Promoting Youth Employment through Enterprise Development: Lessons from The STRYDE Intervention

Abstract

This paper presents insights drawn from the youth enterprise initiative called Strengthening Rural Youth Development through Enterprise (STRYDE). The intervention that took place in Mbeya region, Tanzania from 2015 to 2019 had targeted more than 10,000 youths. Its central assumption was that providing entrepreneurship training coupled with mentorship would empower the targeted youths to engage in entrepreneurship or secure paid jobs. This, paper, therefore, explores the outcomes of this intervention and the attendant process. Data was collected using focus group discussions involving 74 beneficiaries. Moreover, the study used semi-structured interviews conducted with project staff to collect additional data. Using an induction approach, we reviewed data and sorted it into emerging themes. The results show that the intervention enabled recipients to develop psychological and human capital required to start new or grow existing businesses or secure and retain a paid job.  Despite these positive findings, questions linger on whether training alone is adequate to address the seemingly intractable problem of youth unemployment in the long-term. Thus, the study findings are essential for policy-makers and researchers interested in youth unemployment.