早大学位記番号:新8591早稲田大

Kabo Diraditsile

English

早稲田大学博士(社会科学)早大学位記番号:新8591doctoral thesi

カボ, ディラディツィレ

106487

Kabo, Diraditsile

Waseda University Repository

Doctoral Dissertation SummaryUNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF YOUTH DEVELOPMENTAND SOCIO-ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT: A STUDY ON SOCIALPOLICY AND STRATEGIC RESPONSES FOR IMPROVING YOUTHEMPLOYMENT AND LIVELIHOODS IN BOTSWANA.Social Governance, Social Policy, Youth Development, Unemployment社会経済的な能力発揮機会の提供が青少年育成に役立つダイナミズムを理解するボツワナの若者の雇用と生活を改善するための社会政策と戦略的対応に関する研究Waseda UniversityGraduate School of Social Sciencesカボ ディラディツィレKabo, DiraditsileNo.1This doctoral research was framed by many factors; inter alia, my professional workexperience as a practitioner and trainee in Japan in 2014 under Japan InternationalCooperation Agency, as well as my lectureship experience on teaching social policy coursesin the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Botswana. Participating in researchactivities, seminars and making presentations in conferences on youth development andempowerment changed me in a fundamental way. I realized that youth unemployment andunderemployment are prevalent in Botswana and the situation is exacerbated by the factthat, over the years there has never been any coordinated attempt to engage in criticalanalysis on why past and current youth intervention programmes have not improved thelivelihoods of the young people as intended.The main aim of this dissertation was to explore overall social governance towards solutionsfor addressing youth unemployment in Botswana. The specific objectives were: to examinethematic areas of the revised Botswana National Youth Policy that do not produce results inemployment creation; to identify how youth intervention programmes can be modified andimproved to address youth unemployment effectively; to enhance the capacity of thegovernment and private sector in designing and implementation of policies and programmesfor promoting youth employment, and to derive policy recommendations appropriate to theBotswana context based on the lessons from Japan. The study hypothesized that lack ofevidence-based policy making lead to a high failure rate of youth intervention programmesmeant to address youth unemployment in Botswana. Therefore, the study adopted bothqualitative and quantitative methods commonly known as the mixed method approach, andwas cross sectional in nature. Regarding the research design, the study adopted atriangulation approach. The rationale behind the triangulation research design was that thestudy sought to describe the effects of unemployment on the quality of the youth inBotswana, and to explain the contributing factors that lead to high unemployment rates andfailure of youth intervention programmes.The study was exploratory on the grounds that there is no previous research that has beenconducted in Botswana on the impact assessment of youth intervention programmes in thecountry. The data was collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews as well as surveyquestionnaires. A total of 100 young people who benefited from one of the youthintervention programmes took part in the study. In addition, 20 Programmes Officers and 25key informants drawn from the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sports and CultureDevelopment took part in the study as well. The participants were drawn through systematicsampling and purposive sampling. Data analysis used multiple facets and approaches, forinstance, quantified data was analyzed with descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies,percentages and charts. This was achieved by using the Statistical Packages for SocialSciences, whereas for qualitative data, underlying meanings were summarized with the aimof identifying major themes. Thus, the collected data was arranged according to study groupsand the verbatim accounts of participants. The raw data from the field was furthertranscribed, sorted and arranged to the different types of participants, coded, and the last stepinvolved interpreting and drawing meanings out of the data.I encountered several challenges during the data collection process. Since the data wascollected in different locations, long distances were travelled in order to meet the participantsresulting in very high costs. All the participants in the Ministry of Youth Empowerment,Sports and Culture Development were overwhelmed with too much work as they wereNo.2preparing for the annual youth exposition which was held on the 7th of June 2019, and theInternational Youth Day (IYD) which was held on the 12th of August. Furthermore, it isworthy to note that the IYD began in 2000 and was organized by the United Nations tocelebrate the contribution that young people make in education, employment, conflictresolution and social justice to name a few. Similarly, in Botswana, it is an initiative thatcelebrates the qualities of young people in the country and that recognizes the challenges thatthey face. Therefore, several trips were made to MYSC offices without success, resulting in acase where the interviews took place a month after the initial scheduled dates. As if this wasnot enough, administering survey questionnaires to the youth was also characterized withvarious challenges. For instance, sometimes the individuals would betray the promise to beavailable on the agreed times. However, I understood the importance of obtaining data to theoverall study, and endeavoured despite the challenges faced.The study found that youth participants, programmes officers and key informants identifiedlimited job opportunities to be the main contributing factors to youth unemployment. On thisnote, several participants shared the same sentiments that the government is the majoremployer, and when it freezes positions, the youth are the first group to be hit hard. Theeconomy has a grave dependence on diamonds, but with minimal in-country value addition.Therefore, the sector has failed to provide the sufficient employment creation with only a fewpeople employed in the mining sector. Lastly, it is also hard for graduates to