Following our collaborative report “Exploring Green Jobs for Youth in Africa’s Waste Recycling Sector” with the INCLUDE Knowledge Platform, this magazine serves to build upon the report’s insights from a youth perspective.
Green jobs are essential roles in businesses that significantly contribute to preserving or restoring environmental quality and preventing future harm to our planet’s ecosystems. These jobs not only protect the environment but also enhance the wellbeing of individuals and communities.
At CFYE, the rising number of green jobs in our portfolio has highlighted their importance in our learning agenda. Despite their benefits, many green jobs are situated in informal sectors, presenting challenges in ensuring job quality. Ensuring quality employment for young people is a core goal of the CFYE, making it crucial to understand what constitutes a quality job for this demographic.
Implementing Partners (IP’s) face additional challenges when creating green jobs. These positions often exist in sectors that are traditionally less attractive to young people and exhibit gender disparities. The waste management sector exemplifies such a sector. Understanding the factors that attract, retain, or deter young people from these jobs, and how these factors differ between men and women, is vital.
To gain a deeper understanding of job quality for young people, especially young women, this research was conducted in Kenya’s waste-recycling sector. The magazine presents the findings of this youth-centred research, focusing on job quality, gender disparities, and retention.
