Sierra Leone: = Could Youth=20 Unemployment Derail Stability?

3 March 2009

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Freetown =97 In Koidu, the capital of Sierra Leone's easternmost Kono = province,=20 26-year-old Sam heads to the town-centre each morning seeking daily = contract=20 work building roads or digging ditches for the local authorities.

The most he can hope to earn is US$2 a day. But most days no jobs are = available so he hangs out with friends smoking marijuana.

"There's nothing to do here. If I could, I'd trade diamonds" he said, = referring to the youths who get cash by illegally smuggling diamonds = across the=20 border with Guinea.

Most of the youths in Koidu were combatants in the 1991-2002 civil = war,=20 according to local youth councillor Tamba Kakarnbanja.

With 60 percent of Sierra Leonean youths unemployed according to the=20 government - one of the highest rates in the world - some youth = employment=20 experts fear young people's growing disaffection combined with chronic = poverty=20 and high cost of living pose a threat to stability.

"Youth employment is central to all crises in this country," said = Wahab Shaw,=20 youth programme specialist with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in = the=20 capital Freetown. "There is so much unemployment, marginalisation, so = many=20 school dropouts; and all these factors helped fuel the war in the first=20 place."

A 30 January report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said a number = of=20 socio-economic forces could threaten the gains Sierra Leone has made in = several=20 years of peace. "Youth unemployment remains the most acute concern," the = report=20 said. "Urgent action is therefore required to create employment = opportunities=20 with a view to reducing the lingering effects of the marginalization of = the=20 country's young people, who constitute the largest segment of the=20 population."

Urban crime

Residents in Freetown told IRIN crime is rising, most of them blaming = this=20 partly on youth unemployment and the rise of increasingly politicised = youth=20 gangs.

Many urban youths still live in "survival" mode, a July 2009 = International=20 Crisis Group report said, with young migrants in Freetown focusing on = earning=20 enough to get by as they sleep in street traders' kiosks or in tiny = shared=20 houses.

The high cost of living in Sierra Leone's cities compound street = crime, said=20 Shaw. One kilogram of rice costs 82 US cents, up from 50 cents in July = 2008,=20 according to WFP, and the cost of fuel, at $4 a litre, is among the = highest in=20 the region.

Politicised youths

Identity politics are still a force in Sierra Leone, as evidenced by = the=20 return of the divide between the northern-aligned All People's Congress = party=20 (APC) and the southern-aligned Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), = according to=20 Richard Moncrieff, West Africa director for International Crisis = Group.

Youth groups are increasingly polarising along party and ethnic = lines, Shaw=20 said, adding that the divide is evident at universities.

Government youth programmes are also being used to curry political = favour=20 with the chiefdoms that supported those in power, making it difficult at = times=20 for international donors to support them and maintain impartiality, said = a UN=20 official who did not wish to be named.

"Sierra Leone is at a critical juncture," said Jenny Perlman = Robinson, senior=20 programme officer of the non-profit Women's Refugee Commission's youth=20 programme. "An estimated 44 percent of countries coming out of war = return to=20 conflict within the first five years. The civil war in Sierra Leone was = fuelled,=20 in large part, by marginalised youth who saw few opportunities to = participate in=20 political and economic life." This marginalisation has not subsided = according to=20 a recent report issued by the organisation.

Government strategy

Following massive support from youths in the 2007 elections, = President Ernest=20 Koroma promised to set up a commission to tackle youth unemployment, but = it has=20 yet to be set up, causing tensions to mount, said Shaw.

Just 1.4 percent of Sierra Leone's annual budget was earmarked for = youth=20 issues in 2008, according to the UN.

In 2006 the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) selected Sierra Leone = as a=20 recipient country of its Peacebuilding fund, and together with the = Sierra Leone=20 government the PBC identified youth employment as a priority issue for = peace=20 consolidation. However, since then the government has downgraded youth = on its=20 priority list, according to staff at the Centre for Coordination of = Youth=20 Activities in Sierra Leone.

But UNDP's Shaw pointed to what he called signs of progress: a new = government=20 youth strategy and the establishment of the Youth Employment Secretariat = (YES) -=20 supported by UNDP - to better coordinate youth progammes around the = country.

Under the youth strategy, 149 chiefdoms are to set up youth = committees which=20 will report to district committees and a national council, to address = youth=20 concerns and coordinate employment issues. Three district committees = have been=20 set up so far.

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And Shaw says the set up of the youth commission is imminent.

For Moncrieff the only way a youth employment strategy can have deep = and=20 lasting impact is if it is tied into a wider national development plan, = which=20 will incorporate private sector development, infrastructure = rehabilitation,=20 public sector reform and decentralisation of power.

Bernard Mokam, UNDP country director, said: "Youths are a source of=20 instability because of their current deprivation, but [they are] also a = force=20 for peace [and] the future of this country will be decided by them."

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the = United=20 Nations ]

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