TANZANIA CASE

STUDY

Dr Georgina ole Saibul

Economic and Social Research Foundation

Introduction

Economic growth has not resulted in employment creation and poverty reduction.

Over 70% of employed persons are in the agriculture sector

Agriculture and services sector contributes most to the GDP

The youth in Tanzania represent 68% of the labor force and have a unique opportunity and role to participate in the development of the nation.

Among the unemployed, the youth (15 to 24 years ) have the highest unemployment rate of 14.9%, followed by 25 to 34 years at 11.8% and 35 to 64 years at 9.6%

the National Youth Development Policy of December 2007 has defined youth as any person between the age of 15 and 35 years.

0

2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

14,000,000

16,000,000

Agriculture, Hunting and ForestryManufacturingConstructionTrade and RepairTransportIndustryServicesMining and quaring

num

ber

of w

ork

ers

Employment by SectorsTanzania 2001-2011

2001

1. Policies on youth

Employment

National Employment Policy 2008

National Youth Development Policy 2007

National Youth Employment Action Plan 2006,

The National Economic Empowerment Policy

2004

draft National Youth Employment Creation

Program (NYECP)

The National Youth Development

Policy

The National Youth Development Policy overall objective is to empower and guide youth and other stakeholders in the implementation of youth development issues. The policy specific objectives are:

1. Facilitate youth to acquire skills and competence for employment

2. Facilitate youths to accept responsibilities so as to be able to practice good values, ethics and good conduct.

3. Create conducive environment for youth participation in decision making

4. Enhance establishment and utilization of youth friendly social services.

The Ministry of Information Youth Culture and Sports is the coordinator and overseer of youth development issues across different sectors and other ministries.

Youth employment policies by

different economic sectors

Agriculture

Communication

Education

Energy

Finance

Fisheries

Industry

Land

Marketing

Mining

Tourism

Trade

Transport

Water

National Land Policy of 1997

The National Land Policy has a key role not only in the development of the agriculture sector in Tanzania but also to facilitate the engagement of youth in agriculture.

Developed and adopted by the Ministry of Land and Human Settlements Development in 1997,

Although agriculture is the main economic activity and employs a majority of the labour force, access and rights to land for women and youth is limited.

The National Land Policy of 1997 does not address the land issues for women and youth but rather states that all Tanzanian citizens in general have right to access land.

Agricultural and Livestock Policy of

1997

The goal of the policy is to improve the well being of the people whose principal occupation and way of life is based on agriculture -- mainly smallholder and livestock keepers.

The policy expresses special recognition of the youth and lays a framework to assist them to engage in agriculture successfully.

Specific policy areas incorporating the youth by promoting access to land, credit, education and information by women and youth.

The Ministry through its extension service aims to support farm families especially women and youth groups in identifying viable income generating activities.

Cooperative Development Policy

The policy focuses of the elimination of social

and economic injustices in society. It puts a

special recognition on youth challenges and

tries to address them.

Achievements

Establishment of Youth Credit Fund;

Establishment of Small Enterprises Policy and increasing the number of vocational training centres

Establishment of Labour Exchange Centre;

Involvement of young people in the preparation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Program and National Youth Development Policy

Establishment of National Youth Week

Formation of Rural Youth ICT Centres, e.g., in Kilosadistrict (Morogoro region)

Encouraging youth participation in local government structures.

Challenges

Lack of framework on how to implement Policies, too many policies with many policy statements

Government Policies addressing youth unemployment problem are difficult to implement only good on paper work and politically oriented

the Ministry of Agriculture, Food security and Cooperatives noted they have insufficient resources, especially financial and technical, to support the implementation of the related programs.

Policies are not well implemented and monitored.

For example in the national employment policy of 2008 it is stated that an enabling environment (e.g., financial services) should be put in place to enhance youth employment. But youth have limited access to such financial services.

The ministry also noted that the youth also have limited access to productive resources, particularly land; lack of entrepreneurial skills; poor rural infrastructure; limitation on equity of resource allocation and capital accessibility; inadequate social services in rural areas leading to the youth migrating to urban areas; and drudgery in agriculture due to limited access to laboursaving technologies (mechanized agriculture).

2.Combined results from the

qualitative and quantitative research

Four categories of youth were interviewed from

the survey (quantitative).

There were FGDs with youth and key informant

interviews with governments officials

(qualitative)

a. Survey findings

- Youth in education

- Unemployed youth

- Employed youth

- Self employed youth

8.7%

26.8%

20.5% 20.7%

23.3%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Perc

en

tag

e

Occupation Status

Youth in education and

unemployed youthYouth in education

Areas of study- business and science

After completing education- 48% wanted to look for a job and 43% continue with further studies immediately

Unemployed youth

See lack of education as a challenge to gain employment (48%) and unsuitable general education (17%)

What could be done to address the problem:

Sensitize the youth about employment and income generating opportunities in different sectors (37%) entrepreneurship training (31%)

48.3

17.2

3.46.9

10.36.9 6.9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Employed and self employed

youth Employed youth

For the employed youth 75% were self employed, 21% work in government and 3.1 in private sector

Before getting a job the main challenge in finding employment: less employment posts 41% and no education 23%

Self employed youth

Main reason for being self employed – greater independence , could not find a wage job

Challenges: business information (90%) and lack of financial services (10%)

23.2

14.3

1.8

19.6

41.1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

b. From FGDs and key informants

interviews

i. Challenges on youth employment

Problems at the macro-level not micro.. So we should look at macro and meta level (mindsets - culture, beliefs, norms)

Privatization should facilitate young entrepreneurs, not only big companies

Those going for technical school are failures who could not make it to university

Lack of work related experience

Youth expects Government to provide jobs for them.

