Understanding and reflecting on the role of
Youth Associations:
The case of Dessie Town, Ethiopia
A Research Paper presented by:
Alemayehu Ayalew Tegegn
(Ethiopia)
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for obtaining the degree of
MASTERS OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
Specialization:
Children and Youth Studies
(CYS)
Members of the examining committee:
Dr. Loes Keysers
Prof. Dr. Karin Arts
The Hague, the Netherlands
December, 2011
Disclaimer:
This document represents part of the author’s study programme while at the Institute of Social Studies. The views stated therein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the
Institute.
Inquiries:
Postal address:
Institute of Social Studies
P.O. Box 29776
2502 LT The Hague
The Netherlands
Location:
Kortenaerkade 12
2518 AX The Hague
The Netherlands
Telephone:
Fax:
+31 70 426 0460
+31 70 426 0799
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Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Maps
List of Acronyms
Abstract
Relevance to Development Studies
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Chapter -1- Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem statement
1.3 Research area
1.4 Relevance of the study
1.5 Research objective
1.5.1 Specific objectives
1.6 Research question
1.6.1 Sub questions
1.7 Ways to answer the questions
1.8 Research method
1.8.1 Primary data
1.8.2 Secondary data
1.9 Limitation
1.10 Structure of the paper
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Chapter -2- Theoretical Framework and Literature Review
2.1 Individualism versus collectivism
2.2 Social mobilization
2.3 Youth
2.4 Youth citizenship and participation
2.5 Gender and collective action
2.6 Chapter conclusion
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Chapter -3- Context of Youth Associations in Ethiopian History
3.1 Definition youth association
3.2 Youth associations in the empire/kingdom period (before 1974)
3.3 Youth associations under the communist system (1974 to 1991)
3.4 Youth associations in the current setting of Ethiopia (1991 to present)
3.4.1 Types of youth associations and their political setting
3.4.3 Structural place and scope of youth associations
3.4.4 Gender issues in the current associations
3.5 Chapter conclusion
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Chapter -4- Youth Associations in Dessie
4.1 Why youth establish and join youth associations?
4.2 Activity of youth associations and community responses
4.3 Goal and agenda setting
4.4 Participation of youth
4.5 Conclusion
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Chapter -5- Discussion and Analysis
5.1 Youth associations are made up of young citizens
5.2 Challenges of youth associations to set their own agenda
5.3 Gender and youth associations
5.4 Conclusion
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Chapter -6- Reflection and Conclusion
6.1 Reflection
6.2 Conclusion
References
Appendix
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List of Tables
Table- 1-1 Age category of youth in Dessie town
Table- 5-1 Unstable place of Ministry of Youth
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List of Figures
Figure 5-1 Institute linkage to control youth associations
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List of Maps
Map 1-1 Dessie Town
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v
List of Acronyms
AIDS- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
ANC- African National Congress
ANDM- Amhara National Democratic Movement
AU- Africa Union
AUC- Africa Union Commissioner
CBO- Community Based Organization
CSA- Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)
CYS- Children and Youth Studies
EPRDF- Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front
ESM- Ethiopian Students Movement
FDRE- Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
FGD- Focus Group Discussion
GTP- Growth and Transformation Plan
HIV- Human Immunodeficiency Virus
HRST- Human Resource, Science and Technology
IES- Institute of Ethiopia Studies
ILO- International Labor Organization
ISS- International Institute of Social Studies
NEPAD- New Partnership for African Development
NGO- Non Governmental Organization
PDRE- People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
PLC- Private Limited Company
REWA- Revolutionary Ethiopia Women’s Association
REYA- Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth Association
TPLF- Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
UN- United Nations
UNCRC- United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child
UNESCO- United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNICEF- United Nations Children’s Fund
WB- World Bank
YMCA-Young Men Christian Association
YWCA- Young Women Christian Association
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Abstract
The right of freedom of association and assemble are the prerequisites for youth to form their
own association. Through the minimal attention of the government to promote and implement these rights remain great challenges for the forming of effective youth associations in
Ethiopia. The awareness and capacity of youth to claim own their own rights and the structural problems they face in Ethiopian society are other causes of the failure to see strong youth
associations. The general public does not recognize the role of youth associations and have
therefore a low credibility. The paper examines in more detail how the youth and the community understand and reflect about the role of youth associations. It explores the history and the
current youth associations.
Although, in Ethiopia youth associations have played a significant role in shaping young
people’s life, they have faced many problems and they further do not have their own place in
the community structure. The findings indicate that youth associations do not regard themselves as being talented in making change. Though young women are seeing better than young
men in leading their associations, they do not have a sense of agency. The associations are often highly politicized and are often manipulated for political purposes by the government.
Youth associations are therefore unable to play an advocacy role in order to promote the interest of youth, particularly with regard to their democratic and citizenship rights.
Relevance to Development Studies
Development studies are concerned about the situation of people. The paper contributes to
the understanding how development has neglected the positive importance of collectives and
youth associations. It helps how academics and development practitioners understand collectivism in relation to youth. Collectivism means accepting diversity in my definition. There is
no doubt to talk about the importance of youth in all aspect of development approach. As a
result of a huge gap between youth and adults, the general public does not recognize the role
of collectives and youth associations. The paper is meant to pay attention to see the role of
youth associations as an essential tool for mobilizing and engaging isolated, passive and poor
young members of society. It also shows the positive role of young women within the youth
associations.
Keywords: Ethiopia, Dessie, Youth, Youth Association, Self-Organized Youth and Government Affiliated Association
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Chapter -1- Introduction
1.1 Background
Since African young people are the same as young people everywhere in the
world, they should be entitled to all rights, such as equal treatment and to express
their needs. However, they massively face difficulties to meet these basic rights. In
addition to the economic problems of the continent, the cultural background and
political structures could be the main causes for unequal treatment of young people.
African youth has a potential to change its continent but they do not have a chance
to get self-reflection and awareness of inner state of being. The “African Union (AU)
understands that a single one-size-fits–all approach to youth empowerment in Africa
is inappropriate” (NEPAD, 2004:6). As proper attention has not been given to address youth issues and their organization, the youth of Africa has not played significant roles among the genesis and journeys of the continent’s political, social, economic and cultural development efforts. The African Union member states and the
African Commission itself have shown interest in promoting dialogue and communication with various youth organizations. However, the practical experience indicates
that the commitment of the commission and state members does not go beyond
showing this interest within a press release only. Of course, the current Arab Countries’ situation and the special role of young people therein confirm the importance
of the youth and teach us many lessons. It also shows that it is time to pay attention
to address youth issues.
In Ethiopia, the situation of the youth is similar to other young African brothers
and sisters. Youth are not treated equally as other categories of the community in
participating within different types of events. There are no favorable conditions for
the youth to actively participate in the ongoing country’s development process.
Not only in order to participate into development processes and to contribute
their efforts young people have formed their own groups called ‘Mahiber’ meaning
‘Association. However, youth associations are unable to become involved in any kind
of decision making process that could help to increase the economic, social and political development for their own benefit. The history shows that young people (students, workers and farmers) have participated into the country’s development effort
through their own initiatives, on the other hand through being embraced by various
youth associations and youth organizations that were self-supported or supported by
the government (Ethiopian Ministry of Youth and Sport, 2004). The structural problems, however, of youth associations and organizations are continuing since the last
two regimes. The challenges the youth associations face is due to the negative attitude of the community and public institutes towards youth.
Youth associations are facing many political, economic and social problems.
They are not encouraged by the community and authority. Especially self-organized
youth associations are dined from using public resources and they are not free doing
their agenda. Moreover, the process of creating functional youth associations is too
difficult lacking of desired support from the government as well as the community.
From this general situation, I will specifically focus within this study in one of
the old towns Ethiopia, called Dessie. Through my working experience, I have witnessed that the community in this town are biased and does not recognize the role of
youth associations. As a result, youth in Dessie are exposed to various injustices and
negative consequences resulting from antisocial activities. For this reason, I forced
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myself to go Dessie and to examine the gap between youth associations and the
community. The detailed problems of Dessie youth and the background of Dessie
town in general will be addressed below in this chapter.
This paper focuses on discussing the reflection of the community on the role
and activities of youth associations in Dessie and how the community perceives the
benefits of young people’s participation in youth associations. Furthermore, it assesses how youth understand youth association. It explores the main agenda of youth
associations’. It briefly explains further how youth associations are imbedded within
Ethiopian society as well as within Ethiopian history and political development over
the past forty years. In chapter 3 this will be addressed to create a clear picture of it
all.
1.2 Problem statement
The United National Convention on the Right of the Child (UNCRC, 1989) under art.15:1 recognizes the right of Freedom of Association ‘State parties recognize
the rights of the child to freedom of association and freedom of peaceful assembly”.
Furthermore, articles 12 to 14 states that all children have the freedom to express
their own opinion, views and freedom of thought. Alternatively it has been stated
that, the 2004 Ethiopian National Youth Policy gave a legal right to youth organizations initiated by the youth themselves to ensure their rights and benefits. At the
same time the youth policy encourages and supports active participation of youth
within community services. As will be explained in this paper, Ethiopia’s youth policy
neglects youth citizenship rights such as assemble freely and form own group for any
kind of agenda for instance. It focuses more on the economic and social issues of the
youth like unemployment and HIV/AIDS problems. Moreover, rather than simply
invite them to organize and participate into the development process, the youth policy doesn’t give any practical guarantee for the right to have and hold independent
youth associations.
The local governmental authorities and the community assume that the youth is
causing more problems than solutions. Youth associations do not regard themselves
as being talented or making change happen. They do not “have sense of agency . . .
this does not, however, illustrate a lack of agency but illustrate a lack of help, encouragement and orientation . . . They lack assistance to get a grip on their own agency
and explore their possibilities” (Verhoeven, et al 2007:11). Youth associations need
special support and joint effort to realize citizenship rights for their members and
non-members. They can be instrumental to develop self-confidence among them and
produce responsible citizen. The associations are the place for dialogue about various
issues. In the process, attitudes and commitments can be understood as part of citizenship duties and rights on local and national level. This will benefit young people
as a practical learning experience and develop democratic outlook. Although, youth
associations have such kind of benefits and played a significant role in shaping young
people’s lives, they have faced many different problems in the town.
The problems may differ from association to association. Self-organized youth associations are facing more problems than governmental affiliated youth association.
For instance, in addition to their own internal conflict and leadership problems, lack
of getting support from the community are the main challenges, ‘empowerment remains low, the issue of youth friendly service is under question and young people are
still perceived in the wrong way` (Teklu, 2005). Self-organized youth associations are
also facing other problems, including discriminatory practices by the government.
Encouragement and guidance during the establishment process are not given by the
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community or by the local government. (2YAL20(M) states that few youth associations are able to resist the challenges that they face and have brought change in their
local communities, while others did not survive more than one or two years. Government affiliated youth associations have more opportunities in this regard, due to
the support of the government as many members are invited from universities.
