Parliamentary standing committee on education, youth, civic relations and community development chairperson Marlyn Mbakera has called for the National Youth Development Fund to introduce grant funding alongside loans and review its application requirements to enable more young people to benefit.
Speaking during the committee’s oversight visit to Omuthiya on Friday, Mbakera said many aspiring entrepreneurs fail to qualify despite their willingness to participate in the programme.
“Most applicants are interested but struggle to meet all the requirements, such as a good credit score, clear ITC record and no history of banking defaults. The fund should consider introducing grants in addition to loans and review the selection criteria,” she said.
Mbakera said the low approval rate indicates that more support should be provided to young people throughout the application process.
“We can do better. We are supposed to guide the youth. Find out why the majority apply and only a few make it to get approved for the fund. The youth are not benefiting how they are supposed to,” she said.
The oversight visit forms part of the committee’s constitutional responsibility to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the National Youth Development Fund and the rollout of constituency basic sport facilities.
Oshikoto governor Sacky Kathindi says the two programmes are among the eighth administration’s flagship interventions aimed at empowering young people.
“The Oshikoto region leadership takes these initiatives very seriously and would like to see full implementation without fail. However, these good initiatives have encountered implementation challenges which require concerted effort by all stakeholders to resolve,” he saya.
Kathindi notes that while sites for constituency sport facilities have been identified at Okankolo in the Onyuulaye constituency and Guinas in the Tsintsabis constituency, construction has not commenced despite groundbreaking ceremonies being held in March.
“The major challenge has been the absence of designs, technical specifications and consultants, while bureaucratic bottlenecks and inadequate flow of information have delayed implementation,” he adds
Agribank northern branch manager Etuhole Ingo says 43 applications worth N$12.6 million were submitted from Oshikoto, and six applications valued at N$2.6 million were approved.
“Most applications lacked business viability and were submitted without all the required supporting documents,” Ingo says.
The approved projects, covering horticulture, cooking oil production, poultry, piggery, fodder production and agro-processing, are expected to create 45 jobs in the region.
– Nampa
