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COMMONWEALTH YOUTH PROGRAMME AFRICA CENTRE COMMONWEALTH SECRETARIAT Youth Enterprise Development and Youth Employment Experiences and Lessons from Commonwealth Africa ENIWET KAKUWA. AIMS:. The programme aims to provide:. integrated package of low cost easily accessible credit
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COMMONWEALTH YOUTH PROGRAMME AFRICA CENTRE COMMONWEALTH SECRETARIAT Youth Enterprise Development and Youth Employment Experiences and Lessons from Commonwealth Africa ENIWET KAKUWA
AIMS: The programme aims to provide: • integrated package of low cost • easily accessible credit • enterprise training • development to young entrepreneurs
OBJECTIVE: • To promote the development of sustainable micro enterprise employment among young people • To promote economic growth and national development • To demonstrate a model of good practice in micro credit for young people • Attracting the interest of donors, governments and other development agencies in youth enterprise development
KEY FEATURES OF BEST PRACTICE INITIATIVES: • Training provided and loans distributed by NGOs with experience in micro- credit and enterprise • Group lending and use of group savings as collateral against loans to ensure repayment • Democratic participation by beneficiaries • Entrepreneurial development and management training as a prerequisite for participation • Provision of information and support services • Business support services to young business entrepreneurs
GROUPS: THE SAVING CLUB THE BUSINESS PLAN THE CONTRACT AND REPORTS THE LOAN LOAN DELIVERY LOAN REPAYMENT SAVINGS SUSTAINABILITY INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
ADVANTAGES OF THE MODEL • Promotes self- employment option for young people • Self- supporting • Entry into the commercial network for young people • Implementation costs spread over a no. of agencies/ covered under the programme
Necessary input is political will to commit government to supporting YED programmes through development of policy frameworks and budget allocations • Applies strict commercial disciplines and leaves all partners better equipped to counter poverty • CYP encourages governments to create policy and institutional structures and flexibility in legal and banking systems • CYP provides information, materials, advice and technical assistance
LESSONS FROM THE PAST: • Use an agency with experience in enterprise training or credit delivery • Implementing agency selected on basis of political neutrality, institutional capacity, commitment, innovativeness, flexibility in accounting for local conditions • Inappropriate to select government agency to implement programme • Need to provide orientation training to staff
Regular monitoring and evaluation of programme is needed • Regular consultations and checks with partner NGO necessary to ensure implementation of project is smooth • Provision of youth exchange activities is essential to facilitate sharing of best practices among young people in running sustainable enterprises
CHALLENGES: • Allocation of funds are not proportional to magnitude of youth unemployment • Little effort at monitoring and evaluation of programmes • Personnel lack skills, experience and awareness • Cumbersome loan transactions • Wider acceptance of potential of youth enterprises needed
SUGGESTIONS: IMPROVE PERFORMANCE OF YED PROGRAMMES AT FOUR LEVELS- • Level of borrower who lacks experience with credit institutions • Level of financial organizations not pre- disposed to lending to youth • Level of existing regulations • Inadequacy of loan- able funds, strict collateral requirements, and negative attitude of some lending institutions towards youth borrower
ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS: • Direct credit to economic activities in which youth are most active • Mobilizing capital for youth activities • Incorporating flexible repayments for small loans • Promotion of YED programme in decentralized manner • Incorporation of purchasing and/or marketing systems • Refine group guarantee mechanism to reduce risk of defaults
YED policies need to be put in place in Africa to integrate efforts into national economies • Undertake appropriate legal reforms • Linking potential youth enterprise programmes with capital by strengthening capacity of major institutions and capacity building • Need for National Enterprise Policy in informal sector to enable young people to access credit facilities, infrastructure and so on • Partnership between private sector/ business community in mobilising resources and providing business support services