Cultural Affairs and Sport

Question by: 
Hon Thomas Walters
Answered by: 
Hon Ricardo Mackenzie
Question Number: 
12
Question Body: 

Given the challenges of youth unemployment and the national government’s disinvestment in youth service:

  1. How is the Province (i) sustaining and (ii) expanding the Year Beyond Programme in 2025/26 and (b) what tangible impact is this programme having on young people across the province?
Answer Body: 

12. National government has increased its investment in youth service which is now one of the four pillars of the PYEI Phase 2 programme. This is very exciting as we, the Western Cape, have always believed that youth service is a key programme to address both youth disengagement and youth unemployment. We are delighted that YearBeyond, our flagship programme, has been awarded 4 000 opportunities, 3 000 of which will be in the Western Cape, under NYS 4.

12.(a) How is the Province (i) sustaining and (ii) expanding the Year Beyond Programme in 2025/26.

12. (a)(I,ii) Notwithstanding the national investment Western Cape Government continues to invest in YearBeyond. This year we increased our investment, to specifically grow the libraries programme and step up efforts to build a nation of readers and to support communities with digital access, and received an extra R3 million from Growth 4 Jobs.

12.(b)what tangible impact is this programme having on young people across the province?

12.(b) YearBeyond has numerous benefits including:

  • Increasing the confidence of youth with 97% exiting the programme more confident about their future
  • Building youth’s competencies with 93% feeling more prepared to enter the economy
  • Increasing youth’s hopefulness with 70%+ of youth exiting the programme hopeful, compared to 44% on entry.
  • In addition to these generic benefits the programme provides a bridge into the economy for youth with 70%+ transitioning into economic activity. Another benefit is that youth remain active in civic life, and are 45% more likely to be active citizens.

 

 

Date: 
Thursday, June 26, 2025
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