secureemployment immediately after completing their studies because employers demand a certainlevel of work experience that most youth do not possess. Interestingly, the study found that,the people responsible for implementing youth policies are not aware of the instruments thatare guiding them. Rather, they are only aware of the programmes that are available in theMinistry. Therefore, it can be deduced from the results that, perhaps that is the main reasonas to why the ministry is not able to deal with the realities facing young people on theground.Most of the study participants were of the view that entrepreneurship development is an areathat needs to be developed if youth unemployment is to be addressed. The key informantsalso shared similar sentiments with the programmes officers that direct job creation is theway forward for tackling youth unemployment and improving youth livelihoods. Similarly, alower number of participants reported that the various youth programmes under their currentstructure cannot offer solutions for addressing youth unemployment in Botswana. Inaddition, the findings also shed light on the interface between the government and the privatesector when it comes to addressing youth unemployment. It became apparent that youthinterventions aiming at addressing youth unemployment by the government and privatesector are not bearing results on the basis that these institutions are highly individualized andthere is little investment in the joint information. The study pointed to a range of challengesthat youth intervention programmes are fraught with operational difficulties, inter alia;fragmentation, disjointed, lack of focus, and are scattered throughout different governmentministries and departments, local authorities, the private sector and NGOs.The main conclusion that can be drawn from this dissertation is that, in addressing youthunemployment, youth development and empowerment, there can be no uniform solutionhence there must be country specific programmes. Most importantly, young people must beactive participants in all programmes, and this participation should recognise existing ruralurban as well as gender disparities and inequalities. Productive employment and decent workfor young people cannot be achieved through fragmented and isolated interventions. Instead,No.3there must be sustained, determined, and concerted actions by a wide range of actors. Theconsensus is that, youth employment is a cross-cutting and a high priority issue that needs tobe addressed within the framework of an interdisciplinary, multi-sectoral, andmulti-stakeholder approach. Based on the findings and lessons learnt regarding theimplementation of the Youth Development Fund and other youth intervention programmes,it is the contention of this study that there is a need for repositioning the Youth DevelopmentFund programme for it to achieve its objectives. Currently, the programme targets only youthnot in employment, education or training (NEET). Therefore, the researcher proposes that theprogramme should be open to any youth on condition that they leave their job whenapproved for funding.Furthermore, this dissertation argues that the government on its own cannot address thecomplex and multifaceted youth unemployment challenge which precipitates poverty.Henceforth, there is a need for the structure of the fund to be overhauled on the grounds that,if it is operated by the government, political interference will continue to compromise thequality of the programme. It is about time the State considers that the programme be operatedby the private sector and/or public-private partnership agreements with relevant stakeholders.This is suggested on the basis that having effective and efficient public-private partnerships(PPPs) will be critical for youth employment creation. Perhaps, the PPP could include youngpeople themselves to conceptualize, design, implement, monitor and evaluate theprogramme. This dissertation proposes that the Youth Development Fund programme shouldbe split into two. The split will enable the transformation of the fund into a fund thatsupports youth ventures in production value chains and light manufacturing. As per thefindings, there should be two components that address the social aspects and the purelyentrepreneurial aspects. The latter aspect should strictly fund the youth with a cleardemonstration of superior business knowledge and aptitude through robust and/or rigorousscreening. For instance, value addition should be taken into consideration where arts, cultureand tourism industries will bring innovation that will create jobs for graduates. Moreover,projects that utilize technology and help Botswana into light manufacturing and foodprocessing. Accordingly, funded enterprises must have the potential to transform into massemployment generating agencies aimed at producing to export. With this arrangement, thereshould be mandatory training and exchanges prior to fund disbursement as well asmonitoring, coaching, mentorship and exchange to support enterprise growth.Based on the limitations of this study, future research should draw insights from acombination of multiple models in order to extend knowledge on the subject and influencepolicy changes. The study recommends that future studies in other parts of Botswana shouldbe conducted, to explore a better understanding of their special needs. Furthermore, thenation’s government customized plans, policies, strategies and intervention mechanismscould be purposely based on unique characteristics of each city or town. Similarly, futureresearch can investigate the different attributes of youth-owned enterprises in the country.

UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT: A STUDY ON SOCIAL POLICY AND STRATEGIC RESPONSES FOR IMPROVING YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND LIVELIHOODS IN BOTSWANA.

https://waseda.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=58325&item_no=1&attribute_id=20&file_no=2

社会経済的な能力発揮機会の提供が青少年育成に役立つダイナミズムを理解する : ボツワナの若者の雇用と生活を改善するための社会政策と戦略的対応に関する研究

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Waseda University Repository