6 BIG IDEAS Transforming Youth Livelihoods and Leadership in Africa
D I R EC TO R Y O F S O C I A L I N N OVATO R S
A collaboration between:
DIRECTORY OF SOCIAL INNOVATORS The MasterCard Foundation and Ashoka have partnered to launch Future Forward, an initiative that identifies and supports social entrepreneurs and changemakers with innovative solutions for youth employment in sub-Saharan Africa. The initiative also convenes a wider community of practitioners, thought leaders, and young Africans with effective approaches and a vision for redefining livelihoods and leadership in the 21st century. The following directory features 36 of the Future Forward social innovators, ranging from early-stage, youth-lead enterprises to advanced-stage efforts leading the way to create systemic change in the field of youth livelihoods. The 6 Big Ideas shared across these approaches are explored in depth in the report “Youth Unstuck: Social Innovations Transforming Livelihoods and Leadership in Africa.�
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Don’t Exploit Young People or Create Entitlement: Reward Meaningful Contributions Design Classrooms Beyond Walls: Ensure Youth Rapidly Skill-Up through Community Problem-Solving Promote Purpose and Holistic Health as Foundational for Career Development Redefine What Counts as a “Good” Job
Revive Intergenerational Teamwork
Don’t Just Serve Youth - Trust Youth to Lead
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Don’t Exploit Youth or Create Entitlement: Reward Meaningful Contributions
Making quality healthcare a reality in rural communities What if we could use technology to revolutionize safe and affordable healthcare across Africa?
Hoffman B. Moka Lantum 2020 MicroClinic Initiative Kenya | 2020microclinic.org
Solution in Action Access to reliable, timely and affordable lifesaving drugs constitutes a critical “last-mile” in the healthcare delivery system, one which is largely missing for a majority of rural-based households depending on public hospitals for these drugs. 2020 MicroClinic Initiative trains and employs youth as “Blue Angels” to provide technical support in health clinics, aiming to ensure greater efficiency in service delivery. Hoffman’s team developed ZiDi as a tablet-based application software for managing data from patient encounters as recorded by healthcare providers at the point of service. Nurses and doctors enter patient data and details of each encounter onto ZiDi before uploading it for cloud storage. The Blue Angels take care of the technical aspects of ZiDi tablets and the supplemental solar energy and Internet connectivity systems. Through this innovation, Moka is ensuring that rural households are able to access high quality treatment in a reliable, affordable and timely way.
Impact fter a successful pilot in western Kenya, Moka has established a partnership with the Ministry A of Health and the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency to roll out the program in 5,000 public health clinics across the entire country
4 // 6 BIG IDEAS: Transforming Youth Employment in Africa
Don’t Exploit Youth or Create Entitlement: Reward Meaningful Contributions
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Ensuring accessibility to technology training for all What if digital literacy was a norm for rural and out-of school learners?
Jonathan Mwongela Mativo ICT for Development Kenya Kenya | ict4d-kenya.org
Solution in Action In order to be prepared for the 21st Century, all young people need to be given the opportunity to become literate in technology. The ICT for Development Kenya project works within the premise that rural populations lack access to skills training, the funds to afford it and rarely have time to time usually needed to learn a new skill. By creating a one-month STEM curriculum that includes just three hours a day of training, Jonathan Mativo is making ICT training accessible to those who are out of school and cannot commit to a six to nine-month tertiary education. To ensure that young people feel they get value for money, Mativo charges a small fee -- 1,500 Kenyan Shillings -- out of which 500 is used for certification and 1,000 for remuneration and utility bills. He cites this as one of the aspects that allow his program to gain successful attendance and graduation rates.
Impact As of 2014, ICT for Development Kenya has trained more than 33,000+ individuals 402 youth have entered formal employment out of the training program
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Don’t Exploit Youth or Create Entitlement: Reward Meaningful Contributions
Transforming drop-outs, ex-convicts, and gangsters into changemakers What if trusting youth to lead unlocks unprecedented employment?
Marlon Parker RLabs | South Africa rlabs.org
Solution in Action When he founded RLabs, Marlon Parker wanted to change the reality for the young men and women drawn to crime and gangsterism in the area of the Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa where he grew up. He started with RLabs Academy, which offers 15 foundational computer courses supported by industry partners. The Living Lab challenges RLabs Academy alumni students to use the skills and knowledge acquired from the academy to design solutions for existing social challenges in their communities. The Incubation Platform incubates the best ideas for a period of nine months and helps to register and launch social enterprises. RLabs has also established a Youth Cafe to provide a vibrant and safe environment for youth development. The cafe offers its own “Zlato” currency which youth earn by doing acts of changemaking in their communities. Youth can use the currency at the cafes and with select RLabs partners in the local market. Through all these solutions, Marlon is ensuring that young people are compensated for meaningful and productive work.
Impact ince 2008, RLabs has created 20,000 jobs (directly and indirectly), by addressing social S challenges through 22 IT-powered enterprises and 185 RLabs-inspired business products iving Lab has fostered the design of technology applications that have benefited more than 4.5 L million people RLabs has scaled to disadvantaged communities in 21 countries within and beyond Africa 6 // 6 BIG IDEAS: Transforming Youth Employment in Africa
Don’t Exploit Youth or Create Entitlement: Reward Meaningful Contributions
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Young environmental champions creating the green economy What if one approach could tackle both youth employment and environmental issues?
