NYDA National Youth Service Programme

Written by Thabo MokoenaSenior Education Editor

Reviewed & verified by Naledi KhumaloSenior Admissions and Bursaries EditorVerified

The National Youth Service (NYS) places unemployed young South Africans in paid community service. The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) runs it under the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, working through government departments, state-owned entities, companies and non-profit organisations that host the projects. On 4 June 2026 the NYDA launched Phase V, which it says will create 100,000 paid service opportunities across all nine provinces. Applications go through the SA Youth platform, not the NYDA itself.

Phase V and the phases before it

The NYDA has grown the revitalised programme in phases, and its media statements give the numbers:

According to the NYDA’s Phase V statement, the new phase focuses on including vulnerable young people and youth with disabilities, and national NYS roadshows will take the programme into communities in every province. When it launched Phase V, the agency also named LGBTQIA+ youth and young people from rural areas among the groups it wants to reach.

What service work looks like

Participants do community service in their own areas while gaining work experience, skills training and leadership exposure. When Phase III opened, the NYDA listed the service areas its ten implementing partners covered:

• early childhood development and learner support;
• food security and community works;
• sports, arts, culture and recreation;
• social support, solidarity and care;
• digital mapping and surveys, and youth voter education.

The NYDA designed the programme as part-time work, so that participants earn an income during their service and still have time to look for longer-term work. It says the service opportunities are paid but has not published the stipend amount for Phase V.

Three kinds of young people the NYS is built for

The NYDA’s programme page describes three categories of service:

1. A structured model with accredited learning, community service and links to exit opportunities, aimed at young people not in employment, education or training.
2. Mainly voluntary service by students close to finishing at a university or TVET college who need practical experience.
3. A gap year for young people after Matric, whether they did not get into further study or chose to take a year out to serve.

Recruitment happens at project level, and the NYDA says each project sets its own criteria within the national NYS norms and standards. Earlier phases were open to ages 18 to 35. For Phase V, the government news agency reported that the NYDA would publish eligibility criteria, application timelines and participation requirements on its website and official channels; we found none there when we checked.

Registering on SA Youth

SA Youth is the Presidency’s free network for job, learnership and work-experience opportunities. The NYDA’s guide to the network says:

1. Go to SAYouth.mobi and enter your ID number. If it is already on the system from Harambee or Tshepo 1Million, log in with your existing password.
2. Accept the terms and answer all the profile questions, which takes about four minutes.
3. Open an NYS opportunity near you from the list and apply.
4. Add qualifications and work experience to your profile.

You need a South African ID number or a refugee ID number to register. The network is free, and the NYDA stresses that nobody will ever be asked to pay to join it. SA Youth’s toll-free help line is 0800 727272.

The NYDA’s study funding is a separate programme: see the NYDA Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund. Young people planning to study after a service year can also browse undergraduate bursaries.

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