‘Fresh graduates from universities are the main target to register as members of the
ruling party. Most university graduate class students openly said that they are joining
the party and party affiliated youth associations for the sake of securing a job when
they are returning to their hometowns or regions’ (Addis Admas Newspaper, August
4, 2009, as in Gebramariam, 2009)
The interference of external actors (like politicians), in the name of catching and
advising, have the power to shift the focus of the associations to their own political
and religion benefits. This situation leads to young members leaving their association
and develop passive contributions into the local development process. Furthermore,
youth associations have lost the key roles that they should have played in the development of the country. This reflects that the potential capacity of young people is
under-managed and categorized as receptive rather than as solution providing for the
country. The researcher focuses on exploring how youth and the communities view
the role of youth associations in Dessie town. It is not only emphasizing its contribution but also their claim on practicing their citizenship rights, such as freedom to assemble, form own groups and sharing resources.
1.3 Research area
Dessie town is more than one hundred and ten years old and a multi-ethnic city
in north-central Ethiopia. It is located 400 km on the Addis Ababa-Mekele road in
the South Wollo administrative Zone of the Amhara Region and 471 km from the
capital of the regional government, Bahir-dar.
The geographic area of this study covers six associations. Like many other
towns in Ethiopia. Dessie is a multi-ethnic town and Orthodox Christian and Muslim
are the most dominant religions. The multiple problems of youth in Dessie is presented by many NGOs. Since social service facilities for children and young people
are absent, and economic problems in Dessie are huge, many young urban people are
exposed to different antisocial activities and behavior.
Although Dessie is the largest urban center in the Amhara Region, it has not attracted the same number of people as other towns as it faces many physical challenges in its expansion. I further observed that housing is overcrowded and in a poor
condition and social services for residents is absent. A growing number of children
and youth in Dessie is not able to attend or stay in school and the rising number of
pupils whose ability to take advantage of education is aggravated by other factors including poor nutrition, psychological stress, socioeconomic problems for instance.
(Wolde, 2006). As a result, an initiative of NGOs to provide support remains meaningless.
The Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia on population and housing indicates a
population in Dessie of total of 151,0941 people (72,891 male and 78,203 female).
Based on this census, the 2010 Dessie population projection figure is 159,470, with
76,888 males and 82,582 females (CSA, 2010). However, the town administration
The official data of CSA minus quarter (1/4) from the estimated date by the town administrations.
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estimated a total figure of around 200,000 (Dessie Town Communication Office,
2010). From this population size, the following youth sex and age groups are registered in the Dessie Town administration, both of urban and rural areas.
Table- 1-1 Age category of youth in Dessie town.
Total
Age groups
Both
Urban
M
F
Both
M
Rural
F
Both
M
F
15 to 19
29703
13930
15773
25072
11439
13633
4631
2491
2140
20 to 24
21146
10513
10633
18565
9157
9408
2181
1356
1225
25 to 29
16238
7669
8569
13970
6646
7325
2268
1024
1244
67087
32112
34975
57607
27242
30366
9080
4871
4609
Source: Compiled by author from South Wollo Zone, Child, Youth and Women office, 2011.
From the table we can see that the official figure categorized between aged 15 to
29 covers one-third (1/3) of the 200,000 inhabitants. The figure shows that there
more female in urban and more male in rural areas. About 85.9 % of youth live in
urban areas. This indicates the importance of paying more attention to urban youth.
Map 1-1, Dessie Town
Source: Dessie town administration communication Office bulletin, 2011
1.4 Relevance of the study
While youth associations are playing a great role in promoting citizenship rights,
they do not have their own place and power to bring change in their community. In
many areas, the leaders of youth associations, especially self-organized groups are
disappointed by the local government and other actors in the association leading
process. This paper tries to investigate how people see the contribution of youth associations engaging in local development and in realizing citizenship rights. It touches upon what youth associations offer to their community and how associations are
structure and formed. Youth associations are good opportunities for young people to
exercise their citizenship rights and other citizenship related duties.
It will contribute to draw the attention from ISS to exert its efforts for further
study on youth associations and their role as increasing collective agents of youth. It
invites for further study to answer the question who are main actors in youth association’s operation.
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The study provides better understanding about youth associations in urban context by indicating the gap between youth associations and other actors like community, NGOs and governmental organizations. It also helps as a reference to promote
the importance of youth associations towards youth development. Youth associations will benefit from this paper through improving their effective interaction with
society. NGOs will consider how to support and how to minimize the structural
problems of youth associations. Moreover, it helps to guide youth association leaders to think in long-term strategies rather than finding temporary solutions.
1.5 Research objective
 The main purpose of the research is to analyse the view of youth and communities on the role of youth associations. It explores the agenda of youth
associations in shaping young people’s lives.
1.5.1 Specific objectives



Identify the motives of young people to join youth associations.
Assess the agenda of youth associations in shaping young people’s lives.
Identify the view of the community about youth associations.
1.6 Research question
 How do youth and communities (parents, government officials,
NGOs) see the role of youth associations in shaping young people’s lives.
1.6.1 Sub questions
 Why do or do young people not want to join youth associations? (Members and non-members)
 What do youth associations offer for both youth and community?
 How does the community understand youth associations
1.7 Ways to answer the questions
In order to meet the objectives and answer my research question, I used the following three methods. Semi Structured Interview, Focus Group Discussion and Observation were used to collect my primary data. Six main youth associations from two
categories (three government affiliated and three self-organized youth associations)
participated in answering my questions.
The reasons for selecting these two categories are:
1. Their background and the different views about the community and vice-versa
2. Both categories of associations are treated different by the government and do
not have equal access to public resources.
3. They have different focus areas and practice.
Furthermore other none youth and community members from different sectors
were part of the interview in order to include society’s opinion about the existing associations.
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My knowledge of the Ethiopian culture guided and helped me to control the
process of data collection. My preparation and paying attention to the current political situation of Ethiopia and this region in particular were very helpful in protecting
my respondents and mitigating the expected risks. Details of the process of the data
collection and sampling are mentioned below.
1.8 Research method
1.8.1 Primary data
In total 36 interviews were held with people from different categories of the
community including youth association members and leaders. Each interview took
between 30 to 70 minutes. From the total of 36 interviewees (24 were male and 12
female) 20 of them (55.6%) were youth and the others were above 29 years old.
The interviewees were -together with a contact person- selected from the various youth associations. Interviewees from the community and beneficiaries were selected by two of the associations involved. The researcher selected the government
office candidates and the journalist, whereas I randomly selected the non-associated
youth association members as well. The researcher cited the coded respondents name
by listing their consecutive number and their represented categories. For instance,
1AM21(F)2 and 1YAL26(M)3. Full profile of the respondents is found in the appendix, list of interviewed people, page 39. Names of the respondents are known by the
researcher.
Among 17 respondents from six youth associations Beza against harmful practice and Anti AIDS Association, Ayteyef development Association and Biruh
Hidase Art and Development Associations were the three self-initiated youth associations. Dessie Youth league (from the ruling party wing), Dessie Youth Federation and Dessie Town Youth Association were the other three governmental affiliated youth organizations. All youth associations have between four to ten years’
experience. The members who are involved in this study have 1- 8 years’ experience. Four staf members of government office, two journalists from the ruling party FM radio and two members from a Community Based Organization (CBO), two
NGO members and 4 non-members youth are included in this interview.
The two, self-organized and governmental affiliated youth associations are the
largest groups of youth representatives.The further reason to choose these associations for this study is their diversified involvement in social and economic development processes. Seventeen respondents, including two government officials and
three non-member youth were not interested and willing to give an audio-recorded
interview.
In order to explore new thoughts and insight about youth associations and to
verify the date collected from the interviews, I conducted a 1.5 hour Focus Group
Discussion (FGD) with eleven respondents from the various youth associations. I
also attended and observed a youth association leaders meeting from a selfestablished youth association. The meeting agenda was to evaluate the chairman’s
position about the misuse of the association’s money.
1AM21(F) reads as the first listed association members in the Appendix and she is a 21
year old female respondent.
3 1YAL26(M). reads as the first listed Youth Association Leader in the Appendix and he is a
26 male respondent.
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1.8.2 Secondary data
The researcher reviewed published and unpublished material in relation to the
research question and topics. The National Youth Policy and implementation manual, the new Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) of Ethiopia, Amhara Regional
Youth Development Program Document, Development Indicators of the Amhara
National Regional State 2009 and South Wollo Zone Finance and Development Annual Statistics Bulletin and Dessie Ketema (town) communication bulletin were
among the documents consulted. The Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES)4 library
was the main source to investigate the background of the youth associations within
the various available literatures. But unfortunately the material was often outdated or
not available and did not meet the researcher’s expectation.
1.9 Limitation
The paper does not include the opposition party’s opinion about youth associations as there are no (or I did not find them) opposition parties in Dessie. The
second major limitation of the study is access to relevant and well-documented secondary data on youth associations in the town.
1.10 Structure of the paper
Including this introduction chapter, the paper is broadly divided into six
chapters. The second chapter presents the theoretical framework and literature review. The chapter discusses collectivism versus individualism, social motivation,
youth participation, gender and collective action. The third chapter discusses the situation of youth associations within the Ethiopian context. It defines youth and youth
associations. It presents the history of youth organizations and associations in Ethiopia; the current political setting, socioeconomic condition, the structural place and
gender aspect of youth associations are briefly discussed. Chapter four presents the
findings from the field study which answers the questions. Chapter five presents the
analysis and it discusses the challenge of youth associations in a gender perspective.
The final chapter will present the implication of findings of the study and the conclusions.
1.11 Summary
The abovementioned introduction shows the framework and general background of the study and its importance. It presented the reason to select the research
area and highlighted the methodology that the researchers used and explained the
respondents code. The chapter briefed the objectives, which lead to the research
question and sub-questions.
The Institute of Ethiopia Studies (IES) is a research center, and comprises of the country’s
principal research library and hosts as well as a renowned museum. The library has a comprehensive collection of printed books, periodicals and microfilm in all languages including
as well as a collection of manuscripts and archive.
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Chapter -2- Theoretical Framework and Literature
Review
Introduction
In Chapter one, we discussed the general background of youth associations and
methodology. This chapter aims to provide literature reviews in relation to the youth
and their association. First it presents a literature review on individual versus collectivism that expects collectivism to be the important origin of grouping and association. It provides theoretical background of individualism and collectivism and it reviews the difference between them. As it forms the foundation for youth
associations, the chapter offers the concept of related terms such as social mobilization which connects with collectivisms. It defines youth and deals with the concept
of citizenship and participation youth and touches upon gender and collective action.
2.1 Individualism versus collectivism
Within this individualistic world, bringing people together is a big challenge. The
life-styles of people are challenging socialization and grouping on the one hand and
individual thinking against grouping on the other. "Individualism is at once an ethical-psychological concept and an ethical-political one. As an ethical-psychological
concept, individualism holds that a human being should think and judge independently and as an ethical-political concept, individualism upholds the supremacy of
individual rights” (Branden, 1994). Individualism as theory could be all about letting
the freedom of individuals exist without regarding society as a whole. It is closely
connected with freedom of agency. It has been stated by Oyseman et al (2002:4) that
individualism is defined as a focus on rights above duties, a concern for oneself and
the immediate family, an emphasis on personal autonomy and self-fulfillment, and
basing of one’s identity on one’s personal accomplishments.
