BY SOLOMON DIBABA
Over the last four years unemployment in the urban centers like Addis Ababa have been complicated by, the war in the northern part of the country and the resultant escalation of the number of IDPs, ethnic based terrorist activities and ethnic conflicts in various parts of the country, the advent of COVID-19, hyperinflation have markedly contributed to the plight of unemployed youth in the country by also ejecting the unemployed from their work places in the various parts of the country.
Moreover the interface between liquidator ethnic political interests which has recruited thousands of youth into the rank and file of terrorist organizations and the urgent quest for national peace and stability has worsened not only the fragile political situation in the country but also the status of youth unemployment.
Here in Ethiopia, unemployed youth have mostly been visible at the vanguards of political demonstrations and rallies organized by any type of groups that are disenchanted with the government or any political grouping. The recent video clippings recorded on the 127th anniversary of the victory of the Battle of Adwa indicate that unemployed and emotionally charged youth can rally around any issue that they think could help to destabilize the political order in the country.
Moreover unemployed youth both in urban and rural settings of the country usually vent their anger against the ruling government in support of issues raised by opposition ethnic based political organizations and parties.
Over the past several decades, schools and universities in Ethiopia have been infested with riots and chaos in response to calls from ethnic politicians and their parties and were used as agitators on specific political issues doing a greater disservice to peaceful academic atmosphere.
In the last four years, political organizations have put the social media in a tightrope in attempting to mobilize the unemployed youth and youth in general for their own political objectives putting them at loggerheads with the security and defense forces across the country.
Apart from the destruction of public and private properties and facilities that were demolished during the war in the northern part of the country, unemployed youth have definitely participated on ethnic based destructions and massacres that were orchestrated by ethnic based arms groups in several parts of the country. Besides, criminal gangs comprising unemployed youth have been identified and their secret cells were shattered by the security forces.
The Basic issue of unemployment in Ethiopia is social and economic and not as such political but it appears that critiques in all sectors try to attribute such income generation projects to the desire of the political party on power to lure the unemployed youth towards its political objectives. This could be true or a hoax but at the end of the day what is needed is to let the youth eke their livelihood by acquiring enough income.
Unemployment is not mere lack of finance or fund for livelihood. Unemployed persons face multiple problems that could face them. Just to mention some of these, some unemployed persons may have already been addicted to narcotics and may not be credit worthy while some could already suffer from depression. On the other hand the case of unemployed disable persons needs a special consideration. As the statistics above have indicated, young women constitute the vast majority of the unemployed persons in the country.
Therefore a tailored rigorous training for those who have no idea about financial management and accounting needs to be delivered. Only likeminded persons with grater desire to pull themselves out of poverty must enroll in such programs. It is important to devise strict financial recovery scheme to avoid defaulters. On the other hand, to provide longer and wide ranging services, microfinance institutions in the country could be invited to engage in special programs targeting the youth.
Special programs may be arranged for university graduates who wish to organize themselves into groups to have access to financial resources with a certain level of group collateral. Before providing any level of loan to the prospective unemployed beneficiaries, it is important to provide them sensitization programs to avoid mixing political commitments with livelihood support programs.
On the other hand, the author of this article warns all concerned stakeholders not to be over ambitious in gradually reducing unemployment and need to devise projects over a longer period of time. The rural urban migration in Ethiopia is growing by the days and the main reason for this is flocking to local and regional towns to seek employment. This trend shows the positive desire of the youth but migration locally or at the national and regional levels brings in more complications some of which are political.
Over the next several years, as indicated in the Tens Years Prospective Plan, it is important to development much larger projects based on the natural resources of the country with a special consideration on agriculture and manufacturing industries. More focus can be on agriculture with specific area of agro-industry that can absorb more unemployed population.
The survival and further achievements of the current political system in Ethiopia, to a greater degree depends upon tackling unemployment through a viable apolitical strategy that could turn threats into more refined opportunities for battling poverty and destitution.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian
The Ethiopian March 10/2023
