dc.description.abstract | Youth empowerment is a strategy to deal with youth issues such as youth unemployment
which negatively impact on the developing countries. Empowerment of the youth through
financial support, education and skills would enable the youth get employed hence be
independent and improve their living standards. High population growth of the youth is a
global challenge and just like many African countries, Kenya has a disproportionate large
population of young people who are facing a myriad of challenges which include
unemployment, drug abuse, exclusion from active participation in the society and
poverty. This trend is a threat to social cohesion and political stability as the idle and
disenfranchised youth are easily manipulated by political elites for their own selfish
interests, engage in crimes or are recruited into illegal groups. Empowerment of the youth
would therefore prove to be successful only by considering the forces that entice the
youth to crimes. The study explores the influence of youth empowerment on promotion
of sustainable peace in Kikuyu Sub County. The objectives of the study includes: to
assess youth’s perceptions on the influence of youth financial empowerment in
promoting sustainable peace, to establish youth’s perceptions on the influence of youth
education for empowerment in promoting sustainable peace and to determine youth’s
perceptions on the influence of youth acquisition of practical skills in promoting
sustainable peace in Kikuyu Sub County. The study used descriptive research design and
targeted 39,873 youth between the age of 18 to 24 with a sample size of 380 and the two
officers in- charge of the youth affairs in the Sub County. The study used stratified
proportionate random sampling method while data was collected using a questionnaire
for the youth and an interview schedule for officers in-charge of youth affairs. Data was
analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of a statistical package
for social science (SPSS) version 15.0 for windows. The study established that majority
of the respondents were unemployment: an indication that they are in dire need of
empowerment due to lack of quality education and skills for employment either formally
or informally. Lack of funds was also a hindrance for youth self- enterprise and upward
mobility. Majority of the youth had just basic education and skills which did not match
the needs of the job market hence were unemployed and depended on others for basic
needs. This contributes to their vulnerability to exploitation, recruitment in illegal groups
and crimes that undermines security and peace in Kikuyu Sub County. Education was
still not affordable to the vulnerable youth despite introduction of free education. The
study therefore recommends the following; the Ministry of Education reforms the
education system and training to make it relevant to the job market by integrating ICT
skills and entrepreneurial skills. The government should also ensure education is
affordable to the vulnerable youth by allocating more funds for bursaries. Vocational
institutions should be re-opened and be well equipped with modern equipments by the
government to offer quality training to the youth which would translate to their
employability and engagement in productive economic activities. | en_US |