World Bank youth aspirations survey and gender assessment findings
Lesotho is under utilizing its most valuable resource, its youth, the study has revealed.
According to the youth survey report conducted there are 45% of youth aged 15-24 who are neither employed nor educated and what this means for Lesotho is that the human capacity element will always be lacking.
There is going to be a miss match in skills just like in our neighboring country South Africa. The employment opportunities which arise will require highly skilled and qualified individuals to fill those positions however due to lack of education the people searching for employment will not be able to fill those positions, this is where the mismatch will be most evident.
Individuals willing and available to work will be incompetent to fill the available positions and will likely not be considered for such positions. Job seekers on the other hand will tire and eventually give up and leave the labour force.
Poverty
Most African countries are poverty stricken, this pandemic costs young people their bright futures, they are put in a corner forced to drop out of school to help in providing for their families. In most families youth are left with no choice but to carry the burden of providing, for the rest of the family which in most cases is the youth.
They have to forgo studying and potentially acquiring better skills and jobs just to fill the empty tummies. This further create a surge between the job providers and the job seekers, and forcing the employers to outsource and seek expertise from other countries.
The children lack support from their families to pursue their studies because the very family looks to them to bring in income.
Nearly one-third of the youth participated in training of some kind. Youth from the greatest wealth quintile are twice as likely to complete training as youth from the lowest quintile. Male adolescents are 1.5 times more likely than female youths to complete training. Lesotho has relatively limited access to other types of training programs other than vocational programs, especially for vulnerable youth who would benefit from them.
There is actually strong evidence indicating that the youth aspires to be independence and is looking into entrepreneurship, if provided with the right support and training then the future for Lesotho as a whole would be very bright. They show a strong preference, and talent, for self-employment/entrepreneurship.
This will inspire the circulation of money in the country, more businesses will establish and there will be an increase in employment for the citizens which will in turn mean an increase in disposable income for households leading to an increase in overall consumption and the economic growth of the Lesotho.
Note: Results are consistent with findings from the 2012 UNDP Lesotho Youth Empowerment Survey