By Sukuoluhle Ndlovu
National Association of Youth Organisations (NAYO) has urged Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and recreation to disburse the ZW$17 million that was channeled towards the youth for Youth Relief Fund.
The Ministry set up a Relief Fund to cater for youth owned businesses, social organisations and associations that have been negatively affected by the COVID 19 pandemic.
In a press release NAYO called on the ministry to be fair in selecting beneficiaries.
“We call on the ministry to create a transparent and accountable mechanism that is
inclusive of diverse actors, including renowned youths across sectors to oversee the disbursement of the grants under the Relief fund for youth ensuring non – partisan , equitable distrubution across the provinces and vital sectors and clear set criteria to guide applicants that is not discriminatory.”
The youths association went onto add NAYO that information concerning the relief funds should be accessible nationwide.
“The Ministry should disseminate information to the provincial, district, ward and village levels on the Relief Fund for Youth to ensure all youth led enterprises, associations and social organisations have a fair chance of accessing the funds. A robust information dissemination campaign must thus be launched which takes cognizant of all our national languages.”
The youth relief fund should cater for all youths as everyone was affected by the global pandemic.
NAYO remains committed to support the pragmatic participation of youth even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
