By Bacha Zewdie
Policy
and Legislation
The National Youth Policy of
Ethiopia marks a major step in recognizing and promoting the rights of young
people in the country. Established in 2004, the policy aims “to bring about the
active participation of youth in the building of a democratic system and good
governance as well as in the economic, social and cultural activities and to
enable them to fairly benefit from the results.” It envisions youth as “a young
generation with democratic outlook and ideals, equipped with knowledge and
professional skills”. A wide range of priority areas of action are identified,
including democracy and good governance, health and education, as well as
culture, sport and entertainment.
Health
Ethiopia's youth population had
been facing a number of health challenges, including inadequate access to
sexual and reproductive health information/services, prevalence of HIV/AIDS,
and persistent gender inequalities. Young women used to represent a high-risk
group in Ethiopia, being especially vulnerable to gender-based violence, female
genital mutilation, early marriage and other harmful traditional practices.
However, Ethiopian government has issued youth policy and implementing it to benefit
the youth throughout the country. The policy includes:-
· Create
conditions to enable the youth to participate in and benefit from the
implementation of preventive health policy;
· Create
favourable conditions for the youth to have proper access to information,
education, consulting and leadership services in the areas of reproductive
health and relate health issues; and
· Create
favourable conditions for the youth to actively participate in and benefit from
the efforts to eradicate harmful traditional practices which are determined to
their health. (FDRE National Youth Policy, 2004)
Education
Ethiopia has made progress in
improving youth’s education: From 2005 to 2014 the net enrolment rate in
primary schools rose from 60.5% to 85.85%. The literacy rate of people aged
15-24 years is estimated to have risen to 69.48% (2015). However, low levels of
education quality and high drop-out rates, as well as gender and rural-urban
disparities remain major challenges for the achievement of universal basic
education and a smooth school-to-work transition. Particularly ethnic minority
groups, youth from rural areas, girls and young people from poor households
face major obstacles in accessing basic education. The probability of having no
access to basic education is twice as high for female as for male youth. Low
quality of education in terms of poor physical facilities, lack of well-trained
teachers, and shortage of learning materials, exacerbate the problems of the
educational system. According to the World Bank, Ethiopia spent 26.3% of its
government expenditure and 4.5% of its GDP on education provision in 2013.
Employment
The labour force participation of
young Ethiopians is significantly determined by geographical and gender
disparities. Ethiopian women are more likely to be unemployed. In 2005, 11.2%
of women and 4.1% of men between 15-24 were unemployed – and less likely to
participate in the labour force – in 2005, 79% of women and 86% of men between
15-29. Beside high gender inequality, a strong duality between rural and urban
areas characterizes youth employment in Ethiopia: In rural areas, young people
leave school at a very early age and start to work in subsistence agriculture.
Low labour income, large underemployment, and limited chances to enter the formal
sector mark their working life. In urban areas, youth face high rates of
unemployment, strong disadvantages compared to adults, and a school-to-work
transition that is more than twice as long as in rural areas. The vast majority
of young Ethiopians suffer from a lack of access to high-quality education,
decent formal sector employment, and governmental employment programs. The
demand for technical and vocational education and training programs is high,
since the skills developed in Ethiopian schools do not match the needs of the
national labour market.
Youth
Participation
Ethiopia's
youth has the potential to play a significant role in the country’s
socio-economic and political development. The National Youth Policy (2004)
recognizes the importance of youth, “to participate, in an organized manner, in
the process of building a democratic system, good governance and development
endeavours, and benefit fairly from the outcomes”. However in practice, there
are still some barriers that hinder youth’s active participation in
socio-economic, political and cultural life, including persistent gender
inequality, youth poverty, and a lack of recreational activities. The
government recognizes ‘the lack of entertainment facilities; scarcity of public
library services; and the lack of physical education training institutes,’
Ethiopian Youth Council for Higher Opportunities
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/workingwithyouth/1421?task=view.
Africa has more young people than
any other continent. At present, 65pc of the total population of Africa are
below the age of 35. According to a UNICEF report The Generation 2030/Africa
Report, in 2050 Africa’s under-18 population will reach one billion, making up
two-thirds of the continent’s population. The report also noted that in 2050
40pc of all children in the world will be African, up from only 10pc in 1950.
It observed that a legitimate youth policy was needed to help the continent and
individual countries harness the demographic dividend.
As a dynamic, resilient, energetic
and creative section of society, youths can be a social capital. However, they
face unemployment, underemployment, poor access to education, health and
finance, and poor access to civil and democratic participation. Failing to
acknowledge the young as major stakeholders of today, while promoting the
narrative of ‘tomorrow’s leaders’ will only further alienate this demographic.
Such discourses could create ‘the young and restless’ or ‘the young and the
violent’.
Ethiopia’s case is no different.
Consider the evolution of the institutional set-ups under the incumbent government.
For instance, in the first parliament from 1995-2000, youth issues were not
considered important enough to be part of the government’s cabinet. So, youth
issues were marginalised to the regional Bureaus of Youth Affairs. From
2000-2005 the Ministry of Youth and Sports was established.
One of the lasting legacies of this
Ministry is its success in producing the first ever National Youth Policy of
Ethiopia in 2004. From 2005-2010 the Ministry added another portfolio,
amalgamating departments, resulting in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and
Culture. In the incumbent 2010-2015 government, youth issues are addressed by the
Ministry of Women, Children and Youths. Currently the issue of the youth is
given more attention by separating from women and children and forming new
Ministry of Youth and Sport. Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD)
Recently, the Oromia regional state
announced its plan to create almost a million jobs for youth, as well as 21,000
youth graduates of higher learning institutions. As reported in the media, the
Oromia State of Ethiopia plans to create more than 800 thousand job opportunities
with an investment of 2.4 billion Birr. The job opportunities are said to be
created in the coming months of the current fiscal year.
Indeed, this massive project of
unprecedented scale is intended to occupy the youth force in manufacturing, mechanized
agriculture, construction, and mining. For that end, 200 tractors, 1,400 water
pumps, and 101 crushers have been prepared.
A similar youth focused work has
been reported from the Afar region recently. In Afar State, over 10,000 youths
were given trainings so as to equip them with the vision of the country and the
opportunities created by the government and the plans set to enhance youth
participation, benefits.
More recently also, the federal
government announced an allocation of 10,000,000,000 Birr in a revolving fund
to meet the self-employment needs of the youth.
The mass training, entitled
National Capacity Building and Mobilization Program, benefited more than 10,000
youths, who have leading street life, was aimed at mobilizing support from various
actors to create job opportunities.
Indeed, these youths have also
received adequate work training from the Ministry of Defence for the past
eleven months.
These and various similar
activities that target employment creation and empowering the youth are the
reason that Ethiopia have received praise from the Director for Economic
Affairs of the African Union Commission. The Director for Economic Affairs of
the African Union Commission listed Ethiopia among the three countries in
Africa that have been performing well in this regard, in particular creating
employment for the young generation.
Indeed, the government of Ethiopia
is committed to promote the empowering of youth and to ensure their
participation in building democratic system and good governance,
social-economic and cultural development process.
In the past, proper attention has
not been given to addressing youth issues and their organizations. The youth
were left to waste their great potential to contribute, even though some
governmental institutions had formulated plans to address the problems and
needs of youth. However, these efforts were not in an integrated and
satisfactory manner. As a result, there were no favourable conditions under
which the youth could actively and effectively participate in the process of
national development and perform multi-faceted tasks that would help accelerate
economic and social development, which would in turn ensure their benefits and
that of their society.
It has been more than a decade since the
government formulated a national youth policy in with the broad objective of
ensuring the active participation of youth in the economic, social, and
cultural life of the country, and to support democratization and good
governance.
The basic principles of the youth policy
were to ensure that the youth will be active participant and beneficiary of
democratization and economic development activities. The policy addressed a
wide range of youth issues, ranging from HIV/AIDS to environmental protection
and social services.
The government has also formulated
the youth development package to translate in to action the national youth
policy based on the formulated strategic plan with the view to alleviate the
economic, social and political problems of the youth. The Ethiopian youth
development package was also developed through full participation of the youth
themselves and their organizations at different forum.
As clearly stated in the Second Growth and
Transformation Plan, the main objectives of the government in the coming five
years will be the empowerment of the youth so as to enable them ensure full
participation in and benefit from the socio-economic and political process as
well as ensuring the welfare and rights of children. Indeed, as Ethiopia
marches in the socio-economic stride, the future is brighter for the Ethiopian
youth than ever.
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