Social Enterprise Profile: Getembe High Vision Youth Group

Getembe High Vision Youth Group based in Nyamira County in Kenya was formed in January 2006 as a merry-go-round youth club. It was later registered as a farming youth organization. Due to the high rates of poverty, food scarcity and unemployment, the members were stimulated to initiate this project to address food insecurity, the poor health status of children resulting from under nourishment, juvenile delinquency, child labor abuse and youth unemployment.

Read our interview with Jones Oyugi, Secretary of Getembe High Vision Youth Group »»

United Nations calls for urgent action to tackle rising youth unemployment

14 July 2010 – The United Nations labour agency is calling for urgent action to tackle the crisis of youth unemployment, which has increased significantly in the wake of the global economic slowdown and has repercussions for the economy as well as social cohesion.

Young people – those aged 15 to 24 – account for over 22 per cent of the increase in the number of unemployed since the beginning of 2007 and is now nearly three times the average level among adults aged 25 and over, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

“In nearly all countries, the increase in youth unemployment has outpaced that of adults,” the agency says in a new report entitled “Youth employment in crisis.”

Since the start of the crisis, the youth unemployment rate has risen over 7 percentage points – the sharpest two year increase on record – and now exceeds 21 per cent on average in the countries for which data are available, say Steven Tobin, ILO economist, and Raymond Torres, Director of the International Institute for Labour Studies, who are co-authors of the report.

The report points out that young people are entering the labour market at a time of limited job creation. Employed young people are also often engaged in precarious jobs, and are therefore more vulnerable to job losses than their adult counterparts.

Young people who lack general or vocational education are especially vulnerable to the crisis, it notes, adding that as job prospects remain weak, many young people might see little benefit of furthering education or training which would have negative socio-economic consequences.

In addition, the lack of decent work opportunities in developing countries had led to significant emigration by many skilled young people.

The authors stress that it is crucial to promote more and better jobs for youth and urges immediate action, noting that impact of long-term unemployment on youth can be “devastating and long-lasting.”

The longer young persons remain out of touch with the labour market, the more difficult – and costly – it is to return to productive employment, they state.

“There are also a number of important social implications related to exclusion, including susceptibility to anti-social behaviour, including juvenile delinquency, and social unrest,” they add.

According to the report, it will not be possible to improve youth employment prospects significantly in the absence of a global economic and labour market recovery. Therefore, it is crucial to carry out the Global Jobs Pact, adopted by ILO members in June 2009 in an effort to guide national and international policies to stimulate economic recovery, create jobs and protect working people and their families.

Source: UN News Service

Kenya’s Education System: A leaning tower of Babel

Today's top news story of the Daily Nation went by the title “students with lower grades to join varsity”. The good news was that public universities agreed to admit high school graduates with lower marks compared to last year.

Of course this will improve the lot of students who because of grades would not be able to enter university. However, though this should be a harbinger of hope for Kenya’s youth, several questions emerge on the real effects of such a move.

The unemployment rate amongst Kenya’s 35 million people is approximately 40%. It is estimated that 64% of these are the youth. Out of these, only 1.5% of unemployed youth have formal education beyond secondary school level and the remaining over 92% have no vocational or professional skills training, at all. But does allowing these extra youth the opportunity to go to university make a real impact in their chances of getting a job?

Even though universities are the cradle of research and innovation which could be perceived as a step in the right direction of nurturing future entrepreneurs, the education system before tertiary level does not adequately impart the innovative and resilience skills required of entrepreneurs.

Annually more than 240,000 post-primary students enter the labour force. Additionally 143,000 students graduate from high schools. The Kenyan education system in its current form does not equip these school leavers with skills to start business. Rather the curriculum is founded on rote learning rather than creativity and innovation, further stifling entrepreneurial development.

Even in the universities the calibre of the teaching staff raises questions. The Commission for Higher Education recently proposed reforms where the lowest qualified lecturer would be a tutorial fellow holding a Masters degree. The eminent scholar and noted historian Prof. Bethwell Ogot has been in the forefront as an opponent of this measure. He was recently quoted in the media decrying such a move saying "some teachers with a Masters are even allowed to teach Masters students".

And though these new regulations should be commended as a move to regulate the amphitheatre football stadium scenario many university students have to face and hoarse throated lecturers’ rue, at the end of the day it’s really not what is heard in a lecture but the quality of the content and transfer of knowledge that counts.

Kenyan education reforms have not only been the preserve of academia. Politicians whilst campaigning have promised “new education systems” that increase the capabilities and capacity of the youth to “effectively operate in the knowledge economy”. Even Vision 2030 - Kenya's development plan has lofty claims founded on the education system that will by then make Kenya if not a newly industrialised economy then a middle class one. However government commitment to education has been compromised with a new Education Bill that at least is expected to enforce laws that will keep children in schools, where the Ministry of Education has been less than proactive in ensuring it passes through parliament.

A question of merit versus the feel good factor

Meritocracy is a situation where opportunities are extended based on demonstrated talent, competence and ability, rather than wealth, family background, socio-economic class and other historical determinants of social position.

When extending a helping hand to enable those who just by a few points missed entry into university, thought must also be given to both those already in public universities who worked hard to make the grade as well as those still in secondary school. With no ultimate reward (a decent job with a decent wage assured at the end), the message to those students in our campuses as well as high schools is that hard work in school no longer pays. After all, another meeting of university dons can be convened to lower the entry grade further at a later date.

So what balance can be accommodated?

First, as the first crop of standard one pupils of the 2003 universal primary education policy edge closer to entering secondary school, the policy of free primary and subsidized secondary schooling needs a committed review, with the ultimate objective of providing quality education, whether for all or for a few has to be debated, as well as the subject of another post.

Kenyan policy makers also have to be honest with themselves and the People of Kenya about the increasing rate of unemployment particularly amongst the youth. The education system has to provide financial literacy, personal and business management training as core subjects. The time when a job was assured even in the civil service is over – at Yipe.org we have even heard of Masters degree holders digging trenches as part of the ill-thought Kazi Kwa Vijana programme.

To accommodate both the university graduates and lower level school leavers estimated at 800,000 annually, business reforms that specifically target micro-enterprise startups also need to be implemented.

Ultimately, education has to be held sacred. Kenyans need to take ownership of education and never allow it to be politicized ever again.

National Youth Convention: A Call to Action by the Young People of Kenya

Dear Friends,

Our country is in a total disarray. Its now Official. The Coalition
Government has made Kenya a FAILED STATE. We got to do something about it.

The National Youth Convention would like to call upon all young Kenyans to rise up and save Kenya from the mismanagement and total confusion that the Political class have resorted to.

The Women have been able to catch the attention of both the local and international communities in calling for abstinence not for the sake of it but for the evil bedeviling this country. Their efforts must be lauded.

The pressure must now be sustained all the way to the ballot day.

Steps to Act on;

We would like to start national activities that are going to set the agenda for discussion all the households in the country on the reform agenda. All means at our disposal should be used. Initiatives at regional provincial and district levels need to be given support. Do not allow your member of parliament to come to the constituency and go Scot free without addressing the issues that are affecting the people. Our leaders MUST be held accountable for the promises they made during the last general election and the livelihoods of all Kenyans need to have improved given the promises.

We need to petition the government on its lack of goodwill to address the ever increasing youth unemployment, massive killings by the state and agents of the state, illegal gangs and thugs, the governance crisis, the status of IDPs and the myriads of challenges that Kenyans are going through now.

Alternative Leadership

It is apparent that the current leadership is not going to protect its people even from external aggression as is being seen by the Forces from Uganda in the case of Migingo and now all the beacons separating Kenya and Uganda on the West Pokot Border have been removed by the Uganda Military and the Uganda Security Forces have been deployed to take over our land.

The Young People need to now arise and present themselves to the people so that they can be elected to take over from the current octogenarians and corrupt politicians.

The NYC calls upon those who are interested in Leadership at Parliamentary, Civic, and professional Bodies to present their intent so that we can start profiling them. The intents should be sent to convener@nyckenya.org

A criteria shall be reached at on democratic process on the NYC forum. The Young Leaders are being called upon to organize for activities at local level that will be coordinated in accordance to ensure the messages are passed on to the leadership. We need to start preparing now for the massive groundswell. Each strategy and tactic will be released at a time.

The messages are ready. We now need to work together in holding this government accountable and finally taking over leadership.

