The Efficacy of Youth Empowerment Initiatives: Lessons Learnt from the Young Africa’s Technical Vocational Education and Training Model in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has been adopted as a viable solution to socio-economic challenges facing youths in Zimbabwe. Although this type of education has been promoted for a long time, evidence to show the efficacy of this education remains debatable and scarce. This article examines the effectiveness of Young Africa‘s (YA) model of youth empowerment showing its impact on the livelihoods of university graduates. A mixed methods approach was used to gather data whereby a graduate tracer survey was used to obtain quantitative data while in-depth interviews and key informant interviews were used to collect qualitative data. The Critical Youth Empowerment Theory was used to explain the findings. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis, while quantitative data were examined through Qualtrics survey tool and Excel. The article establishes the positive transformation of graduates towards community and national development at both micro and macro levels. Livelihoods were improved and in other instances; diversified, while community participation was also noted. The article gathers that the model of Young Africa has a unique positive contribution to youth empowerment through its holistic nature. The article has also noted some challenges associated with the model which include limited number of training institutions and financial implications. In line with these challenges, several recommendations are put forward as a way of proffering policy options for future youth empowerment endeavours.