Sena Alouka Young Volunteers for the Environment (YVE), Togo
Solution in Action Sena is employing youth in environmental management through three ongoing, large-scale income-generating projects including a solar-powered water disinfection system, improved cooking stoves to reduce wood consumption, and providing solar lamps at affordable prices to communities without electricity. Once the youth are educated on key environmental topics, they are put in direct contact with communities where they experience them firsthand and gain practical experience in creating and spreading solutions.
Impact YVE has national programs in 28 African countries, with 14 operational offices Over 100 teacher-trainers have been trained in Togo alone Over 1,000 youth have been skilled in green entrepreneurship An audience of over one million is reached via a weekly TV program
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Design Classrooms Beyond Walls
Training a new generation of medical professionals What if ensuring youth could access quality medical education solved shortages of healthcare workers?
Andrew Ross Umthombo Youth Development Foundation (UYDF) South Africa | umthomboyouth.org.za
Solution in Action At Umthombo Youth Development Foundation, students meet shortages of medical professionals in rural areas by working in local hospitals while studying and participating in outreach activities to local communities that lead them to be more proactive at solving healthcare gaps. The UYDF first selects young people in collaboration with the community, which identifies potential applicants through traditional rural councils and other participatory citizen bodies. Secondly, graduates organize Hospital Open Days to share their experiences with prospective applicants from rural public schools. Once students selected by their community are accepted into a university, they qualify for financial support from UYDF. The UYDF also offers ongoing mentoring support by a network of mentors, who hold them accountable for their academic work. After graduation, all students sign a formal year-for-year Work-Back Contract, which stipulates that for every year of studies supported by UYDF, graduates must work at the rural hospitals.
Impact I n 2015, Umthombo supported 229 students covering 14 different health-science disciplines, and produced 35 graduates achieving a pass rate of 93%
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Developing skills of heart, mind, and hands through vocational training What if vocational careers were widely respected, and learned through selfsustaining apprenticeships?
Dorien Beurskens Young Africa South Africa | youngafrica.org
Solution in Action Africa’s high rates of youth unemployment is in part due to a lack of job opportunities and quality professional training opportunities. There is a general negative perception of vocational education and training centers despite the role these institutions play in economic development. The Young Africa centers in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Namibia are no ordinary vocational schools: they are entirely self-sustainable within . Each “Young Africa” center leases equipment and space to local entrepreneurs looking to turn their informal ventures into formal businesses. The businesses benefit from the Young Africa brand, network and by engaging students who apprentice with them for a minimal fee. These students eventually make up a robust talent pool from which the businesses can hire future employees. Through the apprenticeships attached to the school, students in ‘Young Africa’ learn within a fluid learning and working space. They explore career options and as founder Dorien Beurskens describes, they develop “skills of heart and mind” as well as “skills of hand” needed to succeed.
Impact More than 29,000 youth have been trained through Young Africa in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. In Mozambique, about 83% of the graduates have secured employment either in the formal sector or through self-employment
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Design Classrooms Beyond Walls
Connecting education to community partners What if the transition from education to work was radically improved by youth solving community issues?
Latif Mbengue Enactus Senegal, Senegal | (2004) www.enactus.org/country/senegal
Solution in Action The theory-based education system in Senegal coupled with the scarcity of jobs makes transitioning from University to the workforce a challenge many graduates struggle to overcome. Through Enactus Senegal, students in every major university can join clubs that identify community partners with whom they work on pressing projects with an economic purpose and social impact. For example, a team from Bambey University worked with an agricultural cooperative to develop a market gardening production unit and manufacturing of solar cookers- boosting sales through a new pricing policy. Latif took Enactus in Senegal even further, expanding the network of schools, support networks, and businesses (including Proctor and Gamble), and working with the Ministry of Higher Education to maximize impact. Latif also created two new programs, one geared towards supporting students as they transition from school to work life, and another that targets high-potential entrepreneurs and connects them with mentors and develops their skills further.
Impact With four schools in 2007, Enactus is now active in all the large universities in Senegal and in many high schools, working with over 500 students every year rojects implemented by the students also covered various populations in different areas and P several geographic areas of Senegal with nearly 3,000 beneficiaries Partnerships with Proctor and Gamble and the Ministry of Higher Education
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Championing ethical leadership and entrepreneurship What if we could change employment by training today’s workforce to equip the workforce of tomorrow?
Madelle Kangha JumpStart Academy Africa, Cameroon | (2013) | www.jaafrica.org
Solution in Action JumpStart Academy academy recruits, trains and employs university students and graduates to learn employable skills while improving the quality of education, by working as Mentor Fellows in schools. University students are trained through a curriculum that cultivates critical thinking, ethical leadership, entrepreneurship, problem solving, and civic engagement, also equipping them with the skills needed for young people prepare for the job market. The program is embedded in the school curriculum and centers on a 2-year leadership and entrepreneurship training. Fellows provide students with mentoring and guidance in their professional and personal lives and improve learning outcomes of students, as measured by performance at school and in national examinations.
Impact 350 students reached, with over 80% of scholars taking on leadership positions ver 75% of scholars saw significant improvement in academics and listed in the top 10 of O their class at least once
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Design Classrooms Beyond Walls
Turning the community into a classroom What if rural education could be transformed by engaging family farms as hands-on laboratories?
Mwalimu Musheshe
Uganda Rural Development and Training Programme (URDT),Uganda | (1987) www.urdt.net
Solution in Action At the Uganda Rural Development and Training Program - Girls Primary School (URDT), founded in 2000, a Changemaker School in Uganda, students identify issues to solve outside of school, formulate a vision for change, and develop action plans to work on during the holidays. URDT also operates the following institutions: Institute for Vocational Studies and Youth Leadership Development, and African Rural University, an all-female university. The five URDT schools aim to reduce barriers to education and train impoverished girls and boys to become experts in sustainable development. Their programs use inquiry based methods, visioning techniques, sports, educative drama, training in life skills, entrepreneurship, commercial agricultural, and radio broadcasting to equip students with changemaker competencies.
