Youth Demographics in the East African Community

Youth Demographics in the East African Community A LENS ON KENYA

Approximately 17% of the world's 7.5 billion people live in Africa. About 60% of this population is less than 25 years old. Like the rest of Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, East African Community (EAC) countries - Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania - are experiencing demographic changes, which are affecting not just their size, but also the age structure and the region's socio-economic progress.

EAC countries have large youthful populations, which has been identified as a significant challenge for development in the region, as the respective states, and households have to shoulder the responsibility of providing for the basic services and needs of children and youth. This has the effect of limiting their ability to accumulate savings that could be invested for higher productivity and infrastructure development.

The youth population in Kenya is the focus of this photo-story. We draw on the experiences of youth living and working in various parts of urban and peri-urban Nairobi. Their experiences are around four major domains for youth development: health, including access to sexual and reproductive health services; education and skills development, including information technology and communication; employment; as well as migration and urbanisation.

These are their experiences, and in their own words.

Elizabeth, 19 year-old Media student and crafts-maker.

Ray, 22 year-old Law student and tech entrepreneur.

Joy, 22 year-old Art and Design student and contemporary artist.

Isaac, 27-year old goods porter, and Engineering student.

Damaris, 25 year-old mobile phone vendor.

Joseph, 28 year-old matatu tout.

Margaret, 35 year-old second-hand clothes vendor.

Migration and Urbanisation

Urbanisation offers important opportunities for economic and social development, which are the engines of economic growth in Africa. In Kenya, however, cities and other urban centres struggle to provide an enabling environment for innovation, rapid economic growth and job creation. As such, the majority of urban residents are either unemployed or lack stable livelihoods, among other challenges.

Like most African countries, Kenya's urban centres grow through natural population increase, which happens as people are born - in contrast to immigration - in the urban centre, and decreases as people die, as opposed to emigration. Natural population increase accounts for about 75% of urban growth. The remainder, however, is through migration, and youth are a significant contributor to this kind of growth. Some of the factors that pull youth to urban areas and cities include perceived higher prospects of employment, better healthcare, and the lure of urban lifestyles.

Born and raised in Kisumu, Elizabeth moved to Nairobi after completing high school, where she currently lives with her mother - a single parent. From a young age, she'd lived with her grandparents in rural Kisumu, as her mother worked as a teacher in the city.

Growing up, she saw young people and her peers migrate to Nairobi after completing their studies. She felt social pressure to do the same. She prefers life in the city due to the conveniences from products and services that are either unavailable or even unheard of back in Kisumu.

At 25, Joseph moved from his rural home in Subukia, Nakuru County to Nairobi. He came to Nairobi in search of employment. He first got a job at Nairobi's Industrial Area, where he worked for about a year before he was laid off.

Joseph feels life back home would be less challenging than living in an urban area as one wouldn't sleep hungry. However, moving back home would be unwise without a source of income especially now that he has a family to fend for.

Damaris is from Meru County and moved to Nairobi in 2016 after completing a diploma course in Secretarial Studies. She wanted something to do, and felt business was a suitable venture to get into. So, she started selling mobile phones and shoes, and has been doing this for over a year.

Damaris prefers the town life compared to life in the village. She feels capable of doing more than she would, had she stayed. For instance, she's able to earn enough to send some money back home to her mother to contribute towards her siblings' school fees.

Education and Skills Development

Education, training and skills development are key in developing a globally competitive and productive workforce. Education for socio-economic development is one of the pillars and prerequisites to achieving Kenya's Vision 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Vision 2030 is the national long-term development strategy aimed at transforming Kenya into a newly industrisalising, middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states are expected to use to frame their agendas and political policies to end poverty and improve the lives of poor people by 2030.

The Kenya Constitution (2010) obligates the government to take measures, including affirmative action programmes, to ensure that the youth access relevant education and training. Kenya’s labour market requires skilled and well-trained workers but there is a concern in the country that education curricula are not aligned to the needs of the labour market and do not emphasise transferable skills, such as entrepreneurship, leadership, effective communication.

Ray is a fourth-year Law student. However, he doesn't envision himself ever practising this trade. Instead, he wants to work in technology. He's taught himself how to code and build mobile applications. With these skills, he is in the process of setting up a logistics startup company that aims to connect businesses and individuals with "boda boda" riders to deliver goods through mobile application technology.

He feels that a university education is important, but only to an extent. If he had the option, he wouldn't get one. However, he concedes that navigating Kenya's economic landscape without a higher education would be disadvantageous. Thus, he feels the need to have a back-up plan.

Joy is a second year student of Art and Design at Kenyatta University. She lost her hearing at a very young age and learned to speak much later than her peers. She experienced difficulty learning in school. Joy felt that her teachers and fellow students didn't do enough to accommodate her special needs.

Joy is eligible for government subsidy for her university education due to her disability. However, attempts to obtain this funding have been futile due to corruption. Officials at the concerned government agency have required bribes in exchange for access to this fund.

Rampant strikes by lecturers and students have been a great hindrance to her completing her studies in good time. She fears these incidents may force her to graduate later than necessary. Training resources are also inadequate to meet the needs of all students. This is in spite of the fact that students pay a considerable amount of school fees.

Isaac is currently a second-year electrical engineering student at the Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology. He ferries goods at the Kangemi Market to raise money for fees and his upkeep.

At 27, he is much older than his classmates, but he hopes that by completing the course he will eventually find work that pays better and isn't as taxing as carrying heavy goods.

Though Damaris holds a college diploma, she's passionate about entrepreneurship, which led her to start a business. She notes that going through school was relatively smooth as her parents could afford school fees.

Employment and Job Creation

It is estimated that annually, over 750,000 youth attempt to enter the labour market in Kenya but only 15% are able to get formal jobs. The huge deficit between the labour supply and jobs has created high youth unemployment (roughly 23% among 15-24-year olds; 17% among males and 21% among females). When young people are employed, it is often in the vulnerable and low-paying informal Jua Kali sector, or are underemployed youth working in the subsistence agricultural sector with inadequate earnings. The existence of the informal sector is not all bad, as it provides livelihoods for many young people.

Recent surveys have also signalled that access to gainful employment and income opportunities for young people in Kenya is largely hindered by corruption, and the lack of capital, knowledge and relevant skills.

Elizabeth runs a crafts-making business, which she founded with a friend in early 2018. She uses waste material and discarded packaging to fashion pen-holders and photo frames.

The motivation to start a business came from a desire to become financially independent at a young age. Since they started, they've managed to open a bank account, where money made from the business is deposited. Part of it is put back in the business to purchase the materials they need to make the craftwork and the rest goes to upkeep and savings.

Ray finds getting funding support as the biggest challenge with starting his businesses.

He decries the youth unemployment situation in Kenya, and this partly informed his desire to become self-employed and have his own business as a young person. He has seen relatives attempt to solicit job opportunities by virtue of his mother's position. He is convinced that this is largely how it's done everywhere else, particularly in government offices.

Ray is not necessarily optimistic that the youth unemployment situation in Kenya will improve. He simply wishes there was more transparency in the recruitment of workers, especially in government service. He believes this could pave way for the employment of young people like him through merit rather than relying on who they know.

In 2008, Margaret - then 26 years old - began selling second-hand clothes. 10 years on, her small business helps feed and educate five children, two of whom are orphans following her sister's untimely death. She supports all the children by herself.

Margaret sometimes takes loans from micro-finance agencies to buy her goods. While these have been helpful, she decries the rate of interest applied on the loans, and sees this as one of the reasons why many youth do not take advantage of loan schemes.

After losing his first job in Nairobi's Industrial Area, Joseph tried his hand at business, selling fruits and vegetables for about two years. However, he often made losses when the produce would go bad, forcing him to abandon the business altogether.

Joseph believes working as a tout brings a steadier income than both his previous jobs. However, he has to be constantly on his feet, as it requires spirited efforts to entice would-be passengers to get into a vehicle - this is how he earns his pay. He also has to bear with occasional harassment from the police. The spot where he touts has been notorious for harbouring petty thieves in the past and hence he and his colleagues are always suspected of mischief.

