By Buffalo City Reporter
4 June 2008

YOUTH issues are being discussed at a four-day youth training workshop, which is hosted by Buffalo City and is taking place at the East London City Hall.

Members of the youth council and youth ward committees from Buffalo City’s 45 wards are attending.

The workshop, which is a result of the youth summit held last year, has gathered youngsters from across the city to discuss some of their challenges. At last year’s summit, young citizens said these challenges included HIV and Aids and unemployment.

A component of the workshop is focusing on teaching young people how to start and maintain businesses.

Youth council chairperson Sifundo Mlinda said that he hoped the workshop, hosted by the City’s public participation department, would empower participants to report back to the young people in their wards about the City’s youth-related programmes.

“I would like this workshop to clarify the co-operation between the municipality and the youth in Buffalo City; we want to take this and report back to our youth,” Mlinda said.

Another important issue that the youth representatives will learn about at the workshop is the role of ward committees.

“We need to understand the role of ward committees in our wards. This workshop needs to show us the role of the youth in the social transformation of the country, and the role of the youth council in the fight against unemployment and poverty,” Mlinda added.

The workshop also needed to encourage the municipality to implement youth-based policies like its Youth Strategy. The training workshop ends on Friday, 6 June.