Tweet

Wanted: jobs for Africa’s youth

Guest post by: Africa Renewal

Article Overview: Seeking urgent solutions for armies of young unemployed

Wanted: jobs for Africa’s youth

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.

Related Articles
  Lesson #4: Do What You Know and Love
  Profile: HALCHA Youth & Community Development organization
  Meeting with people- Establish rapport
  Celebrity Endorsements as Your Advertising Techniques
  5.3.4 The unemployed: Public sector training

Article Tags: Africa, African leaders, employment, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Nairobi Kenya, President Kibaki, sub Saharan Africa, Youth Employment Summit YES, youth unemployment



Related Forum Posts
Re: Should Evan add a "Social Media Marketing" category to the f - Wanted to add my own vote, but the voting button was missing
Re: Need some information on freelance jobs! - oDesk is the same as Elance where you can bid on projects/jobs that are posted. When I was working in oDesk the main problem I experienced was the difficulty in getting my first job because of competition. There are already other service providers who already have a lot of completed jobs and good ratings with good feedback. So what I did was to bid on simple jobs - I bid a very low price so that I could just get a job and hopefully when I done it right or done it well I can have a good rating and feedback. That's how I began. I slowly build my reputation by completing simple jobs and eventually I can then compete with others and can bid high already.
Online Teen Magazine... Tips - I am planning to start an online teen magazine and of course bootstrapping will be my choice of funding. I am searching internet for some help as I am having a hard time on deciding what to surround the topic about. I know I wanted to start a online magazine for youth entrepreneurs but I am not sure though as it seems like the idea will be bland and boring. So I've been trying to plan another way out for coming up with a topic that will interest teen's, but will also give them some knowledge in saving their money and the business world. I am not necessarily looking to start entirely a "Teen" magazine but you should get what path I am on. My question is, what kind of online magazine should I start and how can I diversify the topic's to make it interesting to teen's but also give them entrepreneurship knowledge. I was thinking of a youth entrepreneur magazine but I am not sure right now though.
Re: Need some information on freelance jobs! - Hi, firstly let me confess the idea of online jobs and business alike are new to me. I had some of my own business plans but am not confident in launching the same owing to the crashing economy. Now as I see you people are talking about the freelance jobs, I wanted to know some more things about these in details. For people like us who are business minded and do not want to be working as subordinates the difference between jobs and setting up an own business is always there. Provided I cant find the best opportunity to setup my business now as already said do you think the freelance jobs about which you are talking here can be considered as an alternative for the same. Maybe thinking about finances this is going to be a safer option but is the change acceptable. I hope I could make myself clear.
Re: Minimum # of posts to put links in - Just came across this issue in my first post in the Introduce Yourself forums. Wanted to link to Alan Mater's profile, but was stopped when previewing my post. A slight setback, but it beats the alternative of having spammers flood the boards. Good addon.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Ten Things You Can Do To Be a Better Leader

10 Golden rules to survive the Global Crisis

ROSI Return on SUNK Investment

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.