ABSTRACT
Paper published by Citizen's Manifesto written by Misheck Gondo
For the full paper read here: http://citizens-manifesto.org/2019/09/19/zimbabwe-youth-sector/
The participation of
youth in Zimbabwe can be traced to the time before independence, young people
playing a liberation role. After attaining independence in 1980, the post-war
government made remarkable steps to institute a ministry responsible for youth and
also it was led by a young woman. However, the institutional establishment did
not translate to the practical empowerment of young people who now constitutes
67 percent of the total population. The growing poverty in the new millennium,
lack opportunities, limited academic freedoms, unemployment, drug abuse,
exorbitant health care, human rights abuse and shrinking civic space has
epitomized modern-day Zimbabwe; with young people absorbing the brunt of
economic collapse. The National Constitution, Section 20 which is within the
Africa Union Youth Framework; provides for the effective participation of youth
in political, social, economic and cultural affairs of te country. To
celebrate the 2nd National People ‘s Convention hosted by the Citizens Manifesto,
this paper introduces key fundamentals and solution-oriented interventions on
the role of youth in the political economy of Zimbabwe. The paper uses the
Youth Development Model (YDM) that spells out the four-lens approach and seven
key principles of youth development. Given the contextual reality, the paper
argues that practical youth development must involve youth themselves, dealing
with institutional deficiencies, and human development must form part of
Zimbabwe ‘s conversations. The paper also suggests that human development
should be done through, the transformation of the education system to promote
innovation, enacting policies that enable youth development, preserving space
for collective action and organizing, locating dialogue on the future of work
or the decent work and social justice agenda.
Keywords: Youth, Inclusion,
Zimbabwe, Participation, Policies, Citizen ‘s Convention, Agency
Executive Summary
The youth bulge phenomenon, prevalent in Zimbabwe where
demographically youths constitute 67.7% of the population, has been manipulated
by the political elite to perpetuate violent conflicts as youth are more
susceptible to manipulation by both politicians and government. Urdal (2006)
notes that conflicts occur when the proportion of youth bulge exceeds 20%. The
percentage of youth bulge in Zimbabwe exceeds this threshold by over 40%: this
at the backdrop of an external debt hovering at 146% of the country’s GDP, over
90% unemployment rate, poor governance and accountability practices,
politicization of societal life and dwindling civic voice and trust; has
furthered youth marginalization. Youths have thus become a pool for recruitment
and conscription into youth militia groups by political parties for deployment
to carry out atrocities that further political party agendas. The vigilant
groups are known for torturing, intimidating and killing citizens with
differing political ideologies. Examples include Chipangano in Mbare, Harare
and the Al-Shabab styled organization in Kwekwe in the Midlands Province.
Outright manipulation of youth by politicians who promise economic rewards such
as employment, land, and pay-outs has seen youths perpetrating violence at
alarming rates. Urdal (2006) further states that risk increases under times of
political, economic and educational stress, and Zimbabwe has been under such
stress for a decade. Consequently, election times in the country have been
characterized by a violent contest among unemployed youth across the political
divide and marred with outright violence, voter intimidation, and
victimization, with youths taking the lead. The growing marginalization of
young people in Zimbabwe is not only political but also structural, the
political mentality that youth are the leaders of tomorrow continue to shrink
the youth space. Zimbabwe ‘s youth development space is epitomized by
violations of basic rights, that is lack of decent jobs, exorbitant education,
limited access to health care, drug abuse, lack of civic space to innovate and participate.
This paper seeks to articulate a solution-oriented approach to these
challenges, through raising home ground nuggets and the paper is also raising
key questions that need to be addressed to move forward
as a country.
For the full paper read here: http://citizens-manifesto.org/2019/09/19/zimbabwe-youth-sector/