On the other hand collectivism is a group of many individuals who come together with specific characteristics. It may be formal or informal but has its own purpose. It is surely correct that an essential attribute of collectivist culture is that an individual may be encouraged to see secondary its personal goal from the goal of
collective actions. White and Wyn (1998:317) clearly address this concept of collective action which takes the form of organized attempts to modify, reform or retain
aspects of the existing social order. It is different to change a particular law, to enhance a particular benefit, to protest against a particular governmental intervention
or to gain more resources. This is an example of limited collective agency. Another
point, added (op cit) ‘The core element of collectivism is the assumption that groups
bind and mutually obligate individuals’. From these theories we can identify a number of reasonable consequences of collectivism including association.
1. Collectivism is about the overpowering of the individual for the benefit of
the group, which is power of the group agency. Funchs, (2003:144) argues
that by ‘social interactions, new qualities and structures are emerged that cannot be reduced to the individual level of making decision’. This is a process
of ‘bottom-up emergence that is called agency’.
2. Moreover, Useen (1998:218) notes that, collective action looks likes to serve
as the vehicle and growth of social development and democracy. Clay proved
the power of collective action is ‘different from individual action, both harder
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to get going and once going, harder to stop’ (Clay 2008:163). These actions
also lighten fashionable discussions on citizenship rights.
Being a group member is not easy but being involved within a group is very important for young people and the community as well. Individuals create a group and
they will grow and change into formal groups called organization or association. The
initiation of youth associations is not much far from this theory. Clay who wrote that
‘the new types of youth associations emerged and became known as ‘youth movement’ and this movement could be defined as ‘a youth association’ led by young
people under their own responsibility’ ibid. This should however be seen in the light
of a political and social context. For instance, in communist or fascist systems, there
is no possibility to establish free youth associations. And it is also difficult for the
leaders to lead under their own responsibility. They were dictated by existing political
systems (Gorsuch, 2000:68). Self-organized systems have a complex and circular causality. In such systems, causes and effects cannot be mapped linearly. Similar causes
can have different effects and different causes similar effects. Small changes of causes
can have large effects, whereas large changes can also result in only small effects
(Funchs, 2003:135).
Collectivism means being organized and form own groups towards some specific objectives. It is one way to inspire and encourage youth for social and political
change. Young people form their associations to secure their rights and use their collective effort for their community. Youth associations, as part of civil society organization have ‘a common ground for social and political change as a force for attaining
or reclaiming meaningful forms of democracy’ (Fowler and Biekart, 2008:23). Youth
associations are born for these reasons and serve as a collective voice of youth. I will
further investigate how youth and their community understand the importance of
this collective agency named ‘youth association’. ‘Scholars theorize that engaging
young people in organizational governance promotes positive youth development
and organizational effectiveness’ (Zeldin, 2004:75).
2.2 Social mobilization
One of the greatest challenges of grouping is mobilizing mass towards social
change, as this is a complex process. Social movement has been regarded as massive
growth in number and tools to solve such kind of challenge and structural problems.
‘Social movement defines as mass based movement of people’ (Yalew and Yihune,
2007), which unite the people in a cause, which cuts across their traditional barrier.
The World Bank confirmed that social mobilization is the enhancement of community’s capacity to undertake collective action for its own betterment. (WB, 2007:129).
It is the widest possible support from the individual to many stakeholders, including
the public at large.
Effective social mobilization goes beyond developing formal organization, including youth associations. ‘It harnesses the potential and effort of the government
and non-government sector and citizens to work towards sustainable social, economic and political development’. (Yalew and Yihune, 2007). The process of establishing
youth associations has benefited from social mobilization.
It has its own impact locally and nationally which can best be reached and sustained
within an enabling political environment. Social mobilization is an important tool in
promoting participation and effectively tackling structural problems. The World
Bank report on ‘youth’ proves that “social mobilization is the primary means by
which a community’s capacity for collective action is harnessed and strengthened—
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creating the basis for sustainable welfare impact as well as social and political empowerment.” (WB, 2007:129).
However, “social mobilization cannot be developed suddenly and it organizes
through a set of steps” (UNESCO, n.d). There are many factors that work towards
social mobilization. Own internal motivation and external political environment are
the main factors that we should consider to set the necessary steps of organizing and
mobilizing social movement. Social mobilization is an approach that empowers people to participate actively in development processes through their own local initiatives and through well-informed and constructed dialogue at the policy level. It is
also an essential tool for mobilizing and engaging isolated, passive, marginalized and
poor members of society, hence its popularity with poverty reduction and decentralization of the approaches used within a given culture, social, economic and political
environment. Experience shows that poverty and bad governance mutually reinforce
each other, as they foster exclusion of citizens from the decision making process, are
lacking of access to basic service and lacking of opportunity, dependency (Yalew and
Yihune, 2007). Social mobilization must be institutionalized within different categories of society including young people as the main actors to lead the mass towards
change. This would encourage participation in decision making and capacity-building
for participants.
Overall, I am using the concept that social mobilization is an effective tool to
create well-informed and proactive youth and youth associations by, a strong and
independent civil society who becomes a valuable partner for a government. Freedom to mobilize groups shows good governance and encourages youth to form their
groups.
There is a general consensus about the importance of cooperation. Social mobilization is the first opportunity to create space for people to cooperate with others.
The resources can be mobilized, not only material and financial but also human and
moral resources. This resulted to thrive youth associations and guide them to grow
into social movement organization.
2.3 Youth
The term ‘youth’ or ‘young people’ has different meanings depending on the
context. Mostly it defines and categorizes socially constructed members of the society in certain age categories. On the other hand a sociological definition of youth is
taken as a life stage comprising a series of transitions from adolescence to adulthood,
from dependent to independent, from being the recipients of the society’s services to
becoming contributors to the national economic, political and cultural life (Curtain,
as in AUC HRST, 2011). This category ‘judged to have incompletely inadequately
assimilated the dominant ideologies of the society and denied accreditation as full
members of that society and treated accordingly’ (Sercombe, 1996: 134). Age is mostly the biggest determinant to define youth as a social category. The United Nations
(UN) and the World Bank use the age between 15 and 24. UNICEF and the ILO
define youth as those aged 10-24 years. The African Union defines youth from 15 to
35 years of age. The Ethiopian Government uses the word youth for those between
15 to 29 years similar to the commonwealth countries.
According to Sercombe (1996: 124), ‘the age-range of defining youth is not adequate and there is also a boundary problem’ Besides the socially constructed phenomenon, young people do not sufficiently get the feeling that they are appreciated
as present and future members of the society. Furthermore, youth also categorizes as
a social capital that takes over the positive value of the society through formal struc10
ture (e.g. family and school) and non-structural systems (tale). This socially constructed category, the cultures of different societies give different roles to young
people. In the Ethiopia case, even though there are requirements to be physically
and mentally strong, 13 year old girls in most rural areas become already a mother.
Contrarily, in another part of society, in urban areas too, the same age girl is categorized as a child.
2.4 Youth citizenship and participation
Youth are a rights’ holders and youth citizenship right are important development and at the center of their activities. Youth citizenship and participation are an
opportunities for social change not only for youth themselves but also for their local
communities and government. However, this needs special attention and commitment of the government and the communities. Governments have obligation to fulfill citizenship rights. Coordinating the activities youth, acknowledging citizenship
right and arranging good governance at all levels are duties of the government. I am
using this concept to show how this attracts and enables youth to become involved
in political activities and strengthens youth association to propogand their thinking
freely.
Macmillan Dictionary defines the word Citizen as ‘someone who has a right to
live permanently in a particularity country and has a right to the legal and social benefit of that country as well as legal obligation towards it’. Bryons (2001:11) defines citizenship “as a bundle of rights and obligations that formally define the legal status of
a person within a state”. While citizenship defines the legal right is to be a citizen of a
particular country (ibid). Citizenship means a common license for a member of any
independent nation who has rights and responsibilities. Furthermore, citizenship
right entails obligation and requires both legal rights and the ability to exercise those
rights (Alexander, n.d.). It has further a specific relationship between state and individual citizens. But many governments, particularly in developing countries, have
paid little attention to this definition. As a result the governments have ignored the
idea of equal citizenship rights and the privilege of sharing resources which excludes
young people. From this perspective, we should ask ourselves how young people
visualize the nature of their citizenship rights.
Youth citizenship right means going beyond seasonal voting, it should entail active participation in social, political, economic and all society’s efforts to contribute
to and build on a democratic nation.
When the youth has citizenship rights they are able to be upfront in the country’s
problems and become the main actors to eradicate poverty and create foundations
for enhancing democracy and good governance. The age boundary of young people
is the main factor to take citizenship responsibility. The multidimensional problems
of countries will be addressed by the young people with a holistic and integrated
manner of participation. Cleaver expressed that “participation is a means to empower
people and to take initiative for their own development” (2001:36). It enables people
to get inspired into taking action for their own development and promote processes
of democratization. It can also be seen as a process of empowerment of deprived
and excluded groups.
From Cleaver’s point of view, individual or collective agencies can be affected by the existing structure which can prevent young people from practicing their
citizenship rights. Despite, youth associations can assist young people to use this license and exercise their citizenship rights, the existing structure acts as a source of
control on self-initiated youth groups. ‘Rights without remedies are of symbolic im11
portance, no more. And remedies themselves require the injection of resources, a
commitment on behalf of all of us that we view rights with respect, that we want
them to have an impact on the lives of all people, and not just the lives of the powerful and privileged, who are often the first to exploit rights for their own purposes
(Freeman, 2007:8).
The current theories emphasize that civilization should be evaluated according
to the process and the type of citizen that it produces. Young people should become
a model of social agents having members who are exemplary citizens who fully participate in the development process. Citizenship grows when it is watered with freedom of thought. Recognition of citizenship rights has emerged as one of the most
contentious issues of the 21st century in both academic and political circles (Jude,
2008:14). However, the case of youth participation is still far from an universally accepted practice. The convention of the Rights of the Child, articles 15/1 states the
importance of freedom of association and freedom of peaceful assembly which was
recognized by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, the
policy may not be effective if there is no free working system.
2.5 Gender and collective action
The social categories of youth consists both boys and girls with unequal relation. The participation and the role of both sex determines by the norm of the community. This reflects in different collective’s action and youth association activities.
In the last decades, many gender theories have developed in two main dimensions. One dimension concerns biological determinants and in contrast, sociological
theories focus on socio structural determinants (Bussey and Bandura, 1995:676).
Gender became a global agenda for academic and development practitioners. This is
because ‘we are concerned with the social roles and interactions of men and women
rather than their biological characteristics’ (Pearson, 1992:292). On the other hand,
‘while there is increasing concern with gender inequalities in some arenas at the inter
household level in particular, as well as in the legal domain where ‘traditions’ and
‘customs’ have an important role to play as the attention paid to gender in public policy is often selective. (op cit :XX).
Furthermore, the structural and cultural inequality is the biggest constrain for
most third world countries.
Unequal gender relations shape the way in which families and households allocate
their resources, influencing the distribution of entitlement and responsibilities, work
and leisure between male and female (Butalia and Black, 2005:51). For example, access to basic right is restricted for girls within many countries, including Ethiopia.
UNCRC, art. 28 states that the child has a right to education and states have an obligation to ensure this education right is reached for every child5 .In a majority of developing countries girls face discrimination with regards to accessing education. “As
a result, they comprise about 57% of all out of school children” (UNESCO, 2011).
