Youth body worried over unemployment

Malawi’s Youth Consultative Forum (YCF) says the situation of youth development was becoming increasingly worse in the country as it was not a priority area among various stakeholders. This, the forum says, makes lives of many youths unbearable with the prevailing socio-economic challenges.

National coordinator, Edward Chileka-Banda, says in his assessment of the period the forum has been in existence, that unemployment was worsening in the country and that there was little direct support towards specific challenges facing youths.

The forum was launched 10 months ago following growing concerns over lack of meaningful youth participation in development and policy dialogue despite Malawi having a youthful population that constitutes over 65 percent.

It was observed that despite development challenges bearing a youth face, the youth as a social capital, have not been constructively engaged in solving development problems and that youth development has not been a priority among key stakeholders, according to Chileka-Banda.

Says Chileka-Banda: “Many youths are increasingly becoming idle, a sign of worsened youth unemployment and underemployment in the face of socio economic challenges Malawi faces.”

Chileka-Banda calls on government, the civil society, development partners and the private sector to provide direct support to youth actors at community and national levels aimed at catalysing youth energies into productive work for the benefit of the Malawi economy.

The forum has also campaigned around policy and programmatic issues in the youth, sector including the adoption of the National Youth Policy.