2023-08-25 13:49:52
Young Africans are outpacing previous generations, with 66% reaching secondary education
August 25, 2023
Young Africans are surpassing previous generations, with 66% reaching secondary education, but they still struggle with unemployment. Young Africans are ahead of their predecessors, with 66% reaching secondary education. This achievement, however, contrasts sharply with the reality that young people are still struggling with unemployment.
This according to the results of a study unveiled Thursday during a webinar led by young people and organized by Afrobarometer in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. Under the theme
« Understanding the Youth Perspective: Exploring Needs and Aspirations the webinar brought together young activists to shed light on critical issues affecting young Africans, including unemployment, views on democracy and political participation.
Presenting Afrobarometer survey results from 36 African countries surveyed in 2021/2022, Shannon van Wyk-Khosa, Afrobarometer’s Digital Portfolio Manager, revealed that while unemployment tops the list of the most important issues facing young Africans want their government to tackle, governments are consistently rated poorly for their job creation efforts.
Of the 36 countries, only two have majorities that approve of their governments’ job creation performance – Zambia (72%) and Seychelles (60%). Majorities in other countries say their governments are doing a bad job.
Sharing data on democracy, Wyk-Khosa said that “ compared to older citizens, young people express greater dissatisfaction with democracy, distrust their elected leaders and are more open to military intervention in the event of abuse of power ».
Nearly six in 10 Africans under 36 (56%) are willing to tolerate military intervention if elected leaders abuse power – 10 percentage points higher than among those over 55.
Despite their various challenges, young people show lower rates of political engagement than their elders across a variety of indicators, including voting in national elections, attending community meetings, joining others to raise problems and contact their leaders to discuss important issues.
Ayobami Ojebode, Director of Research Systems Strengthening and Knowledge Mobilization at The Mastercard Foundation, highlighted the Foundation’s commitment to empowering African youth through informed strategies and initiatives.
« We do not pretend to know what the most important problems of young people are, nor what they think of the economic conditions of their country or of themselves. said Ojebode in his welcome address. ” That is why we have opened channels that allow us to simply listen to young people. In each of our countries of operation, we have youth advisory groups that work with our national teams ».
In line with their shared commitment to providing a platform for African voices to be heard, the webinar is part of the partnership “ Exploring youth issues and priorities and building the capacity of youth across Africa between Afrobarometer and the Mastercard Foundation. The partnership supports Afrobarometer in the production and wide dissemination of data on the priorities and aspirations of African youth.
Mohammed El-Ouazzani Hassani, master student in data and discourse studies at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, moderated the youth-led webinar.
Citations notables
Dedo Doku, DAAD Scholar (German Academic Exchange Service) Leadership for Africa
« Demographics non-negotiably demand that young people be the most critical stakeholders and primary customers of any African economic agenda. We must recognize our power, harness our energies in supporting existing mobilization efforts to ensure proper governance and democratic processes for a sustainable future ».
Farida Bemba Nabourema, executive director of the Togolese Civil League
« In many parts of this continent, young people are on their own. The conditions in which they live are deteriorating day by day. There is growing insecurity, growing inequalities and a lack of basic services. The utter failure of our governments to provide basic services has created an environment of discontent where young people have to support themselves ».
Louise Kanza, international development consultant
« Our challenges are rooted in our lack of unity and pan-Africanism ».
Mandipa Ndlovu, governance researcher and development policy analyst
« The rest of Africa is not immune to the ripple effects of what is happening in the Sahel. Young people need concrete reassurance that their leaders are working for them, not against them ».
About Afrobarometer
Afrobarometer (AB) is a trusted source of high-quality data and analysis on what Africans think. With an unrivaled history of over 350,000 interviews across 42 countries, representing the views of 75% of Africa’s population, AB is leading the charge to close the continent’s data gap.
AB data informs many global indices, such as the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer and the World Bank’s Global Governance Indicators. The data is also used for country risk analyzes and by credit rating and forecasting agencies such as the Economist Intelligence Unit.
All of AB’s datasets are publicly available on the website and can be analyzed free of charge using AB’s online data analysis tool.
About the Mastercard Foundation
The Mastercard Foundation is a Canadian charitable organization and one of the most
great foundations in the world. He works with visionary organizations to make
advancing financial education and inclusion to enable Africa’s youth and
young aboriginal people in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work.
Established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company, the foundation is an independent organization separate from the company, with offices in Toronto, Kigali, Accra, Nairobi, Kampala, Lagos, Dakar and Addis- Abeba. Its policies, operations, and program decisions are determined by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and management.
For more information about the Foundation, visit www.mastercardfdn.org.
For more information, please contact:
Hassana DIALLO
Visit us at www.afrobarometer.org.
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