Youth Employment: youth perspectives on the pursuit of decent work in changing times.

Today we have the largest generation of young people the world has ever known. They are demanding their rights and a greater voice in economic and political life. We need to pull the UN system together like never before to support a new social contract of job-rich economic growth. Let us start with young people! UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

In the aftermath of the economic crisis, the global youth unemployment rate saw its largest annual increase on record in 2009, resulting in around 75.8 million unemployed youth For the first time, inputs gathered from young people around the world through an extensive online consultation form the core of the World Youth Report, entitled Youth Employment: Youth Perspectives on the Pursuit of Decent Work in Changing Times.

The report, published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), also outlines the situation of young people in the labour market and youth employment trends.
Young people and representatives of youth-led organizations were invited to share through digital and social media platforms their views, experiences and recommendations on preparing for, entering, and remaining active in the workforce. A total of approximately 1,100 contributions (as well as photos and videos) were received from young people around the world during the four-week consultation period.



The report reveals that young people are worried about the quality and relevance of their education, as mentioned by Amadou, a 24-year-old man from Senegal: “Today it should be easier to find a job because our generation is the most educated but there is an inadequacy between the training offered and the needs of the labour market.” Other subjects of concern include job vulnerability, labour migration, delayed marriage, and the rural divide, as well as age, gender and racial discrimination.

Overview of the Report

Chapter I introduces the status of young people in the labour market and youth employment trends. It provides a snapshot of key youth employment-related demographics, highlighting the critical role of youth employment in social development. The chapter also considers positive and negative trends across countries in various stages of development to illustrate the state of youth employment world-wide.

Chapter II explores education, as the foundation for working life, with focus on views regarding educational quality and utility. Vocational education, life skills and entrepreneurship are highlighted. The chapter examines what some schools are doing, and what more can be done, to help young people transition to work. It considers ways for educational systems to be more responsive to the changing needs of economies and societies, and labour markets in particular. It also looks at ways in which young people may hold policymakers and decision-makers accountable for fulfilling the right to quality education.

Chapter III focuses on the transition of young people into work, particularly the search for a first job. It examines the availability among youth of information on labour markets and job seeking, and explores various mechanisms and tools to inform and advise young people, from networking to subsidized employment programmes. The chapter also looks into potential emerging areas of opportunity for young people.

Chapter IV explores the quality and conditions of jobs held by youth, and how young people’s working situation interacts with their family and home lives. It addresses high rates among youth of underemployment, participation in the informal economy, vulnerable employment, wages and working conditions. The chapter also examines how a lack of decent work opportunities can influence family life, social processes such as marriage and fertility, as well as health and well-being.

Young people themselves are crucial stakeholders in the pursuit of decent and productive work for all. They are rights-holders and active participants in society, in addition to representing the future global workforce; often times, they are also pioneers. Yet, too frequently, their voices go unheard and their positive and negative experiences and viewpoints unshared, particularly with decision-makers. The present report takes heed of calls by Member States, youth-led and youth-focused organizations, young people and others to bring young people’s voices into fora where youth issues are discussed and acted upon. Therefore, the World Youth Report 2011 is intended above all to explore youth employment issues mainly through the words of young people themselves around the world.

 http://unworldyouthreport.org/

The United Nations will come for us.

  To kick-start 2012, I am proposing we start it with inspiration from a very controversial figure-a person whose legacy as UK prime minister will for a long time be a controversial issue. I am talking of Gordon Brown.

I don't really care about  what people will think of him as prime minister. What matters to me is how I see the man Brown- he is a man with a great  heart and a compassionate soul. 

Please read the speech below which he presented at the 65th UN General assembly dedicated to measuring the progress made by nations in the achievement of MDGs. Since hearing this speech for the first time, it has had a great impact on my advocacy for the achievement of MDGs.Please read on.


"I come to the richest city in this, the richest country, to declare on behalf of the poorest citizens, of the poorest countries, a global poverty emergency that we must now address.

