PSPF pumps E600 000 into EYEP for youth unemployment fight

MBABANE – The Public Service Pensions Fund (PSPF) has pumped E600 000 into the Eswatini Youth Empowerment Programme (EYEP), which is tasked with fighting youth unemployment in Eswatini.

The programme is the brainchild of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Through this programme, UNDP aims to assist young people who have graduated but remain unemployed. It is aimed at assisting them by linking them with companies that could absorb them through internships and jobs.

The programme also aims to assist those who did not graduate or make it to tertiary institutions by providing them with entrepreneurship skills to enable them to start own businesses.

EYEP is set to support 4 500 unskilled youth across the country’s four regions with artisanry skills to set them on a path to start small businesses.

Qualification

The trained youth, with a minimum qualification of Grade VII, will further receive starter kits under the UNDP-initiated programme.

Yesterday, the PSPF handed over the funding to UNDP, an event which saw both signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU). The funding will be used in implementing the youth programme.

PSPF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Masotja Vilakati appreciated UNDP for coming up with the programme. He appreciated the way that the UNDP had the programme coordinated.

He also noted that the PSPF had almost a similar programme to that of the UNDP, which they started three years ago. He said in the programme, the

PSPF absorbed graduates for internship programmes for at least a period of a year and then released them to look for other opportunities. He said they were proud that the first group they assisted was now employed.

He urged the companies that had committed to participating in the UNDP-led programme by absorbing the graduates, to give them meaningful jobs other than sending them around on errands that would not be of benefit to them.

Signed

Apart from the PSPF, the UNDP signed other MoUs with the different town boards across the country. The town boards are Nhlangano Town Board, Mankayane Town Board and Ezulwini Town Council. The Construction Industry Council (CIC) also signed an MoU with the UN agency.

These entities committed themselves to support the UNDP programme by absorbing the graduates in terms of internship programmes and jobs.

Nhlangano Town Council CEO Babsy Mavuso said the programme came at the right time, when the town council was busy with programmes to develop the town and take it to greater heights. He noted that for years, Nhlangano had been seen as lagging behind in development.

Ezulwini Town Council CEO Mathokoza Shongwe said the EYEP would help them to expand their youth reach out.

Shongwe said this programme would provide an opportunity to look at ways not only to provide employment but also to development entrepreneurial skills, which would help people establish their own small medium enterprises (SMEs).

He said this programme would also challenge them to look at ways to expand their budget in order to accommodate the young people. He challenged the other town councils not to rely on UNDP as a financial support but also look at how they could run such programmes from their own coffers.

UNDP Governance Advocacy Associate Sakhile Shabangu said a total of 2 700 applications were received from graduates across the country by March 31, 2023, which was the deadline for the applications.

He noted that the Hhohho Region had the highest number of applications, while Lubombo had the lowest. He mentioned that the applicants included PHD holders and some dated even way back to 2012, when they graduated.

He said most of the applicants were females as they formed 58 per cent of the total applications, while males formed the remaining 42 per cent.

Entries

Shabangu said the year that recorded the highest number of entries was 2021, with 24 per cent of total entries, followed by 2022.

UNDP Resident Representative Rose Ssebatindira said the youth unemployment rate was too high in the country, such that there was a need to establish ways to reduce this numbers. She noted that there was also a need to find out why the Lubombo Region had the lowest number of applications.

Ssebatindira said it was concerning that there were PHD holders, who were sitting at home and wondered what their reasons were.

Did they pick wrong courses or the market did not demand the certificates they were having?

She also noted that there were so many graduate teachers sitting at home, which also raised a question whether the country had a less demand for teachers.