Kenyan Youth Not Ready to Give Up ‘Fun’ for a Better Life

A new report dubbed ‘#SexMoneyFun: Kenya’s young people don’t make sense without it’ discusses the most holistic views of 15-24 year old Kenyanunder the hashtag ‘#Shujaaz360’ on social media platforms.

The report, done by Well Told Story, a multi-media communications channel engaging youth in Kenya and Tanzania, was launched in Nairobi on Wednesday.

The survey was conducted between December 2015 and February 2016. It involved face to face survey, qualitative study and SMS survey.

The report findings showed that young Kenyans tend to focus on three key topics in their conversations – relationships, money and entertainment.

Interestingly, the report states that the three are integrated to bring out the youthful lifestyle.

“While the #SexMoneyFun approach to life seems rather simple, it is not. Young Kenyans have to be very strategic about how they spend their time and money so they can maintain the lifestyle and gain the social capital that sustains their self-image and self-narrative.”

“Any campaign addressing young people needs to pinpoint very clearly how the new product or new behavior will result in more sex, more fun and more money and how quickly,” it adds.

With an increasing population growth rate of 2.7 per annually with an increasing unemployment rate that was at 6.7 per cent in 1978 and currently at 40 per cent justifies that in relation to the growth rate of the economy standing at 5.6 per cent in 2015 which was a slight improvement compared to a 5.3 per cent growth in 2014 is far below the Kenya Vision 2030 blueprint that targets an average of 10 per cent.

Kenya Unemployment Rate is projected to trend around 24.00 percent in 2020, according to Trading Economics global macro models.

Read: Youth and Unemployment in Kenya

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics economic survey reported that the economy generated a total of 841.6 thousand jobs of which 128.0 thousand jobs were in the modern sector while 713.6 thousand were in the informal sector.

In contrast, the #SexMoneyFun report on Money and Employment, “Youths’ current financial situation is challenging – half regularly struggle to get enough money for food and transport.”

49% don’t have enough money for daily needs, 3% have more than enough and can do whatever they please, and 47% have just enough to cover their expenses for the day.

Further, it reveals that, opportunities for formal employment are limited even for those who are officially in the job market. 15% are formally employed and 85% are not formally employed.

Their quest for money according to the report means a lot to them. It means, survival, freedom, independence, sense of accomplishment and social capital. To earn that money, youth have to be employ creativity. Key among them, upkeep allowances from family members and family savings, hustling, with the informal sector playing a critical role – 1-4 hustles, including 15% among full-time students and 57% among those formally employed and through sponsors – 33% of young Kenyans either have a sponsor or know someone who has a sponsor; 65% say it’s ok to have a sponsor even when you are in a relationships.

If 1 million young Kenyans are entering the Kenyan labor market annually according to Ministry of Education, in a market with a capacity to absorb only about 10% of them through formal employment, will the National Employment Authority Act serve the purpose for them to access employment and economic empowerment?

Raphael Obonyo, the external adviser to the United Nations Habitat’s Youth Advisory Board says, “Youth are feeling the burden of unemployment. We must act! Youth in Africa today are better educated, but this has not lifted their prospects of finding jobs.”

He however, states that, “Unemployment rates calls for our youths to think big in terms of being entrepreneurial for survival.”

He stresses that, Youth need genuine education and skills training and that their ambitions need to be matched with opportunities.

“Job creation needs to be about creating meaningful work. Not glorified forms of begging! Giving more education to Youth will not help them get employed. This is a myth. Give education relevant for labour market.”

He adds, “Countries need to invest not just in formal education but in skills training. We need specific training policies rather than piling them with vaguely defined education policies.”

The Late Prof Wangari Maathai (Nobel Laureate) on receiving the UN Africa Prize for Leadership, 1991 said:

“Another value Africans must adopt is love and concern for young people. One of the most devastating experiences is to see youth wasting away because they are unemployed, even after they have completed secondary and tertiary education, or because their health has deteriorated. Without skills, people find themselves locked out of productive, rewarding economic activities, leaving them unable to meet their needs for housing, healthcare and nutrition. They get trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and, sometimes, crime.”

Perhaps going forward, Kenya needs to embrace and adopt the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) “3E policy framework” in the report ‘Harnessing the Opportunity of the Demographic Dividend’ which is about inclusive growth, not just economic growth:

Empower

People, especially women and young girls, must be empowered to make the best choices for themselves and their families.

Policies must ensure that women and couples have access to family planning services and have the rights and freedoms to make their own reproductive choices.

Educate

The soon-to-be and already employed must be properly educated and prepared for future employment opportunities.

Young women must be supported and given the same opportunities to succeed as their male counterparts.

Employ

Viable employment opportunities must be created for the younger generation. While much of this will happen in the private sector, public policy will affect the level and quality of employment.

Countries must focus on good governance and strong macroeconomic management to ensure well-functioning labor and financial markets.

In conclusion, the Well Told Story report in my opinion, it simply states the Kenyan youth has not given up, a reason they would not want to return back to their homes because of shame, they cannot feed themselves, and they do not have a roof above their heads. How many youth are employed but cannot still meet ends meet? How many are employed, but are still under the care of their parents? They are out there. Yet, they cannot give up.