By chance, ‘when they do attend, many of them – particularly those from the poorest
and most marginalized households and communities – fail to complete their studies
or finish with insufficient skills.
5
See more CRC articles 28 and 29.
12
Gender roles have their own dynamic, evolving and adapting over many generations, exhibiting considerable resistance to changes in economic circumstance or
even market force (Pearson, 1992:298). In my view, many countries especially in
western societies have achieved progress with promoting and implementing gender
equality. However, there are still countries where the government has no space for
gender issues. ‘As a further evidence of the persistence of gender inequality, several
recent studies have found that the ration of females to males in the market sector had
declined in many countries (Unicef, 2011:3). Collective action through autonomous
organization is the way to present a practicable avenue for improving participation of
women and narrowing the gender gap.
2.6 Chapter conclusion
The chapter discussed collectivism and the social mobilization theory. It described the argument of different literature from both practical and academic perspectives. It concluded that collectivism and association are closely related and collectivisms is the root of associations. Besides defining the concept of youth, the
chapter pointed the importance of the concepts social mobilization, youth citizenship
and participation and briefly discussed them as well as the theory of gender and collective action. How gender is becoming more and more recognized issue for practitioners. Especially within development aspect, as the UN Millennium Development
Goals regarding the advancement of women and girls need to be reached by 2015.
However, the culture and the attitude of the people are constraining youth development efforts and especially that of young women. The importance of understanding
the issue and the special role of women is briefly touched upon.
13
Chapter -3- Context of Youth Associations in
Ethiopian History
Introduction
In the Ethiopian context, coming together and forming groups is not new.
Among many collective groups Idir, Debo, Equob and religious Mahiber are some of
the traditional institutions that bind people together. These widespread grassroot organizations are playing a great role in sharing the problem of their members. They
often may represent only certain sections of the population through sex, age, ethnicity, religions, wealth, or other divisions (Pankhurst and Hailemariam, 2002:47). Since
they are key actors to mobilize the community for certain objectives, government
and NGOs are using them as a channel to provide social service to grassroots community. These traditional organizations are a cornerstone for existing modern and
formal associations. Organizing as youth association comes from this background.
This chapter defines youth association. It presents the background and history
of youth associations in Ethiopian historical context. It briefly discusses the current
political climate, the socioeconomic condition and the structural place of youth and
youth associations and their contribution. Moreover, the chapter discusses the gender
aspect in relation to youth associations.
3.1 Definition youth association
Association defines an organization of certain categories of people that binds
them by certain purposes. The concept of association is ancient, but the experimental
evidence as to the formation of associations dates only from the last decades of the
nineteenth century (Windholz and Lamal, 1986:12). As from my working experiences, ‘Youth Association’ is an organization that consists of age limited individuals together as one legal entity. Young people organize themselves for different purposes
in different context. There are many conditions that encourage youth to organize
groups based on their locality and shared interests. “Young people are actively participating in organizations and in activities intended to improve their lives of themselves
and others” (Ansell, 2005:239). Therefore, youth associations bring young people
together in an organized form that has specific characteristics and purposes.
Youth associations’ resemble collective voice of young people. They develop
through support. Few youth focused NGOs and the government support youth associations and their initiatives, but the practical situation of this support shows their
increasing dependency. As a result, in Ethiopia, many youth associations are characterized by challenging equal access to public resources and ensuring their sustainability. Lack of awareness about their rights, limitation to access existing policy and absence of guiding tools to overcome this challenge are the main obstacles for youth
association effectiveness. This leads to the community is losing its confidence on
youth association and regard them as irrelevant. Consequently youth associations are
themselves unable to narrow the gap between them and the general public.
14
3.2 Youth associations in the empire/kingdom period (before 1974)
Literature indicates that since the second half of the 20th century, the Ethiopian
youth have actively involved in political and economic activities of the country. Gebramariam, (2009), explains that ‘the Ethiopian Students Movement (ESM) effectively represented young people in the 60s and 70s6 in the Ethiopian Calendar. He recognized their significance and continued leading role in political processes through its
members today. But the association was highly politicized and was often manipulated
for political purposes by the government.
In 1963, by the help of the State of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a project
was developed to establish an Ethiopian National Youth Organization (Zellner,
1963). The project document doesn’t indicate whether the project has been implemented or not. However, it stipulated the main problems and challenges of young
people. The document indicated that young people between 14 to 22 should be identified as target group. The 1963 youth organization was established to address the
following issues:
1. The occupation of pupils during leisure hours and school holidays
2. Possible occupation and guidance for youth, not attending school
3. Focus on the problems of youth between 18 and 22, living in town and
not constructively occupied
4. Address an influx of youngsters from rural areas into towns and that these
young people could not be absorbed easily
5. Unwillingness of young people to volunteer for constructive social activities due to lacking proper guidance
There are also youth associations that affiliated with NGOs and religious institutes like Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) and Young Women Christian
Association (YWCA). These associations were highly contributing to the positive development of young people in shaping positive characteristics. They were facilitating
a dialogue between youth and adults to discuss on common issues to explore what
each can contribute. In this way, one began to recognize and value the positive contributions of youth associations.
3.3 Youth associations under the communist system (1974 to 1991)
During the military /Durg/ regime, including the Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth
Association (REYA), huge mass organizations were established under the socialist
ideology. The 1974 revolution brought a fundamental structural transformation. The
new socialist regime was constructing the society in different categories based on the
communist ideas. ‘REYA had about 3.8 million members out of more than 9 million
youth in the country’ (Denu et al, 2007:37). The Association ran several programmes,
including a literacy campaign, military service as well as providing social services such
as first aid, dissemination of primary health information. They also assist in the rebuilding of homes for old people and persons with disabilities (Ibid). Members were
also engaged in different voluntary activities and campaigns like Red Cross activities,
cleaning the cities and planting of trees are some asserted activities. REYA was mainly working towards the formation of the People Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
(PDRE). The Association reaffirmed their readiness to do whatever necessary for the
6
60s and 70s in Ethiopian calendar means 68s and 78s of the Gregorian Calendar
15
successful establishment of the PDRE and the implementation of the ten-year
presentation plan (The Ethiopian Herald, 1986). The association mobilized youth on
local level all over the country to support the government’s program. The national
youth REYA was incapacitated and did not reflect the issue of the youth. However,
the military government created possibilities for youth associations on a national level.
The evidence suggests that in the period after 1974, women and girls were highly
involved in REYA activities and their participation was increased under the umbrella
of the Revolutionary Ethiopian women’s Association (REWA). The women’s
movement (including REWA created in 1980), similar to former socialist countries,
was largely subsumed into the broader framework of state socialism movement.
However, women’s organizations and movements were mainly manipulated by the
state (Mariam, 1994:57). Furthermore, Ethiopian women all over the country were
made to be organized under REWA (Ibid). Women in Ethiopia acknowledged that
the socialist system was creating space for women even if they did not have any autonomy and freedom. The red terror7 and National Literacy campaign were fundamental characteristics of both youth and women’s involvement during the communist period.
3.4 Youth associations in the current setting of Ethiopia (1991 to
present)
The 1995 constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE),
Article 49, has created a federal government with nine ethnic based regional states
and two federally administered city-states (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa). The regional states are delimited on the basis of language, settlement pattern and identity. The
constitution affirms the unrestricted corporate right of all ethnic groups: “every nation, nationality and people shall have the unrestricted right to self-determination up
to secession’’ (Article 39).
3.4.1 Types of youth associations and their political setting
The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) –ruling- party gave special status to youth associations with establishing a Ministry of Youth and
formulating a National Youth Policy. Young people need to be encouraged to participate more fully in public life. And governments and other agencies need to learn to
communicate with young people, making their programs attractive to them, and deploy the immense talents of youth as partners in service delivery. The demand of
youth to organize and create own associations came after the fall of the military government.
Young people are forming their groups in different ways. Some are NGOs and
others religious affiliated youth associations. Legal requirements are not necessary for
these two kinds of associations, as they are managed by hosted or sponsored institutions such as church or charity organization. Their agenda also depends on the donor. For example UNICEF and Family Guidance Association Ethiopia have strong
voluntary youth groups to promote their agenda.
The red terror is a mechanism used by the military government (Durg) to eliminate its entire rival and consolidate power into its hand at any cost. (Gebremariam, 2009:22-23)
7
16
Excluding NGOs and church affiliated youth groups, there are two categories of
youth associations that this study addresses. Governmental affiliated and selforganized youth associations. Each category has different types of associations.
The first and the most known associations are government affiliated youth associations. These associations are regional and ethnic based associations, such as
Amhara Region Youth Association, Tigray Region Youth Association and Oromia
Region Youth Association. They follow the ruling party’s ethnic base group system.
They are established through an initiative of the government. Their primary objectives are to bring all youth under the umbrella of the association. They involve in
economic activities, such as micro-enterprise, social and political activities. They have
a pyramid channel (top dawn) from national to local level. Most of the time, their
activities are determined by politicians and are directly supported by the government.
Most Ethiopian youth are establishing their own enterprises for the improvement of their own life and well-being. The government’s role in establishing these
micro-enterprises is highly valuable. Such associations are the main governmental
strategy to reduce youth unemployment. The government facilitates credit access for
the members and works towards the advancement of the life of the members. Most
of the members of these enterprises are available to the government affiliated youth
association.. . . organize the youth into business enterprise specially those who graduated from university and vocational and technical training center is the main duty of the office. . . the office facilitates working place and enabling conditions for credit for formally organized youth and link them
with market . . . except business related activities the office does not involve in promoting exercising
citizenship right.. . ., ” 4GO47(M).
There is a new powerful youth organization established under the ruling party
called ‘Youth League’. This powerful youth group is responsible for keeping political
stability in the country. Their power stems from the incentives of politicians. The
concentration of youth league’s power is centered within the chairperson and/or
vice-chair of the ruling ethnic groups. The national EPRDF youth league is established after the 2005 election. Together with the Ministry of Youth, it organized two
National Youth Conferences with the Prime Minister in August 2007 and February
2009 (Gebramariam, 2009). This emerged youth league has a direct link with the ruling party decision makers either nationally or at regional state level. Many young
people fear the members of this association as they are assumed to be the elite of the
government.
Another type of youth association is the ‘Self-organized’ youth association. This
type of association was established through the internal motivation of the founders.
The main agenda of self-organized youth associations is to solve social and economic
problems of the members and to serve their community. They are few in number
compared to others, especially governmental affiliated associations and they are
mainly self-supported to reach their destination. Through various initiatives they
have opportunities to get different support from donors. However, writing proposals
and managing projects is challenging for inexperienced and newly established youth
associations.
Both types of youth associations require formal registration to obtain legal status
as a civil society organization (NGO Status) from the Ministry of Justice or from the
local branch office. This is the minimum requirement to operate legally. All associations are obliged to present the profile of the founders and their identification card.
Other requirements to acquire the legal certificate is presenting the bylaw and signed
minutes that approve the new elected executive committee by its general assembly.
But the process of registration is very challenging and time consuming for self17
organized youth associations. For example, the Ministry of Justice asked youth associations to present supporting letters from their legal administration. However, getting this support letter from a local (district) authority is highly challenging for selforganized (independent) youth associations.
Some other youth associations have been treated under the new NGOs law.
