Youth needs go beyond funding

NAIROBI: The recently concluded Global Entrepreneurship Summit saw visiting US President Barack Obama put a lot of emphasis on his country’s support in uplifting the lives of the youth and women in Africa.

He further committed funds to boost women and youth entrepreneurship in Kenya.

Even with these efforts, success will only be possible if the youth themselves take advantage of the available opportunities to enhance their lives.

There have been concerted efforts by the Government and other stakeholders to offer attractive opportunities to the youth in different programmes. The question is: do the young people across Kenya know what is available for them?

Lots of funds have been rolled out in the past – The Uwezo Fund, Youth Entrepreneurship Development Fund and others – yet the number of young people taking advantage of the opportunities remains low.

If this were to be measured against the engagement they have on social media, there were only 6,837 likes on the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund on Facebook and 718 followers on Twitter at the last check; definitely not proportionate to the youth in Kenya.

Are we speaking their language and meeting them in avenues where they look for information? We need to find a way to link up the funds with the local communities and educate young people on the opportunities available for them.

The youth need to learn the process of accessing the funds and how to use them efficiently.

It goes beyond funding; improving the quality and coordination of youth services and support is also critical to improving youth outcomes.

County governments need to respond with a greater sense of urgency and commitment, which may even require changes in policies and resource allocation.

Better still, there needs to be massive education and mentorship campaigns for the young people, especially those living in the slums and rural areas.

The many challenges facing our country today could be avoided if we equip our young people with the necessary skills and mentorship to up lift their lives.

Young people in Kenya are in need of guidance, role models and motivation.

To ensure youth empowerment projects do not go the way of the many white elephants in the country, we need to actively implement three key interventions before we disburse funds to the youth.

The first intervention should be capacity building.

Funding without support services to impart entrepreneurial skills such as book keeping, planning and communication will not provide sustainability to the survival of new and existing ventures, especially in the pre start-up and start-up stages.

Secondly, motivation, understanding and awareness of issues that young people go through needs to be prioritised.

This gives them a sense of responsibility and commitment to their ideas and at the same time enables the Government and other organisations to tailor support services for this group.

Finally, give them the opportunity to use their skills and generate change through what they do. These have been made available but they need to be encouraged by showcasing those who have done it and succeeded.

We have to continue to focus on the youth and be very deliberate in how we reach them.

We need massive campaigns on print, broadcast and social media while taking advantage of national and vernacular radio stations that the youth are known to spend time on.

They love competitions; let us take advantage of such; and arts and cultural initiatives.

This would easily pull a crowd where they can then be imparted with the right information.

This will inspire them to take initiative. Let us do what works for the youth and not assume that any ‘copy-paste’ solution will work.

The future of our nation is dependent on the investment we make on our youth today.

Let’s show a strong commitment to mentor them to take up the challenge as the agents needed to bring sweeping changes now and for generations to come.