Youth Empowerment and Social Entrepreneurship

ANTONIO STUURMANNYOUNG AFRICANS face multiple challenges, such as soaring unemployment, dehumanising poverty and uncurbed social disintegration.

Research suggests that youth unemployment poses a threat to the social, economic and political stability of nations (Urdal, 2006). The current state of affairs, as it relates to youth underdevelopment and unemployment, is a ticking time bomb that threatens the vitality and survival of our young democracy and continent.

In Namibia, the youth unemployment rate was recorded at 43,4% in 2016, which increased to an alarming 46% in 2018 (Labour Force Survey, 2018). The high rate of youth unemployment signifies the crippling failure of the Swapo-led government to prioritise youth development.

It further demonstrates the state’s failure to understand the role of the youth in social transformation. Society faces serious dangers when the plight of young people is not addressed. The north African region, which has the world’s highest youth unemployment rates, has experienced violent social uprisings, which were spearheaded by restless young people (Azeng,T & Yogo, T 2013).

The youth have become restless as the economic conditions in Namibia have gone from bad to worse.

At Keetmanshoop, a group of 13 unemployed youth were arrested when they protested at the //Kharas governor’s office against the employment of ‘struggle kids’ ahead of other unemployed youth in the region. This shows the level of desperation many young people in our country face.

Namibia has one of the youngest populations in southern Africa (Mulama, L & Nambinga, V 2017). Once this untapped potential of youth is unlocked, it can offer huge opportunities for Namibia’s long-term economic development trajectory. Regrettably, our policy space does not fully appreciate the great potential of our youthful population as it relates to socio-economic development.

For instance, the land resettlement policy does not have any serious consideration for young people to access, utilise and acquire agricultural land. There is an urgent need for a strategic configuration of policies that will harness the full potential of our youth.

The greatest opportunity for youth development lies within the social entrepreneurship space. Social entrepreneurship is doing business for a social cause. It is an interface of commerce and social issues with a view to improve the lives of people connected to the cause.

The Old Mutual women’s micro-business project was a good start in which Old Mutual collaborated with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) in providing women with interest-free loans and capacity-building training in business management.

We need to reshape Namibia’s business sector to create more opportunities, centred on youth development, specifically linked to social entrepreneurship. The banking and finance capacity of NamPost should be expanded in order to directly finance young entrepreneurs. Interest-free and collateral-free loans should be directed towards social entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship has always been about innovation; social entrepreneurship is a symbiosis of innovation and solving social issues. In many rural areas where young people feel isolated, discarded and forgotten, they can be uplifted through social entrepreneurship.

The 2017 Human Development Index put Namibia at 0,647, placing the country 129th out of 189 countries. This demonstrates that our social development is in a state of paralysis. Therefore, we urgently need social entrepreneurship to create more opportunities for young people to thrive, and be lifted out of the social chaos and poverty that characterises ‘post-colonial’ Namibia.

The restlessness of unemployed young people poses a real threat to society. The plight of the Keetmanshoop unemployed youth is a case in point.

We need urgent interventions which can rescue a generation of youth. Through social entrepreneurship, we can achieve the empowerment and employment of many youth. We can achieve social change through innovation.

One of the reasons Namibia has failed to transform is because the full potential of young people has never been realised. By creating the necessary conducive conditions and opportunities, the youth of this country has the creativity, energy and collective wisdom to thrive and prosper through innovation and entrepreneurship!

• Antonio Stuurmann is//Kharas regional operative secretary for the Landless People’s Movement.

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