Lack of Business skills for those who wants to start their enterprises

Negative perception of youth on agriculture.

Strategies are good but not well articulated or contemporary. Instead, they tend to be outdated, fragmented, politically-driven and impracticable.

From FGDs and key informants

interviews Gender issues

Corruption.

Centralization of employment, this was highly discussed by the government officials and we realized the policy of centralization of jobs was a great obstacle for youth in finding employment because most of the youth come from villages outside Dar es Salaam

Lack of inspirations to youths – most youths are only interested in certain jobs

Too much of government restrictions and procedures to the private sector of which slows down efforts in doing various investments and in turn create employment.

Unrealistic political promises during campaigns

From FGDs and key informants

interviews

ii. Opportunities

- There is a receptive society- non violent

- Growing economy

- Vocational education and training that is implemented by the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA).

But at least two challenges prevail:

(1) employment opportunities for youth graduates from this program are limited and

(2) the lack of working tools on the part of the youth poses a substantial challenge for them to partake in self-employment activities.

Sokoine University Graduate

Entrepreneurs Cooperative (SUGECO)

- “What path do you want to take after completing your studies?”

- “What should be done to attain that desired path?”

- have their own platform that would understand their needs and assist in solving challenges they face as they strive to attain what they want as entrepreneurs.

- World Bank business incubation programme

- to formulate a cooperative

- more than 310 members.

- Planned to use certificate as collateral but BoTregulation

- Collateral value must be 125% of the amount to be lent

- Pilot investment…signed memorandum of understanding

How youth are prepared

Youth are prepared from first year of study

Get train on entrepreneurship skills

Internship

SUGECO acts as a mentor but also monitors

how the funds are spent and reports back to

the bank

Success

Shambani Graduate Enterprise (SGE) was established by three young graduates from Sokoine University in 2003.

Since then, they have been a blessing to the farmers in MorogoroMunicipality.

They started off with one milk supplier, with an initial processing capacity of 30 litres. Today the plant receives milk from over 200 suppliers and has a processing capacity of 750 litres of milk and produces up to three different products: pasteurized cultured milk, pasteurized fresh milk and pasteurized flavored milk.

SGE now supplies processed milk and other dairy products to retail outlets within the municipality as well as the country’s capital city, Dar es Salaam, which is 120 miles away.

The graduates use local technology to process their milk and have deployed hygiene standards and other innovative measures to compete among the leading processors in the country.

SGE plans to increase their investment by US$ 78,000 immediately, US$ 50,000 of which they will raise through a loan facility. They plan to increase the investment to over US$ 100,000 in three years.

Failure

ELIFURAHA – A FRUIT PROCESSING COMPANY

entrepreneur - a fruit processing company which deals with drying of fruits, vegetables and spices.

Capital from businesses that he used to do when he was a university student(2007)

Transport and sell clothes from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza, onions from Morogoro to Dar es Salaam and cashew nuts from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam and Morogoro where he sold them at a profit.

2010 after completing his studies at the Sokoine University of Agriculture he decided to start up a business of fruit processing

Why fruit business

The idea of starting up this business came up as a result of a research that he conducted in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania where he found that he has a greater opportunity in starting up a prosperous fruit processing industry because they are very few in East Africa .He thought that this business would conquer the markets in East Africa and Africa as a whole.

Easily available during seasons

Affordable

The infrastructures for its processing were available at an affordable rent such as solar drier, cabinet driers amongst others.

Why the fruit processing has not

taken off

Capital – high interest rates on loan he took from the bank

High tax rates

Bureaucracy –getting a certificate of approval from Tanzania Food and Drug Agency (TFDA). He also faces a problem with Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) where they have no standards for processed fruits thus making it difficult for the business to possess a certificate of standards that will enable its exportation.

He sees his business making huge profit in the next few years however that is only if he gets a certificate of approval from TFDA and a certificate of standards from TBS.

Furthermore, he expects to use the profit gained to invest in a manufacturing industry which will conquer the markets of Africa and the world as a whole. From this investment, he expects to employ many youths.

SUGECO challenges working with

youth

Lack of patience among youths

Some religions don’t allow their followers to

access and use loans.

They lack proper coaching and guidance on

proper use of funds. In many cases, once

these youths get these funds, they get external

pressure for instance from their parents,

spouses and even other self interests.

Lessons learned and policy

implications Disconnect between labour market, education system and youth expectations .

Youth want formal employment into the white collar jobs.

Tanzania economic base and employment opportunities lie in agriculture.

Agriculture employs majority of workforce and has the potential to grow by moving on to mechanisation and agribusiness

Need to give youth in agriculture more support and improve the infrastructure to make agriculture attractive so that more youth get into the agriculture

Need more agriculture based universities/training institutions with entrepreneurship skills training

It is important to mainstream entrepreneurship from the lowest levels of education system. Thus, linking entrepreneurship with education system is very important.

Need to have testimonies and presentation from role models who can inspire youths.

Need policies that will connect the different sectors that are interrelated in creating youth employment

Ahsanteni sana