EMPOWERING YOUTH FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND HUMAN CAPACITY BUILDING

¹Ogbuoji Sylvia N. and ²Amadi Felicia N.

¹Department of Educational Psychology, Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze

²Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze

E-mail: sylviaogbuoji@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The aim of the paper is to show the role entrepreneurship and human capacity programmes can play in the achievement of holistic development of youth, while also allowing youth to contribute to national development. One of the many challenges today is unemployment.  Many graduate youth roam around the street without jobs. The few that are self employed do not have the necessary training that could sustain their businesses. This paper therefore discusses the concepts of youth, youth empowerment, entrepreneurship and human capacity, importance of youth entrepreneurship programmes for the acquisition of necessary life survival skills. Some capacity programmes for young entrepreneurs identified include: vocational entrepreneurship training, classroom training etc. Finally, the study further suggested ways of empowering youth through entrepreneurship to include quality education, finance, networking amongst others.