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In pursuit of youth empowerment, skills development, job creation for the youth and entrepreneurship amongst others, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is hosting a three-day National Water and Sanitation Sector Youth Indaba. The indaba started on Tuesday, 21 and it will end on Thursday, 23 June 2022 at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg.  

The delegates at the indaba include Youth within the Sector, Young Professionals, Youth Owned Businesses, Rand Water, Amatola Water, Magalies Water, Non-Governmental Organisations, DWS Provincial Offices, Government Officials from other Government Departments, Water Boards, Energy and Water Sector Education Training Authority (EWSETA), National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).  

During the deliberations on the first of the Youth Indaba, five pillars such as Quality Education, Skills Development, Economic Transformation, Entrepreneurship, Job Creation, Social cohesion and Nation-building were the main focal points. Organisations such as NYDA, EWSETA informed the youth about the services that they provide and also advised on many aspects to capacitate young people. 

Several young people registered their dissatisfaction with a lack of adequate communication by NYDA in terms of funding opportunities that are available, highlighting that there is a serious disconnect between themselves and NYDA and this is having an adverse effect on the survival of their potential businesses.

Susan Andrews, a programme coordinator for scientific discipline at DWS Learning Academy urged the youth to consider studying technical courses in order to fill the skills gap within water and sanitation sector. 

“We are faced with a grave shortage of critical scarce skills in engineering and science, our department’s human capital is aging, a lot of scientists and engineers are approaching their retirement time, we need to develop capable workforce and the youth needs to step up. I would also like to plead with recently qualified engineers and scientists to apply for advertised position within the department”, Andrews stated.

Delegates appreciated and recognized the full worth of hosting an indaba focused on young people who are faced with a number of challenges including but not limited to rapidly growing unemployment and funding for their businesses to mention a few. 

Issued by the Department of Water & Sanitation