Under Ban Ki-moon's leadership, we gather today from the Head of the African Union President Kikwete to the Prime Minister of China, from Bill Gates to Bono, Governments, NGOs, businesses, people of all faiths and societies, in a new unique and historic coalition against poverty to unite the world in an unprecedented effort from now on to secure the Millennium Development Goals.  And already this is a historic Summit.  Even at this time of financial difficulty, already we know that eight billion dollars has been pledged to reduce poverty.

Now our United Nations Chapter begins, we, the people, and I am humbled to stand here and speak for the thousands of our people who are dying because they are too poor to live and throughout the ages the fate of the hungry, the homeless, the deprived, and what we do to help, has been the touchstone of compassion, the crucible in which our morality is tested.  And we cannot stand aside.  We say we are "one world", but every three seconds, we allow one child to die from extreme poverty.

Some say this time of financial turbulence is the time to put our ambitions on hold, to cut back or postpone the dream of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, but this would be the worst time to turn back.
Every global problem we have requires global solutions, involving all the continents of the world.  We cannot solve the food shortages that face many continents without involving Africa and developing countries.  We cannot solve climate change without involving Africa and developing countries.  We cannot solve the pressure on resources and energy without involving Africa and the developing countries.  And Africa and our developing countries are not the problem - they are part of the very solution to today's problem.
In the museum in Rwanda, which commemorates the thousands killed as the world looked on and looked the other way, there is a picture of a young boy who was tortured to death and the plaque reads:
Name:  David
Age:  10
Favourite Sport:  Football
Enjoyed making people laugh
Dream of becoming a doctor
Last words:  the United Nations will come for us.
But we never did.  Even as he died, that child believed the best of us.  In reality, our promises meant to him nothing at all.

Today, facing famine, we promised we, the United Nations of the world, will come to help, but the hungry are dying while we wait.  Facing poverty, we promise that we will come to help, but poor are dying while we wait.   Facing betrayal of the Millennium Development Goals, we say again we will come, but many continue to die while we wait.  And I believe our greatest enemy is not war or inequality or any single ideology or a financial crisis;  it is too much indifference.  Indifference in the face of sole-destroying poverty, indifference in the face of catastrophic threats to our planet.  A casual uncaring corrosive pass-by on the other side, walk by indifference as [inaudible] said "to be indifferent to suffering makes the human being inhuman", so today again, it is this United Nations of the world that is on trial.  It is our credibilities, as representatives of the global community, that is being tested.  It is our commitment to one inclusive sustainable world that is under challenged.  Our global leadership itself is being questioned and let us face the shameful truth that while we have made huge advances, 40 million more children at school, three million children living who would otherwise have died, three million getting treatment for AIDS, but despite all our promises, with one mother dying in childbirth every minute, the 2015 goal to cut maternal in infant mortality will not be met even in 2020 or 2030, not before 2050.  And the 75 million of the world's children still without a school to go to, the goal promising every child schooling will not be met on present trends in 2015 or 2025 or even in 2100 and I say to the richest countries of the world the poorest of the world have been patient, but a hundred years is too long to wait for justice.

So to seek to make poverty history, we need to make new history today, and make it happen now, so I ask you to take today four goal steps:

- first, on health, that we recruit and train a million health workers, saving the lives of three million mothers and seven million children;

- second, on malaria, we agree that we will stop all malaria deaths by 2015, to ensure everyone has a bed net by 2010, to fund the research for the vaccine that can prevent the loss of life;  and

- then on education, to get 24 million more children into school by 2010, to get us back on track to universal education by 2015;  and

- fourth, on famine, to prevent today's starvation in the Horn of Africa, to fund and deliver seeds and fertilizers to 30 countries in time for the planting season, to invest ten billions in Africa so it can help feed not just Africa, but feed beyond Africa with its exports.

In the past, feed the world meant that we helped to feed Africa.  In future, if we do things right, we will do best by enabling Africa to feed the world.

So, let this United Nations, this leaderhip of the world, today rouse the conscience of the world.  Someone else's global citizens to great and common purpose so that millions of men, women and children trapped in the prison of poverty can at last be set free."