“Local NGOs established on their own initiative is quite new . . . as non-state actors
they can play a pivotal role in the development process as well as in democratization
and eradicating poverty” (Tegegn, 2010:203). However, as a new sector, the new
NGOs law is not adopted positively by the civil society. It restricts highly free
movement of NGOs and the freedom of civil society. The new Charity and civil Society Proclamation, mandates that 90 percent of NGOs funding needs to be raised
from local donors (Ethiopian Ministry of Justice, 2008). Therefore, the 2008 NGOs
law is considered as a main threat to the freedom of association and civil society.
3.4.2 Socioeconomic dimension of youth association
The Ethiopian economy is centered on agriculture and this is the case for a
long period. Before 1974, the economic system was based on private ownership on
the principle of a liberal economy. It changed to a socialist economy right after the
overthrowing of the kingdom regime. As I learnt from my own experience, the Derg
(military regime) economy was ‘command economy’8 under state and communal
ownership. The state owned means of production, tariffs and quota were characteristics of the economy.
The present market-oriented government introduced a variety of reforms aimed
to improve economic growth. Evidently the situation the government inherited in
1991 was disastrous, and they cannot be held accountable for the underlying social
problems of Ethiopia. Nonetheless after 20 years the current government has only
achieved very gradual improvement in the situation of the majority of Ethiopians;
meanwhile the problems of the youth have grown rapidly. Two examples demonstrate the social problems that young people face: unemployment and the long-term
impact of HIV/AIDS (Barnes, 2006).
Thus, the current conditions are unable to ensure sustainable and efficient
service provision to young people. Even though the economy is a private ownership
of means of production; it is lacking behind in solving childhood problems through
increasing families’ income and creating childhood welfare. On top of this, an inequitable resource sharing is increasing and many young people are neglected within
every opportunity.
3.4.3 Structural place and scope of youth associations
Many countries have developed youth policies and implemented strategies to
address the issues that affect the lives of young people. The World Bank report noted that “Policies that broaden opportunities available to young people and that help
them choose wisely among them are the priority. Yet many cannot take advantage of
these opportunities, even if offered” (WB, 2007: 33). As a result, the policy and the
implementation program did not address true participation and concrete issues for
the youth.
The ‘command economy’ is an economic system of the communist regime which does not
allow any ‘capitalist’ (free enterprise) approaches
8
18
Despite few youth associations (mainly government affiliated) have been involved in the development process and became actors of providing solutions for
their local problems, they are seldom a high priority for policy makers and politicians
as they are perceived as incapable groups.
This indicates that youth associations, in Ethiopia, have been challenged to acquire
freedom as collective agent and consequently organize and operate themselves freely.
In a particular case, the local authority assumes that some youth are ‘silence bombs’
that are ready to explode. According to opposition groups they can easily create
turmoil. In the 2005 election, the media regarded such youth as rebellions, spreading
violence and acting as irresponsible young people. The general public’s negative image of young people remains the biggest challenge to create a smooth relationship
between youth associations and local governments.
Moreover Ethiopia has not a very good history in allowing opposition parties
to be active. After crushing the prodemocracy movement during the 2005 elections,
many opposition leaders and their supporters were intimidated and threatened to be
arrested. It seems that the government deliberately narrowed the political space. At
present, almost all opposition parties are unable to conduct their activities even if
they are legally registered parties and contemporary Ethiopia can be acutely described
as a one party dominated state (Wondenson, 2009).
3.4.4 Gender issues in the current associations
Gender is not only a concern of women but of the society at large. Therefore, it
is and should be the primary concern of all development actors in respect to the UN
Millennium Development Goals9. Efforts made by the current government to enable more girls to attend school remains at policy level. But how much has been done
to override the cultural norms and attitude of the general public remains an unanswered question (Tegegn, 2010:355). Though the government has formulated a National Policy on Ethiopian women, they are still victim of the structure.
According to the Ethiopian Ministry of Women Affairs, they facilitate conducive
condition to speed up the equality between men and women, eliminating the gap step
by step (WAO FDRE, 1998). But, lack of institutional capacity to make the policy
effective, the current structural constraints remain and cause its failure. However,
using the limited freedom, young women became involved in forming youth associations together with men or as single-sex organizations, like girls clubs and young
women associations.
3.5 Chapter conclusion
The chapter described the history of youth associations in the last four decades.
And it briefly presented some characteristics of youth associations under the three
consecutive regimes. The basic requirement to establish their political setting is well
introduced in the chapter. It showed how youth associations are politicized and embedded by the political elites in the communist and current regimes. The chapter
tried to assess the political climate, socio-economic status and structural position in
the current context of Ethiopia. The situation shows that the associations are vulnerable due to social, economic and political changes towards political benefit.
Target 3.A of the MDGs, Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education,
preferable by 2005, and at all levels of education no later than 2015
9
19
Chapter -4- Youth Associations in Dessie
Youth associations play a great role in capacity building of its individual members to access and produce ways to improve their life through facilitating life skill
training which changes them into action. It increases the youth’s awareness and understanding about the reality of their environment and own potential. Furthermore,
they learn about the challenge of a negative attitude towards working together. Youth
associations work in local level to get acceptance from the community. This helps
them to share their feeling to their community. The associations can play an advocating role by voicing the issues of its members. My personal experience indicates that
youth associations are a doorway to provide choices for youth’s future life. Despite
young people have initiated to form their own groups, few of them have managed to
raise youth issues and successfully run their groups/associations.
This chapter reflects the voice of youth and the practical experience of associations in Dessie town. It discusses the research questions with the research participants10. The chapter briefly presents why youth join an association and how the associations can be effective and meaningful in regard to participation in decisionmaking. How the community perceives youth association’s activities and its place in
the community are part of the discussion with the respondents. The mandate to set
their own agenda will be covered here too.
4.1 Why youth establish and join youth associations?
Despite they follow the necessary steps; young people organize themselves for
different purposes in different context. There are many conditions that encourage
youth to organize groups based on their own personal or local problems or challenges. One of the reasons for young people to establish youth associations and become
motivated to join as members of different associations is expressing their agency.
The reason to establish youth associations as responded by young 7AM27(M) and
6YAL21 (M) “. . . Young people have been establishing and joining youth associations to solve
their social and economic problems and to become economically independent from their parents. . .”.
They are also interested to give voluntary services to their community through cleaning campaigns and other activities. Once youth have established their association,
they share interest, exchange ideas with similar associations and collect ideas from
different sources to increase their personal and institutional capacity. The process will
help them to learn how to lead the members and how to solve the problems that
they face during their operation. Another respondent, Haregewein, 24 told me “. . .
that young people are joining youth associations to gain and learn life skills from the association and
the process makes them ready for tomorrow’s challenge. . .”. The nature of socialization by itself is another motivation to create groups. They also created their associations based
on different reasons like peer initiative. “. . . young people form their association with their
peer to learn from each other. . . and it is also a good place to develop a horizontal relationship
among them. . . ” 2CBO52(M).
Peer groups appear to be very important institutes in young people’s lives. They operate on a basis but there is someone who takes initiative as a leading person in the
20
group. Others are interested to become a member of an association or group to fulfil
their self-interest.
Some youth form their group and formally create their association to serve others. One respondent observed this and concluded “. . . young people have been joining
youth associations to serve others rather than doing their own issue. . . many of them do not know
why they join the association. . .” 2MP26(M). The sense of this respondent shows that
some youth associations are serving others either with interest or without their interest. He named two associations that are spending all their time to benefit the ‘ineffective politician’ rather than working for their members. Young people also join youth
associations for the fun and to create personal relationship with the opposite sex.
. . . especially young people join the group to create relationships with the opposite sex. This appears more in boys and young men. . . Many of the youth association members are not interested in
contributing to or learning from the associations . . . The negative attitude of the community on youth
associations is created through such members. I prefer to spend my time with my individual friends
rather than joining youth associations. . . ” 4NM20(M).
For a single person it is impossible to form groups. The role of peer influence is
another cause to form or join youth associations. These kinds of members are not
aware about their rights and obligations in the association. People have a need to belong and seek overcoming feelings of loneliness which implies that being a member
of a group means sharing life challenges with others. Young people who joined youth
associations through the influence of their friend may not primarily be concerned
with the objectives of the association. “. . . Many youth came to the association to register as
member. However most of the newcomers regret it when they well understood about the regulations of
the association. . . . . They were coming to look for friends. They came by external motivation rather
than adopting the objectives of the association itself. . .” 3AM19(M). There are few and unique
young people who try to establish a functional youth association.
“ . . . It is near the result of the 2005 National Elections, we saw young people desiring
change. . . During the campaign, youth associations played their role by mobilizing not only the
youth but also the whole community towards change. Even if it is. . . yes, there are some young
people who are ready to stand up for their right . . . but the system has made the young people
inactive . . .and create a lot of intelligent who work for the ruling party. . . Leave it please . . .”
2P52(M)
Everyone has their own ideas about personal desires and what we desire for our
community and our country. This sprit is more visible in young people. They are talented and gifted, but the existing working system does not allow them to develop
their talents and gifts. There is no free space and freedom to do so. The existing
youth associations are not able to change this situation and they are not influential
within the system.
4.2 Activity of youth associations and community responses
Youth are energetic force and enveloped11 with uncovered inherent potential.
And Youth associations are a dynamic result of these enveloped collective people.
If someone receives an envelope from somewhere, we expect that the envelop contains
something. It may be a gift card or letter . . . , Enveloped- young people means young people who have something inside, but it is a closed and uncovered potential. We should open
this envelop with the gifted potential use it.
11
21
Moreover, they contribute to advancing sustainable societal development and building national democratic processes. Youth associations teach and train members and
non-members in their personal development. They are performing voluntary work
within their community. To continue these voluntary activities, they need enabling
environments.
. . . many of us know we are going to have our success and failure in life, it is not different for
the life of youth associations or any group. . . everywhere in the country, youth associations share
failure. Failure is not a problem, the main problem is how these associations handle these challenges and change it into successful opportunities . . . in addition to infrastructural support . . .
An enabling environment is an important prerequisite for successful youth associations in managing their challenge… 2NGO35(F).
Besides policy level support the main factors for effective youth associations are
allocating budgets, providing meeting places and facilitating social and technical
training. In Dessie, the Family Guidance Association is the major reproductive health
service provider for young people
Equal opportunity and providing support are the main obligations of the
government and other development partners like NGOs, however “ highly discriminating practices from the local authorities are the main causes for ineffectiveness of youth association.
For example, one of our association challenges is getting equal opportunity” 7AM27(M). The
FGD shows that the existing systems do not allow critical partners of youth associations. And there is a conducive environment for youth associations to become effective actors in the development process. This leads the community to fail confidence
in youth associations. “ a result of our weakness and the existing working system, all youth
associations do not have any capacity to prepare young people in becoming responsible citizens. . .
the understanding of the community remains negative” (5AN27(M),). The practical experience
and evidence of the current political and economic situation in Ethiopia shows that
the situation of the youth is not progressing and they are continual losing its value
and belief in their country.
The working environment influences the productivity of youth associations. Encouraging members to contribute to the youth associations’ effectiveness are sources
for equality and strengthening the unity of the members. However, if there is something negative, the experience shows that the association will destruct itself.
