Thinking Ahead- An Assessment of the Dynamics of Employment and the Potential for Social Transformation in Afar Region. Save the Children/EU 2017

Executive Summary

This report describes the work undertaken between August 21 and September 3 to assess the dynamics of employment amongst the youth of Afar Region. It describes the responses of young men and women in group-discussions that focused on employment, as well as the observations of employment brokers and employers in Mille, Logia, Chiffra and Gewane. An analysis of the current situation is made, based upon these observations leading to recommendations regarding the facilitation of constructive employment within the Afar Region.

Against a background of prolonged drought, a substantial proportion of the poorer pastoralist and agro-pastoralist households in Afar Region have adopted coping strategies that include the migration of youth to seek temporary employment. Many of those households will not be able to resume their former livelihoods and must find new ways to survive. The strategies that they are currently adopting appear to be based upon existing coping strategies, especially the prolongation of migrant work.

This assessment considers the current dynamics of employment for Afar youth from the households that have been rendered effectively destitute by the recent drought. It is not representative of, or indeed relevant to the entire cross section of Afar youth. It finds a marked preference amongst these young people for short-term solutions that offer little hope of long-term improvement in livelihood status. The reasons for this are investigated and found to include lack of skills, limited exposure to employment opportunities, family commitments, a reluctance to undertake menial or low paid work within the local context, but above all, a lack of aspiration. This results in little willingness on the part of uoung people to take a long-term perspective and invest in employment. In consequence, the common local perception of Afar youth is that they lack commitment and rarely stay at one job for long.

By contrast, in their places of employment in Djibouti, and the Gulf States, Afar youth are regarded as quite adequate employees who demonstrate normal levels of commitment, including a willingness to stay in employment for periods of up to two years. To support their families they will undertake arduous and menial work that they do not like and which has previously been considered as demeaning.

At the same time, this assessment found that all employers interviewed in local Ethiopian cities (Logia, Mille, and Gewane) considered there to be more jobs available than people qualified to fill them. BOLSA in Semera reports that there are currently 70,000 jobs in Afar that are filled mainly by young people from SNNPR.

These observations suggests that there may be opportunities for the youth of Afar Region to find more and better work than they are able to do at present; they do not lack the capacity to do work, but their employment is largely constrained by culture, attitude (of different parties, including employers) and a marked lack of self awareness and aspiration. Given changes in these areas, Afar youth might be able to develop livelihoods based upon employment that could offer them more than the recurrent coping strategies in which they are now engaged.

Constraints to the process of change are analysed in more detail. It is evident that a lack of aspiration that appears to be prevalent amongst Afar youth is a fundamental constraint that requires attention. In many cases, young people have little ambition beyond the experiences of their immediate lifestyle and no idea of what they might become, or what line of employment they might like to pursue. Enhancement of self-awareness, self esteem, and aspiration are critical first steps to the change process.

Lack of skills is a second major constraint to change. Training capacities are considered and appear to be severely constrained by resource limitations. Alternative training methods emphasising on-the-job, and soft skill training, in partnership with government are proposed as one way of developing much-needed skills within a limited budget. The definite impact of the POTENTIAL programme in terms of soft skill development and employment awareness is also noted.

The analysis also considers the constraints imposed by negative attitudes to employment, not only those of the individual but also of the community. It is clear that religion, culture and community attitudes play a major role in employment choices of the individual. The impact of family and friends is particularly important and appears to be a major reason why young people prefer to migrate to find work rather than undertaking jobs for similar levels of remuneration locally.

The main recommendations follow from the analyses: First that aspirational development is critical. Exposure to successful peers, savings group development and support to sporting activities are proposed as mechanisms to enhance aspiration and self esteem and should be undertaken at an early age, preferably from age 12 onwards. Secondly, training in both hard and soft skills is essential. To offset resource constraints it is recommended that increased emphasis be placed upon training in soft skills that have a greater relevance to a broader audience. Nevertheless, hard skills remain essential and to address this need, it is recommended that training focus more upon on-the-job apprenticeship schemes according to which the role of government would be reduced from hands-on training to the accreditation of businesses capable of providing acceptable on-the-job training, and supervision of the apprenticeship schemes.

Thirdly, the importance of attitude is emphasized at the individual, community, and employer levels. Individual attitudes are inevitably shaped during training, but the attitudes of individual young people are considerably affected by those of the surrounding community. The disparagement of migration for employment has been commonplace amongst traditional communities, but has become less shameful amongst poorer communities who have been forced to adopt this strategy. This process of change can be enhanced through behaviour change communication, as can support for the training of young women whose considerable responsibilities within Afar households would otherwise confine them to the home. The attitude of employers and brokers also needs to be addressed through their involvement in the training process so as to break the vicious circle of cynicism that restricts both access and commitment to employment.

One further recommendation of this assessment is that young people migrating to the Gulf States should be supported, by strengthening the current brokerage mechanisms to provide both training and protection to those who would otherwise be vulnerable. NGOs are well placed to provide that support, linking the private sector (i.e. brokers) with government as an accrediting and regulatory agency, and channelling young people towards a formal system that can provide greater protection than the current informal alternative.

Nevertheless, the overarching outcome of this assessment is the observation that levels of aspiration amongst Afar youth are low. This fundamental aspect of development requires attention before other interventions can hope to be successful. In this regard there is a need to think ahead, introducing aspirationally-focused interventions two or three years before young people might be able to participate in more conventional employment-focused interventions.