Impact Educating over 250 students from upper primary (P5) to secondary advanced level (S6) and working with over 1,500 home members in over 200 communities ver 75% of students improved their incomes, farms, health and nutrition status, with many O of the students’ siblings now going to school as well
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Promote Purpose and Holistic Health as Foundational for Career Development
Young women cultivating resilient farming communities What if local economies and womenled businesses are revived through passion fruit?
Eric Kaduru KadAfrica, Uganda | (2013) www.kadafrica.org
Solution in Action KadAfrica uses an integrative approach, combining hands-on and curriculum based learning, that recognizes the interconnectedness between economic security and poor choices or risky behaviors that can occur among out of school girls in Western Uganda. In addition to gender empowerment, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship training, girls are provided with a 240m plot with 45 passion fruit vines to set up their own agribusinesses, intense technical support, and a ready market. Girls yield on average 100-150 kgs of fruit per month, garnering an income of $40-$50 over the same time period. These girls are not only earning and learning how to manage an income, they are becoming leaders in their communities and actively engaging in their local economies.
Impact Worked with more than 1,500 out of school girls to build successful agribusinesses On average, young women have earned more than $300 each, and collectively saved more than $2,500 over the past year As a primary exporter of passion fruit, out of school girls and their communities are linked to markets in Kampala, the EU and UK
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Demand-driven job preparedness and training What if finding a match between passion and career was started long before graduation?
Esther Eshiet Sunday After School Center for Career Development, Nigeria | (2011) www.afterschoolcentre.org
Solution in Action Esther Eshiet founded the After-School Center for Career Development after noticing how most of her classmates were struggling to find employment because they were not able to identify their own career goals. She took issue with how the education system failed to set these young people up to choose careers. Her classmates were not the only ones - as many as 23.1% of university graduates are unemployed in Nigeria, 41.6% in Ghana, and 15.7% in Kenya. Her organization assists young people to detect their passions, and direct their energies towards relevant, purpose-driven careers, as a foundational step for being able to successfully secure long-term employment opportunities. After-School Center for Career Development provides career guidance, planning services and connections to volunteer and internship opportunities. Programs and services are designed to help students clarify their career goals and understand what is required of them for employment. Esther is also working on the demand side to shift organizational culture towards increased volunteer and internship opportunities for students.
Impact Over 5,000 youth offered career guidance, planning, and application support in Nigeria nline platform Opportunity Hub has over 42,000 subscribed to receive timely information O on job opportunities.
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Promote Purpose and Holistic Health as Foundational for Career Development
Ensuring Youth with Disabilities Excel in Employment What if youth with disabilities had the support needed to secure employment and lead as agents of community change?
Frederick Ouko Alucheli
Action Network for the Disabled (ANDY), Kenya | (2009) www.andy.or.ke
Solution in Action 64% of Kenyan youth are unemployed. The odds of employment are worse for youth with disabilities, accounting for 15% of the population, who are faced with stigma and discrimination rooted in traditional African culture. Youth with disabilities are a vulnerable population and are susceptible to high rates of poverty and alienation. ANDY is a unique initiative that provides an inspiring environment for people with different types of disabilities – and people without disabilities – to work together. ANDY provides leadership and entrepreneurship training programs to ensure the disabled are empowered with self-confidence and employable skills and they gain real world experience in their internships. The rights-based approach helps youth with disabilities develop the skills and confidence they need to become active agents of change in their lives, jobs, and communities.
Impact Over 250 participants in sport programs in Nairobi 200 youth with disabilities trained in entrepreneurship ver 200 youth with disabilities placed in internships, 30 of which secured permanent emO ployment
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Identifying innate abilities to guide career choices What if young people had the selfknowledge and freedom needed to make better career choices?
Jude Obodo First Preferred Innovators, Nigeria | (year founded) www.preferredinnovators.50webs.org
Solution in Action First Preferred Innovators designs specific visual tests that help assessors identify aptitudes of students in order to guide them toward specific professions. Students are introduced to their professed careers through school-based clubs tied to the categories of identified aptitude. By involving parents in this process, partnering with secondary schools, and making his methodology widely available, Obodo builds confidence in his methods and expands the methodology to new areas and communities.
Impact 1,000 beneficiaries reached through 30 schools
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Promote Purpose and Holistic Health as Foundational for Career Development
Connecting Nutrition to Employment Outcomes What if every child has the nutrients they need to reach their maximum potential?
Jude Ohanele
Development Dynamics, Nigeria | (...) twitter: @johanele
Solution in Action Rapid population growth, decades of poor farming practices and the overuse of land has resulted in the depletion of soil nutrients and soil erosion. Farmers in the Eastern parts of Nigeria are struggling from delayed crop yields, shrinking productivity and hunger. These farmers require fertilizers and higher yielding seedlings to stay in business and ward off hunger which is on the rise. The only source of these fertilizers and other farming inputs is the government, but the government is bottlenecked in the supply, exploiting desperate farmers. Development Dynamics set up a more effective distribution system involving the farmers themselves. A system they own and trust, and one that would eliminate the leakages and inefficiencies of the government distribution model. This solution is based in the age grade system, a Nigerian social construct of peer driven groups that exist and operate in communities, and have proven to be powerful in the delivery of community development projects. Jude mobilized these groups to take on government fertilizer rackets, with the goal of replacing them with citizen driven distribution systems to prevent poverty, malnourishment and conflict, giving youth the opportunity to reach their maximum potential.
Impact 24,700 farming households are equipped with better access to nutritious foods as a result of introducing methods to increase agricultural yields
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Farm Management Careers Unrestricted by Apartheid Legacy What if black youth were trained to meet the shortage of farming managers?
Judy Stuart
Future Farmers (FF), South Africa | (2007) www.futurefarmersfoundation.com
Solution in Action White farm ownership and management have historically dominated South African commercial agricultural industry, with black people employed only as casual farm laborers. Farm management skills were generationally transferred, further restricting black people from management positions in commercial farming. Currently, there is a shortage of competent farm managers in the industry as young people from elite farming families are no longer interested in managing their inherited farms and choose to pursue white collar careers instead. Future Farmers trains disadvantaged youth from rural areas to become farm managers, offering aspiring farmers an intensive apprenticeship ranging from the most menial jobs on the farm to managerial responsibilities. Guiding youth to choose a sub-field based on an alignment with their passions is a core initial component of the program’s success. Once the trainees complete 2 to 3 years in local apprenticeship, they take a compulsory year-long internship on a farm overseas where they learn new technologies and a different farming culture. Upon finishing their training, trainees come back to manage local farms or venture into their own businesses.
Impact Over 90 interns have completed the program per year, with 70% of graduates successfully placing as farm managers
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Promote Purpose and Holistic Health as Foundational for Career Development
Teaching university students to promote ethical job creation What if training in ethics, transparency, and accountability improved outcomes for rural ventures?
Simeon Ogondo
Enterprise Education-4-Change (Ee4C), Kenya | (2014) fb: @EnterpriseEducation-4-Change
Solution in Action 32% of Kenya’s active labor force is unemployed. One of the greatest barriers in employment creation is endemic corruption that affects small businesses in Kenya in particular. Small scale businesses are the main source of income for the people and the growth of these businesses will enable the country to sustain its population and attract more investment through an entrepreneurial culture. Ee4C trains university students on ethical management of business and transparency-accountability through seminars and practical monitoring of community projects. Youth who complete the training are equipped to train community based organizations on business management and grassroots democracy in order to enable them elect good managers for their rural enterprises. Strong management for these rural enterprises leads to job creation in rural communities while the Youth undertaking the training to sharpen their business acumen.
Impact 4 think tanks established within first 2 years of operation Over 40 students trained and 40 community based groups engaged
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Re-define What Counts as a “Good” Job
Matching educational skills to employment needs What if we embed skills development in the entire education system?
Adetoun Adewolu-Ogwo Afterschool Graduate Development Ltd, Nigeria | (2007) www.graddev.com
Solution in Action Despite high youth unemployment in Nigeria, many companies face difficulty filling job vacancies. Even though there is a surplus of job seekers, the private sector faces critical shortages in the areas where they most need highly skilled talent.Detoun has created a collaborative solution to youth unemployment in Nigeria. Detoun is directly meeting the private sector’s demand for talent by reversing the trend whereby companies waste recruitment resources on inefficient methods of searching for employees and instead encouraging them to recruit locally. With the help of HR staff from several companies, Detoun has developed a three week training curriculum that imparts skills for self actualization, critical thinking and understanding the dynamics of the labor market in order to prepare young people for jobs. The goal is to advance a wide-diversified education system, instrumental in contributing to Nigeria’s economic growth by way of suitable manpower production, relevant to the needs of industry, society and an evolving technological work environment.
Impact artnerships with the Lagos government and companies such as Microsoft and MTN to train P unemployed young people to become employable
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Employing pregnant women in rural communities to save lives What if underemployed youth and technology could be engaged to improve maternal health?
Alain Nteff Gifted Mom, Cameroon | (2013) www.giftedmom.org
Solution in Action Underemployment is increasing exponentially in Africa with 80% of those affected being youths from poor backgrounds, usually without a formal education, secure income, employment benefits and social protection. This leads to youth who are the future of Africa leaving illegally for ‘green pastures’ abroad. Gifted Mom uses innovative and low-cost technologies to improve the healthcare of pregnant women and newborns. They have developed SMS, Web and Mobile applications that notify and follow up with pregnant women and mothers especially those in rural and disconnected areas. They also tap into the passion of underemployed youth serving their community by identifying, training and engaging these youth in the activities of building an Africa of Gifted Mothers. The mothers are engaged and employed as community workers and peer educators sensitizing and subscribing more women to health services. They are provided a secure income, employment benefits and social protection.
Impact I dentified, trained and engaged over 200 youth, most of whom are medical students whose schools were closed down by the government in 2012 lanning to reach 30,000 youths by 2017 from Cameroon and in 10 African countries, enP gaging underemployed youths in the informal sector with the skills to impact their immediate community.
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Re-define What Counts as a “Good” Job
Leveraging mobile to elevate informal jobs What if basic cell phones could quickly connect small business owners to topperforming job candidates?
Christine Blauvelt Duma Works, Kenya | (2012) www.dumaworks.com
Solution in Action The Duma Works team believes that in countries where unemployment rates are sky-high, every lost opportunity to earn an income is unacceptable. Duma Works is a mobile career building platform that enables anyone who is un(der)employed to leverage basic phones to be matched with job opportunities, resulting in steadier income on informal jobs such as transportation, or access to formal employment. Algorithms and a social referral network activate an SMS alert and invitation to further sector-specific skills tests. Top-performing candidates are recommended to employers. Through an online registration accessible a user lists his phone number, geographic location, job experience and skills, and “reference network.” The reference network consists of the people whom an individual would contact if he were looking for a job, looking to hire, or whom he has worked with in the past (a social network of sorts, but for jobs). When a customer has a job opening (perhaps he needs a taxi to take him to town), he sends a text message to DUMA and the software then finds the worker with a matching skill set and geographical location, who is most closely connected in the reference network.
