Decentralising youth empowerment schemes critical

The decision by Government to initiate a new programme, dubbed Youth Employment for Global Opportunities (YEGO), to decentralise schemes that are meant to economically empower the youth, is the right one.The country has had many initiatives in the past aimed at promoting entrepreneurship. Most of these have been designed to develop skills of prospective entrepreneurs.While this is a brilliant idea, there’s lack of a clear coordination mechanism for such policies, sometimes leading to duplication as the training programmes are implemented by various institutions.By decentralising the youth economic empowerment schemes, Government will be able to better determine the effectiveness of its policies, thus mitigating risks of policy failure.In the same way the idea to manage youth training centres from the national level through the grassroots will help in developing tailor-made standards for prospective entrepreneurs and trainers of trainers who will manage the entire value chain.The Ministry of Youth and ICT, which is behind the new model, needs now to bring on board or all the key stakeholders so that the new approach is agreed upon and owned by the players. Equally significant, is the need to fully involve the youth themselves, especially through the existing youth structures, which themselves need to be improved to better serve their constituency.If well implemented, this approach would go a long way in addressing some of the country’s critical skills challenges.

Opinions

Decentralising youth empowerment schemes critical