scholarly journals Youth and Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa: Time to Reset Policy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Sumberg
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Economic Sector ◽  
Agriculture Policy ◽  
Rural Transformation ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Sub Saharan

Agriculture is widely promoted as the only economic sector capable of providing employment to the millions of rural Africans entering the labour market in the coming decades. Two competing visions vie for attention. The first is of innovative, entrepreneurial youth driving rural transformation; the second is of agriculture providing young people with little more than survival opportunities. Between these two visions are the young people themselves, actively building their livelihoods, which most often include some engagement with agriculture. Policy interventions need to better consider how young people engage with the rural economy and how they imagine their futures.

Young people and the rural economy: syntheses and implications.

2021 ◽  
pp. 173-180
Author(s):  
James Sumberg ◽  
Carolina Szyp ◽  
Thomas Yeboah ◽  
Marjoke Oosterom ◽  
Barbara Crossouard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Young People ◽  
Rural Development ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
Practical Implications

Abstract The research presented in this book uses qualitative and quantitative analysis to address the dominant narratives and 'conventional wisdom' about youth and the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa. This final chapter synthesizes the empirical findings described in the previous chapters and sets out their discursive and practical implications for policy relating to youth, agricultural and rural development.

Are young people transforming the rural economy?

2021 ◽  
pp. 92-124
Author(s):  
Jordan Chamberlin ◽  
James Sumberg
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Age Effects ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Agricultural Growth ◽  
Household Survey Data ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
African Agriculture

Abstract This chapter uses household survey data to address three questions: How might we think about the notion that the youth bring something new to farming? What aspects of young people's farming are visible with existing empirical windows? Do the young in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) farm differently? The analysis provides some support for many of the stylized assertions about the youth in African agriculture. Young households are associated with marginally higher propensities for engaging with intensification practices and commercial orientations. However, the very limited magnitude of these age effects suggests much caution should be exercised in making the argument that young people's inherent vim and vigour are important and underutilized assets for agricultural growth and transformation in SSA.

scholarly journals Youth, Land and Rural Livelihoods in Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Chamberlin ◽  
James Sumberg
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Rural Livelihoods ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Youth Engagement ◽  
Limited Access ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
Sub Saharan

Rural economic transformations in Africa are generating new opportunities to engage with agricultural value chains. However, many young people are said to be locked out of such opportunities because of limited access to farmland, which pushes them out of agriculture and rural areas, and/or hinders their autonomy. This framing of the ‘land problem’ imperfectly reflects rural young people’s livelihoods in much of sub-Saharan Africa, and therefore does not provide a solid basis for policy. Policy-relevant discussions must consider the diversity of rural contexts, broader land dynamics and more nuanced depictions of youth engagement with the rural economy.

Breaking the Metal Ceiling

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Campos ◽  
Markus Goldstein ◽  
Laura McGorman ◽  
Ana Maria Munoz Boudet ◽  
Obert Pimhidzai
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Occupational Segregation ◽  
Gender Segregation ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Small Enterprises ◽  
Labour Market Participation ◽  
Female Labour Market Participation ◽  
Sub Saharan

Evidence from developed and developing countries indicates that there is significant gender segregation within the labour market, with women more likely to work in low-productivity sectors or less profitable businesses. This chapter looks at occupational segregation which significantly contributes to the earnings gender gap worldwide. The chapter studies the differences in outcomes for male and female enterprises and their sectors in sub-Saharan Africa, a region of high female labour market participation and entrepreneurship. Data on Uganda show that women breaking into male-dominated sectors make as much as men, and three times more than women staying in female-dominated sectors. Factors including entrepreneurial skill/abilities and credit/human capital constraints do not explain women’s sectoral choices. However, information about profitability of their small enterprises, male role models’ influence, and exposure to the sector from family and friends are critical in helping women circumvent or overcome norms undergirding occupational segregation.

scholarly journals Towards Inclusive, Quality ICT-Based Learning for Rural Transformation

2017 ◽  
pp. 107-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinayagum Chinapah ◽  
Jared O. Odero
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Rural Transformation ◽  
The North ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

Information and communication technology (ICT) has emerged as a tool that can enhance flexible learning pathways. ICT has the potential to increase equitable access to quality learning, which is essential for skills development. Skills are required in technology-related nonfarm activities so as to improve livelihoods and achieve sustainable rural transformation. However, slow pace of the developing countries to utilize the benefits of the ongoing technological revolution in the North has resulted in the ‘digital divide’. Besides, it is still problematic to implement ICT programmes for educational development. The current and future challenges of providing ICT-based learning desperately call for the reengineering of education to move out of the formal structure of teaching and learning, towards building a more practical and realistic approach. By means of a literature review, this paper examines and discusses why it is important to provide inclusive, quality ICT-based learning, particularly in the rural areas of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It recommends that diverse ICT-based solutions be adopted to promote skills development and training within non-formal and informal settings. More comparative studies are also required to understand the impact of ICT-based learning in rural areas. 

scholarly journals Adolescent Problem Gambling in Rural Ghana: Prevalence and Gender Differentiation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Kofi Odame ◽  
Emmanuel Nii-Boye Quarshie ◽  
Mabel Oti-Boadi ◽  
Johnny Andoh-Arthur ◽  
Kwaku Oppong Asante
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Problem Gambling ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Rural Ghana ◽  
Adolescent Problem Gambling ◽  
The Family ◽  
Dsm Iv ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
And Gender

Abstract Problem gambling among young people is now a public health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the behaviour remains understudied, particularly, among rural-dwelling young people in countries within the subregion. We aimed to estimate the 12 months prevalence of problem gambling and to describe the overall and gender differences and commonalities in personal factors and social adversities associated with problem gambling among adolescents in rural Ghana. We conducted a cross-sectional survey involving a random sample of 1101 in-school adolescents aged 10–19 years in a rural district in Eastern Ghana; we used the DSM-IV-Multiple Response-Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) questionnaire to assess problem gambling during the previous 12 months. Personal lifestyle and psychosocial variables were assessed using adopted items from the 2012 WHO–Global School-based Student Health Survey. Overall, three in 10 adolescents (3 in 10 females; 4 in 10 males) in rural Ghana reported problem gambling in the previous 12 months. Female adolescents who experienced problem gambling were more likely to report family-related social adversities, while adolescent male problem gambling was associated with school-related factors and interpersonal factors outside the family context. Regardless of gender, sexual abuse victimisation was associated with three times increase in the odds of experiencing problem gambling. Relative to the prevalence of gambling among adolescents in urban contexts in other countries within sub-Saharan Africa, the estimates of problem gambling among in-school rural adolescents in Ghana are higher. Although further studies are needed to understand the nuances of the behaviour, the evidence of this study underscores the need for general and targeted health promotion, intervention and prevention efforts to mitigate the family, school, and interpersonal social adversities associated with adolescent problem gambling in rural Ghana.

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