DRC: young unemployed go back to the land

Unemployment is a major issue in many African countries, not least the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where it risks becoming one of the toughest post-war challenges.

According to the estimates of the Masse Intellectuelle association, in Bukavu, which works to reintegrate young people into the employment market, around 80 per cent of 15 to 35-year-olds are unemployed in the provinces of North and South Kivu, in eastern DRC.

At countrywide level, the National Programme for Youth Employment (Proyen) points out despondently, that the last accurate study on unemployment figures in the DRC dates back to 1960 – the year the country gained independence from Belgium.

“It has been five years since I got my law degree and still nothing, no work,” explains Jackson, a young unemployed graduate from Goma.

To keep himself occupied, Jackson works full-time at his uncle’s jewellery shop. “It’s voluntary but it allows me to have some credit on my phone and to cover my transport costs until something better comes up,” he concludes.

Jackson’s situation is not unusual.

Be it in the cities of Bukavu and Goma or the more rural regions of eastern DRC, thousands of graduates find themselves jobless after completing their studies and having to eke out a living from informal economy activities.

Amani, who recently obtained his public health diploma, is one of them. He is working as a motorbike driver in Goma until a job comes up that corresponds to his qualification.

" I obtained my graduate diploma eight months ago. I didn’t have the money to be able to go on with my studies. In the meantime, I’m working as a motorbike driver and earn the equivalent of US$5 a day.”

This situation tends to facilitate young people’s enrolment by the armed groups still widely present in the region.

“The endemic unemployment affecting young people in the country creates a sense of real despair that pushes them to do things they shouldn’t and kills their inspiration,” says Benjamin Bahati, a sociologist who works with young people in the region.

“We have seen many young people joining the ranks of the former M23 rebel army as political leaders or being recruited as rebel army leaders because they can’t find work,” he added.

Many of the young people interviewed complain about the recruitment system in the DRC, where having contacts often counts for more than having the right qualifications.

“If you have someone who can pull strings for you, you’ll get hired, that’s how the new recruitment system works. It’s all become so difficult that I don’t bother wasting my time applying anymore,” laments Bisimwa Blaise-Pascal, a young man from Bukavu who has been out of work for three years.

According to Adrien Zawadi of the Young People’s Solidarity Network of Congo-Kinshasa (COJESKI), the current selection criteria are distorted in all sectors, be it in public institutions, private companies or the non-governmental organisations that exist in vast numbers in eastern DRC.

 

Agriculture as a new career option

Tired of waiting, numerous workers in North and South Kivu are opting to leave the city and work in agriculture.

A group of young people from a variety of academic backgrounds who have come together using the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)-Kalambo Youth Agripreneurs (IKYA) as a platform are hoping to take matters in hand and make a career for themselves as entrepreneurs in the agribusiness sector.

Founded in April 2014, the institute already has 33 members. It has a cassava seed production field on the outskirts of Bukavu as well as a 400-square-metre plot of land for banana trees.

Other projects are already in the pipeline. “We are going to set up a modern hen house, and after our first harvests, we are already thinking about how to process and market, from Bukavu, the various by-products of cassava and soybean,” explains Noël Mulinganya, one of the members of the group.

“Through this platform, we are hoping to mobilise over 200,000 young people within the next few years to make a career for themselves in agriculture and, by doing so, to become drivers in the creation of their own employment,” adds Eric Sika, one of the group’s initiators.

The group has secured the support of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), which provides technical training in agriculture, farmland management and entrepreneurial skills development.

The international organisation has also recently offered them a fully-equipped office, a second experimentation field and logistical support, including a bus for transport.

“Another group of young agripreneurs is already successfully operating in Nigeria. There is a wealth of potential in DR Congo’s young people,” says Marie Octavie Yomeni, who runs the IITA in DRC.

In her view, all that remains is to convince them to leave the city to go and work the land.

The members of the group, for their part, hope to secure the Congolese state’s recognition and involvement, through the granting, in particular, of arable land.

This article has been translated from French.