“Economic growth is an important factor not only for the youth association itself but for all
categories of the society. . . but it is impossible without equal distribution of the resources. Unless,
growth generate inequality as it is seen presently. The double digit growth is taken as a negative implication” 2NM22(M).
The current structure of the society does not allow engaging youth associations
in the process of decision making and democratization process. Involving youth associations in all development processes is very crucial for the effectiveness and enhancing of their institutional and leadership capacities.
4.3 Goal and agenda setting
Young people establish their groups to draw the attention of the community and
government. Young people create formal associations to give voluntarily and contribute something to their community. Young people aim to organize in order to
shape the youth especially those who are involved in anti-social activities. Many
young people, due to different factors, break the community law and are portrayed as
destructive youth. One aspect of the youth associations’ agenda is to change the attitude of the youth and the community. “Our main agenda is the attitude of youth about the
22
association.. . . many youth do not have interest to become involved in the association. .. they do not
believe the association. . .so we are most of the time organizing workshops and debates about the role
of association” (6AM23(M). They also play a great contribution in sharing the society
problems and provide possible solutions. Others may gather and organize as private
limited company and develop a business plan to work together and use the country’s
microfinance opportunity. Whatever it is, when groups come together around their
common issue, problems will arise. This is the notion of grouping and human behavior. Contrary, the process of establishing associations will increase the voice of the
youth that is hardly heard at the individual level.
The main agenda of non-profit making and voluntarily basis youth associations
is promoting the rights and the interest of their members. “Most youth associations promote youth agenda. . . They always bring to us the problem of youth and they ask us different kind
of support . . . but most of the time they did not get the support since the office capacity is limited”
2GO26(M). Furthermore they try to participate in the process of local development
aimed at improving the condition of their community. However, access of active participation is limited to the government affiliated youth associations. These associations promote the issue of the government. Besides income generating activities,
gender and environment are other main agendas for youth associations in Dessie.
“We are established for awareness raising of the general public on the gender and environmental issues using art as a tool. . .” 2YAL20(M). There are critical factors that youth associations
need to identify and rank their problems which they need to solve. The working system and government structure are the main determinants for success or failure of the
goal of the youth associations. Their agendas are the main factors for getting support
from NGOs and governments.
In general, goals can be achieved through groups and that might not have been
possible through individual effort. Freedom drives youth associations to achieve their
goal. 3GO46(M), confirmed that ‘young people need to be free from everything, They do not
want to be submitted to any pressure . . . if they are empowered and free to do anything, they can
develop a sense of responsibility and they can learn from their own mistakes. . .”. But as a researcher, I feel that to empower young people, their associations should be nourished
by the community without any precondition. Young people are not brain-dead they
are brain-powered; the community should protect youth association. If they get a
chance to be supported encouraged they can meet their objectives.
4.4 Participation of youth
When youth associations are actively involved into different activities, they attract more members and the attention of the community. This will increase the acceptance of the youth association as organization and respect the members as individuals. However, “. . . the attitude of the community towards youth association’s role and their
contribution is still negative. . . . Because, they are not in a position to play their role as actor of
change . . .” (1MP28(M). The current participation of youth is not limited to seasonal
voting as I mentioned in Chapter 2. Youth participation does not measure by voting
once per 5 years. Their participation should empower to make decision not only on
their life but also their on the community. 9YAL26 (M) states “. . . The community does
not have any believe in the youth and Youth Association, and still many parents see youth associations negatively. . .”. Simultaneously, NGOs are working with youth associations. They
provide their service to young people through wide networking of youth groups or
associations. “. . Still there is a problem of awareness about the role of youth association but it is
better than in the previous years. Many youth association are working with NGOs including Beza.
. .” 1NGO30(M)). Founders of the self-initiated youth association and their associa23
tion leaders think that the association should be concerned about the youth and prevent them from negative practices. They believe that solving these problems means
addressing the primary concern of the community. Despite the fact that there are
many youth leaders who focus on themselves, the association has lived with unfulfilled missions. “. . . There are only few Youth Association that are working properly, the rest are
doing for their own personal feeling and interest. . . .” (1YAL26(M)
Associations like Beza against Harmful Practice and the Anti-AIDS Association
have developed s sense of social responsibility and commitment towards youth, especially supporting young women and providing their services to vulnerable groups.
The leaders are highly respected by most Dessie people. As a result of their credibility, the association secured land to build an office. “. . . There are few associations that
managed to narrow the gap between them and their parents . . . they increase the awareness of the
community and play a great role in preventing crime and women abuse. . .” 1P40(F). Many associations, however that face challenges, collapsed because of financial difficulties and
internal conflict. Absence of good relations with the local authorities and administrations drive them to failure due to not having a smooth relationship with the community. This experience leads to negative harmony among youth associations and its
members. External intervention is another challenge of youth associations. Youth
associations play a major role in the poverty reduction process. They need to undertake different capacity building programs and support need to fully address youth
associations’ needs and to mobilize young people for action.
. . . youth associations are an instrument for change. However, the negative attitude of the
community about the youth. And youth associations are challenging . . . they have something to
contribute and valued members of the association . . . the leader may serve as a role model to be
a responsible citizen in the society . . . (1AM21(F).
From all people interviewed, the involvement of youth associations in the inception and development process is not attracting and encouraging. The process of policy formulation and other local activities does not include youth associations. This
brings us to define what does participation in the local context mean. The process
and the activities of groups have a great role to attract more young people as members. The youth associations in Dessie should be redefined as organizations. The experience of youth associations shows that they are not recognized within the community. Opportunities to address the need of youth associations and rights of young
people are not meeting each other.
4.5 Conclusion
This chapter clearly showed the actual situation of youth associations and it
clearly answered the researcher’s question. The respondents reflected on why they
established youth associations and what they do, how the political process has reshaped the agenda and participation of their youth association. The discussion outlined the relationship between youth associations and the community in Dessie. We
understood how the general public perceives the. gap between youth associations and
the community. It also presented the effectiveness of youth associations in related to
gender issues. They further shared their experience as members and leaders.
24
Chapter -5- Discussion and Analysis
Youth associations are a group of young people. Groups should be characterized
as collective. This starts from the smallest unit called family or friends and goes up
to largest political parties. Groups and associations are working based on interdependence among the group members like many of our body parts. Our eyes, our
hands our ears are working together. In general, everywhere and every time we are
working in groups. Understanding the purpose of a group and knowing how it functions is the primary mission of members of a group. In order to be successful in
group work, groups need to be managed appropriately and the leader needs interpersonal skills as a precondition for successful leadership.
In this chapter the findings analyzes based on the community view and responsibility of youth associations in general and the ones investigated in Dessie in particular. The chapter is going to discuss how members and nonmember’s youth observe
association function. Moreover the chapter analysis the relation between selforganized youth association and government affiliated youth association, and their
relation with government. The role of young citizens to create functional associations, the ongoing activities of youth associations, challenges to set an own agenda,
the understanding and reflection of the community will be discussed in- depth. It
shows how the unstable governmental position is affecting youth associations and
especially the female gender aspect of the association activities.
5.1 Youth associations are made up of young citizens
According to the national youth policy 2004, young people have the right to get
care and protection from the government and society. From the perspective of
young people, urban youth especially need to be in a position to benefit from whatever resources are available to them both locally and nationally, as will be explained
hereafter. One possible strategy could be organizing them into associations as they
are benefiting from this. Youth associations are an integral part of its members, societies and the system. They are nodes of organized activities drawing resources from
members, individuals, organizations and institutions and at the same time producing
service for the members and their communities.
Youth associations made by young people will support its member’s needs especially it can help and support joint efforts to increase young people’s role in the association.
In the town, young people those who are members of the association mainly came from
poor and social disadvantaged family group. “. . . We all members came from poor family, we
need some especially support to lead our life, which is why we have formed this association . . . it
helps us to use the existing opportunity provided by the government and NGOs”. 8YAL22(F)
The attention the government gives is less or insufficient. This is even more exemplary from the fact that the structure and emphasis of the Ministry of Youth has
shifted every five years. The government considers the youth associations as target
groups not as partners. The following table shows the unstable place youth has within the structure of the Youth Ministry since the last three elections and it supports
my argument.
25
Table- 5-1 unstable place of Ministry of Youth
Year
b/n year of 2000-2004
Place of youth
in the government structure
Ministry of Youth,
Sport and Culture
attached with sport
and culture.
}
20005- 2009
Ministry of Youth and
Sport
attached with sport
}
2010- 20__
Ministry of Children,
Women and Youth
attached with children
and women
Source: compiled by author
Though the government recognizes that youth need special attention and has
therefore established this topic on a ministerial level, the unstable place of the ministry itself is a structural constrain for the practical guidance of young people. The
town administration gave special attention to small and micro-enterprises, which is
the most important intervention to significantly reduce poverty and youth unemployment in the country. However the success of those enterprises is lacking far behind and youth unemployment especially is still a fact for more than two to three
years. And they are not free from the structural influence.
“ . . . the government is promoting microfinance and committed to provide loans for any business ideas, but we took more than two year to get a loan. . . three or four officials changed during
this time, still our issue is on the table . . . when we asked the loan, the official says, did your association become a part of Dessie Youth association ,(governmental affiliated youth association) and now
they are telling us to be a part of youth federation. . . it is difficult to be independent,. . . But the
community is blaming us since we are not bringing any change in our life. . ” 8AM27(M)
The Dessie Youth League and Association are gatekeeper to get access to the
government. Getting support from the political desk depends on the willingness of
the individual authority and is based on the benefit of the political system. Youth associations do not regard themselves as being capable of making change. “. This does
not, however, illustrate a lack of agency but illustrates a lack of support, encouragement and orientation. They lack assistance to get grips on their own agency and explore the possibilities to meet their goals. . .” (Verhoeven, et al, 2007:11).
Hence, the effectiveness of youth associations depends not only on their members but also on the understanding of their community and the existing structure of
the local government. Youth associations have not only the capacity to challenge
others but they are also challenging their own attitude and social position in the
community. As a result of this, the reflective of the community is not expected to
support the youth association. The community does not understand that youth associations are the key to address the issue of young people future generation.
5.2 Challenges of youth associations to set their own agenda
Apart from this, young people have become one of the sources of frustration for
the city. Most young people are suffering from self-depreciation about the existing
situation of the country as a whole and in relation to young people in particular. Poverty leads young people to ‘sell’12 their right and freedom. During the data collecting
process, I observed that the country has lost the contribution of young people that
they should play for the country’s development.
Selling your right and freedom means, if we are poor, we do not care about our right, our
freedom and our value.
12
26
Young people are the most significant driver of development if they are properly
organized and managed. They have fighting spirit to change their social problem if
they have a right leader. Youth associations can provide an opening for young people, especially for those who have no opportunities to express themselves. In addition to quality of leadership, the members learn important survival skills that help
them to take more control over their own lives. The issue of forming ‘youth associations’ is tangible need for young people. However, currently, numerous criticisms of
youth association activities have been voiced.
. . . When we talk about youth we are talking about ourselves. . . the ‘dream’ of the government towards young people and the actual situation of their life are relatively opposite . . . youth
associations are not free and inactivate in creating responsible citizen but they are producing a
selfish and carelessness generation . . . 2CBO52(M).
