At a recent meeting of youth from North and West Africa, the young people declared, "We are ready to be part of the solution, to be partners. We are not just the future, we are the now."
Being the future and the now sums up the challenge facing youth today, as they seek more and better jobs in a tight labour market. In Africa, about 55 per cent of the population is under 18 – and is particularly hard hit by unemployment and poverty. Youth unemployment represents about 60 per cent of Africa's jobless, with the number of unemployed young women consistently higher in all countries. In a new report "Decent work for Africa's development" 1, the ILO estimates that only 5 to 10 per cent of new entrants into the labour market can be absorbed by the formal economy, and that the bulk of new jobs will be generated by the informal economy.
As a result, the "brain drain" of educated and highly skilled young people from sub-Saharan and North Africa, compounded by South-North migration of the youth labour force, is depriving Africa of its human capital and hope for the future.
Says the ILO, "Young people's energy, capacity for innovation and aspirations are assets society cannot afford to squander. Continued youth unemployment poses high costs to economic and social development, perpetuates the inter-generational cycle of poverty and is associated with high levels of crime, violence, crises, substance abuse and the rise in political extremism."
The plenary session on Decent Work for Youth, at the Xth African Regional Meeting will discuss the role the ILO social partners can play in broadening the YEN's activities on the continent.
Youth employment will be discussed within the overall framework of the ILO Global Employment Agenda, setting the stage for acknowledgment at the highest political level of the importance of tackling youth employment in Africa, before the African Union Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa, to be held in Ouagadougou in 2004.
The ILO response
Through its role alongside the UN and the World Bank in the Youth Employment Network, the ILO views youth employment as an integral route towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty by the year 2015.
The ILO and its YEN partners, including the representatives of workers' and employers' organizations – the ILO social partners – are working with youth organizations to provide innovative policy solutions to help countries develop national action plans on youth employment, as called for by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 57/165, on Promoting Youth Employment. These solutions are based on the findings of the YEN's four working groups, on Employment Creation, Employability, Entrepreneurship, and Equal Opportunities, many of which draw on the historic work of the ILO.
Egypt, Namibia and Senegal have stepped forward as "Lead Countries" 2 of the YEN in Africa, and many other African nations have expressed an interest in working with the ILO on youth employment.
Senegal initiated United Nations Resolution 57/165, which was adopted with 106 cosponsors in December 2002. In Egypt, the ILO is assisting the Government to develop its National Youth Employment Programme with technical support and expertise on youth employment policy.
The Government of Kenya has created a stakeholder roundtable on youth employment, comprising government ministries, workers' and employers' representatives and civil society groupings, including youth organizations. The roundtable is working to harmonize national policies on youth employment by reviewing existing programmes and mobilizing resources and support for entrepreneurship schemes aimed at young women and men.
The YEN is, therefore, working to ensure that policies to create decent and productive work for young people should take into account their aspirations, frustrations and talents. In partnership with youth leaders representing organizations with more than 120 million members worldwide, the YEN is creating space for young people to play an essential role in the design and implementation of national action plans.
As well as working with the YEN at the international policy level, youth organizations and committed youth leaders are addressing the root causes of unemployment at the regional, local and grassroots levels:
YEN partner youth organizations, such as the Scouts and the YWCA, through their many national chapters in Africa, are using non-formal education to provide life skills and create value systems within which young people can become responsible, committed, autonomous and supportive individuals. These qualities are being increasingly valued by employers in the recruitment of young women and men into the work force.
At the local level, the YEN is working with entrepreneurial young women and men to create sustainable employment. TECA is a youth group, based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which started to collect solid waste, for a fee, from households in their neighbourhood, in 1996. Starting with only a few pushcarts, the group now has six vehicles and three trailers, with its 50 members serving a community of 4,000 households. Workers are paid above minimum wage and the group pays taxes on its profit.
At the grassroots level, the YEN is also developing a network of committed individuals who act as economic and social catalysts for change. One such example is the Leadership Effectiveness Accountability and Professionalism (LEAP) Africa, a training and coaching organization committed to empowering and equipping a new cadre of African leaders. LEAP works primarily with entrepreneurs and youth to cultivate a culture of empowerment, creativity, and civic responsibility among at least 1,200 SMEs and 1,500 youth leaders in West Africa.
2 Along with Brazil, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Hungary, Azerbaijan and Nepal, these African nations are championing the preparation of national action plans on youth employment.