From Africa Renewal, Vol.20 #3 (October 2006), page 6 By Gumisai Mutume African leaders are expressing a renewed sense of urgency to tackle youth unemployment on the continent and are beginning to develop and implement plans to create jobs. “In Africa, the problem of youth unemployment is more complex than in some other parts of the world,” says Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. “Slow-growing economies are unable to generate enough job opportunities to absorb the large number of young people qualifying from institutions of learning every year,” he told delegates at a Youth Employment Summit (YES) in Nairobi, Kenya, in September.
“The evidence stares us in the face on the streets of our major cities,” says Ms. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who until recently was Nigeria’s finance minister. “Young men and women [are] roaming the streets with little to do, operating motorcycle taxis . . . and in some cases engaging in criminal activities.”
Reducing the world’s rate of youth unemployment by half could add $2,200 bn – $3,500 bn to the global economy, estimates the International Labour Organization (ILO). About 20 per cent of that gain would go to sub-Saharan Africa.
The Nairobi summit was organized by the YES Campaign, a network of nonprofit organizations operating in 60 countries around the world. It brought together about 2,000 young people, leaders from more than 120 countries and representatives of donor agencies to develop solutions.
President Kibaki says it is critical for African countries to come up with specific plans that target youth. Most employment policies fail to take into account the particular needs of young people or the fact that creating employment for women often poses its own challenges. There is a realization in many countries that youth, both male and female, are at a disadvantage on the job market. Even if they have had some schooling, many lack skills and job experience. Those who want to set up their own businesses do not have money. In many companies, last-in, first-out hiring policies mean that young people are the first to lose their jobs when a company is in distress.
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