The Youth Development Fund (YDF) in the North West District showed signs of questionable effectiveness, as fresh data from the recent report shows that while the scheme is creating jobs and supporting youth enterprises, loan repayment remains a major stumbling block.
According to the District Development Committee (DDC) report presented to the full council last week, a total of 35 projects were approved and funded under YDF during the 2024/25 cycle. These projects cut across four key sectors, with manufacturing (5 projects), tourism (6), services (16), and agriculture (16) forming the backbone of the approved initiatives. In total, they received P3.4 million in funding.
“The funded projects are operational and managed to create employment for 39 people; 19 males and 20 females”. However, this marks a decline from the previous quarter where 73 jobs were recorded.
Despite the drop in employment, income generation is showing signs of improvement. “Turnover for 14 projects monitored in quarter one amounted to P173,000.00 versus P5,800 accumulated last quarter”, the report noted, suggesting stronger business activity among operational projects.
Yet, looming over these gains is the persistent issue of poor loan repayment. The report revealed that total arrears now stand at P15 million, with the district failing to collect any repayments in the first quarter of the current financial year. “Target collection for the quarter was P358,244.04, however there was no collection in quarter one”.
The DDC report points to systemic weaknesses in enforcement as a major reason behind the repayment gap. “Low collection as most youths are not repaying their loans”, the report candidly admitted. Staffing constraints are also compounding the problem with the DDC Report stating “the department now has only three officers”. Since the recent restructuring of the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, “the department now has only three officers” responsible for administering YDF in the district.
The ministry says it is exploring remedial measures. “To address this, the department has requested for point of service machines or use of manual payment method in case of GABS outage. Follow-ups and reminders to pay are also written to beneficiaries”. Requests have also been made for additional officers to be deployed.
The YDF, introduced to empower young Batswana through funding sustainable enterprises, has long faced criticism over repayment culture. While its role in stimulating youth entrepreneurship is evident, the sustainability of the scheme is increasingly under question.
