A research project to study youth aspirations, adaptability, and resilience before, during and post-COVID-19 pandemic in Rwanda has been launched in Kigali, with support of the Mastercard Foundation.
The project titled "Young Men and Women Aspirations and Resilience: Prospects for livelihoods, employment and accountability before, during and beyond COVID-19 in Rwanda”, is jointly implemented by the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research(IPAR-Rwanda) and The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) with the support of Mastercard Foundation.
In addition to Rwanda, the project is being implemented in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Uganda.
On March 30, 2022, IPAR-Rwanda and PASGR with support of Mastercard Foundation organized the project inception workshop in Kigali.
The workshop aimed at fostering discussion, information sharing, and knowledge building among stakeholders to collaboratively design the research.
The workshop brought together relevant stakeholders involved in youth activities to collect their views on the research approach, identify and select stakeholders that will be critical for the project success, and constitute an Utafiti Sera (‘policy research’) platform for continuous engagement on youth aspirations and resilience in Rwanda.
The participants included the young women and men, development partners, private sector, unions, civil society, academia, government officials from different sectors such as youth affairs, labour, finance, trade and industry, education and youth employment agencies.
Speaking during the workshop, Ms. Eugenia Kayitesi, The Executive Director of IPAR Rwanda said: "We need to know the extent to which youth have lost jobs, we need to know skills and capacity they have or they need. Youth need resources and access to finance to create their own jobs. There are many challenges they have faced and the research will bring on board the evidence.”
According to Dr. Anthony Mveyange, the Executive Director of PASGR, youth make over 70% of Africa’s population but they are rarely included in policy-making process.
Dr. Anthony Mveyange, PASGR Executive Director addresses the workshop in Kigali on March 30
"Policies have been crafted from top down and youth have never been given an opportunity to be part of that process. This is an area for improvement across governments.” Dr. Anthony Mveyange said.
Dr. Mveyange further said that is a need for mainstreaming youth in all government departments and policy making spaces, adding that youth’s voices should be put at the center of policy making because they are rarely captured to inform what they are really going through.
Youth Engagement Program Partner at Mastercard Foundation Rwanda Country Office, Mr. Elie Mandela urged the stakeholders to share their views and actively participate in the research.
Mr. Mandela said: "It is through our coordinated efforts that we will be able to be strong as we collectively support our young people. We look forward to positive results from this research.”
Pacifique Uwineza, a representative of young entrepreneurs at the Private Sector Federation said that COVID-19 has impacted young entrepreneurs in Rwanda.
"Most of the youth start business with a small capital. So when COVID-19 broke out, they couldn’t survive and some quit doing business while others could not even access raw materials,” he said.
Uwineza said: "We need research to inform us where to put in more efforts and inform us on the problems mostly affecting young entrepreneurs in order to create advocacy around them and inform policy makers on what to do to fix the gaps.”
Eugenie Kayitesi, IPAR Rwanda Executive Director delivers remarks during the workshop.
Ms. Solange Tetero, Director General of Youth Empowerment at the Ministry of Youth and Culture commended the initiate to conduct research on the impact of COVID-19 on youth saying that it was timely.
Ms. Solange Tetero said: "Research is needed; it will provide vital statistics on issues caused by COVID-19 among youths. Through research, we hope to get sufficient information and evidence so as to be able to come up with the right policies and projects to help youth recover as part of national economic recovery efforts.”
Ms. Tetero said that the Ministry of Youth and Culture and its stakeholders have already put in place a fund that has supported 150 youth projects to recover from COVID-19 effects.
"Youth need skills, coaching and mentorship as well as financial resources to thrive during the pandemic. They also need jobs to earn income which they can invest in creating projects,” Ms. Tetero said.
Youth Engagement Program Partner at Mastercard Foundation Rwanda Country Office, Mr. Elie Mandela speaks to youths
Youths during a panel discussion