All over the world, the socio economic and political challenges of youth are addressed by politicians and their policies. The policies are the profound priority of any
youth association activities. Every country needs effective policies, strategies and
programs in order to help young people through individual or groups level. The policy gives rights and direction to them. But the leaders of youth associations are not
internalized the national policies and thier rights. “. . . we are aware about the national
youth policy and youth package, but not much and we do not know anything about international
level including UNCRC. . .” 7YAL28(M), . The response of this young man shows that
the youth leaders do not have any mandate to stand in their right and are also unaware about international human rights. This leads to passiveness of their agenda.
Structurally, the existing youth associations have actively been involved in keeping the political stability rather than claiming their issues.
Figure 5-1 Institute linkage to control youth associations
Amhara region
Youth league
Women, Children and
Youth office
(Gov’t structure office)
Dessie Youth association
Represents
all Dessie
Youth with
6,000
members
Dessie Youth league
(EPRDF-Youth wing)
Represents
EPRDF youth
members
Dessie Youth
Federation
Dessie micro
enterprise assocations
.
Dessie
AMDM
(mostly all are
employed in
public sectors)
Made from
all youth
organizations (represent all
youth as-
Represent
unemployed
youth in Dessie
Source: constructed by the author
27
Members of
Volunteer
youth
Dessie selforganized
youth’s association
The second argument of this paper is based on review of the structure of youth
associations in Ethiopia and Dessie town. The figure shows that the Dessie Youth
Federation is the central representative of all youth organizations in Dessie and it
seems that it is comprised from all youth organizations in the town “. . . the federation
is made from all youth associations in Dessie, either they are supporter or opponents of the ruling
party. . .” 9YAL26(M). However, the existing institutional composition indicates that
the federation is intertwined with governmental structures as the Youth League and
Dessie Youth Association members and governmental cabinet members13. For this,
we cannot expect them to be free from political bias. The top of the structure is
linked directly with national political power and agenda and is not focused on an independent youth representation. The Business Enterprise Association and selforganized youth groups do not have a role in the Federation. “. . .we are not involved in
the activities of the Federation since we are concerned about our members and youth in Dessie . . .
they focus more on politics. . . .1YAL26(M). This implies that the micro enterprise youth
association has affiliated with Dessie Youth League or Youth Association in order to
get any access to the government including loans. They do not have a chance to realize their citizenship right and their associations are unable to ensure their collective
agency due to the structure of the political atmosphere.
On the other hand, Dessie Youth Association has 6,000 (according to the chairperson of the association) registered members in all 16 sub cities (see Dessie town map in
chapter 1). However, the current total number of the youth in Dessie is more than
67,088 (see table 1-1). Let alone the degree of participation, those youth who are registered in association are 6,000 that is less than 9%. This raises the issue of representation.
Most young people in Dessie feel that they do not have a real representation within
youth organizations. Most respondents are worrying about the existing youth association
as it’s structure is to regulate the youth movement and supervise their day to day life.
That is why many young people criticize the activities of the association and is not interested in joining them even if they believe in the positive role the association can play in
developing their personality. “. . . I do not believe that the youth associations are working for youth,
. . The monthly membership contribution goes to cover the political promotion . . . than I do not have
interest to join them. . .” 1NM22(M).
Different causes that led to disappointment member of members. In addition to
the lack of commitment from members and leaders, the activity of the association
seems irrelevant for some members. The association is not able to reach out to
members. Some operational processes are not attracting many interested members
who are ready to contribute to the association. Jude (2008:105) proves that members
are free to leave the association and could be expelled for unsatisfactory conduct. It
is also important to note that not every member is equally active. Members lose their
interest of working for the groups. The work is similar and routine; this resulted in
developing negative views. Similarly, members fail in their participation due to external influence. The characteristic of the leaders which is often laisser-faire is another
disappointed factor of the members. Such kind of leadership has no capacity to direct the members and they are unaware about the association’s objectives and their
responsibility. Therefore, they do not give the right decision at the right time. Such
13
The president of the federation is from local sub city (grass root governmental structure)
the vice president from youth league and other executive members are from Dessie youth
association.)
28
kind of leadership is highly encouraging laziness and leads to disappointed active
members.
The length of the leadership term and the election procedure are not transparent
to the members. More members have no understanding about the bylaws and regulations of the associations. Thus the youth association leaders are staying into their positions for many years similar to African Leaders. This frustrates the members too.
Their testimony shows that the leaders do nothing for their members. “. . . With
respect to the leadership role, the participants reflected that leaders are monopolizing
the leadership role in most youth associations without transferring to other followers.
. . ” (Teklu, 2005). This is another reason for non-members to withhold any interest
to join youth associations. Furthermore, “. . . corruption is widely transferred to youth from
the public sector. . . . I have no moral to say youth association is effective in citizenship practice and
taking responsibility . . . and the understanding of the community is still remaining the same as the
durg regime.. .”. 4YAL25(F) and 5YAL21(M).
As I observed from the interview, there are huge gaps between self-organized and
governmental affiliated associations. Getting freedom to become involved in political
activities is difficult for self-initiated youth associations. Furthermore access to resources
is another problem during establishment. But through time, many NGOs, link with selforganized youth associations. This is because the self-organized youth associations are
working at grass root level. Therefore, the NGOs (both local and international) are using
them as a channel to reach the grass root community. Despite the fact that selforganized youth associations had a problem of getting trust from any part of the community, including the NGOs, they have created credibility through time. Then, with the
strongest activities of the leaders, such associations attract NGOs that support their projects.
5.3 Gender and youth associations
Gender-relations and inequality are the main issue that should be tackled together with development activities. The Ethiopian history and culture show the hierarchy
of gender where women are subordinate to men. This thinking is still reflecting within the young population and the inequality is still highly visible in all kinds of interactions including social and economic relationship of the community. The experience
shows that all youth associations do not very well recognize the important role of
young women. The place of young women in the society is influenced by the social
and cultural background of the people in Dessie. As I well understood from all those
interviewed, the necessary role of young women is not translated in to practice. 3P36
(F) explained the challenge that she faced in the process of bringing women together
in her village. She said that “. . . let alone the men, even the women ourselves do not accept the
women leaders”
Apart from the policy issue, well-structured institutions and professionals are the
major challenge for the gender equity in Ethiopia. There are people who argue the
progress of gender equity. Nowadays, (especially western) countries are progressing
towards gender equity and are going in a positive way through a slow-moving process due to change in social norms and institution rules where disadvantaged women
can benefit from (Butalia and Black, 2005:51). Whereas according to Tegegn
(2010:351) the problem of women in Ethiopia is worse. ‘Ethiopian women suffer
from the worst form of social exclusion and lack of education. Traditional perception of the society always requires the boys to be sent to school, as the girl child, is
needed for domestic work’. This is even more so in rural Ethiopia; young women
29
are highly vulnerable to different risks including violence and family pressure to early
marriage. Most traditional practices are highly affecting women more than men.
However, what I argue about the role of youth associations are shaping young people’s life and giving a chance to choose is proved by 2AM19(F) She responded the
following for the question what is the association providing to the members ‘ I am
highly benefiting from different training provided by Beza. Maybe, I am not here if I was not a
member of Beza, I could be married or . . . ”.
All women are potentially vulnerable to violence from men and by harmful practice (Pearson, 1992:292). For example female genital mutilation, prostitution and early marriage are the main causes of life long health problems for Ethiopian women.
Rape, unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion are other problems of young women. ‘Rape in Ethiopia is so common that there is no place that it doesn’t occur; there
is no community that is not affected by it’ (Tegegn, 2010:358). But the association
plays a great role in minimizing this tradition and unsafe abortion practices as
1BA40(F)14 and 2BA33(F) 15 put it “. . . we were still in harmful practicing, 1BA40(F) added I may be in prison (see below her full words ) if Beza was not coming to us. . .”
I was performing up two three abortions per day16, I remember that many girls came two times
and few three times. They were not aware about sex and they were not able to control their fertility. . . Since they made sexual intercourse with their boyfriends without taking care for
themselves, they fact unwanted pregnancy and other problems. . . I learnt a lot from Beza association not only to stop this (illegal, auth.) abortion practice but to live with happiness.
1BA40(F).
This evidence proves my argument on how youth associations are really contributing to the real change of the community despite the community gives less attention and has negative reflections. Jude(2008:68) argues that ‘in many urban areas,
youth associations of a non-ethnic character have become even more salient and play
a central role in mitigating the impact of youth marginalization’. Therefore, particularly youth associations and other collective activities are the main instrument to protect young women through enhancing their capacity to negotiate about their choice.
As I mentioned in Chapter 4, many youth associations are working on gender related
issues. There are NGOs that support girls and poor women. The Beza Association
which is involved in this study supports setting up income-generating projects for
women coming from this background.
5.4 Conclusion
The chapter has provided how youth associations were created to the political
development of the regimes. In chapter 3, we saw that the history of youth associations under the military regime was supervised by the government with strict rules
and regulation favor the government. In chapter four, we learnt how the current political structure extended the youth associations’ control system. The three types of
1BA40 (F) was practitioner of unsafe abortions and female genital mutilation. But she
stopped now because of Beza Association.
15 2BA33 (F) was into prostitution. She stopped and started other work through the help of Beza
16 The abortions took place in a traditional, non-medical, way
14
30
governmental affiliated youth association leaders are employed within the public sector. This restricted their freedom to do freely whatever they need or want.
Accordingly, this chapter analyzed and presented how the structure is preventing
youth associations from free movement. The figures clearly mentioned how youth
associations are systematically under political control in each and every space. This
leads to be ineffective. As a result, the community at large pays little or no attention
to young people and this reflects the negative picture of the community of the youth
associations is still remaining the same.
We discussed that the associations are challenging to develop their agenda; but
they are at the same time the main instrument to sustain and positively shift the association’s goal.
This will be happening if they are valued by their communities and moreover if they
are also having capable women members. We proved that youth associations allow
young people to understand their environment and become responsible citizens.
31
Chapter -6- Reflection and Conclusion
The starting point of my research was to find answers for the question how
youth and the community see the role of youth associations in shaping young people’s lives, and especially for this research in Dessie town in Ethiopia. From the
above you could learn that there is no simple answer due to various (political, social,
economic) circumstances. Nevertheless, this chapter will seek to summarize and analyze the various findings.
Different groups of people come together to realize their dreams and to address
common issues of concern and solve the problems of their community. A group of
people or institution who have common understanding about certain issues, are
working together through sharing resources, information and ideas. Youth associations should be seen in this light. They have desires to change their sphere of mandate, level and capacity. Moreover, with their potential they can influence policies,
service delivery and attitude of the general public. In the past chapters we explored
how youth associations are set in current Ethiopia. Particularly we discussed in detail
about youth associations in Dessie. We also discussed and analyzed how the community and the general public view youth associations and the gap between youth
associations and the community and why this is caused. This chapter will conclude
by providing the implication of the findings and the analysis.
6.1 Reflection
The idea of civil society to include youth associations to become involved in
Ethiopian politics is quite difficult and similar to many African Countries’ as is explained in the FGD. The situation in Dessie shows that the government sees the association with suspicion and their movement is limited. As a result, the view of the
community remains negative. On the other hand youth associations could be a gift to
every government. They give skills in different fields and promote reflection on specific areas of local problems. Moreover, they are the next steering generation of the
country. However, the local politicians and political affiliated youth association leaders jeopardize the youth association as a strategy to keep the members as party supporters. Many provided training for the members and leaders, but the youth are not
able to apply what they have learned when they go back to their own association. All
this implies that the system should change to increase the acceptance of youth associations within the community.