Impact ince 2012, Duma Works has recruited 9,500 job seekers onto the platform, matched over S 4,500 to jobs, and established presence in all major cities of Kenya
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Women enterprising out of poverty What if young people received not one, but many entrepreneurship support services to ensure success?
Ellen Chilemba Tiwale Community Based Organization, Malawi | (2012) www.tiwale.org
Solution in Action Malawi is the 18th least developed country. Most families cannot afford to finance their children’s education. When women see opportunities, however, banks may discourage them from entrepreneurship by refusing them loans due to their lack of referrals. At the age of 18, Ellen Chilemba founded Tiwale to ensure young women have access to a range of services for entrepreneurial success: business education, micro-finance, vocational skills training, and guidance on entering into ripe markets, such as textile businesses. Ellen noticed that even though Malawi was one of the largest producers of cotton in Southern Africa, locals struggled to source local textiles. Tiwale’s micro-finance loan program hosts businesses classes followed by a business plan challenge. Tiwale’s vocational skills training platforms teach women how to make dye-print African fabrics and also how to rear chickens. These projects employ women and provide them with skills needed to secure jobs in a ripe industry for textiles which they typically did not have access to or start similar businesses in the future.
Impact iwale has taught entrepreneurship skills to 150 women, and arranged for business loans to T 40 women
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Re-define What Counts as a “Good� Job
Stopping the incarceration cycle through entrepreneurship What if every inmate received the entrepreneurial skills to succeed after release?
Hado Nicaise Association Ecole Pour Tous (AEPT), Burkina Faso | (2011) www.ecolepourtousbf.com
Solution in Action A large number of inmates living in correction facilities and detention centers of Burkina Faso is illiterate. Climbing recidivism rates are caused in part by a lack of employment opportunities after release. AEPT is working to shut the revolving door of the prison system by campaigning to raise public awareness, and offering entrepreneurship training and financial assistance to inmates. The programs and services are designed to reintegrate former inmates into society through entrepreneurship - giving them both a job and an opportunity to employ other youth in search of work.
Impact In June 2015, AEPT delivered its first entrepreneurship training to a cohort of inmates
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Starting Entrepreneurial Experience in Primary and Secondary Schools What if students learned responsible business and financial management - as early as primary school?
Irene Mutumba The Private Education Development Network (PEDN) Uganda | (2004) www.pedn.org
Solution in Action Inherited from British colonialism, Uganda’s education system focuses on exams, failing to engage students, while alternative vocational programs have yet to exist. Students lack the practical skills to enter the skilled labor market. To encourage initiative, creativity, and other integral life skills essential for success in the job market, the PEDN creates action-oriented, student-centered youth clubs cultivating entrepreneurship. In both secondary school Young Entrepreneurs’ Clubs and primary school Alfatoon Clubs, students discover and develop their talents, youth are trained to seize opportunities, be confident, and find their own paths as they mature into competitive and productive individuals in society. Mentored by volunteers from the business and citizen sectors, students create and run small business projects that simultaneously promote a money management culture and children’s rights. More broadly, PEDN educates the entire community about children’s potential in the modern economy.
Impact Reaching 503,279 youth with 9 programs in over 313 schools
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Re-define What Counts as a “Good� Job
Elevating Farming as Viable Youth Career What if young people re-brand farming as a viable career through online media and peer support?
Joseph Kimunge Macharia Mkulima Young, Kenya | (2012) www.mkulimayoung.co.ke
Solution in Action Young people are a largely untapped force in agribusiness. 75% of working Kenyans make their living by farming and 75% of the Kenyan population is under the age of 30. But the average age of farmers in Kenya is 55-65 years old. Joseph Macharia is elevating the role of farming as a viable career alternative to formal employment by highlighting young people engaged in entrepreneurial agricultural activities and crowdsourcing best practices through radio, Facebook, Twitter, and a SMS feedback system, with youth-lead guidance, ranging from rabbit farming to mushroom farming, hydroponics and even aquaponics. Mkulima Young shares stories of successful young people in agribusiness to inspire other young people to do the same, has a platform where farmers can buy and sell agricultural goods as well as enable peer-learning between young farmers, and an online marketplace and forum where young farmers share tip with each other.
Impact s of 2015, Mkulima Young has more than 15,000 active Facebook followers, mostly 23-34 A years old and over 1,500 YouTube subscribers kulima Young has direct interaction with approximately 3,000 youth through its online M platform
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Building a techentrepreneurship community for Youth What if co-working spaces could spark new waves of youth-led techentrepreneurship?
Karim Sy Jokkolabs, Senegal | (2010) jokkolabs.net
Solution in Action Inspired by the global open source movement and traditional cultural emphasis on interdependence, Karim Sy launched Jokkolabs, which are online and offline co-working spaces for young African entrepreneurs. Active in 4 countries, young people join together and access professional support in order to collaborate – rather than compete – to create new businesses and help solve the countries’ toughest problems.
Impact ngaging 700 active members in 12 self-sustaining co-working spaces including in Mali, E Burkina Faso, France, Senegal, Benin, Gambia, Cameroon, Morocco, Ivory Coast More than 600 companies launched
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Re-define What Counts as a “Good� Job
Leveraging creativity to boost employment What if every creative Nigerian could be taught how to harness, develop and turn creativity into profit?
Olumide Adelete Twim Academy, Nigeria | (2013) www.twimacademy.com
Solution in Action 54% of Nigerians are unemployed. One of the strongest reasons why unemployment has persisted is the poor societal attitude towards vocational education. Over a million students graduate annually but many are unemployable as they lack skills that are relevant to industries. Twim Academy tackles youth unemployment in Nigeria by providing more sustainable self-employment opportunities to skilled artisans. Twim Academy is a vocational school that builds entrepreneurial minds in the media arts. They offer short-term certificate, diploma and specialization courses targeted at people who wish to enter into the media or creative industries, or become entrepreneurs. Twim Academy is changing the perception of vocational training in Nigeria and catalyzing capacity building and job creation in the arts and entertainment industries.
Impact 300 certificates awarded, 70% of which are self-employed in media or creative industries 1 in 3 youth go on to employ others within 1 year of certificate completion Engaged 5,000 students in free Twim Academy Career Mentoring Program
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Training youth to lead in new health and wellness markets What if African youth led businesses capitalized on the rise in demand for yoga, health, and wellness services ?
Paige Elenson Africa Yoga Project (AYP), Kenya | (2007) www.africayogaproject.org
Solution in Action Paige Elenson is training unemployed young people from the most under-resourced communities in East Africa to be yoga instructors and to run their own yoga-businesses in recognition of a rising wellness market in Africa. Young people coming into the program have often been living in the Nairobi’s slums and 40 percent have only received a primary school education. Wellness is a fast growing industry with over US$3.4 trillion in global economic impact, three times more than the global pharmaceutical industry. The program begins with an intense two-week in-house training that includes yoga skill development, personal discovery, and professional training. The focus on self-discovery is critical in helping them shift their mindset about what is possible for their lives and has a transformative effect on many of them. They simultaneously learn to be professionals whilst developing a specific skills set (teaching yoga) that they can deploy immediately to continue learning.
Impact 100 small business owners receive training and employment Over 200 youth have been directly employed since 2007 300 free classes provided to over 6,000 people in over 80 locations across Africa including schools, hospitals, homes and prisons Students from 13 countries including Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Ghana
6 BIG IDEAS: Transforming Youth Employment in Africa // 31
4
Re-define What Counts as a “Good” Job
The Big Power of Small Farming What if youth could establish selfsustaining farms with small initial investments?
Salim Dara Solidarité Rurale, Benin | (1988)
Solution in Action Most of Benin’s population relies on subsistence farming for food and income. The youth unemployment rate has grown to twice that of the rate for adults, with nearly 2.75 million young job seekers in Benin and over 40 percent of the population under 14 years. Salim Dara is shifting agricultural education away from theory approach to hands-on approach, ensuring students can launch self-sustaining enterprises. The curriculum and demonstration farm teach how to be sustainable with smaller capital or land needs than is usually taught (.5-1 ha), and how to be integrative – simultaneously leveraging produce, livestock, fish farming, and an attached market – all within a small land area. Solidarité Rurale revolutionizes agricultural education in Benin through a hands-on agricultural entrepreneurship program and holistic farming model. The demonstration farms train students how to utilize natural resources, develop their own farming operations, and grow into small businesses.
Impact ore than 60 students have opened their own farms since 2014. Several organizations have M requested that Salim train their staff to improve agricultural production techniques or in cultivation methods suited for deprived areas ore than 600 people visit the center each year to learn how to replicate the holistic farming M model
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Re-define What Counts as a “Good” Job
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Youth at center of climate change solutions and careers What if young people were trained to create jobs that tackle the environmental challenges of now - and the future?
Verengai Mabika Development Reality Institute (DRI), Zimbabwe | (2009) www.driafrica.org
Solution in Action Lack of knowledge and lack of voice have blocked African youth from taking part in the climate change conversation. Verengai Mabika is nurturing a generation of young people informed and energized to advocate for environmental sustainability. He founded a Climate Change Virtual School that offers a diploma, a Social Innovation Fund to launch actionable community-based solutions, “Cool Clubs” in secondary schools to stimulate student engagement in community-based efforts, and a knowledge hub to exchange best practices on preventing or preparing for climate change.
Impact ince 2010, 800 participants have directly benefited through the virtual platform, with S 40,000 indirect beneficiaries from governments, research institutes, communities, and others
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Re-define What Counts as a “Good” Job
Prisons teach entrepreneurship What if a youth’s criminal record wasn’t a lifetime sentence of unemployment?
Vickie Wambura Wamonje Nafiska Trust, Kenya | (2009) www.nafisikatrust.org
Solution in Action In the crowded informal settlements of Nairobi, where 60% of the city’s residents live, there is a lack of opportunities for youth to earn a living wage. Young people frequently find themselves pulled into crime which results in a flood of new inmates at an estimated rate of 100,000 prisoners per year. Up to 50% of these are estimated to be re-offenders. Nafisika has developed the first prison entrepreneurship curriculum that is taught within prison walls. This is done for two months, three times a year, and increases the capacity of prisoners to create or access economic opportunities for themselves. Vickie taps a socially conscious community of teachers who provide literacy and computer skills education to prisoners, and engages interns who are students of psychology and counseling to provide mental health services for the prisoners
Impact educing rate of recidivism in Kenya’s prisons by offering the first prison entrepreneurship R curriculum taught within prison walls in Kenya License from government to operate and scale her model to all of Kenya’s 107 prisons
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Revive Intergenerational Teamwork
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Peer-to-Peer Learning Boosts Graduation & Employment What if student-inquiry ensures every youth can successfully graduate?
