thumb|Inside the Third Chimurenga, a book used by the National Youth Service

The National Youth Service was a programme of the Zimbabwean government for Zimbabweans of ages 10 to 30. It was introduced in 2000 by Border Gezi—then the Minister for Gender, Youth and Employment—and the first training camp was established at Mount Darwin in 2001. Its stated purpose was to "transform and empower youths for nation building through life skills training and leadership development."

The National Youth Service had been condemned in the West and in Africa for gross human rights violations on behalf of the ZANU-PF party. Within Zimbabwe the graduates of the service were known pejoratively as "Green Bombers" after the fatigue uniforms they wore and the violence the perpetrated. Due to the military training they received as well as their involvement in torture, harassment, and intimidation of opponents of the president they were also known as the "Youth Brigade", “youth militia”, or "ZANU PF militia".

The national youth service has been disbanded, reinstated, and rebranded several times over the years, typically resurfacing in the forerunner to national elections, but reports state that they have never completely disappeared. There are reports of secret youth training camps throughout the country. In 2021, the government under former military general President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced a plan to reintroduce a rebranded national youth service.

In May 2024, Emmerson Mnangagwa relaunched the National Youth Service, renaming it as "Youth Service in Zimbabwe."

Purpose

The service claimed to instill in young Zimbabweans a sense of national identity and patriotism. While it proposed to unite people above party lines, it also promoted wariness of "foreign influence and intervention" in national politics.

The government planned to make the program mandatory for all youths.

Ideology

According to an opposition group, members of the youth service were taught exclusively from ZANU-PF campaign materials and speeches. These included an anthology of Mugabe's speeches titled Inside the Third Chimurenga. The speeches glorified Mugabe's land reform programme and ZANU-PF leaders Border Gezi and Chenjerai Hunzvi. They accused the Movement for Democratic Change of seeking a return to white rule.

Training centres

Conditions in the service training facilities were reported to include poor construction, frequent hunger and sexual abuse of girls and women.