Universal Access to Education:The Democracy to Fight for. Part.2

“We can be free only together, we can progress only together”, once said Desmond Tutu. Living in harmony and peace with his neighbours and self has and always will be one of the most pressing needs of man. In a bid to achieve this desire, so many attempts have been made; a considerable proportion of which have proven futile and another not less important portion successful.  One of these attempts by men to live together over the years, has been the formation of blocks, groupings, or better still organizations at: neighbourhood, village, town, regional, national, continental, and even inter continental level. It this quest for collective, inclusive, and  participative freedom and progress that led to the creation of the Mmen Unit of Students and Teachers(M.U.S.T).

 In fact, individual quest for freedom by youths from Bafmeng, had led to a glaring reality, that: individual dreams, aspirations, needs, and efforts when combined produce more beautiful, more inclusive, and more sustainable results.

 Education is the most powerful tool for the empowerment of man. It is therefore without hesitation that, it is education that was chosen by the Mmen Unit of Students and Teachers to empower the Bafmeng people and spur them to strive for glory that is unfading and gives meaning to their lifes.

Where I come from, a child who doesn’t cry as he leaves the mother’s womb for the world is forced to do so. This could be by pinching or slapping the child. In Bafmeng, just like in most African societies, the cry of a child, and therefore the voice of a Man is what give his/her life a meaning. Therefore to be recognized as a human being, every single soul in my community has to make his/her voice heard. Expressing one’s feelings and thoughts is facilitated by the acquisition of knowledge and skills to do so-Through education. Education thus plays a primordial role in Man’s expression and exercise of his humanness, the recognition of this humanness, and the right to it by every individual in this world-Our fundamental right as humans.

Bafmeng is one of the most enclaved villages in Cameroon. Youths constitute a majority of its population, and farming the main occupying activity of its population. The poverty that reigns in this part of Cameroon coupled with some traditions and cultures has over the years greatly hindered the school attendance rate of its people. The journey of the Bafmeng people with education on the path to development has been one full of: obstacles, dilemmas, and successes. So too has the journey of the Mmen Unit Student and Teachers (M.U.S.T) being overtime. As time went by, education took its roots among the Bafmeng people-occupying a special place in their hearts, and leading to the spread of the Mmen Unit of Students and Teachers (M.U.S.T). The M.U.S.T has spread to regions, villages, and towns all over Cameroon. One of these being Buea, the heart of Anglo-Saxon education in Cameroon, and also my branch.

To seek and wholeheartedly fight for any thing, a person must be convinced about the necessity of such a thing. Communication is a vital tool in creating awareness in a people about a particular issue and in transforming them. Reason why, to let people know why it was, and will always be important to be educated so as to move ahead, become a better, healthier, and happier people, we prioritized communication and sensitization. In a bid to let the people know what education, development, and emancipation meant, we organize educative talks, sensitization campaigns, and initiated a yearly magazine called, “The SECRET”. These tools, all meant to let the Bafmeng man and woman know that, education, and education alone will lift our beloved village from its knees and make it as great as we all want to see it-A poverty, injustice, and disease free village.

Sustainability determines the impact and usefulness of any human undertaking on those subject to such a decision or move. The sensitization campaigns and other tools used to get the message on the importance of education and participation in community development efforts across to the Mmen people in and around Buea has not only changed but greatly transformed the way people in my community view development and democracy. Democracy more than words, has become for my people a way of life-Concrete actions rather than mere sweet talk-A personal decision and collective effort rather than “The Government’s or politician’s thing”.

A geometric increase in the number of Bafmeng  children attending  primary and secondary school in and out of the village, a steady growth in the number of those going beyond secondary school, an increase the number of schools in Bafmeng, and the immense number of women, youths, and children empowered to take their destinies into their hands are just a visible tip of the iceberg of the quiet but firm, and slow but sure revolution that education has brought to this village- The greatest legacy of this collective effort by the Bafmeng people, is a change of mentalities.-The most invisible things, being the most essential of all.