Joy Olivier IkamvaYouth, South Africa | (2003 www.ikamvayouth.org
Solution in Action Entrenched racial inequalities from South Africa’s apartheid era are apparent in education - 17% of white youth in South Africa are enrolled in universities while only 3.1% of black and 3.5% of colored youth. Compared to students from more privileged schools, students in public schools are at a disadvantage when it comes to post school opportunities. Poor graduation rates result and low awareness of post school opportunities leads to higher unemployment, perpetuating poverty and lower living standards. Ikamva Youth provides after school support to learners from grades 8 to 12 and intensive programs to prepare students for graduation exams and employment. The innovative program is framed around learner’s questions, as opposed to tutors acting as supplementary teachers. IkamvaYouth tutors are graduates of the program and aim to support students to reach a point where they can teach themselves. The goal is to equip learners with knowledge, skills, networks, and resources to access tertiary education and employment opportunities when they graduate.
Impact Since 2004, more than 1,370 students have gone through Ikamva Youth programs Over 85% of Ikamva Youth students graduate annually 7% of graduates have gone on to tertiary education, internships, or jobs within 2.5 months 7 of graduation
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5
Revive Intergenerational Teamwork
Transforming girls from tech consumers to tech creators What if we could equip young girls with the technology skills needed to lead in ICT careers?
Regina Fremah Agyare Soronko Solutions, Ghana | (2012) www.soronkosolutions.com
Solution in Action In many rural and low-income communities in Ghana, there is an alarming lack of representation of women in ICT fields. Societal pressures, lack of role models, and deep-rooted traditions discourage women from learning skills and pursuing work in ICT, despite the high demand for these skills. Soronko Solutions initiative Tech Needs Girls is challenging the existing mentality towards the role of women and girls in technology through an innovative education program combining community engagement, mentorship and skills training to give girls the tools to succeed in the ICT space. By providing girls with role models and introducing a creative coding curriculum that cultivates ownership, Tech Needs Girls is helping girls envision a future in ICT.
Impact 3,500 girls have been trained with plans to expand to Burkina Faso
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Revive Intergenerational Teamwork
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Pay it forward model ensures employment success What if cost was never a barrier to higher education?
Taddy Blecher Maharishi Institute, South Africa | (2007) www.maharishiinstitute.org
Solution in Action Distressed that only 14% of South African youth are currently able to access the higher education needed to compete for job opportunities, Taddy Blecher founded Maharishi Institute where students pay only a portion of their tuition fees while they complete their degree, with the majority being paid through income earned while working. Every student has several opportunities to earn an income or reduce their costs through campus jobs, paid internships, and student-funded scholarships. All these methods enable students to feel a sense of co-ownership in the education process and in the success of their peers. These methods also allow them to gain practical, hands-on experiences outside the classroom, affordably. On graduation, students are required to complete the repayment of their bursary loan and are then able to �pay it forward� by nominating a family member to attend Maharishi Institute. Thus, each graduate remains connected and supportive of upcoming generations.
Impact Since 2007, over 5,500 graduates been employed; 98% of graduates placed in employment esides two Maharishi campuses, Taddy has helped found at least six other free educational B institutions in South Africa, with plans to spread the model throughout Africa and globally Partnerships with the Department of Basic Education in South Africa and the Government of Swaziland are in final planning stages to incorporate entrepreneurship and mindfulness education into the national curricula. 6 BIG IDEAS: Transforming Youth Employment in Africa // 37
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Don’t Just Serve Youth - Trust Youth to Lead
Youth Leading Solar Technician Enterprises What if youth create businesses that ensure clean energy technology does not fail due to lack of maintenance?
Abubaker Musuuza Village Energy, Uganda | (2009) www.villageenergyuganda.com
Solution in Action Kerosene is one of the most frequently used fuels for cooking, lighting and heating in low-income Ugandan communities without electricity. It poses severe health and environmental risks but is still widely used because it is the most inexpensive source of fuel in the short-term. Village Energy works to improve the lives and health of people living in off-grid rural areas and urban slums by providing access to affordable and clean energy. They work with households to support them to save money by investing in renewable energy products. Additionally, Village Energy trains rural youth who currently work as radio and phone repairmen into the new and critical role of solar technicians, equipping them to run their own enterprises.
Impact Over 10 youth-run franchises seeded Over 4,000 solar technologies in off-grid communities sold Over 50 youth trained in solar technology and business and 43 employed youth employed
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Don’t Just Serve Youth - Trust Youth to Lead
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Youth-driven curricula accelerates skill-building What if youth drive their own learning and build businesses based on their own passions?
Theresa Michael Model Mission of Assistance in Africa (MOMI), Africa | (2004) www.momiafrica.net
Solution in Action MOMI offers a vocational training program in Nigeria that is youth-driven, collaborative, and tailored to the passions and interests of those who participate. The MOMI model organizes youth into cohorts around a particular vocation of interest. Cohort members work with the organization to design their curriculum, and tailor the training to their interests and geographical context. Cohorts are then provided with seed funding for a collective business venture and are tasked with establishing their venture and repaying the seed funding within two years of graduating. They are responsible for recruiting and mentoring another cohort of young people that will receive the next round of seed funding. Youth are challenged to be socially responsible, financially literate leaders who work as a team to improve their livelihoods.
