Johannesburg - The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) will set aside R10m for youth-owned co-operatives during July, executive chairperson Yershen Pillay said on Tuesday.
The agency would use International Youth Co-operative Month to provide information about the initiative.
"We can do so much for poverty alleviation, job creation, and social integration if we focus on growing our co-operatives economy and encouraging [the youth] to establish co-operatives," Pillay said in a statement.
The trade and industry department would help 10 youth co-operatives of 100 young people set up fish and chips businesses across the country.
Earlier in the day, Pillay dismissed accusations that it had not been living up to its mandate the past three months.
"Reports that the NYDA has not kept its promises is simply not true. Change cannot and will not happen overnight. Considerable progress has been made. New plans focus on better education, skills and jobs, and business," Pillay said at a New Age business briefing.
Pillay acknowledged the need to change the view the youth had of the agency.
"One has got to acknowledge that the transition in 2009 [from the Umsobomvu youth fund] was a difficult process. The birth of the NYDA was challenging. We have made progress since 1994. There were no government programmes that addressed the youth issues. We are building on that progress."