To the 21^st Century Bafmeng native, its schools neither belong to the state, nor the denominational institutions, and individuals who set them up, but rather belong to the village and constitute its most precious assets. These schools for the most part are being taught by teachers hired by their Parents’ Teachers’ Association (P.T.A), support for the improvement of infrastructure in schools has also increased, as well as has the concern of the people for the community’s welfare. These shows that, the Bafmeng Man has surely understood with Oliver Wendell Holmes that, “What lies behind and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us’’. This assertion has never been so true in the life of the Bafmeng Man, who has now decided not to cry over spilt milk, rejected procrastination, refused to be afraid nor doubt the power of education, and decided instead to forge ahead without ever being discouraged or barking down. For  to  be as  Developed as those nations which they today admire, cherish and dream of living in, the Mmen people  have decided to embrace education wholeheartedly, never to let it go (like a lover)-An educated people are a developed people-a people with a purpose-a happy and enlightened people.                                                                          

We, at the Mmen Unit of Students and Teachers, believe the greatest change, is a change in, and not a change of persons, we believe that any meaningful change, is one which is sustainable and inclusive and so, consider no action as small or useless to bring about change. Change, being a journey which we every day undertake, members and supporters of the M.U.S.T have on this journey for change from illiteracy to literacy, consciously or unconsciously become modern day freedom fighters and like athletes, agree with the Olympic creed that,“The most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well”. At M.U.S.T, we are conscious of the fact that much still needs to be done for a greater and better Bafmeng. However, we are proud of doing our part for Bafmeng’s development and for having brought to light the fact that, there can be no development without freedom-The greatest freedom, for us, is freedom from illiteracy, and education, the greatest liberating tool. Given that, development moves hands in glove with education, our people have embraced it and with it are building a Bafmeng in which every is not only counted, but above all counts-An emancipated Bafmeng man-An educationally democratic Bafmeng.  

Universal Access to Education: The Democracy to Fight for

Its just being proclaimed by Cmaeroon's Supreme Court.77.9 Percent is the percentage with which Paul Biya, a 78 years old man who has ruled Cameroon for 30 years , has won the just ended October 9 presidential elections in Cameroon. Shocking in this 21^st century as this sweeping victory and this man’s longevity in power may be, more shocking is the limiting of democracy to just elections by a majority of Cameroonians. In this blog, I share my vision and that of a group of youths with whom I worked some years back of Democracy.

« Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves could free our minds…. ». These are the words of Robert Nesta Marley in his “Redemption Song”. In his own way, this Reggae legend was giving men and women of his generation, ours, and those to come the secret of a happy life-An emancipated life. Living a happy life now and/or in the future is what every human being longs for, but how happy one’s life is very subjective, as a happy life means different things to different people.

I no doubt cannot say with exactitude what a happy life is, what I however can say without doubt, is that there exist universal yardsticks with which  a happy life can be measured; among these are: emancipation. The quest for emancipation by man is innate and has from the dawn of humanity being its driving force-Man’s unending quest for new and ever innovative ways of living happily.

To some, it is just a word and to others a mere concept. The word “Democracy” is possibly one of the most misused, most feared, and most misunderstood of words. But to me, democracy, more than just a word or concept is the very epitome of emancipation and all that goes with it.

 An emancipated person is one who has a need, knows the need, and does everything in his/her might to get that need satisfied. An emancipated person is in many aspects similar to an unemancipated person, except that, the latter does nothing to quicken or facilitate the satisfaction of his/her need. The ability or inability to act, therefore, distinguishes an emancipated from an unemancipated person. The propensity to act, no doubt varies from one human being to the other. But far from being a state, I consider this to be a difference-A difference whose gap can be reduced to its barest minimum, if and only if the persons concerned are aware of the necessity to act-A necessity to act, which education only can inculcate in people.

“An underdeveloped nation”, once said Jean Faurastie, “is an undereducated nation’’. This intellectual’s assertion on the interrelatedness of education and development shows the fundamental role played by education in the emancipation and transformation of the lives of people of every nation. This is indisputably true, given that  all the nations we today admire, hail as ‘’a people of valor’’, and even dream of living in, have for decades, and even centuries had education as a watchword- which they  not only upheld, but promoted, and embraced for its indispensable nature.

The inadequacy of education causes a people to act not in the interest of the community, but against the common good. Given that, the fate of any individual in a community is interwoven with that of other community members, education provides mankind with adequate development tools which if well utilized, will lead to the improvement of individual and community well being. Going by this observation, and Conscious of the fact that, a nation is only a nation because of its people, it is undeniable that an underdeveloped nation is an unemancipated people-An uneducated people.

