Editorial: African youth livelihoods

Abstract

Demographers estimate that by 2030 half of the world’s youth will be African. This burgeoning increase in human beings on the continent usually leads to debates on ‘demographic dividends’ centred on how to cash in on human capital or the threats posed by large number of unemployed and poorly educated people on the African continent. This special issue challenges these conventional framing of young Africans in developmental discourses, questioning for instance, how young Africans are studied, who studies them, from what perspectives and why? Thematically, the contributions cover topics ranging from ‘the digital divide’on the continent to the role of gender in the entrepreneurial activities of young people, from the motivations behind agricultural livelihoods to the impact of conflict on income generation, and more. Importantly, the majority of the included authors are young Africans themselves, advancing not only the theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects of research on issues affecting young people in Africa, but also expanding youth participation in academic publishing. This introduction frames some of the critical concerns motivating our need to draw together scholarship on the topic of African youth livelihoods, before summarizing the assembled contributions.