Social Development

1. (a) How many youth cafés are currently operational in the province?

The Province has 12 operational Youth Cafés, which are located as follows:

b) What are the relevant requirements for the establishment of a youth café?

    The Youth Development Programme requires the following:

1. 1. 1. 1. A partnership, as set out in the existing MOU’s, with the Municipalities who has the relevant infrastructure for a Youth Café and willing to pay for Municipal services.
         2. Appointment of a service provider by DSD to operate the Youth Café.
         3. The service Provider must be registered as a Not for Profit Organisation, Trust or Non-Profit Company and demonstrate experience and knowledge of working with youth.
         4. The organisation must comply to all prescripts of the Funding Policy of DSD
         5. Youth Cafes are rolled out in areas with a high prevalence of NEET (Not in Education, Employed and or Training) Youth.

(c) What kind of activities does a youth café offer?

Apart from the abovementioned services the Youth cafes offer mentoring and linking to social welfare services.

d) How is the success of a youth café monitored and evaluated?

The Department employs Monitoring officials who are responsible to conduct periodic performance monitoring visits to funded organisations. The focus of the monitoring is to assess the performance of organisations on the levels of governance, financial management and service delivery.

In addition to performance monitoring, Community Development Policy Developers also conduct regular line monitoring visits to funded organisations, based on the submission and assessment of quarterly progress reports.

Apart from the Monitoring from DSD, the organisations have their own monitoring systems in place for participants. 

2. Whether her Department plans to open additional youth cafés in the province; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

In the current financial year, the Department is in the process of opening two new youth cafés in the following areas:

1. 1. 1. Mfuleni in Partnership with the City of Cape Town
      2. Worcester in partnership with the Breede Valley Municipality

The ideal situation for the Department of Social Development is to have a Youth Café in each Municipal area in the Western Cape. However, the opening of any new Youth Cafes will be dependent on the availability of budget. The National Treasury’s projected 5% cut to the 2020/21 equitable share baseline of all provinces may prove to be a challenge in this regard.