Political Science & Public Administration

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10530/502

Browse

Browsing Political Science & Public Administration by Author "Ede, C.I."

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    An assessment of government’s national youth policies’ impact on entrepreneurship development of unemployed youths at grassroots Level in Empangeni.
    (University of Zululand, 2017) Ede, C.I.
    All over the world, public and private sectors of the economy have made ample effort in the formulation and implementation of development policies to alleviate the problem of youth unemployment in their society. Post-Apartheid governments in South Africa have not been different in their determination to improve on the lives of the youth through salient policies and programmes. Despite numerous efforts by government through voluminous legislative policies, little has been chronicled in terms of their efficacy and effectiveness due to the dearth of scholarly examination, especially at grassroots level. This is coupled with the fact that the few existing pieces of literature in the field have not reflected the plight of young people aged 1534, which is in line with the latest definition of ‘youth’ in South Africa. The study, therefore, intends to establish that, since 1994, the nation’s policy formulation and implementation mechanisms have made some impact (positive and negative alike) on the lives of its young populace, and the most prominent of its strategic policy – the Integrated Youth Development Strategy – has also impacted on both small and medium scale business sectors, as well as of large-scale enterprise development in the country. A sample size of over 185 respondents whose opinion was solicited by means of questionnaire and interview schedules formed the primary data source, and the evaluation of globally renowned youth development programmes like ‘Women’s Income Generating Support’ (WINGS), ‘Youth Opportunity Programme’ (YOP) and ‘Start and Improve Your Business’ (SIYB) in Uganda, formed the source of the secondary data of the study. The implication of this research is, if such result-oriented programmes can be replicated fully at the grassroots level in South Africa, young men and women will have new hopes for better economic engagement, in a country with one of the world’s highest unemployment rates. The uniqueness of this study is consistent with overall national concern to the deteriorating situation of unemployed youths in South Africa, whose protracted state of redundancy in a supposed leading economy on the continent can no longer be condoned.
University of Zululand