Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture.

The National Service Programme (Tirelo Sechaba) is responsible for creation of opportunities for unemployed young people to be able to gain skills and experience across various industries and business sectors. These opportunities not only benefit the youth but also contribute to the economic development of their communities. Selected applicants will be placed as volunteers in different Government Departments, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s), public and parastatal sector institutions for a maximum period of ten (10) years.

Process:

• Graduates express intention to enrol through an Application Form 
• Government departments, Parastatals, NGOs and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) express intention to enrol graduates through a Request Form
• Graduate participants can transfer once after three (3) months by filling a Transfer Form
• Graduate participants are eligible for monthly allowance by submitting a Confirmation Form
• Graduate participants can choose to exit the programme before end of two years for various reasons by filling an Exit Form
• Graduate participants can opt for reinstatement by filling a Reinstatement Form
• Graduate participants' performance is monitored through a Workplan Form 

Youth Development Fund (YDF) is a socio-economic programme for start-ups and expanding businesses. YDF was introduced in the financial year 2009/10 as an economic empowerment programme meant to assist aspiring youth to venture into various economic enterprises funded at 50% loan & 50% grant. The Ministry of Youth and Gender Affairs works in collaboration with other stakeholders such as Local Enterprise Authority to build the spirit of entrepreneurship and other government ministries and parastatals who offer technical support. YDF aims to achieve the following:

• Promote active participation of youth in the socio-economic development of the country
• Encourage the out of school, marginalized, unemployed and underemployed youth to venture into sustainable and viable income generating projects
• Promote the development of competitive, sustainable and growth-oriented citizen owned youth enterprises
• Reduce rural-urban migration by making it attractive to start growth-oriented enterprises in rural areas.
• Create sustainable employment opportunities for young people through the development of sustainable projects.

The program offers unemployed citizen graduates a chance to develop work skills and experience that will support them in the transition from school-life/academia to the working environment through attachments in various organisations in Botswana. Placement is done for a maximum period of two (2) years by the Department of National Service and Internship which matches the applicant’s credentials to available job profiles requested by host organisations. Selection is done on a first come basis by considering the available vacancy, qualification and place of service.