Involve youths in projects targeting them

President Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto during the launch of the Uwezo Fund. Over Sh7 million from the Uwezo Fund was on Saturday shared out among 78 groups. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The Youth Enterprise Development Fund, which was created by the Kibaki administration in 2007, has not made any significant impact, especially in remote areas.
  • The recently created Uwezo Fund and the scheme to reserve 30 per cent government procurement tenders for the youth, women, and people living with disabilities have performed poorly.
  • History has shown that any initiative that is not insulated from political manipulation is likely to take long, if ever, to yield concrete results. The Youth Fund was created when President Kibaki was seeking a second term and it took many years to shed that political tag.

A recent situation analysis by the Youth Agenda demonstrates a connection between rising crime and unemployment among the youth in Kenya.

The report found that most crimes are committed by young people aged between 16 and 25 years.

The government spends considerable resources to address insecurity. However, it has not put emphasis on an approach that specifically creates opportunities for youth in the age bracket in question with the express purpose of tackling the prevailing crime rate.

Although good programmes have been crafted by the government in the past, the envisaged results are far from being achieved. The Youth Enterprise Development Fund, which was created by the Kibaki administration in 2007, has not made any significant impact, especially in remote areas.

The recently created Uwezo Fund and the scheme to reserve 30 per cent government procurement tenders for the youth, women, and people living with disabilities have performed poorly.

It is evident that these programmes are weakly structured. For instance, the number of youth-operated businesses claiming the reserved 30 per cent tenders is not impressive, especially at the county level. There are crucial factors that need to be fixed.

The government’s youth initiatives have been done in isolation, without a keen focus on how they can complement one another, ranging from financial availability to provision of entrepreneurial skills. One of the biggest problems with these programmes is that their design and implementation have had very little input from the youth, the intended beneficiaries.

There is a lot of political control in the manner in which the programmes are administered. History has shown that any initiative that is not insulated from political manipulation is likely to take long, if ever, to yield concrete results. The Youth Fund was created when President Kibaki was seeking a second term and it took many years to shed that political tag.

The Uwezo Fund was politicised right from inception, isolating important players such as the National Youth Council.

The government must take seriously the designing of any programme it initiates to open up opportunities for the youth. Statistics are worrying and the consequences could be dire. Young people between 15 and 34 years constitute 36 per cent of Kenya’s population and the country’s youth unemployment rate stands at 70 per cent, among the highest in the world.

In spite of the tremendous amount of work the Ministry of Devolution has put in to revamp the National Youth Service, there are fears that the results may be undesirable as the effort has not involved the youth. We need to see more young people engaged in the leadership of projects meant to empower them.

Across the country, there are young people in different sectors who have demonstrated good leaderships skills. More young citizens need to be accommodated in the public service.

The private sector must also play its role in job creation. The government should provide incentives to businesses that create jobs for the youth. It is lamentable that the business community in Kenya has not been effectively involved in tackling unemployment among the youth.

Mr Obonyo is the external adviser on the UN Habitat’s Youth. ([email protected])