ENTERPRISE: BRAC Tanzania gave Jackline Chikusa (in green) some business basics then she started her own salon
a couple of years ago. COURTESY PICTURE
ARUSHA, Tanzania - Tanzania is apparently ahead
of other East African Community (EAC) member
states in terms of employment creation.
Tanzania has recorded over 18 per cent annual job creation rate ahead of Kenya 17 per cent, Burundi 12 per cent, Uganda 7.3 per cent and Rwanda 0.7 per cent.
This was revealed during the recently concluded East African Youth Conference hosted in Arusha.
The conference was convened to strategise for youth-led discussions and proposals that will enable the EAC organs, institutions and stakeholders address issues pertaining to youth development.
According to the African Leadership Centre (ALC)EAC, youth population in the EAC grew by 24 million between 2005 and 2010 and is expected to grow by 237 million by 2030.
The EAC Secretary General Richard Sezibera said job opportunities have increased in the region with the deepening of regional integration. He advised the youth seek opportunities that lie outside their home countries and to be job creators.
“This calls for the youth in the region to focus their energies in innovative and transformational ideas that will propel the regional economy into the fast moving globalised world,” he said.
He said enthusiasm of the youth in the EAC bloc on regional integration was overwhelming with recent statistics showing that employment rates are still at a record high.
However, there has been some concern that unemployment among the young people has become a pressing economic and social issue in all the five EAC partner states.
The youth bulge in EAC is detrimental to the growth and expansion of the integration agenda: A response based on fear, anxiety and doom given the dangerous intersections of youth bulge, conflict and social exclusion making them vulnerable to joining terrorist groups.
Dr Sezibera challenged the participants to look beyond borders and develop businesses that will tap the growing regional market especially in the ICT sector.
“It is my hope and belief that you will explore the opportunities it presents in the areas of software development and provision of hardware to facilitate intra-regional trade”, he stated.
Whereas looking beyond ‘crisis- causing’ role – relegation to edge, according to the ALC, increases sapace for dynamism and experimenting.
The free market forces, technological changes and private sector development determine the demand for youth employment.
Available statistics indicate that youth constitute 60 per cent of the total population in East Africa at over 140 million. Tanzania has a population of close to 45 million, the highest in the region.
The Tanzanian deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information Prof. Elisante ole Gabriel said young people formed the greatest resource and their active participation in development and can enable the region to surmount to challenges.
He said: “I am informed that some of you here are already young leaders member of parliaments some are aspiring to become leaders, policy makers or great thinkers and active citizens.’’
He informed the 200 youth at the conference that EAC has a vision of establishing a EAC Youth Council in the foreseeable future with a vision of building an active, inclusive citizenship based on participation, equality and respect for all.
The policy calls upon East Africa’s young people to “take charge of their lives, of the future as “a place where young people reach their full potential, have a solid future and a valued voice.”
By Elisha Mayallah, Sunday, December 14th, 2014
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