East Africa is in the midst of a ‘youth bulge’, where children and young adults form an increasingly large part of its population. One in three citizens in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda fall between the ages of 10 and 24 years, ahead of the global average in which young people are just one out of four citizens.
In the years ahead, brisk growth is anticipated with the United Nations forecasting more than half of the world’s population growth in 2050 coming from Uganda, Tanzania and seven othe
r countries around the world.
Creating opportunities for this growing bracket of young people as they move from school and into the workplace is set to become an even greater challenge for East Africa’s governments. The region is already grappling with youth unemployment, pessimism about the future, and widespread distrust in the political system. These issues mean that unethical practices such as corruption and crime could become more appealing for a generation that is eager to succeed.
Recognising the need to understand the aspirations of the younger generation, the East Africa Institute (EAI) conducted wide-ranging surveys of youth in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. These surveys highlighted young people’s most prominent concerns, their hopes for the future and their ethical beliefs.
EAI continues to take steps to help shape the youth’s future by hosting the East Africa Dialogue Series (EADS), a platform that enables young people to discuss their priorities and to understand how relevant policies can be shaped to reflect their preferences.
Speaking about the vision for the EADS, EAI Director Alex Awiti said: “We hope to ask new questions about the continent’s future and to come up with solutions that are outside the current climate of frustration the youth face. We want our efforts to lead to practical, ethical solutions for this generation’s problems.”
To date, the EAI has held wide-ranging discussions through its EADS platform where young people have discussed and shared suggestions on how they would like to contribute to changing East Africa.
Beyond discussion, people have also been given to chance to create vivid representations of the problems around them through the performing arts.
The Young Cities dialogue programme saw four groups of artists put together performances highlighting the hidden struggles and triumphs of daily life, enabling their peers to understand and advocate for change in the world around them.
By creating a deeper understanding of common social problems, the Youth Dialogue series hopes to prompt citizens to think beyond national considerations in order to create shared prosperity in the East Africa region.
The Dialogue series is also bringing together scholars, community leaders and public intellectuals to debate critical socio-political issues such as natural resource governance, the impact of urbanisation, and economic growth and inequality.
These initiatives have received support from the International Development Research Centre, the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, and the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Fund for the Environment.