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Walter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
YOUTHS in Masvingo have failed to fully utilise the $1 million allocated by government for their development projects with only $280,000 disbursed so far, a cabinet minister has said.
Addressing the Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial youth league inter-district conference here on Friday, Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Cde Francis Nhema challenged youths to draft sound project proposals to qualify for funding.
“I have heard a number of youths complaining that there is no money for projects. Let me tell you that Masvingo alone has been allocated $1 million. As I speak, you have only utilised less than $300,000,” said Cde Nhema.
“Many of you who applied for these funds had projects that were incomplete and financial institutions could not approve them.”
Cde Nhema, who stood in for National Secretary for Administration Cde Didymus Mutasa, urged youths in the province to come up with vibrant project proposals.
He said: “We have slightly above $700,000 left in the youth fund coffers for this province. From this figure each district will have $100,000. I invite all youths to start applying for the funds now as we want every district to benefit.”
Cde Nhema implored the youth to ask for assistance from senior party members on how to draft bankable proposals.
“You should ask senior members like Politburo member Cde Dzikamai Mavhaire. They can assist you come up with credible proposals that can be accepted by the banks. Please do not copy other people’s proposals. Craft your own,” he said.
Cde Nhema said some youths had a tendency of only changing the names of their projects but the contents were similar, meaning that they would have copied.
“Some of you were presenting project proposals that would have been submitted by others with the difference being on titles only. How do you expect to succeed under the circumstances? A poultry project cannot be like piggery. These are two different ventures,” said Cde Nhema.
“Piggery would require more money than poultry. Banks are business entities and they expect those monies to be repaid and thus they will not approve something which they see is not sustainable. You cannot expect to get funding on a project proposal which is not properly crafted.”
The conference was meant to conscientise Zanu-PF youths about the government’s economic blue-print Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset).
It ran under the theme “Grow Economy for Youth Empowerment and Employment”.
Online Reporter