YOUTH EMPOWERMENT CRITICAL TO ATTAINMENT OF SDGs

F
or those not in the loop, the acronym SDG stands for Sustainable Development Goals. This is a raft of 17 global goals set by the United Nations General Assembly as part of a resolution of achieving global transformation and the amelioration of the fortunes of the Least Developed Countries by 2030. Without a doubt, these initiatives have to be tailored pragmatically to both the strengths and growth potentials of the member countries involved as that is the only way to make the goals either achievable or sustainable as is nominally suggested. This multi-partisan process fronted by the UN and its 193 member states at the time was meant to replace the Millennium Development Goals whose time frame lapsed in 2015 as a development mantra. As consummate realists they set out a roster of goals, time-frames and estimated cost of implementation.
To my rapt, ardent and longtime audience this topic may look familiar. This is because in the run-up to the 2017 Kenyan Election I made a short yet incisive post espousing most of the merits of electing younger leaders while still maintaining respect for the more experienced brigade. But that was the portion for leaders and perhaps I have to commend Kenyans for electing more of that youthful breed of leaders into both the County and national government leadership space. Impressive was the ascension of the chronologically greenwood, Stephen Sang into the governorship of Nandi county. This was in the backdrop of battle-hardened and more heavily resourced perennial campaigners in the race not less the incumbent who were roundly routed. Kudos Nandi County, aptly named the county of champions for basically being the provenance of the primordial soup that has birthed many of our world beating middle to long distance athletics champions. Enough of the exaltation! May be not as many as I envisaged have been either elected or nominated but at running the risk of being labelled a grumpy, perpetually insatiable grouch let’s just work with what we have. I still will stand immutable in my castigation of the winning coalition, Jubilee Government’s move to appoint fewer than expected of the youthful cadre into the Cabinet, as Principal Secretaries or State Department heads. But that is merely at the discretion albeit whims of the Head of Government, payment of fealty to him by loyalists notwithstanding. But empowerment is not merely to get younger leaders into the political space. The ordinary youth at the grassroots also has to be supported to be gainfully engaged. Many young men and women remain unemployed as the current positions in both the Government and Private sectors can never be enough to satiate the burgeoning number of youth that are ready to take up employment annually. Important to note is that Kenya is a youthful country with almost 70% of the demographic below the age of 35 according to data from our highly vaunted Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. I am proffering such high praise to them in aversion of lampooning them because I am yet to understand why they wrote on our gates and white walls with marker pens soiling them, yet it is clear enumeration is slated to be done next year. Besides, anywhere there is a gate in a residential area there is likely to be a household or several so there is no need to waste ink and puissance fruitlessly. Maybe it is a product of youthful exuberance consequent to their high energy levels and gratefulness for finally getting state engagement or just a poorly thought out strategy but that is neither here nor there! Enough of my pettiness.
Today more than at any other time the youth face a steeper climb in an attempt to attaining a brighter and more audacious future for themselves. The derogatory statement about ‘Kazi kwa vijana pesa kwa wazee’ rings ever so true. The hurdles to self-actualization teem and have an added difficulty level in absolute disregard to the myriads of mushrooming financial organizations and mobile phone apps that provide ‘soft’ loans with limited strings attached. If the International Labour Organization is to be believed, our position in the labour market more often than not is constrained to that of the sporadic, poorly paid and encumbered by non-protection of law due to alleged naivety to the same on our part. For those who try a hand at entrepreneurship, rebukes of “we fund prototypes not ideas and potential” blasted at them on visiting financial service providers have not been few and far between. Disenfranchisement and poverty is cause for an early debut for job-seekers some barely out of their toddler stage. According to the UN Sustainable Development Summit resolutions, the young men and women are the cornerstone and prime movers of any development envisaged. Provided with the requisite skills, competence and opportunity needed to attain their full potential they are a vital cog to attainment of real development, by extension contributing to peace and global security. One way of doing this is by fostering of the concept of Economic Citizenship by national policy makers and leading youth-serving organizations. Just like ordinary national citizenship it is the program geared at pecuniary and civic engagement to promote sustainable livelihoods, financial well-being and respect of human rights both social and cultural. The system has four pillars as its mainstay. The Financial Inclusion Pillar entails the capacity to afford financial services. The Financial Education pillar entails improvement of financial knowledge and skill. Social Education pillar has within it the bettering of one’s awareness to their rights and obligations as per law. It also has embedded within the development of life skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking and cross-personal interaction skills. The last and arguably most important is the Livelihood Education pillar which furnishes the citizen with the ability to secure sustainable livelihood through a skill assessment to strike a balance between entrepreneurial and employability skills. These pillars if enforced provide the building blocks for economic and social well-being, increase inter-group engagement, build understanding albeit respect for basic rights eventually leading to perpetual and mutually supported livelihoods for the most vibrant rung in society; the youth.
The Sustainable Development Goals may seem as foreign if not idealistic policy document items but they are merely simple steps understandable and conceivable for any nation in spite of scale. They include:

