NYC - NYC Green Paper

Chapter Four
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
FOR NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE

1 Introduction
This chapter proposes the nature and scope of institutional arrangements for the support, coordination and prioritisation of National Youth Service activities. It identifies key issues for consideration in institutional arrangements for a National Youth Service in South Africa. It argues that support for the National Youth Service depends on intergovernmental and civil society cooperation and coordination. It recommends the establishment of a national co-ordinating structure and two levels of responsibility, through devolution of management to provinces.
2 Current context
The concept of a National Youth Service introduces challenges in organisational and capacity areas that are deepened by the cross-cutting nature of the Youth Service initiative. As this concept is new and largely dependent on government and non-governmental organisational infrastructure, innovation will be required to build the necessary partnerships and reciprocal roles between the envisaged national structure and other service providers. Although there have been coordination efforts at inter-governmental levels, relevant institutional arrangements currently remain fairly small and fragmented. The envisaged nature of institutional arrangements should allow for planning, coordination, financing and monitoring that supports governmental, civil society and private sector initiatives on one hand and inter-governmental and cross-sectoral initiatives on the other hand.
3 International experience
Service programmes in different countries have been initiated, managed, coordinated, administered and supervised in a wide variety of ways. The brief description provided below is intended to provide an overview of international >models= and does not provide any evaluative comment on their strengths or weaknesses.
In some cases, government initiates, organises and supervises the service programmes - either centrally or by devolving operational responsibility to state secretariats. In other cases, government sets the framework and provides the resources, but leaves the organisation, management and supervision to a non-governmental secretariat or to higher education institutions. The following are examples:
3.1 A federal/bureaucratic model
In some cases where government has played a central role, extensive bureaucracies have been established. In Nigeria, for example, the National Youth Service Corps is governed and managed by the Federal Ministry of Social Development, Youth and Culture. The National Youth Service Corps has a directorate which includes representatives of the academic community, employers, armed forces and other government ministries.
The Directorate headquarters in Lagos is responsible for policy making, finances and general administration of the scheme. It also controls the mobilisation of youth and their deployment to the 21 different states. Each state also has a secretariat which is responsible for matching the qualifications of participants with needs of employers. State officials control the day to day administration of the scheme within their states, including monitoring of performance, payment of monthly allowances and dealing with recurring problems.
3.2 A secretariat model
In other cases where government has played an important role, the bureaucracies have been less extensive. In Botswana for example, an independent government body has been established and takes responsibility for the Tirelo Sechaba programme. It has a small secretariat which takes responsibility for allocation and orientation of participants. Service is overseen by other government departments, parastatals or NGOs which are supported by this independent body in carrying out their programmes. .
3.3 Education provider-driven model
In some countries where service has been made compulsory for higher education students, the programmes are administered and supervised by university faculty members. Guidelines are issued by the Directorate of Higher Education and each university has an institute of community service that operates the programme. Faculty members have to support students in overcoming problems encountered while doing projects. Depending on the service involved in particular programmes financial support of students is shared between government ministries.
3.4 Public/private model
In the United States, the Corporation for National Service was established as a statutory body and operates under the control of a bipartisan board of directors and a management and administrative team. The Corporation for National Service selects programmes, provides resources, oversight and evaluation to ensure that programmes achieve their goals.
State commissions on national and community service or similar entities appointed by the governor of each state have also been established to ensure that the most important regional and local priorities are met and that service activities are coordinated through each state.
The programmes are locally managed and implemented and themselves consist of public private partnerships.
4 Conceptual issues
National coordination is required in order to achieve the desired objectives of the National Youth Service. In addition, it is envisaged that a broad range of agencies, corporations and institutions will implement national youth service programmes in ways which are designed to reach key target groups identified and to meet their service learning objectives.
The planning, funding and implementation of programmes should take place through the joint efforts of government, non-governmental organisations, the private sector, and organisations in the youth sector. Specific roles for various role players will be outlined in the final implementation plan.
Given the cross-cutting nature of the national youth service programmes, the National Youth Commission and the Office of the President will be responsible for initiating and overseeing the establishment of the National Youth Service, including putting in place the required institutional arrangements.
Various governments departments will play a defined role in programme design, accreditation, and implementation.
All sections of government involved in development programmes should be reoriented to incorporate youth service programmes within their institutional arrangements and action plans.
The National Youth Service Agency will take steps to foster the national character of youth service, for example through balancing funds to achieve geographic diversity and ensuring that there is an appropriate balance of youth participants from selected categories.
5 Recommendations
5.1 Central coordination
A national coordinating agency should be established. The objective of the National Youth Service Agency will be to manage the National Youth Service, establish the framework within which youth service programmes can be accredited for support and put in place the funding strategies required to realise national youth service.
The Agency will take steps to foster a sense that youth service is a national activity, for example, through balancing funds to achieve geographic diversity and an appropriate balance of youth participants from selected categories. The functions to be performed by the national coordination agency include the following:

Recruitment and deployment of resources (including human resources).
Staffing and administration, including payment of allowances, transport and accommodation.
Budgeting, finance, and allocation of funds and grants.
Developing criteria for the selection of pilot projects.
Developing guidelines and materials for capacity building in pilot projects and service projects in general.
Provision of information and communication services.
Education and training provision and accreditation.
Supervision and programme assessment.
Monitoring and evaluation.
Lobbying and advocacy.

5.1.1 Role of the National Agency in relation to programmes

The Agency will not operate programmes itself, but will:
Publicise opportunities for various forms and types of youth service.
Refer potential participants to approved programmes.
Allocate funds and/or grants to approved programmes.
Monitor programmes to ensure compliance with grant conditions.
Evaluate programmes in relation to the goals of the youth service programme.
Provide support and capacity building activities to approved programmes.
Undertake lobbying and advocacy functions.

5.2 Programme coordination
While the National Youth Service Agency develops an overall national identity across all target groups, the location of the target groups suggests that different institutional arrangements may be required for the operation of the programmes in each case:
Young people in higher education and further education and training institutions take their identity from the fact that they are involved in formal learning in an institution. This reflects current arrangements B for example where programmes are run and coordinated by higher education institutions.
By contrast young people in conflict with the law are not located within any one particular institution. Institutional arrangements for this grouping are therefore more complex and require particular consideration. For example, young people could be referred to youth service programmes by a court. However at this point there is no national institutional form that takes responsibility for these young people in any coordinated manner. While there are certain programmes to which young people may be referred (notably NICRO), these programmes do not yet have the responsibility or the capacity to absorb all these young people into service activities.
In the case of unemployed young people, a limited number of programmes are in place which that involve these young people in service, but there is currently no national coordinating arrangement that enables these young people to access service activities.
5.3 Provincial coordination
Actual management and administration would be carried out by governement departments, provincial governments, local implementation agencies, non-governmental organisations and youth organisations
5.3.1 Provincial coordination
At a provincial level, the coordination functions would include the following:

Ensuring the programmes comply with to national standards, norms and criteria.
Overseeing the implementation of youth service programmes.
Ensuring that local initiatives are coordinated.
Recruiting and selecting participants.
Monitoring and evaluating youth service programmes in line with national policy.

5.3.2 Local coordination
At a local level, the coordination functions would include the following:

Initiate and implement youth service programmes in line with set standards and criteria.
Needs assessment should be done in consultation with community based institutions.
In coordinating and implementing these programmes, youth development agencies should work in collaboration with the private sector, the non-governmental sector, and youth organisations.