Secondary Education

                           This graph shows the percentage of males and females that are enrolled in secondary school. As you can see the numbers in Africa are substantially lower than the world except for South Africa. So why is South Africa so much higher than the rest of the Africa? I believe that the answer to this question is that South African people are primarily from England because the country was once owned by them. This means that South Africa is a whole other world compared to the rest of Africa.
                           Another question that could be asked is why is the rest of African enrollment so much lower the rest of the world? There could be many different answers to this question. One answer would be they don't have the opportunity because they don't have any schools near them or because they have to help their families so they don't have the time. I have learned through distance running that most of the best distance runners come from Africa because they have to walk 10 miles just to get to school and then another 10 on the way home so it's like they are being prepped for all of training that will take place later. This shows how hard it is for African's to get an education, but it also shows how much the people want it that do go to school and make us Americans look so disrespectful for taking public education not serious.
                          This graph can be looked at through many different perspectives, but I'm sure that every single person can agree that change in necessary. In order for the world to improve then Africa must improve so I think that a lot more people should understand this and try to help out. Help can be made monetarily or just by advocating this problem to other people to spread the news and try to get this problem solved as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Sub-indices of Botswana.

   As you can see in the picture there are categories that influence the prosperity of a country. Botswana is ranked 1st and has been for the past 3 years. Although they do have an abundant supply of diamonds thats bringing in plenty of money, they are ranked 17th in economy. That might seem odd for a country to be rather far down the line in economy even though they have plenty of diamond mines at their exposure.

   Botswana also was ranked 3rd in entrepreneurship and opportunity. This means that they have many opportunities for people to look for jobs and other ventures. They also are good at exporting and importing goods. This helps bring in income and raise the GDP for the country. Although they make plenty off of the diamond mines, they have been trying to look into other ways to bring in profits for the country.

   As being ranked 1st in governance and 4th in personal freedom, Botswana has developed well since gaining independence from Great Britain in 1966. There is little corruption within it's governement. They care very little aboutbthe immigrants coming into the country. 

Debswana.

   In my recent blogs, I've posted about the landlocked country of Botswana. This country is known to be the top ranked prosperous country of the continent. A major reason why it's made such progress in recent years is because of its large diamond mines. Ever since the discovery of the supply of diamonds, its forever changed the country of Botswana.

   Botswana as of 2015 is progressing a lot faster than most of the countries on the continent. They have been moving up the ranks of a certain number of catgories. One in particular is education. They have spent a good amount of money on the education system they have set up. If it weren't for the abundant diamond mines, they wouldn't have the chance to improve the schools and environment for the students. 

   In 1969 the government of Botswana signed a "50/50" deal with the global diamond company De Beers. They've signed this deal so the company can explore and mine all of the countries mines'. This partnership, later called Debswana, helped make Botswana into what it is today. Although Botswana mines these riches as an owner, they also get a share of the profits rather than just bring in money by collecting taxes and royalties. 

   In conclusion, Botswana was built upon a foundation of a unique material that would later on help them to become the most prosperous African country of the 2010's. That unique material is diamonds. Since the discovery of the diamond supply they've increased the GDP and help improve the education for students.

Varying Solutions to Complex Challenges.

All around the world is a holiday celebrated called "International Youth Day".  The point of this holiday is to give the youth the chance to speak out on previous issues, how they got past these issues and how they are stronger than before. There have been a lot of issues, such as health issues and discrimination, but the topic I'm focusing on today is youth unemployment. While celebrating this day, it is important to turn your attention on Sub-Saharan most, since their youth population is currently enormous, and expecting to grow dramatically.

Due to an article I found, about 10 to 12 million Sub-Saharan youth enter the labor market each year. This growth provides and opportunity for a demographic dividend (the amount of working age people outweighs the number of dependents), it prevents the risk of hight unemployment. The website I researched provided me with multiple essays that were written by five of Brookings Africa Growth Initiatives.  The essays contained ways to fix the youth unemployment issue.

In the first essay, the most important thing it proposes it a program that teaches skills to young people over a two year period of time and then hires these individuals to work on rural community projects that show their newly learned work skills. I think this is such a good way to fix the youth unemployment because not only is this program teaching them skills they currently need, but hiring them also. Many other programs I have learned about just taught skills but never gave them an oppurtunity to use them. Another essay explained another important way to overcome youth unemployment. Paying close attention to the young women seeking jobs can lead to more women actually getting hired. Women often are discriminated in land ownership and must overcome cultural attitudes that still see women as caretakers. A third lesson is that government-sponsored vouchers and subsidies can help resolve the targeting problem by preserving a degree of enterprise and individual choice. These tools are especially worthy of consideration in situations where government services have the potential to be misdirected, either by going to recipients who should not receive them or by not reaching recipients who should.

Unlike most of the articles we have previously used, this one focuses on the ways to help youth unemployment. It opened my eyes a lot to how we can actually help these people instead of just focusing on the percentages.

Unemployment

The picture you see here says a lot about the topic our blog is focusing on. The people here are demanding a change. The unemployment rates in Africa are only continuing to get worse and them problem doesn't seem to be getting resolved. The people of Africa in this picture are taking a stand and trying to make something be done about this issue. This has been going on for long enough and they're tired of nothing being done. They seem to be protesting against this and trying to get somebody's attention. Somebody who will realize what is going on, who actually cares and who will take action and do something about this. Nobody seems to care, but what if it were your country? Then would it be a big deal to you? What is it going to take for people to take charge and resolve this?

The woman in the front is holding a sign that reads "We demand skills and development. Decent jobs for youth." The people of Africa don't have the greatest education. They get very little or they're just completely illiterate. The skills they learn aren't great which causes them not to develop right. In order to get better skills and development, they need to get a better education. The government needs to take action and take part in brightening their futures. The lack of education is what leads to unemployment especially for the youth. Because of their lack of knowledge, the youth either have terrible jobs, or none at all. If the job you have isn't good, there's really no point in having one. The people of Africa are demanding skills and development that will help them learn more and better their education. Learning more will help them to gain more knowledge which will be helpful when it comes to finding a job. This then leads back to "decent jobs for youth." After gaining these skills and development, the youth's education will be better, which will lead them to finding a good, and safe job. With more kids getting decent educations and decent jobs, the unemployment rate will begin to fall, solving many of the problems they have in Africa.

Like most of the other posts here on this blog, you see yet again that the unemployment problem leads back to education. The lesser the education, the harder it is to find jobs. No jobs mean no money. With no money, how could you possibly survive? The people of Africa have been living like this for long enough and I think it's about time someone do something about it. The government seems to be sitting back doing nothing and that's the biggest problem. They run the country, they should be the ones addressing this issue, but instead they're acting as if it is not even there. If this were your country, what would you do? Wouldn't you want help in resolving this? It's not fair for everyone to just watch this happen. People should work together to help create jobs and education facilities that will help these people. It doesn't take much to put a little effort in and try to make a difference in peoples lives. In fact, it'll all be worth it in the end.

Africa Unemployment

This picture really amazed me.  It shows that 1 in every 2 African youths are unemployed. That’s crazy considering the fact that Africa is one of the most highly populated countries in the world.  The youths making up Africa is precisely 41%... so out of that large percentage, half of them are jobless and do not create even the smallest of an income for their family.

Can you imagine what America would be like if half of it was unemployed? 

The next fact my picture shows, is that out of all the unemployed youth, 60% of them are women. Personally I was not surprised by this. In previous articles I have read it said, that IF women go to school, they most likely do not get jobs afterwards. They just work in the homes cooking, cleaning, and caring for the family and its needs. However, a lot of women do not go to school, they just stay at home with their mothers and begin picking up on the jobs women are “ required” to fulfill in the homes at such a young age.

The last fact my picture represents was most shocking to me. Within all the young Africans going to school only 10% of them will get a job once finished school. 10% is not a big number at all. This is exactly why there is high unemployment rates. Due to the lack in jobs available to these students once they have finished their education. They spend a lot of time working towards a good education, and there isn't even a job promised to them in the end. That right there is why Africa also has low education system numbers. Students simply do not see a point in going to school if they aren't guaranteed a place to work in the end.

This picture was really eye opening to me. All the articles stated facts like this, but actually seeing it shown through a picture made me realize how big this issue is and badly it needs to decrease. 

African Electricity and Energy

                   In this data chart above I learned a good amount not just about Africa but about the world as a whole.In today's world technology is becoming more and more of a necessity and a way of life. Seeing that 79% of people in Africa don't even have a means of getting to electricity is unbelievable. This means that the people of Africa will never be able to catch up to the world because they are way too busy playing catch up with all the little things that lead to educational success. Not only does having an obtainable way to work with technology benefit education it also benefits the economy because it gives many more adults opportunities to make money and gain skills that weren't previously available. The main reason I picked this picture was because in Madelyn's most recent post, Nikki commented discussing the possibility of online classes and I began to question if that idea was possible which I later came to learn that it isn't possible.
                Also in this picture there are many other educational things we can learn about Africa such as energy. Africa has the lowest per capita energy when looking at all the continents. This is also very upsetting because when you relate this to physics work requires energy so the less energy being used the less work gets done. Africa needs a tremendous amount of work done within itself so that means it need as much energy as it can get. The countries governments are collapsing because they are distraught about what they should do first and it is a split decision which makes it weak. Some people claim that education should be a first priority while others claim energy resources should be as well as many other cries for what should be first on the agenda. In my opinion, I think that this is in fact a very controversial topic and can see how there are so many different points of view. Although, I think that more caution should be taken in these discussions to make sure that rebellions don't occur as well as have the government fall. It is pretty ironic seeing a government argue about what is most important with helping them get ahead and in the process collapse and take five steps backwards.

Africa's Youth

The article I found was from Africa Renewal, and just like my last post, it refers to youth unemployment. Youth unemployment is a very serious issue in Africa and nobody seems to know why, or how to solve this issue. After reading several articles and looking through the posts my group members have made, a lot of them seem to lead back to education. Putting two and two together, you can see that the lack of education in Africa is what is causing this unemployment problem. Africa's youth have little, to no education so nobody really wants to invest in them. Why would you hire an illiterate young person, when you could hire somebody who's more mature and has a full education? That is where the problem comes into place.

According to Africa Renewal, there are several reasons why you should pay more attention to Africa's youth. Africa seems to have the youngest population in the world, and that trend is only going to double as years pass. You see, the problem with that is that youth unemployment occurs at a rate more than twice that of adults. According to the World Bank, youth account for 60% of all African unemployed. However, it is even worse for the women. In Africa, even if women have equivalent skills and experience, it is still easier for men to get jobs than it is for women. Being a young male in Africa is extremely difficult when it comes to employment, but being a young woman is even worse.

Many young people are able to find work, but does it really mean anything if it's not in the right places? A lot of Africa's youth do find work, but they are in places that do not pay good wages, places that do not develop good working skills and places that do not provide a measure of good job security. What's the good in working if you're not going to get anything out of it? The article says that "more than 70% of the youth in African countries are either self-employed or contributing to family work." But what is that really doing for them? That's not a real job and that's certainly not going to help the unemployment rate drop. The International Labor Organization reports that 82% of African workers and "working poor."

The youth are starting to become extremely talented and creative, and the amount of them is only going to increase, so this is extremely unacceptable. They are saying youth unemployment is a time ticking bomb, which now appears to be relatively close to exploding. African leaders met and declared 2009-18 the "African Youth Decade." Their plan emphasized the need to equally address both unemployment and underemployment. African governments haven't done much, but they have made some effort to match their words with action. The youth are looking for jobs in populous cities, any type of job just to keep their body and soul together however, even those who are lucky enough to find employment are the first to be laid off when economic growth derails. For the youth, it's like a lose-lose situation.

There have been several ideas on ways to create more jobs. One institution wants to focus on manufacturing because they say it urges more investment in several topics that employ young people. African leaders seemed to be more focused on other things and that is where the problems arise. They are saying unemployment is a problem but no one seems to be doing anything about it. Most analysts agree on the need to revise Africa's education curriculum to include skills and enterprise development. The Brookings Institution proposes an urgent focus on post-primary education. Africa's growing youth population comes with high energy, creativity and talents which they say are also "the key to future prosperity." Now, it all depends on whether or not the African governments can grab the unemployment bull by it's horns and solve this problem once and for all.

What Will The Future Bring?

In Africa unemployment is a big issue and lowers the prosperity rate for some countries. The big reason for unemployment is the countries education system. Could this be fixed though? Will it help Africa become more prosper?

            In the article Futurology: Bill Gates Predicts a Prosperous Africa in 2030, Bill and his wife, Melinda predicts that the future for Africa will look better than ever. Technology will improve greatly. This will improve farming, boost mobile banking, and most importantly enhance education. How does this help Africa become more prosper?

            First off, technology will help Africa out with mobile banking. More than 2.5 billion adults currently do not have bank accounts. There is no way to access them. Once technology is developed better throughout the world, it will enable adults to make purchases through their phones. Also, this will help close the gap in gender. Statistics show that in Africa women are 24 percent less likely than men to own a cell phone. With internet access becoming more available this will connect both genders allowing both to have bank accounts making Africa more prosper.

            Most significantly, the boost in technology will improve the education in all countries of Africa. It will defiantly make it easier for students to attend online classes. This not only gives them the correct education but will make it more accessible and affordable. This will overall improve teachers and sources giving the students the best of the best learning. With the advanced education, it will increase the rates of employed workers developing Africa into being very prosperous.

           

Ummeli

Ummeli is an application on the phone and a website that you can download, or go to, to find jobs in Africa. I found a news article that talked all about the dedication African's have to find a job, and the lack of employers that try to hire these people. This news article is from BBC News and is called South Africa's huge unemployment problem. 

 In the news clip, it shows many men and women in Africa standing on street corners carrying signs of what they are capable of. For example one man they interviewed was shown holding a sign that said "plumber". The mans name is Rudzani Richard and he states that goes to the same street Monday through Friday looking for any job he can get. It is known that these people only know the basic skills, and that it is unlikely that they will receive a job, but they try to make ends met. Rudzani says that he rarely ever gets offered a job, and when he does it is only for one or two days a week. Do you think that it is only offered to him one or two days because they realize the kind of skills he has, so they let him go? He is only twenty nine years old. This just goes to show that the rest of these peoples lives really can be ruined forever if they lack the skills they need. A quarter of South Africa's population is unemployed, and 70 percent of those are people under the age of twenty five.

A women named Shiko Gitau studied in South Africa and saw first hand the people who stand on the streets looking for jobs. She didn't like what she saw, thus creating the app/website called Ummeli. She went to a city in South Africa and spent several months observing how the people live. She worked with one specific women, whom she thought to use the internet on her phone. The first thing the women looked up on the internet was "Jobs in Cape Town". This is what inspired Shiko to create the website. The women showed just how much of an issue unemployment in Africa was. The website that was created asks twelve questions and the answers to the questions are immediately sent to local employers.

Herman Mamabolo in a man who lives in an Africa township who used Ummeli. He says that ever since he has used the app many employers have contacted him. This application has brought many hope to the people living in Africa that they will soon be employed.

People in America can do a lot to help African unemployment. Shiko Gitau did not just help Herman, but his family too. She gave hope to may Africans that couldn't find anymore hope. This news article really goes to show how much youth unemployment in Africa is an issue, but also how much other people can help out, and change the future for the youth in the work field.

The Role Education Plays in Unemployment.

In a recent article I have found, it challenges the previous articles I have read, which have stated that a lack of education plays a big role in the unemployment rate and crisis in Africa, both right now and in the past.

 As of right now, it is being said that the youth, are twice as likely as their parents, to go to school and get a good and useful education. This current generation of youths is the most educated group to be entering the work force. However, the International Labor Organization has stated “The youth in Africa, are twice as likely to be unemployed as adults.”  How can this be?  If the youths are receiving a better education, why are they more likely to be unemployed?

                Is this because an education actually doesn't matter?

                One reoccurring statement I have seen is that , “ You’re parents must know someone in order to get a job.” So if that’s the case, then education really doesn't matter. This kind of reminds me of how it is here in America, you have to know someone. Knowing that certain person can always help you out when it comes time for you to get a job. Whether you want to become a teacher and you know someone in a certain school. Or if you want to become a doctor and you know somebody in a certain hospital,  knowing that person is helping you out over someone else

                People believe that this lack in jobs should be blamed on the government due to their failure in creating, investing in, and providing more job opportunities. Others believe that African schools are “ failing to train people for its needs.”  When in an African school they will teach you all “less important” things, it does not teach you to solve any actual problems.  For instance, agriculture. People think that engineers should be able to help out farmers but creating more technical and easier tools for farmers to use instead of the basic, undeveloped tools they use now.

                Even though this article was different than the others I have read, I thought it was interesting because it showed another perspective on the same issue. 

Too many workers, not enough jobs

The continuing problem in Africa is that they have too many workers and not enough jobs.  However, not everyone has the same skills or work desires, so why is finding a job so hard to do? Is it because at this point in time, people will just take what they can get?

The population continues to grow more and more over time. And with time, comes more teens able to enter the work field , the one that barely exists. In spite of the fact that the youth population continues to increase, the unemployment crisis in Africa cannot be fully blamed on just that.  A lot of this is due to the lack in investments put into infrastructures.  Investing in such things would create more jobs for the people and more money too.

I have come across an article that talked about other countries that had the same issue with youth unemployment and what they did to solve it. In Senegal , they have come up with the idea to train their unemployed youth in temporary work on public infrastructure before they receive a permanent job. This really helps out these younger people because a majority of them have a family to provide for or at least help out with. And in the rough times were in now, every little bit counts.

Another place I read about is Burkina Faso. Here, through an apprenticeship, students are able to both attend school and work as an apprentice in industries to learn about specific and necessary skills they will need in order to work.

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Though these places have come up with these new , helpful ideas to help their people get jobs, it still isn’t helping everyone. This is simply due to the fact that the unemployment rates are just too high and make it nearly impossible to make a serious difference in the current  unemployment difficulties and challenges.

Even though investments in many small jobs may help slightly , a drastic change will come from the youth actions, ambitions, and behaviors. They need to receive a good education and acquire the skills that are necessary in the work field, In order to do this they need schooling.  

The battle between the population and available jobs will always be a constant and complex battle. There simply will always be more people than jobs, but its up to the youth to make a  difference in their world and change their ways.

Rwanda Unemployment

The Video, Rwanda Must Address Employment Policies, tells us what they plan on doing to fix the unemployment rate of Rwanda. In Rwanda, their population growth is increasing rapidly. This is the reason for Rwanda’s youth unemployment being so low. Statistics show that over 64% of the youth is will be employed. Is this a myth though?

Unemployment and underemployment is a very big problem right now. In the video this “hinders their achievement in full academic development.” How does unemployment set back the youth’s academic achievement? A firm job creation is defiantly an important part of academic growth. If there is no way to create a job and/or a goal, there is no way to improve academically.

What can the government do to help this problem? In Rwanda there is a total of 3.4% of underemployment and 7.7% of unemployment since 2012. The Government talks about improving the business environment for the bigger companies. They do have small setbacks when trying to do this. The young still need to improve. They need to broaden their options. They need to experience internships to see if they enjoy what they do. If they are interested in what they do, the wealth will come.

The government’s plan is as the youth are still developing, Rwanda will lose some of their tax base because of the low numbers of employment. But as they grow and find what they are interested in, they will create more jobs for them to work at. With the increase of jobs, their tax base will also increase. It will affect Rwanda for a short term, but will defiantly help for the long term bringing in more employed youth and eventually bringing the wealth into Rwanda.

http://www.cnbcafrica.com/video/?bctid=3912025366001

Skills For All

                                                                                                                                                                                     They say a picture says a thousand words and I couldn't agree more in this case. In this picture you can see a great deal of dedicated people fighting for a single cause. When you look at what the signs say you will begin to understand that all these people want are equal opportunities to get jobs and an education. Not until you do research on African countries and their governments will it be known that there is an unreal number of people that just want the skills to do jobs so that those people can support their families.
                  The government in several African countries are more focused on other topics and the people aren't their first priority. This angers the people very bad which is obvious because when the government focuses on other things time and attention gets taken away from education and the future generations. This will then result in a lack of skills that needs to be taught in order for the young to at one point step up and start a family of their own. The young cannot even begin to think about that because without those skills they can't get many jobs.
                   This is a major problem that needs to get fixed in order for the African countries and the continent itself to improve. If this problem doesn't get solved soon then it will result in an even higher unemployment rate and a definite increase of homelessness. When you look at this picture you see a whole bunch of people that are willing to work they just need to given that opportunity. They are fighting for a just cause and if the government doesn't begin to listen to them there could be major problems such as a rebellion. I think these people deserve the opportunity to develop the skills necessary for good jobs because in turn that will represent the country well and will produce a better surplus of money to deal with several problems.

                                                     

Botswana, Africa's most prosperous country

   Ranked as Africa's most prosperous country Botswana comes into the new year as a strong, well developed country. A successful country nowadays isn't focused mainly on a strong economy but also rely on several categories such as education, healthcare, governance, and personal freedom. In my latest article, most of these categories are brought up as to why Botswana has made so much progress since it gained independence from Great Britain in 1966. Botswana was also one of the poorest countries of Africa with a GDP of $70. 

   A major reason why this country has made such success is that it is home to several important diamond mines. It also is ranked very high for education which is 4th. Botswana's education expenditure is among the highest in the world according to the World Bank. It accounts for 8 percent of the GDP. The country of Nigeria has Africa's largest economy but is ranked eighteen places below Botswana in education. 

   In other vital areas for prosperity Botswana is ranked 12th in healthcare. Life expectancy is recorded at 47 years while Africa's average age is 58. They also are ranked 4th in personal freedom with 70.7 percent in tolerance of immigrants. Although the country's economy is ranked 17th, the other areas helped encouraged Botswana rise to being Africa's most prosperous country for the last 3 years. 

Youth Unemployment

As you know, Africa has an extremely high unemployment rate. As the years go by, that rate continues to drop, affecting many people. One specific group of people that unemployment rate affects is the youth. It doesn't affect them as much as it effects others, but they are still a part of this. But why? What is the reason the youth are being affected by it? What's causing this?

They say the reason for this is that the youth employment challenges in Africa are often associated with rapid population growth rates. Sub-Saharan Africa has the fastest population growth and the highest youth population in the world. They say it is crucial to factor this "youth bulge" into national and social planning. The youth bulge has not created an even unemployment rate, but it is structural issues specific to individual countries that is causing this. Africa doesn't have a high level of youth unemployment however, due to the size of the continent, different degrees of urbanization and shifts in economic activities, it is difficult to generalize.

South Africa having almost 50% of unemployed youth, has one of the highest levels of youth unemployment in the region however, Rwanda has one of the lowest. Although a growing youth population is a challenge, it can not fully explain the unemployment. Lack of investment and education are responsible for this. These issues predate the youth bulge.

Levels of education in Africa are comparatively low, creating a gap among youth at working age. According to the African Development Bank, 25% of African youths are still illiterate and despite a rise in primary school enrollment from 60% in 2000 to 77% in 2011, the issue of low skill levels will continue to be a problem. Young people today happen to be more educated than their elders, this hasn't helped them with getting a job. The youth remain almost twice as likely to be unemployed than their parents. This is basically because of a mismatch between their skills and what is required for available employment opportunities.

With rising numbers of people, small initiatives around the country are not going to help solve this youth unemployment problem and the difficulties that come with it. The young people need to gain genuine education and skills training but crucially their ambitions need to be matched with opportunities. For example, in Tanzania, there is now a higher unemployment rate amongst individuals who have received secondary education. As populations expand, an effort needs to start being made to avoid these problems for the youth and lack of growth. African countries need to start addressing these issues.

Website Link: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/jul/11/africa-youth-unemployment-population-growth

South Africa Unemployment

A website I found called unemployment-rate  it shows in graphs just how much Africa's unemployment rate can change, or stay the same. This website mainly focuses recent times, such as 2000-2015. In the third quarter of 2014, the unemployment rate decreased 25.40 percent. Unemployment Rate in South Africa averaged 25.27 percent from 2000 until 2014, reaching an all time high of 31.20 percent in the first quarter of 2003 and a record low of 21.50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Unemployment rate measures the number of people who are actively looking for a job at that time as a percentage of the labor force. The number of people in Africa who stopped looking for jobs increased 3.9 percent and the labor force participation rate fell .2 percent to 57.1 percent. Agricultural industry increased employment by 16,000 while a decrease of private households were observed as 110,000. Does this mean that employment really depends on how crops and industries are going at that time?

In the first quarter of 2014, South Africa’s jobless rate rose to 25.2 percent from 24.1 percent in the previous three months. There were 5.067 million people without work, up from 4.83 million in the preceding quarter, mainly due to job losses in agriculture, trade and transport.

Due to this website, it looks like to me that Africa's unemployment is not all that bad. Employment should never be a huge issue because parents need to support their families, but the numbers could be worse. Especially since now know a portion of these percent are people who are not seeking a job. None of the unemployment percentages are over 50 percent, so I think that's a good spot to be in.

Unemployed or Discouraged?

           Many of African countries are seemed to prosperous due to their health, economy, education, etc., but some of them aren’t because of those same reasons. Countries like Tanzania and Malawi are falling down in the ranks and are trying to improve. They have a low GDP and are overall poor. Are countries like Tanzania poor because they are unemployed, discouraged, and/or inactive?

            The lower ranked countries in Africa have a poor economy and a poor education. A lot of Africans are unemployed whether they live in rural or urban places and educated or not educated.  Statistics show that in some countries, the urban youth unemployment rate was estimated to be more than six times higher than the rate in rural areas. Why is that? This higher rate of urban youth unemployment seems to be the result of the younger Africans migrating from the countryside to towns in the hope of better opportunities. This increases competition in the urban labor market.

            Another big reason why Africans are unemployed is because they had little to no education. Africa was very poor to provide good schools, sources, and teachers to give students the appropriate education. The young Africans who had no education are not only unemployed but are discouraged also. Having no knowledge or experience in any skills discourages them very much preventing them to even search for jobs.  Even though some young Africans have a little bit of education they are still very much unemployed. Statistics show in 2008 33% of men and 46% of women of university graduates are unemployed.  As seen in the chart, there is a big chunk of unemployed Africans.

            Whether the young African lives in a rural or urban city and is educated or not educated, the unemployment is very high. African’s poor profile preventing them to get the correct education and the immigrants fleeing to the urban areas are only some of the reasons why they have such high unemployment rates. How can the government fix this? When will the government fix this?

Source:http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/theme/youth_employment/youth-in-african-labour-markets/who-are-the-unemployed-discouraged-inactive-youth-in-africa/

Youth Employment Crisis in Africa

Africa's continued growth in youth employment is creating concern over the continent's ability to use its young people's potential for an economic transformation. Right now Africa has too many young workers and not enough jobs for them. There are over 200 million youths that make up Africa's population which is abut 21%.

Africa is the second fastest growing continent , however it has the worlds lowest school enrollment and quality. Due to this, it is leaving over 90 million teenagers with little or no skills and struggling to find a low-paying job. Since so many teens are leaving the education system early , they are not learning basic literacy and numeracy skills, which makes them under-qualified or have qualifications that do not meet the needs of the work field. This is a problem because many teens in Africa have to either provide for or support their families.

Today, 72% of Africa's youth population lives on US$2 a day. This is a good example of how absurd the amount Africans are getting paid is. In America, nobody would work if all we got paid was two dollars a day. Also, two dollars a day wouldn't get anyone the things they need to survive, so how are the Africans still surviving?

The people most affected by youth unemployment is not only the "youth" but children and women also. According to my article, "The paradox of rapid economic growth lingers with poverty and inequalities devouring Africa's youth and women especially." Women have always been know to stay at home to care for the family and its house. This prevents a majority of the women in Africa the ability to get an education and find a real job. It is said that women work twice as long as men do for unpaid work in the house. Half of the unemployed youth in Africa are women.

The pace of job creation must continue to accelerate to keep up with the pace of the 10-12 million young laborers entering the work field every year. My article states that " Policymakers across then continent and development partners are creating solutions to curb the youth employment crisis." Whether this succeeds or fails is going to be based upon how effective the young people make themselves by using the talents they have and fulfilling the ambitions they hope to achieve.

Africa's most prosperous countries

My article "Top 10: Africa's most prosperous countries" is about the different countries in Africa and their rankings throughout the past few years. It talks about which country is most prosperous, what countries are at the very bottom of the ranking, and all of their improvements. It gives all the information about what position they are currently in and how they got to that place. This article includes the countries of Botswana, the Central African Republic, Rwanda, Tanzania and Malawi.

According to new research, the title for most prosperous country goes to the "diamond-rich" country Botswana. Botswana posted a relatively high GDP and they also fared well in terms of government, education and personal freedom. This is the third year in a row that they have topped the index. They are continuously improving, however the Central African Republic is not being that they are the lowest ranked country on the continent.

Rwanda happens to be the best improver, gaining five ranking places. The country was found to have the sixth highest ranking in regulation and government effectiveness, which is the eighth highest score. Rwanda is actively encouraging women to play a central role in shaping the future of their country and it seems to be working out however 41% of women are out of work, opposed to 23% of men.

The country of Tanzania however, isn't doing so well. They fell eight places since 2012 going from 11th to 19th in the newest rankings. This is due to a drop in the five-year average growth because of a decline in confidence in financial institutions and falling satisfaction. However, the country was particularly bad in terms of personal freedom, where it fell from 24th to 28th. Tanzania needs to improve the quality of education so it will improve students' chances to finding employment. Just like Tanzania, Malawi isn't doing great either...they are considered the biggest faller dropping eleven places since 2012 to the 20th index. 

Prosperity in Africa

Although Africa is making tremendous leaps toward achieving excellent goals within their continent, they are still very behind. This can be seen when you look at the differences in the top 38 countries in Africa. The number one country in Africa is Botswana where they make $15,176 per capita and the bottom of the 38 countries belongs to The Central African Republic which makes $584 per capita. The difference between the number 1 country and number 38 country is way to large. A continent cannot succeed when countries such as The Central African Republic is doing so poorly. A good quote that could apply to this scenario is "you are only as strong as your weakest man." This relates to Africa because it is impossible for the country to function well with their weakest countries being so weak. A good question to be asked is "How can these countries improve to catch up to Botswana?"

There are many factors that determine how well a country is doing and if they can be run on their own. First, the most important thing you need to have a good country is a strong government. If a country doesn't have a strong government than it should be expected that anytime they are struck with problems then the ground will crumble beneath them. Secondly, jobs need to be readily available. If there aren't jobs available then the people won't be able to spend money because they won't have any which will put the country into an economic depression. Also, If jobs aren't available then the unemployment rate will continue to grow and when your unemployment rate is as high as 41% you bound to failure.

A comment made in the article that I read called " Top 10: Africa's most prosperous countries" said "we cannot talk about the prosperity of women in Africa if we don't change the inappropriate policies that hinder their progress." This is a prime example of why a strong government is necessary. When a strong government isn't present than many setbacks arise with equality of genders and races. A strong government works together to acknowledge that if everyone is given equal opportunities than it will in turn benefit the country. This is what many countries in Africa and all over the world need to realize and stop "hindering" the progress of the people in those countries because in reality those countries are only hurting themselves.

    I read an article called The golden year: Solutions for Africa’s youth unemployment. This article explains how competitive it is for children entering the workforce to get a job. Africa has the largest youth population in the world, so each year ten to twenty million sub-Saharan children enter the labor market. Employers are now demanding skills critical to the 21st century work place, hurting the youth population who don't know these skills.

  My article talked about children coming out of school looking for work that they cannot take part in because they do not know the skills they need. Young people who are unable to find work the first year they get out of school are often affected for the rest of their lives. This leads them to earn twenty one percent less over the course of their lifetime compared to young children who get jobs right away. This article states that, "The first year of workplace exposure is crucial in charting career success. Extended periods of unemployment - especially at the beginning of one’s working life - carry a serious long term penalty."

  The skills employers are looking for are soft skills such as costumer service, problem solving, and detail orientation. Sub-Saharan children lack these skills because their school only focus on technical skills, and rely on rote learning. The children cannot learn these skills at home either because these are not skills that parents previously needed when they started work. There is such a demand for these skills because hospitality and retail are two of the fastest growing sectors in Africa. So how does any Sub-Saharan child enter the workforce then, and how do companies stay open?

    All around Africa, organizations are starting to form to help teach these soft skills to the youth.  The International Youth Foundation developed a global curriculum to teach these skills. Other organizations such as Harambee in South Africa and Education of Employment (EEE) are delivering help to any child who needs it. The only problem with this way of help is there are not enough organizations for the amount of unemployed children. To fix this problem the development of internships or apprenticeships form around Africa. This usually means that the youth finds somebody who understands these skills and looks up to them as their "expert".   This provides them with real experience in the workforce and many more big opportunities for both the youth and the apprenticeships.

    Due to all of this help, National Youth Programs already have exists in African countries including Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. Ghana alone already has over two hundred thousand children successfully in the workforce.

    Youth unemployment is a very hard situation to solve. I think apprenticeships are the best way to go because they guarantee the youth is learning how to do the things they will need to succeed, while in the real work environment. Investing in these programmes could be a key to preparing a rapidly growing youth population for the 21st century workplace.

Africa's Most Prosperous Country

In the CNN article “Top 10: Africa's most prosperous countries”, it shows 38 African countries ranked on criteria about economics to education. It shows whether the countries’ economics, education, health, etc. are increasing or decreasing.  Botswana was Africa's most prosperous country. They fared very well in terms of governance, education, and personal freedom. Also they had a GDP of $15,176. According to the World Bank Botswana is the biggest proportional spender in the world. On the contrary, Central African Republic was the lowest due to its per capita of $584. Only 21% of the population has the approach to sanitation.

 Even though Rwanda wasn’t Africa’s most prosperous country, it was Africa's biggest gainer. Statistics show that 41% of women are out of work compared to 23% of men. The women plan on actively playing a role in shaping the future of their country.  Similar to Rwanda, Kenya was up there in biggest gainers. Over 44% of Kenyans thought it was now the right time to find employment pushing them up in the rank.

Tanzania is falling down in rank. From 2012 they fell down 8 places. They have a lack of confidence in financial standards and a decline in living standards. Also, they are falling down due to poor education. They need to focus more on the quality of schools rather than the enrollment rates.  Tanzanians are not graduating well enough with the skills to work. This leads to lack of adequately skills leading to lesser chance of employment. Malawi was the biggest fall dropping 11 places. This is due their drop of their GDP growth rate.

Overall, all African countries look like they are on the right path to grow as a country. They are trying to improve to hopefully make a better economy and become more prosperous. Once each country has increased in their economics, health, and education this can lead to a lot more Africans with more jobs. This overall leads to more money making the country a lot more prosperous.

Africa's Most Prosperous Countries.

   Stated in the CNN article I read, many African countries are becoming much more prosperous than they have been in earlier years. It goes over how many African countries have been increasing their economy, raising employment rates, and decreasing violence. Some also have been encouraging more freedom and education for the people of select countries. Many countries have been going up and down the rankings of most prosperous, but the title belongs to Botswana. 

   Botswana has been among the top ten rankings over the past several years. More specifically, it has been the third year in a row that it's been number one. Botswana's major economic resource is diamonds. It's home to some of the world's largest diamond pipes. Their GPD or gross domestic product is roughly about $15,176. Although they use 8% of its GDP on education, Botswana is among the biggest proportional spenders in the world, according to the World Bank. 

   There are also many countries making strides in the world in Africa other than Botswana. Some of those countries are Rwanda, Kenya, and Mozambique. Rwanda was the best improved country raising to place number eight after gaining five places. Although Rwanda is ranked sixth in regulation and government effectiveness, they placed eighth in rule of law and the lowest perceptions of corruption in Africa. For Kenyans, 44% of then thought it was a good time to find employment. Their country was ranked ninth in entrepreneurs hip and opportunity. They were ranked 32 out of 38 in terms of safety and security following the 2013 siege of the Nairobi's Westgate Mall. 

   Although there are many African countries making prosperity, there are some that have fallen greatly below the ranks. One country in particular is Malawi because it has dropped 11 places since 2012 to twentieth. Its reported that there has been a drop in the five-year GDP growth rate which was part of the reason why they dropped so greatly. Tanzania also has dropped heavily in ranking falling from eleventh to nineteenth. Some of the reasons why are because there has also been a drop in five-year average growth and an increase in inflation. In terms of personal freedom, it fell from twenty-forth to twenty-eighth. 

   In conclusion, many countries are making great progress and bringing that prosperity with them into the new year. Some unlikely to say the least haven't been making much progress.