The system has not allowed independent youth associations and their free
movement. Almost all youth associations in Dessie are political party controlled.
They are directly or indirectly under a regulatory circle. Instead of serving the youth
agenda, the leaders spend their time by working for politicians. As a result, this destroyed the image of the youth and youth associations. Within the current political
context of the country, as I touched upon earlier, not only the youth fears government officials, the community at large does too. This influences the community’s
opinion about youth as well.
Simultaneously, many members of governmental affiliated youth associations are
part of their associations for short terms only whilst receiving different privileges like
job and educational opportunities.
This indicates that the association leaders do not focus on the agenda of young people, but use them for their own agenda only. Self-organized youth associations, how32
ever are not free to promote the issues of the youth either, nor do they have access
to any of the governmental resources. Both fore mentioned cases imply that young
people do not have a chance to realize their collective agency and citizen ship
through their association.
The social, economic and political condition of any country plays a significant
role in facilitating youth autonomy, which is a prerequisite to execute their citizenship
rights. Resulting from the existing gap between community and young people and
the disputable role the government plays, the society has lost its confidence in their
youth. This affects the youth associations’ activities to a large extent. Moreover, practitioners and academics too did not recognize the importance of youth associations.
Despite ISS, Children and Youth Studies’ (CYS) program, many educational institutes do not recognize the importance of collectivism and youth association for the
shaping of young people’s lives. Article 31 of the Ethiopian Constitution and article
15 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child state about freedom of association,
but both do not reach this on grass root level. Still in the 21st century, individualism is
more dominating than collectivism.
In regard to the gender roles we can draw more positive results from this research. One of the associations involved in this study is being led by young women
and it is one of the most successful and voiced youth associations in Dessie town. I
would moreover like to state what I observed from my field work. The role of young
women to sustain the association and provide solutions for many problems is better
than that of their male counterparts. This indicates that involvement of women in an
association is essential to give weight to the association, and also to play as a rolemodel for future female members. Their involvement can become a means to tackle
gender-based violence against girls and women.
There is a perception of politics as an alien process undertaken by politicians
pursuing their own personal interest or shifting the agenda of an association. Claiming the process is essential to the activities of the association. But it is understood
that the power of the youth in mastering or ruling the political game is undermined at
all levels. The general implication of this paper indicates that the importance of youth
associations is not the question. The main question is what the association chooses
to prioritize, how the government is supporting them and how the communities and
the general public understand this association. Youth association is not free and their
role is invisible in policies and practices in the development process and within poverty reduction.
6.2 Conclusion
Ethiopia is a typical country within the developing world that has failed to
make effective use of its youth. There is neither targeted number nor time boundary
in how the government feels itself committed to create a positive condition for youth
and their organization. The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mr. Meles Zenawi held two
extended discussions in the last three years. The discourse he had with representatives of the youth in Addis Ababa was linked through teleconference technology to
youth in five different cities of the country. The participants raised many questions to
the Prime Minister. The issue of youth unemployment, equal opportunities and the
quality of the education were the main questions. The Prime Minister responded to
33
all the questions and gave a clear indication of the expected role of the youth and the
government. He emphasized that young people cannot expect work from the government, but he did not indicate how the government is accountable in this regard.
Furthermore, “Meles thesis states that without individuals empowered with freedom
and responsibility, the transformation of subject to citizen cannot take place”.
(Tegegn, 2010:184). However, it contradicts with the actual practice.
The study found that in the current condition of Ethiopia, all actors, government and non-governmental institutions including the community at large did not
capture the main priority of young people which is freedom of association and access
to full citizenship rights. Freedom of the individual is the main source for responsibility. What is crucial to conclude here is that the perception of the community towards youth associations is not lifted to the next status, partly due to the negative
portrayal of youth by both the governments as well as the for centuries existing generation gap related issues. Many youth associations especially the self-initiated groups
have a problem of lacking recognition and support from the resource providers and
public sectors.
Currently many young women are organizing themselves and/or in mixed
groups with young men together. Girls and women have proven to be successful in
group formation and in leading the association. This was substantiated with evidence in this paper. Despite the fact that many practical examples show that young
women are different leaders compared to young men and both are highly sensitive
to their groups, all association leaders need special skills and better understanding,
especially about gender roles, to enable young female members to play their part in
the associations.
The Ethiopian constitution under article 4117 states that ‘every Ethiopian has the
right to equal access to public funded social service’. However, the persistence of legal and wide spread corruption, discriminatory practice and unequal opportunities
reduce young people’s involvement in youth associations. When I was interviewing
the Dessie Youth League leader, he certified that they do not possess any political
power, despite belonging to a government affiliated association. What I concluded
from my observation is that the potential power of young people is like ‘candlelight
in a dawning pot’18.
On the other hand, in Ethiopia different categories of people, including young
people (age category) and women (sex category), organize themselves to use the opportunity that may support their efforts to meet their own needs. However, many
young people are also committed to crime since they are drug users and involved in
anti-social activities. “Humanity in this third millennium did not find solutions for
the young people but only for the adults” (Barra 2011, personal question)19. We need
See the 1995 Ethiopian constitution
This is a translated Amharic proverb which means that the light is put into the pot which
hardly reflects its light outside. It seems that the potential of the youth is also hardly shining
outside.
19 Personal question to Dr M. Barra, (the founder of Italian Red Cross and Villa Mariana).
On how and when we can stop the problems of youth in this world. This was during our
study trip in May 2011.
17
18
34
to think more profoundly about how to build youth center instead of prisons. Youth
associations are the main rehabilitation center for such kind of youth in their surroundings. Encouraging youth to become members of the groups can give them
space and opportunities and prepare them for future life and struggles. Moreover; it
might be improving their status within the community and the country itself.
The associations need technical and social skills with institutional support. The
current youth associations have embarked in deepening their understanding of the
importance of their role in today’s development. Organizing and being together is
not easy but can be successful, as sustaining togetherness can lead to more success.
This will become apparent with building individual capacity, confidence as it than
offers opportunities for teaching and sharing with each other among the membership.
The respondents reported on the benefit of youth associations in preparing
them for the future. We have discussed that young people are benefiting tremendously from the association and stipulates the change in what they knew before
about life and how they expressed this thereafter. They are aware about their role
and responsibility as a generation through their involvement in the association.
There is no doubt about the importance of youth associations. However, the working system and the structure of government related policies and practices towards
youth in Ethiopia needs a fundamental change. This will increase the effectiveness
of associations. Freedom in all aspects is another important prerequisite for youth
associations to exercise their agency and freely negotiate their interest with reasoned
and supported arguments.
35
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Appendix
List of interviewed people
#
Name of Interviewed
Represented
Sex
Age
Education
Beza Association.
F
F
M
F
M
M
M
M
21
19
19
18
27
23
27
27
10th
9th
12+4
12+4
10th
10+3
10+1
10+3
Youth Association Leaders (YAL)
Biruh Hidase Association
1 1YAL26(M)
2 2YAL20(M)
Beza Association
3 3YAL24(F)
4 4YAL25(F)
Deisse Youth Association
5 5YAL21(F)
6 6YAL21(M)
Youth Federation
7 7YAL28(M)
8 8YAL22(F)
Dessie Youth League
9 9YAL26(M)
M
M
F
F
F
M
M
F
M
26
20
24
25
21
21
28
22
26
10+1
10
10+3
10+3
10+3
10+2
MA
10+3
BA
Government Officials (GO)
1 1GO32(M)
2 2GO26(M)
3 3GO46(M)
4 4GO47(M)
M
M
M
M
32
26
46
47
MA
BA
12+2
10+3
Parents (P)
1 1P40(F)
2 2P52(M)
3 3P36(F)
F
M
F
40
52
36
12+1
BA
12+1
NGO’s
1 1NGO30(M)
2 2NGO35(F)
M
F
30
35
BA
BA
CBOs
1 1CBO 40(M)
2 2CBO52(M)
M
M
40
52
BA
12
Media People (MP)
1 1MP28(M)
2 2MP26(M)
M
M
28
26
BA
BA
Beneficiaries from the associations (BA)
1 1BA40(F)
2 2BA33(F)
F
F
40
33
0
3
Nonmember (NM)
1 1NM22(M)
2 2NM22(F)
3 3NM22(F)
4 1NM22(M)
M
F
F
M
22
17
24
20
BA
10
10+3
10th
Association Members (AM)
1 1AM 21(F)
2 2AM19 (F)
3 3AM19 (F)
4 4AM18(F)
5 5AM27 (M)
6 6AM23 (M)
7 7AM27(M)
8 8AM27 (M)
Biruh Hidase Association
Youth Federation
Dessie Youth Association
Dessie youth league
Educational Bureau,
Women, Children and Youth
Bureau
Small scale and micro enterprise
Bureau,
39
Interview guide for Key Informants (The communication was Local Amharic
language)
Introduction
I am . . . . I was working. . . . . Before that I was . . . . .
My Background story; jobs, activities etc . . . . . .Thanks
Student International Social Study, Child and Youth Specialization, Erasmus University
Research title. . . . . . . . .
Aim: identify the view of the community and youth about the role of youth Asso.
Confidential, . . . . . . . . . . .. .. Voice recorder . . . . . .. . ..
Is there Questions from you about me?
Thanks you
Getting to know interviewee
Can I have your name?. . . . . . and working experience
Are Your familiar with Youth, youth Association and citizenship right practice
Experience in field of UN children right (CRC, UN Youth desk . .
Definitions
What do you consider to be a youth?
What is your definition of Youth Association? What is your base to define this?
What is Citizenship and Citizenship practice in your opinion?
Youth association background
What are main reasons to establish youth association?
Why do young people want to join youth associations?
Why you or other do not engaged to youth association/ for non-member youth
What do youth associations want to offer?
What environment is needed for youth associations to thrive?
How do you see the members in related to gender, Who is more active, boys or girls and why
The main questions
How do you see the role of youth associations? The view of the community towards Youth asso.
Would you give some example?
Would you clarify this more? If possible.
In your opinion, does Youth Association have role in promote practices citizenship right?
Different/similarity of youth association
Is there major difference between youth association?
What is their similarity?
Is there a difference between boys and girls members? What is influencing factors
What are the influence factors on youth association in Dessie?
What is the influence of youth Association to others?
Concluding the interview
Do you have any questions?
Do you have any suggestions?
Did you miss a topic in the interview?
Is there anything you would like to discuss?
What is your opinion on the interview?
For FGD (This will translate into Amharic language)
FGD Total time allocated 1:10 up to 1:20. Participants 10 up to 12 youth and youth leaders
Introduction, Objectives, set ground rule (each participants have to say something, talk to the
point, getting to know each other)
The main Question
What is your definition of youth and Youth Association?
Why do/ do not young people want to join youth Association?
What do youth associations offer for their members and non-members?
How do you see the role of youth associations in Dessie? give some example
What environment is needed for youth associations to thrive/ succeed?
Comment and suggestion and question
Thanks
40