While the current Nigerian government’s commitment to youth employment is evident in the investments being made through these youth employment and empowerment programmes, this study provides further evidence that such schemes lack a gender analysis and responsiveness, which combined with other issues, affect such programmes’ transparency, operational effectiveness, politicisation and impact.
While young women appreciate and are benefiting from some of the higher quality programmes, there is limited evidence of impact and sustainable increases in employment and income earning. In particular, youth employment and empowerment programmes often suffer from poor design, targeting, implementation and monitoring.
This report presents findings from a qualitative study commission by the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP), exploring the extent to which government youth employment and empowerment programmes are targeting, reaching and working for young women, with a particular focus on the most prominent federal level programmes including th Subsidy Reinvestmen and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P); Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria Programme (YouWIN!); Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO); Vocational Skills Development (VSD); and Growing Girls and Women in Nigeria (G-WIN).
The study focuses on the experiences of young women, including those with physical disabilities, in rural and semi-urban areas in three of NSRP’s target states: Kaduna (Middle Belt), Kano (North-west) and Rivers States (South-South).