Politicking has no business in economics

13 Dec, 2015 - 00:12 0 Views
Politicking has no  business in economics Minister Zhuwao

The Sunday Mail

Fungai Alexander Mapondera
It is high time our unemployed youths started looking at entre
preneurship as a viable career choice rather than a stopgap measure in the face of adversity and economic downturn.
YOUTH, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Patrick Zhuwao recently launched the US$$10 million youth fund under a facility dubbed “Localised Empowerment Acceleration Facility” (LEAF).
Under the facility, about US$$45 000 is expected to be distributed to all constituencies and councillors will be tasked with selecting projects.
The facility is a noble idea that seeks to address youth unemployment. However, its limitations on accountability on those doing the disbursing and limited financial discipline on the part of those receiving remain worrisome.
This latest loan facility comes after the suspension of the previous CABS funded US$10 million facility in 2011 which saw over 3 600 projects being funded.
The facility was marred by a reported 78 percent default rate among the beneficiaries.
Critics of the facility decried the alleged partisan manner in which the funds were distributed.
The then Deputy Minister of Youth during the inclusive Government Mr Tongai Matutu claimed that about 95 percent of beneficiaries were Zanu PF youths.
However, some of us were not swayed by such figures.
The problem with figures that are quick to note percentages, whose aim can best be described as sensationalistic, is that they deviate from the core and end up being politicised.
In my opinion, there has been a notable lack of underlying frameworks and programs to complement these programmes.
Tangible youth entrepreneurship education and provision of adequate information hubs to support the youths could make the programmes a success. Monitoring and evaluation schemes that both the Government and the corporate sector can rely on also need to be conducted.
All these aspects can instil some confidence in the investor and the youths.
Given that the previous facility suffered from heavy defaults and with critics already predicting the same fate for LEAF, there is need to address the pertinent issues and consider the aforementioned frameworks so as to mitigate loan defaults and bolster credibility of the facility.
Funded projects need to be sustainable and add value to the economy.
It is no secret that Zimbabwe, like any other country in the world, is suffering from high youth unemployment. Unfortunately for us and other Sub-Saharan African countries, it is also a fact that we have a higher youth population.
In all, developing countries account for almost 90 percent of the world’s youth.
Our youths therefore need all the help they can get.
During the launch of LEAF; Local Government (Public Works and National Housing) Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, who is a former Minister of Youth (Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment) said,
“The young people in this country ever since we launched the US$10 million fund have had to stand a barrage of criticism, attacks and being made to look like criminals.
“The youths must be helped to stand up on their feet and not to be told that you can’t do it.”
In Zimbabwe’s case, it is the shortfall within the system that sees our youths unnecessarily becoming victims of the same system that is set up to help them.
They are the ones bearing the brunt as highlighted by Minister Kasukuwere. UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon’s recent statement on the plight of youths globally gives an added impetus on the issue.
He said: “Around the world, there is growing recognition of the need to strengthen policies and investments involving young people.
“Youth(s) can determine whether this era moves toward greater peril or more positive change. Let us support the young people of our world so they grow into adults who raise yet more generations of productive and powerful leaders”.
I encourage the Youth Minister to work with his partners and put equal zeal in building and monitoring sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems in Zimbabwe as a means of social development and mechanism to tackle youth unemployment once and for all. With a sustainable entrepreneurial system, Zimbabwe can tell its own success story.
Our Comesa counterpart —Kenya — is seriously trying to tackle youth unemployment through investment in entrepreneurship technology programs.
If there have been previous attempts, let us assess the status quo of those as part of the whole exercise.
Let us understand what our core competencies are.
For Zimbabwe this could be within manufacturing, mining and agriculture, among others.
Let us investigate the status-quo’s effectiveness and its efficiency alongside any other programs as there has been many since the indigenisation and empowerment program started.
A start-up monitor solution can also be put in place in Zimbabwe as the prime mechanism to continuously map and assess the system’s performance. As mentioned before, there is a notable lack of strategies and entrepreneurial programs that can leverage and bolster Government activities. Unfortunately, Government cannot be left to map these out alone. I recently discussed youth unemployment with Munya Takawira who is a youth trainer with the Joshua Foundation in Zimbabwe.
While Munya is an avid youth trainer, he nevertheless acknowledged that he too could benefit from extensive insights into how to contribute effectively towards addressing youth unemployment in his capacity as a youth trainer.
Therefore there is also a clear need for scalable entrepreneurship training programs and train-the-trainer initiatives for sustainable development within this entrepreneurial system.
To cap this, there needs to be a bridge between the education system in Zimbabwe and the entrepreneurship driven labour market — as youth entrepreneurship should be a long term career choice that should be viewed as such and given the requisite support.
For the entrepreneurial system to be successful, we also need to break away from politicking and co-opt everyone.
The Youth Ministry will need to mandate a national task force dedicated to improving the state of the entrepreneurial system that includes chambers of commerce, Government, universities, investors and entrepreneurs, among other key stakeholders.
This task-force will serve as the central body responsible for supervising the ongoing development of the entrepreneurial system.
It is high time our unemployed youths started looking at entrepreneurship as a viable career choice rather than a stopgap measure in the face of adversity and economic downturn. Given the right support, our youths will be in a position to quantify their contribution towards creating employment in the country.
Minister Zhuwao recently reminded us that it is still possible to deliver the 2,2 million jobs during the life of this parliament.
I put it to the Minister that if done right, this could be an opportunity to start chipping away at that number. After all, the only way to eat an elephant is one small bite at a time.

Fungai Alexander Mapondera is the Founder of Zimbabwean based youth information hub, Contemporary Indigenous Youth Development Africa (CIYDA) and Project Lead for Africa at The Entrepreneurs’ Ship, a Switzerland based, non-profit entity. Email:[email protected]|Twitter:@SavileImage

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds