Kenya’s youth agenda needs keener focus

As the world marks yet another International Youth Day this year, Kenya must focus on how to deal with the many problems that have faced young people for many years. Every time elections draw close, young people become a critical constituency of attention by politicians but there is never any serious follow-up after the polls.

Kenya is one of the most youthful nations in the world. Unfortunately, although successive governments have identified various measures to tackle youth problems, the implementation strategy seems to be weak.

One of the most persistent problems that youth in this country have suffered for many decades is unemployment. Currently, more than 70 per cent of jobless people in the country are young people. This is a big irony in a growing economy that is highly labour-intensive.

With the growing youth unemployment trends, social and political tensions that could affect the stability and prosperity of the country will always be there. Since we have made baby steps to empower the youth in the past, the government needs to strengthen the capacity and responsiveness of the institutions mandated to promote youth empowerment.

Kenya has recorded steady economic growth, with major infrastructure projects under construction that can rightly be said to have created more jobs. However, there are no elaborate plans to create sustainable jobs commensurate with the gravity of the problem of joblessness among the youth.

FACED PROBLEMS

Initiatives started to empower youth have lacked good leadership, face problems of poor institutional design and support, and have been affected by corruption.

The Youth Enterprise Development Fund, which has been in existence for almost a decade, lacks solid and visionary leadership. It has failed to learn from past mistakes, to be innovative in order to nurture an entrepreneurial culture based on emerging trends, and lacks accountable leadership.

Another initiative that has failed to yield results is the 30 per cent government procurement rule. The proponents of this idea failed to appreciate the fact that youth are economically marginalised. Therefore, creating the market without other incentives such as financing and training is unwise.

Rather than only providing financing or projects, the fund should more aggressively participate in other value chain aspects in order to help equip the beneficiaries with skills and access to markets.

Building partnership with the private sector for youth empowerment is another important strategy that the government can seek. There is no greater generator of wealth, innovation, and jobs than the private sector. The government has created a framework for collaboration with the sector through the public private partnership initiative. Policy makers should also seek ways to extend these engagements to tackling other problems such as youth unemployment. 

Our education system has been a major obstacle as it does not meet the needs of the learners and the economy because of the emphasis it places on theory. All the stakeholders should have a common objective in order for the reforms to bear good results.

Finally, the government needs to review the 2006 Youth Policy to rhyme with the Constitution. A robust youth policy would provide a solid foundation for the development programmes required to improve the condition of the youthful population.

The youth policy that was developed in 2007 was due for review after five years. It is currently in complete disharmony with the country’s youth development vision.

Now is the moment for Kenya to celebrate the potential of its youth and put in place solutions to address their problems.

Raphael Obonyo is the author of 'Conversations about the Youth in Kenya'; [email protected].