A group of 35 youth from the seven wards that make up Subcouncil 12 will benefit from a skills development programme launched recently.
The Subcouncil comprises five wards, namely Ward 35 in Philippi East and Mitchells Plain Wards 76, 82, 92 and 116.
Subcouncil 12 chair and Ward 116 councillor Solomon Philander says the 35 youth signed up on Thursday 20 March and were randomised and mixed with recruitment from community organisations working with youth.
“As elected ward councillors, we are committed to mainstream youth in all we do as a local government.
“We acknowledge that youth challenges are best dealt with by youth itself, to influence others to disrupt patterns of bad decisions in the community,” he says.
“We are strongly of the view that when making a dedicated team available in the community we will not only have a reactive, but a proactive approach responding to key challenges in various wards.”
Representation
Each ward has seven representatives, with an additional four spots for Ward 116 representatives as a result of additional ward allocation funding made available for the programme.
“The group will daily interact with youth in the community. To measure it now will be premature, but we would like to have the access. Ward 116 will have a five-day Youth Desk for youth at the ward office in the town centre.”
The total cost of the programme is R1 million, with R900 000 allocated by the subcouncil and an additional R100 000 allocated as part of the Ward 116 2024-’25 financial year.
More investment
This project builds on the skills project that was rolled out in the previous financial year, says Philander.
The programme aims to recruit Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers during this financial year to roll out the life skills projects which give youth access to support services and ward-based initiatives to improve service delivery.
“The project will continue in the next financial year. The aim of the project is to identify challenges and responding to the challenges by using the resources available to address the challenge. For example, the children of school going age are not attending school and roaming the street daily without supervision. The team will identify those children and seek measures to assist the child being returned to school with support from the responsible social agency,” says Philander.
“Another major issue is people using illegal substances in the open. Working together with responsible agents we want to raise awareness to reduce the use of illegal substances. On another note we want to encourage youth to live active lives in sports and community activities.”
The project will complete in June and will continue in the new financial year starting in July.
