Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) and Poverty Reduction in the Rural Area of the Gambia: A Theoretical Examination

Olusegun Abatan

Abstract


Youth empowerment programs are targeted at reducing the level of poverty among the youth through employment generation. This paper gives an assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) in the rural areas of The Gambia for the Period 2018 to 2020. It highlights YEP’s efforts in upturning the migration movement and creating more jobs and opportunities within the rural area of the country with a view to improving the employability of the youth, reducing unemployment/ socio-economic imbalance and consequently reducing poverty level.

Keywords


Youth Empowerment; Poverty; Rural Youth

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abatan, O. O. (2020). Youth empowerment project and poverty reduction in The Gambia. (Unpublished MSc thesis). University of The Gambia, The Gambia.

Adesopo, A. (2020). Development in perspective. Kanifing, The Gambia: Gambia Printing and Publishing Corporation Ltd.

Ali, D. A.; Deininger, K. & Goldstein, P.M. (2011). Environmental and gender impacts of land tenure regularization in Africa: Pilot evidence from Rwanda. Policy Research Working Paper Series 5765, World Bank, Washington, DC.

Barker, G.; Knaul, F.; Cassaniga, N. & Schrader, A. (2000). Involving boys and men in efforts to improve young women’s lives. Urban Girls: Empowerment in especially difficult circumstances (pp. 91-100). Intermediate Technology Publications.

Bridges, S.; Fox, L.; Gaggero, A., & Owens T. (2013). Labour market entry and earnings: Evidence from Tanzanian retrospective data. Paper prepared for the CSAE conference “Economic Development in Africa”, Oxford University, Oxford.

Charles, E. (2018). Gambians see sharp decline in Emigration, though interest in leaving remains high. (Dispatch No. 266). Afrobarometer Round 7.Banjul, Gambia: Centre for Policy, Research and Strategic Studies.

Cloutier, Marie-Hélène; C. Reinstadtler & Isabel, Beltran (2011). Making the grade: Assessing literacy and numeracy in African countries DIMEF Brief, World bank, Washington, DC.USA

Deon, F. & Louise, F. (2014). Agriculture as a sector of opportunity for young Africans. In K. Cassaday & A. Gautam (Eds.), Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa (pp.113-137). Washington, DC: World Bank

Duru, E. (2012). The poverty of crisis management strategies in the Niger delta region of Nigeria: A focus on the amnesty programme. African Research Review, 6(2), April, 2012

Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). (2011). Save and grow: A policymaker’s guide to the sustainable intensification of small crop production.

Friedmann, J. (1992). Empowerment: The politics of alternative development. Oxford: Blackwell.

Gambia Bureau of Statistics (2018). The GDP production approach and provisional 2020. Banjul.

Gambia Bureau of Statistics (2020). The Gambia Labour Force Survey 2018, Banjul.

Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) (2013). Population and Housing Census 2013, Banjul.

Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) (2017). Poverty in The Gambia 2017, Banjul.

Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) (2018) Integrated Household Survey. Retrieved from www.gbos.gov.gm on 23rd December, 2018

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) (2019). Investing in rural people in The Gambia (pp.2-5). IFAD Publication.

Jennings, L. B., Parra-Medina, D. M., Hilfinger-Messias, D. K., & McLoughlin, K. (2006). Toward a critical social theory of youth empowerment. Journal of Community Practice, 14(1-2), 31-55.

Johanna, W., & Rob, W. (1997). Rethinking youth (1st ed.). Routledge https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003117193

Jones, G. & Wallace, C. (1992), Youth, family and citizenship. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Jones, G. (1988), ‘Integrating process and structure in the concept of youth: A case for secondary analysis’, Sociological Review, 36 (4), 706-32.

Liebau, E., & Chisholm, L. (1999). Youth, social change and education: Issues and problems. Journal of Education Policy, 8(1), 3-8.

Louise, H. (2015, September 11). The Gambia faces battle to deter its young people from migrating abroad. The Guardian. https://www.the guardian.com/ global development/2015/Sep/11.html.

Meredith, K., & Bronwyn, L. (2013). Youth Empowerment: The theory and its implementation. Youth Empowerment Solutions, November 21, 2021.

Morton, M. & Montgomery, P. (2011). Youth empowerment programs for improving self-efficacy and self-esteem of adolescents. Campbell Systematic Reviews. doi: 10.4073/csr.2011.5.

Oakley, P. (ed.) (2001) Evaluating Empowerment: Reviewing the Concept and Practice. Management and Policy Series 13. Oxford, UK: INTRAC.

Odeh, M.A. and Okoye, C.O. (2014) Poverty reduction policy and youth unemployment in Nigeria. Public Policy and Administration Research, 3(4), 92-103.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2019). DAC Criteria for Evaluating Development Assistance. Paris: OECD.

Pearrow, M.M. (2008). A critical examination of an urban-based youth empowerment strategy: The teen empowerment program. Journal of Community Practice, 16(4), 509-525.

Piroska, B. (2014). Tools 4dev resources, practical tools for international development. 49th International Universities Power Engineering Conference (UPEC), Romania.

Simon, B.; Juan, G. & Margret, V. (2019). Rethinking our strategy of rural poverty reduction: Empowerment through a human rights-based approach. In R. Nehring, & A. P. De la O Campos (Eds), Rural poverty reduction in the 21st century (pp.42-44). Brasilia, Brasil: International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.

Statista Global Consumer Survey (2008). Youth employment-to-population ratio in Africa from 2012 to 2021. United Nations General Assembly Resolutions, A/RES/62/126, 2008. UN Joint Framework Initiative on Children, Youth and Climate Change: http://unfccc.int/cc_inet/cc_inet/youth_portal/items/6519.php

Wilson, B., & Wyn, J. (1987). Shaping futures, youth action for livelihood. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

World Bank (1990). Attacking poverty. World Development Report. Washington, Oxford University Press.

World Bank (2004). Attacking poverty. World Development Report. Washington, Oxford University Press

Youth Empowerment Project (2018). YEP in a nutshell. Retrieved from https://www.yep.gm/.

Youth Empowerment Project (YEP)-Africa, (2019). YEPAfrica. Retrieved from https://www.yepafrica.orgm

Zimmerman, M., Eisman, A, Reischl, T., Morrel-Samuels, S., Stoddard, S., Miller A., Hutchison, P., Franzen, S., & Rupp, L. (2018). Youth empowerment solutions: Evaluation of an after-school program to engage middle school students in community change. Journal of Health Education & Behavior, 45(1), 20-31. doi:10.1177/1090198117710491.

Zimmerman, Marc A. (2000). Empowerment theory: Psychological, organizational and community levels of analysis. In Rappaport and Seidman (Eds.), Handbook on Community Psychology. New York: Plenum Press.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/12501

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 Author(s)

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

  • Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/css/submission/wizard

  • Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
  • We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 

Canadian Social Science Editorial Office

Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture