Exploring the impact of the National Rural Youth Service Corps Programme on entrepreneurial development in the Free State Province

Abstract

The increasing number of unemployed youth in South Africa is generating economic, social, and political challenges nationwide. As a result of this challenge, South African government have initiated various programmes aimed at improving education, employment opportunities and entrepreneurial skills especially within rural communities. To alleviate the unemployment issue, the National Rural Youth Service Corps (NARYSEC) Programme was established to provide rural youth with the necessary skills, discipline and pathway to becoming self-employed. The goal of this study is to explore the impact of National rural youth service corps (NARYSEC) programme on entrepreneurial development in the Free State province. The study examined how youth development has been defined and measured through the various indicators that researchers and organisations use to measure youth entrepreneurial development. Suggested recommendations were provided regarding improving the design, delivery, and post programme support of the NARYSEC Programme. This study utilised a qualitative methodology to gain a comprehensive knowledge of the experiences of NARYSEC. A total of eleven primary data sources from NARYSEC graduates were obtained via semi-structured interviews as the primary source of collecting data and the researcher selected a purposive sample of youth that had participated in the NARYSEC training program in the Free State. The targeted sample size for this study was 15 participants, however the researcher only contacted and interviewed 11 youth and reached data saturation. The ATLAS.ti software was used for thematic analysis of all the data gathered from the participants to assist the researcher in identifying patterns in participant's narrative responses. The researcher identified 48 initial codes and then narrowed those codes down to 6 overarching themes. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed based on Braun & Clarke's thematic analysis model. NARYSEC programme's qualitative results illustrated a large part of how the programme can help develop young people's entrepreneurial foundation and foster positive views on being self-employed. NARYSEC programme has helped improve participants' entrepreneurial awareness, built their self-confidence and developed their ability to apply their knowledge in a practical environment. many of these participants have experienced obstacles, such as limited financial resources, lack of adequate follow-up support after training, and for others there was a lack of mentoring opportunities which, collectively, have prevented successful transitions into entrepreneurship after completing the NARYSEC programme. As such, the study provides recommendations for enhancing the design and implementation of NARYSEC to improve sustainable youth entrepreneurship in the Free State Province. The study concluded by recommending the programme to Increase post-programme support through mentorship and advisory services, create access to finances and resources for new entrepreneurs and support enterprise growth through business Incubation and market linkages, as well to enhance land access procedures for graduates of the NARYSEC programme.