Youth Economic Recovery in Acholi: Impact & Solutions

1. YOUTH ECONOMIC LIVELIHOODS RECOVERY IN POST-CONFLCIT AREAS: THE CASE OF ACHOLI SUB-REGION IN NORTHERN UGANDABY: ENTERPRISE UGANDA

2. Objectives of the Session Participants will increase their understanding of: • Entrepreneurship as a tool that can provide livelihoods for many rural and urban communities and create jobs for young people. • The need to  integrate attitudinal transformation (mind-set change) of the beneficiaries in design of  relief and emergency  assistance programmes for communities emerging from post-conflict situations. • The BEST tool as means of improving and expanding youth employment creation and employability.

3. Session outline • Introduction • The Root causes of Youth Unemployment in Africa (5min) • How the BEST Model addresses the Root causes and increases employment options (10mins) • Sustainability of Youth & Community empowerment interventions(5mins) • Questions and Discussions (5mins)

4. Introduction • The Acholi sub-region in northern Uganda has experienced insecurity, wars, civil strife and rebel activity since the 1980s that resulted into mass human displacement, death, loss of property and disruption of economic development opportunities; • More than 11,000 children and adolescents were abducted between 1986-2000, of whom over 6,000 never returned to their homes or villages. • The abductions made it difficult to for the children and youth to attend school, get life skills, productive employment and loss of productive labour; • The majority of the current youth population in Acholi sub-region were born in internally displaced people’s camps (IDPs) and had no access to quality health care, education, skills and social development. • With the end of the conflict and withdrawal of donor assistance, the community was left to start fending for themselves (private sector), something they were not used to before.

5. Effects of the conflict on the population • It strengthened the dependency syndrome – the entire population living in IDP camps depended on Government relief programmes, UN agencies, NGOs, relatives in Diaspora and within Uganda; • The region attracted a lot of resources for development in form of relief assistance, infrastructure development projects, agricultural tools and inputs, livestock, including cash donations; • Other regions took advantage of the resources flow to region to engage in cross border trade opportunities, services etc. while the local population looked on; • Over the long period of the donor support, the community developed an attitude/mindset of “ consumption and deserving to be supported perpetually”; • They could not sustain their newly acquired consumption habit and most donor supported interventions have little evidence of impact on the ground.

6. Problem Statement • Conflict leads to many negative consequences including mass human displacement, death, loss of property and disruption of economic development opportunities. The long periods of war leave livelihood options/opportunities limited and undiversified, low productivity, severely depressed employment and incomes and a fragile local economy mainly dependent on external support. • Despite the huge resources mobilized and extend to support the rehabilitation, economic recovery and livelihoods of the affected communities in the post-conflict areas, impact evaluations and audit highlight, among others, inadequate visibility, impact and sustainability of the interventions. • Most interventions and programmes do not integrate attitudinal transformation (mind-set change) of the beneficiaries to facilitate a desired shift from a dependency syndrome to self-independence of the beneficiaries.

7. The Roots of Youth Unemployment in Uganda • Mainly agricultural economy with low value-addition and job creation (addition); • It has been argued that the education systems in Africa are geared towards churning out job-seekers rather than job-creators. • Liberalized Education Sector – too many institutions and many of them commercial. Curricular and content that emphasize white collar jobs. • Employers’ market - Poor education, experience, and skills that don’t match the job market. Not mandatory to employ youths without desired skills. • Attitude of the educated Youth towards hard work and self-employment.

8. Examples of Post- Conflict Interventions in Northern Uganda 1. NUSAF 1 PROJECT(2003-09) • The Government of Uganda received a credit of SDR 80.1 million from World Bank (equivalent to US$ 100 million) • Government of Uganda counterpart funding was supposed to be equivalent to U$ 13.3 million. • Community contributions were expected to be equivalent to US$ 20.2 million. • 80% of the credit was for direct subproject funding. • NUSAF1 post-implementation impact evaluation and audit highlighted, among others, inadequate visibility, sustainability and viability of the interventions.

9. 2. NUSAF 2 (2009-2014) • The Project is being implemented over a period of five (5) years in the forty (40) PRDP Districts in Acholi, Bukedi, Bunyoro, Elgon, Karamoja, Lango, Teso and West Nile sub regions. • The project’s objective is to improve access of beneficiary households of Northern Uganda to income earning opportunities and better basic socio-economic services. • The Project is financed through IDA Specific Investment Loan (SIL) of US$.100 million and the funds were allocated among the three components as follows: Livelihood Investment Support Fund ($60m );Community Infrastructure Rehabilitation Fund ($30m);Institutional Development Fund ($10m) • Again absence of deliberate interventions to provide business and entrepreneurship skills to the to the prospective beneficiaries before they receive the investment funds.

