IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wodepe/v39y2025ics2452292925000566.html

‘The youth are not given a listening ear’: A critical analysis of the contributions of youth-led civil society organisations to Africa’s development

Author

Listed:
  • Kumi, Emmanuel
  • Yeboah, Thomas
  • Edudzie, Emmanuel

Abstract

Dominant narratives around Africa’s youth have underscored them as perpetrators of violent conflicts and lazy individuals who dislike hard work and engage in risky behaviours including gambling and crime. However, an emerging body of knowledge has also highlighted the important role that young people and youth-led civil society organisations (CSOs) can play in promoting sustainable development, conflict transformation and sustainable peacebuilding. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 31 representatives of youth-led CSOs in the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, this article examines how youth-led CSOs contribute to development in Africa. Our findings indicate that despite the several factors ranging from limited funding opportunities, limited access to authorities and decision-making structures and a lack of organisational capacity, that stand to affect the potential for youth-led CSOs, they are well placed to contribute to three critical areas of developmental issues facing Africa: i) climate change; ii) democratic governance; and iii) civic engagement. Based on these findings, we argue that far from the prior dominant characterisation of young people as perpetrators of violent protests, there is a place for youth-led CSOs to contribute to the sustainable progress of Africa particularly in line with “The Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want” in a highly constrained environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Kumi, Emmanuel & Yeboah, Thomas & Edudzie, Emmanuel, 2025. "‘The youth are not given a listening ear’: A critical analysis of the contributions of youth-led civil society organisations to Africa’s development," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wodepe:v:39:y:2025:i:c:s2452292925000566
    DOI: 10.1016/j.wdp.2025.100711
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452292925000566
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.wdp.2025.100711?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Celina Del Felice & Lillian Solheim, 2011. "Youth organisations as learning organisations: exploring special contributions and challenges," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(8), pages 1094-1108, November.
    2. Emmanuel Kumi, 2022. "Domestic resource mobilisation strategies of national non‐governmental organisations in Ghana," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(2), pages 109-127, May.
    3. Thomas Yeboah & James Sumberg & Justin Flynn & Nana Akua Anyidoho, 2017. "Perspectives on Desirable Work: Findings from a Q Study with Students and Parents in Rural Ghana," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(2), pages 423-440, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. R. B. Radin Firdaus & Andrew Ebekozien & Mohamad Shaharudin Samsurijan & Hafizi Rosli, 2024. "What Drives the Young Malaysian Generation to Become Horticulture Farmers? A Qualitative Approach," Millennial Asia, , vol. 15(3), pages 465-486, September.
    2. Fiona Carmichael & Christian K. Darko & Nicholas Vasilakos, 2022. "Well‐being and employment of young people in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam: Is work enough?," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(2), March.
    3. Claire Dungey & Nicola Ansell, 2022. "‘Not All of Us Can Be Nurses’: Proposing and Resisting Entrepreneurship Education in Rural Lesotho," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(4), pages 823-841, December.
    4. Norraini Nordin & Ali Khatibi & S. M. Ferdous Azam, 2024. "Nonprofit capacity and social performance: mapping the field and future directions," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 171-225, February.
    5. Khanal, Saugat & Dhital , Pankaj & Christian, Stephen, 2021. "Farming the future: Youth enthusiasm and transforming Nepal’s economy through agriculture," Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Center for Transformative Action, Cornell University, vol. 10(2).
    6. Mastewal Yami & Shiferaw Feleke & Tahirou Abdoulaye & Arega D. Alene & Zoumana Bamba & Victor Manyong, 2019. "African Rural Youth Engagement in Agribusiness: Achievements, Limitations, and Lessons," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, January.
    7. James Sumberg & Justin Flynn & Philip Mader & Grace Mwaura & Marjoke Oosterom & Robert Sam‐Kpakra & Ayodele Ibrahim Shittu, 2020. "Formal‐sector employment and Africa's youth employment crisis: Irrelevance or policy priority?," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 38(4), pages 428-440, July.
    8. Muhammad Rizwan Hussain & György Norbert Szabados & Khalid Bin Muhammad & Sevinj Omarli & Shah Ali Murtaza & Edina Molnár, 2023. "Examining the convergence of dominant themes related to social entrepreneurship, NGOs and globalization–A systematic literature review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(5), pages 1-23, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wodepe:v:39:y:2025:i:c:s2452292925000566. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/world-development-perspectives .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.