The Eswatini National Youth Council (ENYC) has launched a nationwide drive to strengthen youth representation at grassroots level, targeting 489 youth leaders across 59 Tinkhundla.
The Tinkhundla Youth Committees Regional Capacity-Building Training Programme was launched in the Shiselweni Region this week, marking the beginning of a rollout aimed at turning local youth structures into stronger, accountable and effective community voices.
The programme seeks to equip Tinkhundla Youth Committee members with the skills and information needed to identify challenges affecting young people, mobilise communities, connect youth to opportunities and ensure that grassroots concerns reach regional and national decision-makers. 
Representing the Minister for Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs, Bongani Nzima, Mzwandile Mthethwa said the initiative was more than a training programme, describing it as an investment in strengthening the structures through which young people participate in national development.
He said meaningful youth development must start in communities where young people live and experience challenges affecting their daily lives.
“This is more than training,” Mthethwa said on behalf of the minister.
He said the National Youth Development Coordination Framework recognised that youth development could not be left to one institution, but required collaboration between Government, development partners, civil society, the private sector, youth-led organisations and young people themselves.
The minister described Tinkhundla Youth Committees as an important link between communities and the broader youth development system.
Across the 59 Tinkhundla, committee members are expected to listen to young people, identify their priorities and challenges, mobilise participation and communicate community concerns through the appropriate structures.
“They are the eyes and ears of the youth development system at community level,” the minister said.
He challenged the youth leaders to take their responsibilities seriously, urging them to “report accurately, listen carefully and represent responsibly”.
The training focuses on five key areas – governance and leadership, safeguarding, community mobilisation, reporting, and monitoring and evaluation.
The areas are intended to strengthen the credibility and effectiveness of youth committees by ensuring members understand their mandates, uphold ethical standards, engage communities meaningfully and document information that can be used to improve youth programmes.
Participants are also being introduced to opportunities such as YouthConnekt and the Eswatini Youth Empowerment Programme, with the aim of enabling committee members to connect young people in their communities to skills, networks, programmes and other forms of support.
Government emphasised the importance of creating a two-way flow of information, where youth committees can also communicate to authorities what is working, what is not working, and the barriers preventing young people from accessing available opportunities.
The training began at the REO Hall in Nhlangano, bringing together the Regional Administrator, Tindvuna teTinkhundla, Government officials, ENYC leadership and staff, youth development structures, Tinkhundla Youth Committee members, development partners and other stakeholders.
The ENYC CEO outlined the council’s programmes and the role of Tinkhundla Youth Committees within the youth sector coordination framework.