Impact 180 youth in 4 regions of Imo State
6 BIG IDEAS: Transforming Youth Employment in Africa // 39
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Don’t Just Serve Youth - Trust Youth to Lead
Entrepreneurial training sparks job-creation What if a generation of young people lead the way in job-creation, starting with handson experiences in secondary school?
Mathias Yashim Hope Builders International Consult, Nigeria | (2003) www.hopebuildersconsult.com
Solution in Action 25% of Nigerian youth are unemployed despite many holding high school diplomas or university degrees. Young graduates lack the creative, quick-thinking and problem-solving skills to make them competitive in today’s job market. Hope Builders International Consult leverages the existing structure of the education system and school communities by partnering with institutions to provide supplementary entrepreneurship training. Youth are trained in entrepreneurship and offered opportunities for practical leadership experiences. Yashim is creating a generation of new entrepreneurs who generate jobs for themselves and others.
Impact 86 lecturers signed on as mentors, monitors, and implementers 6,000 students trained in 4 Nigerian states
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Don’t Just Serve Youth - Trust Youth to Lead
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Youth Transform Quality of Education What if youth were in charge of evidenced-based campaigns to ensure quality and equality of education?
Doron Isaacs Equal Education, Southern Africa | (2008) www.equaleducation.org.za
Solution in Action Equal Education in South Africa, founded by Doron Isaacs, facilitates a youth-led movement to transform the quality of schools and has already engaged over 200,000 youth within five years of its founding leading to a number of campaigns that have resulted in significant change. A core part of the approach, involves organizing students and parents through dedicated workshops and trainings, as well as including them at every level of the decision-making process that leads to the selection and execution of the evidence-based campaigns or projects. Thus, youth are lead advocates for quality and equality in the South African education system by engaging in evidence-based activism for improving the nation’s secondary schools. While working to promote systemic change in education, youth develop critical thinking skills, leadership, and teamwork skills through personal and group development processes. Youth apply this new mindset and skillset to make change at the community, school, and societal level
Impact 5,088 members and 149 facilitators active in 5 provinces I mproved the pass rate in the township of Khayelitsha improving from 50% in 2009 to almost 70% in 2012 and the successful creation of the Bookery Project to address the critical shortage of libraries, with over 21 fully functional school libraries opened and staffed by previously unemployed learners.
6 BIG IDEAS: Transforming Youth Employment in Africa // 41
Future Forward Innovation Network in Africa Social entrepreneurs, program managers, and school leaders in over 43 countries have received awards or attended collaboration events dedicated to discovery and supporting transformative efforts for solving youth employment challenges.
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Index of ideas Organization
Founding Social Entrepreneurs
Page Number in directory
2020 Microclinics Initaitive
Hoffman B. Moka Lantum
Kenya
4
Action Network for the Disabled
Fredrick Ouko Alucheli
Kenya
16
Africa Yoga Project
Paige Elenson
Kenya, with students from 13 countries including Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Ghana
31
Afterschool Graduate Development Ltd,
Adetoun Adewolu-Ogwo
Nigeria
22
After School Peer Mentoring Project
Esther Eshiet Sunday
Nigeria
15
Association Ecole Pour Tous
Hado Nicaise
Burkina Faso
26
Development Reality Institute
Verengai Mabika
Zimbabwe, students in 32 countries
33
Development Dynamics
Jude Ohanele
Nigeria
18
DumaWorks
Christine Blauvelt
Kenya
24
Enactus Senegal
Mouhamed Abdou Latif Mbengue
Senegal
10
Enterprise Education 4 Change
Simeon Ogondo
Kenya
20
Equal Education
Doron Isaacs
South Africa
39
First Preferred Innovators
Jude Ejike Obodo
Nigeria
17
Future Farmers
Judy Rae Stuart
South Africa
19
Gifted Mom
Alain Nteff
Cameroon, Nigeria
23
Hope Builders International
Mathias Bodam Yashim
Nigeria
40
ICT for Development Kenya
Jonathan Mwongela Mativo
Kenya
5
IkamvaYouth
Joy Olivier
South Africa
35
JumpStart Academy Africa
Madelle Kangha
Cameroon
11
Jokkolabs
Karim Sy
Mali, Burkina Faso, France, Senegal, Benin, Gambia, Cameroon, Morocco, Ivory Coast
29
KadAfrica
Eric Kaduru
Uganda
14
Maharishi Institute
Taddy Blecher
South Africa
37
Mkulima Young
Joseph Kimunge Macharia
Kenya
28
Model Mission of Assistance in Africa
Theresa Uchechukwu Michael
Nigeria
41
Nafisika
Vickie Wambura Kairo
Kenya
34
RLabs
Marlon Parker
South Africa
6
SolidaritĂŠ Rurale
Salim Dara
Benin
32
Soronko Solutions
Regina Honu
Ghana, Burkina Faso
36
The Private Education Development Network
Irene Mutumba
Uganda
27
Tiwale Community Based Organization
Ellen Chilemba
Malawi
25
Twim Academy
Olumide Adelete
Nigeria
30
Uganda Rural Development School
Mwalimu Musheshe
Uganda
12
Umthombo Youth Development Foundation
Andrew Ross
South Africa
8
Village Energy
Abubaker Musuuza
Uganda
Young Africa
Dorien Beurskens
Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Bostwana, Zambia, Netherlands
9
Young Volunteers for Environment
Sena Alouka
Togo, with a network across 25 African Countries
7
6 BIG IDEAS: Transforming Youth Employment in Africa // 43
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Ashoka is grateful to The MasterCard Foundation for its support that made this directory possible.
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