Policy Document on Youth Enterprise Funds unveiled

The Ministry of Youth in collaboration with the South Sudan Youth Organizations’ Coalition have rolled out the Policy Document on Youth Enterprise Funds.

The Policy document, aimed at decentralizing the allocation of the Youth Development Funds, was officially handed over to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Thursday at the Ministerial Complex in Juba.

Dr. Albino Bol Dhieu, the Minister of Youth and Sports said the policy document is part of the support to the Youth Development Funds initiative designed to empower young people as speculated in the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan.

“This document could help about the youth development and the best way to do it is through practicing the best policies and laws,” he said.  

Albino revealed that the European Union pledged €5million to the Youth Development Funds in an effort to make the initiative vibrant.

“As a ministry, we are trying to come up with a very scrutinized and decentralized system of handling the youth funds so as to reach the real beneficiaries at the grass roots level,” Albino said.

The minister calls for transparency and fairness in distribution of the funds countrywide but decried the prevalence of nepotism and corruption deeply rooted in the country.

“One of the things that South Sudan is suffering from is the issue of nepotism and corruption and in order for young people to fight this, without favour of anyone be it a government official or his own people, I have to make sure that it has to come through a decentralized way, whereby we will give to cooperative.

“We are not going to individuals because the cooperatives will make sure that diversity is reflected and gender balance is also reflected as well,” he said.     

He also revealed that there is going to be a workshop that would bring in all cooperatives that would work collaboratively with the ministry to make sure that everyone benefits and that there is progress.

Albino said the youth will be included this time and called for peace to materialize as to have progress and also the need to empower the youth to be able to be self-reliant.

Christine Kide, the National Coordinator of Youth Coalition explained that the document was specifically on the youth enterprise development funds.

“We wanted this policy document to go through an act of parliament so that it comes out as a law, a law that any other government in future in South Sudan would use it as a law of the country to support the young people in this nation,” Kide said.