1. Dealing a Death-knell to Poverty in all its forms everywhere

A sage once stated that the most pervasive and crippling form of poverty that can be inflicted upon society is intellectual bankruptcy. However, a close second ranks economic disenfranchisement. Access to quality, accessible, affordable and convenient financial services can majorly contribute to extreme poverty alleviation. This is empowerment of the proportion living on below a dollar a day. Financial inclusion is only important if integrated with financial, social and livelihood education for continued accumulation of savings and responsible fiscal habits which are useful qualities in absorbing the impact of economic shocks.
In the words of the UN Secretary-General; Mr. Antonio Guterres, “In exclusion of the private sector, we will neither be able to create sufficient jobs nor build synergy that brings dynamism and stability to the societies that need to be assuaged with the implementation of the SDGs.”

2. Greater Food Security (Zero Hunger)

No nation can claim to be truly developed if its lacks the ability to feed herself. We have all heard of countries; tongue in cheek, proclaiming middle income status where famine exists all year round due to one instance or another of poor planning! In that particular country both drought and floods can easily strike the same segment of the populace in consecutive seasons despite still paying credence to having a policy and a ministry of Special programs to boot! That said, the youth can be an essential boon in efforts to end hunger. They are the people who possess the most verve, energy and enthusiasm to without shackles throw themselves into the throes of agricultural production if accorded the chance. They also possess the innovativeness and enterprise evidenced by the young men who have developed mobile phone apps that work as early warning systems at the onset of drought, give a flood warning, find markets and even determine if the conditions are optimum for army worms or locusts that can adversely infest existing crop in the farm, if not weevils to raid the silos. The youth; in the backdrop of not being shackled by ghosts from the past, are more willing to experiment with novel solutions that could potentially be the remedy to surmount whatever challenges they face.

3. Access to Health Services and well-being for all

To fully harness the potential ensconced within a nation there is no option but to guarantee the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being of all segments of that society. That can only be made possible through ensuring societies are raised to the economic situation, income level, working position and level of education that can ensure wholesome and adequate enjoyment of health services. A healthy culture of concern for both our own and the other man’s well-being is a distal determinant of a healthy society. Social education bestows upon its receiver a fully functional cognizance of the rights, empathy and respect for the next person. For this particular item of the SDG to be achieved nations will have to set aside funds for Universal Health Care covering essential health services and sheltering the most vulnerable in society. An all-inclusive Health Insurance fund is vital in this regard. Also there is need for fully stocked and furnished hospitals that can only be brought about as a product of public-private partnership among the various players in the sector. Universal access to information more so pertaining to sexual health for the youth is critically crucial. Prevention is oft better than cure.

4. Equitable and all-encompassing Quality Education

“The only weapon against poverty is a good and wholesome education.” This was a statement once quipped by Nelson Mandela. Attaining literacy and numeracy for all cadres of society is not a luxury but a cardinal concern of modern life. There is no greater equalizer or tool to achieve the full harnessing of raw human potential that only education can provide. Financial and livelihood education can increase the number of youth and adults with the relevant skill, competence including of the technical genre and soft skills for either employment or business. The link between a decent sustenance and a proper education cannot be gainsaid.

5. Gender Equality and Empowerment for Women and Girls

There is an overworked statement of empirical wisdom that if you educate a woman you have educated the rank and file of society. In the past women and girls were relegated to the lower echelons of toil in the kitchen, garden work, home-making and child-bearing. Essentially, in the days of yore women were considered the property of a man and so if one was asked to declare their lucre it was not uncommon to hear cattle, cereals in the store and wives lumped in the same sentence. They were merely meant to be seen and look beautiful but never to be heard in the ambient of real men. However times have changed. Today, give a woman a chance and they excel far beyond the capabilities even of the menfolk of society. Looking at the University Graduation lists of many universities, who can miss the observation that most of the First Class Honours Degrees are scored by wait for it… ladies! Universal education irrespective of gender can be the only way to attain the development goals we all aim for. The story of what Kennedy Odede has done in the Kibera slums basically with constrained resources and logistical support with regards to women empowerment is not only inspirational but worthy of replication. Their male counterparts are not to be completely ignored in this regard as only a cross-sectional look around of the entire system can be beneficial to society.

6. Clean Water and Sanitation

Clean and adequate water is an important aspect in the attainment of SDGs. I shall not be drawn on the uses of water which I could take a whole day to itemize but still not exhaust! We need to be creative in both looking for newer sources and also preserving the ones we have as posterity will depend on it for progress. Water harvesting and storage must rank high in our priorities. Environmental conservation, equally so if our water tables are to be maintained at the current level. Also new tech in desalination of sea water; a massively abundant resource, could be an important way to secure that basal reservoir. Good hygiene practice is the cheapest way to avoid the vagaries of water-borne and communicable illness.

