Redressing the social and economic ills bedevilling rural municipalities has not been an easy task for the South African government. Although programmes such as the Youth Employment Service (YES) were channelled into local government, youth unemployment is still a daunting challenge that leads to youth poverty and marginalisation. This study explores the level of inclusivity and accessibility of existing youth development programmes by the youths in the Eastern Cape Province. Exploring key issues such as youth exclusion and barriers to participation, this study sheds light on the complex dynamics underlying youth unemployment in the Eastern Cape. The study utilised a systematic literature review analysis. Articles for review were accessed from the Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Science Direct databases. The review indicated numerous challenges of rural development programmes in reducing youth unemployment. These include a lack of inclusivity in empowerment programmes, negative attitudes and minimal participation of youth, limited funding to support youth start-ups and other entrepreneurship ventures, including minimal stakeholder intervention in transforming young lives. Further, we found that some youths had little desire to participate in youth development programmes due to poor information dissemination owing to poor access to modern digital technologies, leading to their exclusion from the programmes. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on youth development in rural municipalities. This is one of the areas of concern for efforts to reduce unemployment in South African rural provinces in line with the National Development Plan Vision 2030 in South Africa.
Zikhali et al. (Wed,) studied this question.