There is no iota of dignity for a person who has a need, is conscious of the necessity for this need to be satisfied, but does nothing to quicken or facilitate the satisfaction of this need, because such a person is frustrated and automatically becomes a perpetual complainer, a burden and even a nuisance to society. It is conscious of this reality and also conscious of the fact that, those who choose not to act in this battle field called life, will soon be strangled to death by their unfulfilled needs that, youths of my community decided to make action an imperative and by this means, play their role in the emancipation and democratization process of my village, Bafmeng.

In fact, after having experienced the abominable effects of inaction in our community both by the electors and the elected and deciding to see democracy contrary to popular opinion in  Cameroon, not as a battle between parties and individuals but rather as a perpetual battle for freedom- Freedom from the chains of illiteracy-freedom from the shackles of extreme poverty, we set out to seek this freedom. Because, Education emancipates Man and makes him a proactive rather than a reactive participant in the development and progress of the community, or nation from which he hails or in which he lives.

In the second part of this article, we are going to see how greater access to education  is viewed by people from Bafmeng, as the best expression and most explicit manisfestation of democracy.

Our Educational System: the Cause of our troubles?

                                 

   American educationist and activist T.Booker Washington once declared that “No race can prosper till it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” This educationist’s declaration urges one to take a closer look at the type of education that is given to learners in all countries of our world as this determines the perception a people would have of life, work, success and other crucial social issues. An educational system can therefore be regarded as the pillar upon which every country’s survival rests.

In searching for a solution to a problem/problems faced by any individual, community or nation, there is nothing as misleading as tackling not the source of the problem but its effects It is undeniably true from experience and observation that most often solutions to Africa’s problems and challenges have been sort using not only the wrong means, but above all in the wrong places. Conscious of the fact that a country’s educational system is its pillar, there is therefore no doubt as to the fact that any country’s progress or development is highly dependent on the quality and solidity of its educational system. It is evident therefore that, concerning Africa’s development, despite the fact that so much has been said and so many accusing fingers pointed, most have been pointed to the wrong direction as so many specialist and analyst have failed to acknowledge that Africa’s development has been greatly retarded more by its educational systems than its economic policies and practices.

 “A nation can only progress if its people stop thinking and reason instead”, once said a great mind. It is evident from this declaration that there exist two types of educational systems namely: That which inculcates the thinking culture in learners and that which inculcates the reasoning culture in learners. But what differentiates the former educational system from the latter? One may be tempted to ask. To think is to imagine, understand, believe and anticipate something. In fact it is the ability to use the mind to consider ideas and make judgments. The educational system of most African countries in general and Cameroon  in particular (though not the worst in the world) falls in this category as over the years, they  stressed more on learners obtaining certificates than acquiring knowledge, skills and competence with the effect been the inability of learners to conceive and develop ideas. This educational system not only alienates the learner but  makes him/her not less than a robot; unable to act on its own except instructed. 

Reason on the other hand is said to be the power of being able to think in a logical and rational manner. Reason could also be said to be the ability to think logically, regarded as the basis of knowledge, distinct from experience or emotions. Therefore to reason is to think coherently and clearly. An educational system in which every promotion is based on merit, where been brilliant is not a crime, and success not synonymous to owning buildings, cars, money and other tools generally used to oppress, suppress, and dominate others is one that inculcates the reasoning culture in learners.

 

  From the above analysis, it is crystal clear that an educational system that gives the learner a wrong perception of  the essence of life and citizenship, is worst than  building a mansion upon sand as the quality of education received by the people is what makes a great nation. An educational system worthy of the name must therefore be that which makes the learner not a spectator and perpetual complainer but an actor who instead of cursing the darkness all the time, prefers to light a candle.

  The panacea for our country’s and Africa’s developmental problems therefore from all observations lie in the restructuring; rethinking and reasoning of the type, quality and manner of inculcating knowledge in learners. The best educational system in this regard is that in which  T.Booker Washington says “The students themselves would be taught to see not only utility in labour, but beauty and dignity; would be taught, in fact, how to lift labour up from mere drudgery and toil, and would learn to love work for its own sake”