Social Development
- How many youths to date have undergone the various outreach programs of his Department;
- whether a monitoring system has been established to monitor the social behaviour of the youths who took part in the outreach programs, after their participation in the programs; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
(2.1) The youth outreach programme is an ongoing programme in which Minister
Fritz will engage with young people from across the Province in all 6 regions. The Outreach Programme has thus far focused on Eden Karoo, Cape Winelands and Metro South regions. A total of 380 participants have been reached in the engagements at this stage with the breakdown per engagement as follows: Eden Karoo (263) Cape Winelands (72), Metro South (45)
(2.2) There is a comprehensive programme of follow-ups in each region that involves the local youth themselves, the local DSD offices and NGOs with expertise in youth engagement. The ongoing engagement process is aimed at consolidating and deepening the process of positive behaviour initiated via the initial engagements. It is important to emphasise that behaviour change is not something that can be sustained via once-off events and therefore the process of ongoing engagement with the young people is a critical element of the Outreach Programme. If such an ongoing process of engagement is not sustained, the gains made via the initial engagements will quickly dissipate. The elements of the follow-up process after each engagement are the following:
- The establishment of a Youth Outreach Work Team including: DSD representatives (Ministry and Youth programme), regional office youth co-ordinator, selected local youth co-ordinators and specialist NGOs;
- A report for each region with follow up plan for each engagement;
- Ensuring that the local DSD offices are actively involved in the monitoring;
- Implementation and monitoring of project plans that monitor progress/behaviour change;
- 6-monthly follow ups to each region;
