Opinion on Ending Youth Unemployment

The number of unemployed youth in Kenya keeps on rising every single day despite the efforts of the government to empower them.

The recent data shows that youth unemployment in Kenya has risen to 22.2 percent, significantly higher than in neighboring Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia.

The latest United Nations Human Development report reveals that as at the end of last year, youth unemployment in Tanzania stood at 5.2 percent and 4.0 percent in Uganda.

The state at the country currently stands at every ten unemployed, seven of them are young people aged 35 and below which is relatively higher than expected.

It is due to this reason that the youth are encouraged to join youth associations that promote entrepreneurship in a bid to figure out how they can be able to make a step socio-economically.

There have been many cases of youth living in poor condition being lured to join criminal activities and therefore, joining entrepreneurship clubs have played a key role in narrowing the gap.

Youths that manage to join entrepreneurial groups get mobilized on how to earn a living in the right way.

Previously, we have seen women groups and Chamas play a significant role in uplifting the status of the women around the country. This means that supporting the youth groups can also have a positive impact on the lives of these young and growing generation.

Supporting the groups can be in different forms; financially or helping individuals grow their talents to earn from it in their future careers or businesses.

From the talent and passion support will see those joining creative industries earn a living from their skills like making and selling clothing, footwear, jewels, furniture, catering and such others.

Youth in informal settlements have had difficulties accessing business financing despite the government initiating the Youth Fund, and Uwezo Fund for the youth to obtain funds to start a business and other productive projects.

Few youths benefit from financial institutions as many are locked out by the fact that the banks ask for collateral from the poor youths. Many youths complain that the process put in place for them to access funds is quite complicated, tedious and expensive.

It is high time the government gave it a thought on how they can make the processes easy for the youth to benefit. Also, seek on ways in which the already provided funds can be used positively to restore youth ambitions, creativity, and create an economic resilience for both the youths living in slums, rural and urban areas.

The challenge of youth employment is not just to create more wage and salary jobs however important as this may be, but to increase the productivity, and hence earnings, of the majority of young people who will be employed in informal farms and household enterprises.