The challenge is huge, the problem is real, the road ahead will be rough and tough. We will either decide to support the same politicians or make that decision to remove them. Our generation, MUST fulfill its mission for this country. We have the numbers. We have the energy. We have one common enemy. Let us take the POWER back to the PEOPLE. PEOPLE .... POWER.

The Forum is open to your suggestions before we settle on the national day that we are going to launch our Onslaught on the current regime.

Please let us be honest with each other and come up with a clear way forward. Vijana Tujipange..... People .... Power.

Emmanuel Dennis
Convener

Kenya's grey haired brigade score five more years

Kenyan's aging civil servants received a shot in the arm from Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno who announced yesterday that the retirement age in the civil service has been raised to 60 years from the current 55.

This flies in the face of Kenya's socio-demographic statistics. For instance, 94% of the population is under 55 years old.

On the other hand, youth unemployment (that is citizens well under the current retirement age of 55) account for 3 million of the population.

Somehow the mathematics don't quite add up.

Or is it that the coalition government is more interested in keeping their cronies employed and only pay lip service to youth employment?

Don't just create jobs - empower the employer

Juma sits on a bench at the Kenyatta National Hospital waiting to be called for his physiotherapy session. He has been coming every week for the last two months after he got injured in a car accident whilst driving the company car.

A driver by occupation, Juma was employed by Antoinette the owner of a small boutique in Nairobi. He has always had a good relationship with his boss who also happens to be his aunt, but recently he can see that she is not as happy with him as she was before.

Everyone in the boutique, including Juma knows the reason for this. It is because he can no longer drive and it is now becoming a drain on Antoinette to keep paying his salary as well as his medical bills.

As an employee of a micro or small enterprise, Juma is hardly any different from what other employees in such businesses face. It came to pass that Juma lost his job at the end of August. Antoinette explained that she needed a driver and as he was unable to handle a car for the next few months, she had to hire someone else.

Decent work

Job creation seems to be the buzz word going around these days. Even the newly inaugurated second National Economic and Social Council was directed by President Kibaki to address youth unemployment. There are approximately 3 million unemployed youths, but are they really any worse off than our recently unemployed friend Juma?

This week marked the commemoration of the World Day for Decent Work. The day brought together global trade union advocates with the declaration that every person on earth should have access to a “job that enables them to live a good life in which their basic needs are met”.

Not just any jobs, but decent jobs.

To most people around the world, lack of decent work means poverty. A 2007 UNDP on employment in Kenya (Pollin et. al) found that the earnings received by the majority of Kenyan working people placed them close to the official food consumption poverty line. In their survey on non-agricultural enterprises, monthly earnings in 2007 for employees was Kshs. 2,370 for all firms, Kshs. 2,200 for informal and 6,000 for formal sector enterprises. The informal sector salary is well below the national minimum wage level.

In the same year, about 475,000 jobs were created in the informal sector whilst formal sector jobs went down 50,000 positions. This is why the push for entrepreneurship development has become even more vigorous. The government understands that entrepreneurs are the drivers of economic prosperity and empowering them translates into jobs.

The 475,000 jobs created last year is no mean feat, but can they really be described as jobs? With the majority of the positions being low paying, with low job security, working within poor workplace conditions. Even the unions do not have much clout in these small enterprises so the workers have virtually no social protection or recourse in the event of job dismissal.

One cannot blame these small businesses or their owners for that matter. They are also struggling and face challenges on a daily basis. This mainly results from sub-optimal capitalization, shortage of entrepreneurial skills, weak market linkages and lack of business development services and associative networks. The overall result is an extremely high rate of enterprise death.

So Juma is without a job, all because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he has lost his livelihood. And you really can’t blame Antoinette either, she has a business to run.

Decent Job Creation

Just creating jobs is not enough. There are various reforms that will ensure that enterprises are able to offer rewarding job placements. These are just a few:

• Improving the physical and financial infrastructure in order to enhance private enterprise productivity and competitiveness;
• Ensuring greater access to financial resources especially for institutionalization and expansion.
• Ensuring that an enabling environment for business is in place.
• Promoting entrepreneurship development by ensuring that the three keys for entrepreneurship supply of entrepreneurial spirit, human and venture capital are abundantly in place.
• Providing technical assistance and business development services to MSMEs;
  

In short, first ensure that the entrepreneur can pay a decent wage, then act on job creation.