7. Affordable and Clean Energy

The youth are a salient part in developing renewable energy resources that will be essential for our future prospects going forward. Solar, wind, tidal and geothermal power resources must be looked at as a means to revamp if not supplant the current energy sources. Oil and gas is a finite resource which will ultimately run out in due course. So will hydroelectric power be petered in the succeeding generations. The inculcation of renewable energy into our energy generation stream could enable the injection of more skilled and focused manpower into the workforce to handle our energy needs for the future ensuring we kill two birds with one stone which is nip labour-market redundancy and despondency in the bud while supplying clean energy. A multi-sectoral set up of new and independent power producers is the way to go to achieve affordable energy. The trend of having power utility companies existing as monopolies is an outdated way of doing business that has proven unsustainable and has no place in the future. Electric cars and trains are irrevocably the conveyance of the hereafter!

8. Decent Work for Sustainable Economic Growth

Isn’t it sad that you wake up early every morning, worried out of your wits about getting late for work just to lend your skill to an enterprise that will not even provide ample roll to pay your rent? That is the phenomenon many youths joining the workforce have to grapple with today. The prospect of being among the working poor. Doesn’t it kill initiative and engender a feeling of helplessness to toil but see no tangible returns? But some will argue this is better than unemployment. The youth are the most affected by this malady in society. A lack of relevant skills coupled with minimal financial resource for an upgrade has left many frustrated. Add to that the less than tantalizing prospect of constrained access to appropriate and sufficient financial services to start business and you will drink a ghastly cocktail. Training in livelihood education can enhance youth employability and stimulate their entrepreneurial nous.

9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

The much revered 3 Is of sustainable development. Kenya has taken a quantum leap in ensuring innovation and industry is achieved through the subsidizing of youth polytechnics for the uptake of technical skills training that is will be a boon to youth enterprise. Tech-parks and innovation hubs are the way to go to enable youth to condense and distill their creativity into workable frameworks, prototypes and in a safe and resource rich space to foster their ingenuity. Infrastructure development projects will provide the youth with the perfect platform to showcase their newly-acquired skills at work. Block chain technology has to be learnt and milked dry of its benefits.

10. Reduced Inequalities

All humans given equal opportunity have the propensity for the equi-proportionate attainment of their potential. Let us not draw chalk circles of discrimination against each other. Let’s live in a harmonious, non-hierachical and a synergistic understanding of the fact that brilliance is evenly distributed yet opportunity only sparsely.

11. Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Cities

We need to make better use of space in our cities. In Nairobi, the best case-study of sustainable use of space is the Two Rivers Mall on the frontier between Nairobi and Ruaka. Here you will find roof-top parking, energy saving solar powered street lights and not to forget a solar farm as a roof canopy. What can be better than that? Additionally residential quarters have to be built upwards to make better use of metropolitan vertical space. Roof-top and gunny bag kitchen gardens are the way to go. On safety I will vouch for the use of IT enabled security systems.

12. Responsible Consumption and Production

Let’s produce and only use what we need. We should never import what we produce locally also in the words of perennial Kenyan presidential contender Mohammed Abduba Dida, we should be minimalists in our consumerism. Automation in industry will foster scalability and optimization.

13. Climate Action

Climate change is a reality of our time. It is already in the public purview that the actions of the developed nations as far as industrialization is concerned have a negative correlation in the less developed tropical regions. We entreat the superpowers to do more as we all will suffer the consequences of wantonness. Reduction in the release of greenhouse gases that are actually trapping heat in converting the earth to an oven is our doomsday reality. Shun CFCs to protect our ozone layer.

14. Preservation of Marine Life

We need marine habitats more than they need us!

15. Terrestrial Symbiosis

As the most intellectually adroit creatures, humans have a duty of care to protect the delicate balance that is the circle of life on land.

16. Peace & Justice for Stronger Institutions

The only way to maintain real Peace is by Truth and Justice. Institutions do not exist in isolation and can only be strengthened by a value system and an adherence to principles. Social education is essential in steering the younger members of society judiciously for posterities’ sake.

17. Partnership for Goals

A common destiny can only be charted when we work in synergy with each other and to one another’s strengths. Any system can only be as strong as its weakest link. Partnership is essential in creating consensus as these are universal goals anyway.
As a prologue attaining the SDGs relies not just on setting of goals but also a responsive action plan harkening to the unmistakable and boisterous criess and needs of the youth. Empowerment by skill, knowledge and self-esteem will be imperative if this lofty ambition is to be attained over the next decade and a half. Synergistic action and long term strategies will be necessary as the youth will inevitably inherit the earth long after their progenitors are gone.