Understanding ‘urban youth’ and the challenges they face in Sub-Saharan Africa: unemployment, food insecurity and violent crime

This publication (PDF) by IDS reviews how the various definitions of ‘youth’ relate to three dominant discourses about poverty and vulnerability in urbanising Africa: 1) food insecurity; 2) unemployment; and 3) violence/insecurity. The paper’s discussion of common youth definitions seeks to identify if and when these are responsive to the needs of urban youth as well as practical for policy efforts aimed at reducing poverty and vulnerability in urban areas. An important conclusion is that there are tangible benefits of having generalised categories of ‘youth’. On the other hand, definitions should be adjusted to context-specific realities and must account for developmental processes, as well as the social and physiological realities.

Curated from ids.ac.uk