LandCare Programme through junior LandCare has managed to create 1211 number of jobs for the youth of South Africa especially in rural areas trough the implementation of different labour intensive LandCare Projects such as gabion construction, wetland rehabilitation, Fencing construction, invasive alien species removal and construction of water reticulation points in the Provinces. Junior LandCare also managed to transfer skills to 12280 number of youth through different trainings such as chain saw operation, gabion structure construction, project management, financial management , health and safety and many others conducted by credible service providers in a project level. These trainings have help a number of young people to secure jobs and some of them have become services providers in different departments.

HOW JUNIOR LANDCARE CAN HELP IN- SCHOOL SOUTH AFRICAN YOUTH?

Junior LandCare has managed to create 100 number of school gardens and provide jojo tanks and water reticulation points in South African school, to help school to deal with problems of kind’s malnutrition and to assist the school feeding scheem. Most of school particularly in rural areas have managed to assist poor kids by providing them with vegetable to cook at home and buy school uniform for poor kids by money acquired through the sale of vegetable to the community. Junior LandCare also contributes to youth in-school by taking them to different camps to learn about environmental issues and how they can change or contribute positively to their own environment. This also encourages young people to take initiatives about issues that affect and to take a lead.

HOW CAN I BE PART OF JUNIOR LANDCARE?

Junior LandCare it based on volunteerism, where youth can come together and identify project need in their community that is based on natural resource management and through the help of the provincial LandCare coordinators develop a business plan, requesting financial assistant from the LandCare secretariat in the Department Of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

CONTACT DETAILS:

Director: Land use and Soil management

Tell: 012 319 7685

E-maiL:DLUSM@daff.gov.za