The health status of Kenya's youth and access to sexual and reproductive health services

Ensuring health and well-being of youth is critical for development, and African countries can't achieve their medium- and long-term development aspirations if their populations are unhealthy. This includes sexual and reproductive health.

In Kenya, access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services is inadequate, resulting in an unmet need for contraception among sexually active young people. Unmet need is a measure of those that want to stop or delay child bearing but are not using any method of contraception). This often leads to unintended pregnancies, which, especially among young people, have negative implications on one's socio-economic status such as access to education and livelihood opportunities.

Further, the health status of youth in Kenya is compromised by diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases, which undermine the country's economic potential significantly. Only about 20% of Kenya’s population is covered by some form of health insurance. From that figure, about 85% are covered by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), making it the principle insurance scheme for Kenyans. However, it has to be noted that the scheme mainly targets formal sector workers. Given Kenya's high youth unemployment figures, and that most of the country's young people work in the informal sector, most of Kenya's youth is likely uninsured.

Joy has medical insurance cover through her parents. She explains that her parents are skeptic over the effectiveness of the national insurance scheme, which has made them consider continuing her cover for the foreseeable future.

She singles out peer pressure in school as a significant negative influence among her fellow students. She’s seen some of her classmates get swept up in drugs and other vices. Some end up getting behind in their studies, while others have eventually had to drop out and find other pursuits outside of their passions.

Joy's school facilitates forums for discussion of sexuality and contraception. Social clubs have also been instituted particularly for this purpose. Her school also has a theatre facility and an active theatrical scene, where plays that present discursive scenes on sex, relationships, HIV/AIDS through drama. Further, for three weeks in a semester, the school hosts continued HIV testing and counselling camps offered free to students.

However, Joy admits that often students are wary of the counsellers. She attributes this to a certain view of sex and HIV/AIDS as difficult topics to navigate without shame. As a result, she says students often do not divulge personal information about their sexuality and health status through these forums at school. Students are afraid that their health status and sexual activity will become public knowledge and they might be scorned by their peers.

Access to healthcare in Kangemi is fairly good. There is a health centre run by the Nairobi County government. According to Margaret, the services offered there are satisfactory. However, there are frequent medical supply stockouts (especially of medicines), which pose a major challenge to access, as one has to find alternative places to purchase medication that has been prescribed.

Despite a noted unmet need for contraceptives among youth, Margaret finds access to contraceptives at the nearby health centre is fairly sufficient. For instance, the 3-month contraceptive injection and pills are readily available. However, long-acting methods, such as the contraceptive implants are not available.

For those whose husbands do not want their wives to use hormonal contraceptives due to side-effects, Margaret encourages them to use condoms. She also advises women who experience adverse effects from hormonal contraceptives to consider the different methods available until they find one that suits them.

Joseph explains that with what he earns from touting, paying for healthcare for his family is nearly impossible. The best he can do is pray that his two children don’t fall ill.

For Damaris, access to healthcare is not a challenge. The way she sees it, community members have various options as they can either visit public or private health facilities in the area, if they are able to afford it.

It is not until 2050 that EAC countries shall have a significantly large working-age (15-64 years) population constituting more than 65% of the total population from about 50% of the population. Despite the changing age structure, the proportion of youth in the population will stay close to 1/5th of the population over the next few decades while increasing rapidly in absolute numbers.

The expected rapid increase in the population in the school-going ages means that all of the EAC countries should forecast increased expenditure to adequately cover the costs for the provision of education over the next few decades. The need for health services and in particular for reproductive health for young people will also rise significantly. Similarly, there will be an increased and urgent need to create adequate numbers of decent jobs to absorb the ever larger cohorts of young people who will join the labour force over the next few decades.

If nothing is done to alleviate the population growth rate in EAC countries, its young population will continue to grow, placing significant strain on the country’s resources as they will still have to be educated, housed, employed and provided with healthcare.

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Credits:

African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP)