Enhancing Human Development Through Youth Empowerment in Africa- a Case Study of Kenya

Abstract

Kenyan youth, like those in most developing countries, face numerous challenges, including but not limited to ranging from scarceness of resources, unemployment, diseases, violence and crime. The youth have the burden of living with poor organization in terms of legal and policy implementation structures, poor governance and below average economic development that hinder their growth. In addition to these, there are other enabling dynamics drawn from a socio-economic, cultural and operational facet that have greatly interfered with the general well-being of the youth, affecting their contribution to human development. Despite a surge in the youthful demographic around the globe, current international and local mechanisms do not sufficiently address their plight and due to this they are becoming more and more frustrated and disillusioned. The objective of this study was to examine ways of enhancing human growth through youth empowerment in Africa using the Kenyan situation as a case study. It will undertake a situation analysis of the state of youth empowerment in Kenya, analyze how the roll out of the existing policies, national plans and strategies, or lack of it therefore, match with or meet the Youth's socioeconomic needs and recommend how youth empowerment can promote human development in Kenya. To test the hypothesis that the normative, legal and policy strategies in place for youth empowerment have not addressed the youth problem and that the state of the Kenyan Youth is deteriorating with time, and more youth are getting desolate therefore getting to adulthood as worse of citizens, a desktop/document review followed by a scientific analysis of the same was carried out to help understand the context and operative environment of the subject of study while at the same time providing useful information. The results showed that despite the fact that Kenya has ratified all the international and regional treaties concerning the welfare of the youth, and set up policies and funds for youth empowerment, most of these are still on paper. Very little implementation is going on due to societal ills like rampant corruption and for that matter the situation of the youth is deteriorating. The study concluded that due to the youth bulge, they are a very crucial population that cannot be ignored anymore. Various studies have recognized the youth as the missing link in Africa’s development and economic growth. They must therefore be involved in human capacity building for sustained economic development and transformation in Africa. Giving the youth the power to make decisions, power to economic advancement, leadership opportunities and promoting their general well-being is not a choice anymore but an integral part of sustainable development agenda.