10. 3. UN Peace Building Fund Project for Acholi Sub-region • The United Nations (UN) Peace Building Fund (PBF) has been implementing a Joint Programme on Livelihoods and Local Economic Recovery for Acholi Sub region (JP3) since 2011. • Its primary aim is to contribute strongly to the rebuilding of a strong economy within the context of a post-conflict, post-displacement development scenario. • The target group included vulnerable ex-combatants and female-headed internally displaced people (IDP) and returnee households. • Enterprise Uganda has been the implementing partner and has been building capacity for youth, women and vulnerable groups in business, entrepreneurial and value addition skills; • It covered the seven districts of Acholi – Gulu, Amuru, Nwoya, Pader, Agago, Kitgum and Lamwo which overall had a weak economic situation largely attributed to the 20 year insurgency.

11. About the BEST Model • It was an initiative by Government and Enterprise Uganda to provide entrepreneurship and business skills to initally to graduates to enable them start their own businesses as an alternative to chasing few jobs. • It is main goal is to build the capacity of young people to participate in employment creation to reduce unemployment rates by equipping them with the confidence and practical skills to start and run successful enterprises. • It is delivered through a 5-Day Business Clinic, followed by 1-3 Business Coaching & Mentoring Clinics, Networking and Market Information dissemination and linkages with other business development services providers. • Based on its initial success and results, it was customized and extended to semi-educated rural youth and communities.

12. 6 KEY ‘BEST’ MODULES • Module 1 - Getting Hold of the Inner Game • Module 2 - Traits of World-Class Entrepreneurs; • Module 3 - Business Opportunity identification & translation into a business; • Module 4 - Sources of Business Capital; • Module 5 - Business Partnerships; • Module 6 - Action-Oriented Business Planning.

13. How BEST Addresses Root Causes to Unemployment • Attitudinal transformation and self-reliance; • Education is there to increase career options; • Emphasizes getting started immediately; • Business Opportunities identified immediately; • Offers 7 sources of finance with Loans as last; • Backed by follow-up clinics to mentor start-ups; • Enterprise start-up rate of 65-75% in 90 days; • In a nutshell: BEST addresses the foundations for fear of and excuses for entrepreneurship and for high enterprise mortality rate.

14. Results /Sample Impact • 8190 youth and Women trained in 7 districts of Acholi sub-region in northern Uganda. • In one sample survey of 1 district with 2700 beneficiaries, after 3months, 666 new start-ups and 1238 expansions were registered • 1467 new jobs were created – 884 permanent , 583 casual. On average 1.3 new job had been created within 3 months by each micro-enterprise. • Within 3 months USD 439,000 had been invested by youth & women to start micro-enterprises from the following resources: equity; grants; sale of existing asset; and microfinance. • All new start-ups were earning above US$ 2 per day effectively lifting them reducing the number of people living below the poverty line. • Interesting case studies and evidence of improvement in livelihoods and quality of life by the beneficiaries of the interventions.

15. Sustainability of Youth & community Interventions - Key Lessons and Experiences • Mindsets transformation for the educated and rural households is a critical precursor for sustainable interventions and development; • Unlike infrastructure and technology which are easily bought, mindsets are built and nurtured. That takes time; • Spending national resources on empowering local communities and the youth in urban and rural settings is in the long-run an investment in taxes, stability, etc, for the nation; • The BEST Philosophy & model that promotes values of self-reliance is a tested model with high impact that can be easily adapted and customized to any economic setting.

16. Key lessons Learnt contd… • Involvement and commitment of local leaders in the mobilization of the communities increases confidence of the communities to participate and contribute to the cost of the interventions; • Token personal contribution by the beneficiaries of the interventions act as the first fundamental in attitudinal shift and increases motivation and ownership of solutions. • Independent consultants & mentors are better placed to play mobilization and facilitation roles than local leaders or politicians who can’t deliver the hard message required for self-reliance and attitudinal transformation. • Involvement of local models, religious and traditional leaders enhances confidence and participation in the interventions.

17. Conclusions • Research elsewhere indicates that inclusive economic growth is the single largest contributing factor to post-conflict stability and unemployed youth with limited options can be mobilized easily than those in the formal economy. • Although entrepreneurship is not a panacea to the daunting challenge of youth unemployment across Africa, it is a critical pillar that stands to provide a livelihood for many and, in turn, create jobs for more young people. • Imparting values that promote self-reliance, entrepreneurial abilities through training and skills upgrading through mentoring and coaching is a more sustainable way of enhancing employability and promoting self-employment.

18. Conclusions contd… • Relief and emergency assistance programmes not preceded or backed by Attitudinal transformation and mind-set change of the beneficiaries tend to breed a permanent dependency syndrome in post-conflict communities. • Restoring self-belief, confidence and empowering the communities to identify and exploit local economic opportunities can stimulate quicker transition to self-reliance and economic recovery than perennial which a create an attitude of “rights to handouts”.

19. Quote: The Role of Entrepreneurship “To lift one billion people from poverty, 250 million jobs are needed. You can ask yourself... where will those jobs come from? They won’t come from government... they won’t come from big industry... They will be engines of growth, but they won’t take up the millions required. They have to come through small enterprises”. Percy Barnevik – Advisor, Hand in Hand International, The Business of Jobs Forum, London, November 2009

20. Questions & Answers • Discussion