AJA-Mali: Education for Employment
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POVERTY, EDUCATION, AND EMPLOYMENT IN MALI
AJA's focus on employment springs from the harsh economic conditions in Mali and its young, increasingly urban population.
Poverty: Mali is a poor country. Average annual income for its 13 million citizens is around $300, and three quarters of them live on about a dollar a day.
Demographics: According to UN Development Program statistics, almost half of the population of Mali in 2002 was under 15 years old. There is also an increasing rate of urbanization. Today almost 30 percent of the country lives in cities, and the UN Development Program expects this to increase to over 40 percent by 2015.
Education: Education is essential for finding a decent job, but many families are unable to afford fees, books, clothes, and transportation costs. These barriers to education have resulted in low literacy rates (only about 20 percent of adults can read, according to the UNDP).
Economic Realities: Like many other developing countries in West Africa and other parts of the world, there are limited economic opportunities in Mali, especially for young people. There are few formal jobs with regular paychecks and benefits. Faced with this lack of opportunity, it is easy for young people to become disillusioned. They drop out of school, seeing no value in a formal education when there are no formal jobs. "People are more preoccupied with survival than they are with school," said Baba Diarra, program officer at AJA.
Job Training: Young people seeking to learn a trade traditionally become apprentices, learning at the hands of a master. The right apprenticeship can open up doors to opportunities, but it can also be exploitative, or simply teach basic skills with no management training. This makes it very difficult for apprentices to make the transition to starting their own businesses.
Informal Economy: For most, the only option is to seek work in the "informal" sector, an area of the economy operating outside formal government regulations. Informal work tends to be very entrepreneurial. Activities can range from selling food on the street, wage labor in construction, and many other jobs. Creative people become artisans, creating and selling furniture, jewelry, and other art. There are few educational programs that prepare young people to thrive in the informal sector, leaving them without basic business skills, such as how to develop a business plan, research what products to sell, market the business, and keep the books.
