Effectiveness of Youth Empowerment Programs in mitigating Youth Unemployment in Kayole, Nairobi County

Abstract

The global youth unemployment rate is estimated at 12.6%, with about 73 million young people being unemployed (ILO, 2013). In Kenya, it is established that youth unemployment rate has always been higher than total unemployment rate. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of youth empowerment in mitigating youth unemployment in Kayole, Nairobi County. The specific objectives of this study are: To examine the factors that led to the establishment of youth empowerment programs in mitigating youth unemployment in Kayole, Nairobi County; To determine challenges faced by youth empowerment programs in mitigating youth unemployment in Kayole, Nairobi County and; To investigate the measures that need to be taken to ensure effectiveness of youth empowerment programs in mitigating against youth unemployment in Kayole, Nairobi County. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The sample size comprised of 120 respondents. The target population was the youth aged between 18 and 35 years living within Kayole, Nairobi County. Probability sampling procedure namely stratified random sampling was used to sample the participants. The data for the study was collected by use of a questionnaire. The collected data was analysed with the help of a Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21.0. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the quantitative data. The study is beneficial to youth policy analysts, the government, non-governmental actors, curriculum developers in higher education, parents and academicians who are interested in the livelihoods of the youth and those with a passion of ensuring that the youth are active contributors to the political and economic growth of their countries through gainful employment. The study found that corruption was the most important cause of youth unemployment in Kayole, Nairobi County followed by rural-urban migration, youth exclusion from development agenda, poor economy, high influx of graduates, high population growth rate and poor education system. The study also established that improving young leadership, need for poverty eradication, breaking youth inequality in accessing opportunities, breaking bad social habits, improving education standards and the need for soft skills were important factor leading to the establishment of the Youth Empowerment Programs. Also, the study found that for youth empowerment programs to be effective in mitigating against youth unemployment they need to include expansion of post-secondary alternatives, building entrepreneurial linkages, ensuring adequate youth empowerment infrastructure, promotion of quality education systems and creating a shared youth agenda. The study recommends that the government of Kenya should development more policies to curb corruption and improve transparency and accountability in youth empowerment programs. In addition, the government should ensure the enforcement of policies regarding corruption by use of prosecution and asset recovery. In addition, the government of Kenya including the Youth Enterprise Development Fund should revise procedures involved in accessing credit from the organization. The study also recommends the incorporation of post-secondary alternatives’ expansion into youth empowerment programs. This will play a major role in relinking procedural knowledge to occupational relations and identities and give the youth support to advance through or change educational tracks at their own pace.