Youth content with gov't unemployment initiatives
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday June 26, 2020 16:41
According to a recent Afrobarometer survey, more than half (56%) of citizens say the government is addressing the needs of young people ‘fairly well’ or ‘very well’.
Although there have been protests in the recent past over unemployment situation and issues of social policies in the country, the survey found out that 52% of young people of age ranges 18-25 and 26-35, believe government is doing fairly well in addressing their needs.
Youth, ages 18-35 make up more than 60% of Botswana’s population and have been particularly hard hit by unemployment.
Government has initiatives such as Youth Development Fund (YDF) in response to youth unemployment, which have not produced the desired results despite a lot of money being put into it.
While there is general belief that government is doing fairly in that respect, a majority (56%) of Batswana want government to increase spending on programmes to help young people.
“Majority of respondents say if government could increase its spending on programmes to help young people, job creation should be the highest priority for additional investment,” Afrobarometer says.
However, the study suggests that more people oppose paying more taxes to support programs to help young people.
The study also finds out that majority of Batswana say the country needs to listen more to fresh ideas from young people, but elders are not so sure that should be the case.
“While young Batswana overwhelmingly believe their ideas need to be heard if the country is to advance, older citizens say more attention needs to be paid to the wisdom of the elders,” read the survey findings.
Majority of those who believe that the country needs to listen more to fresh ideas from young people than the elders are people post-secondary while those with no formal education believes in the wisdom of the elderly.
Still in the survey, both men and women, majority of whom live in towns support the idea of listening to the young people’s ideas while 48% of Batswana staying in rural areas are in favour of seeking ideas from ‘our elders’ for advancement.