MOMBASA COUNTY YOUTH COVID-19 SURVEY

1

MOMBASA COUNTY YOUTH COVID-19 SURVEY:How is COVID-19 affecting young people in Mombasa?

This report was prepared by Global Development Incubator on behalf of The Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN). GOYN is a global initiative hosted by The Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solu-tions that partners with communities to expand economic opportunity for youth aged 15-29 who are out of school, unemployed, or working in informal jobs. GOYN mobilizes placed-based collective action in com-munities, accelerating programmatic and policy solutions to create scaled youth training, employment, and income-earning pathways.

We express deep gratitude to Swahilipot Foundation, YouthBuild International, Cities Rise, Catholic Relief Services, as well as the many inspiring young people who contributed their time and insights to the survey and it’s analysis as represented herein.

Acknowledgements

Authors• Global Opportunity Youth Network: Nduku Kitenge, Alice Gugelev• GOYN Youth Advisory Group Members: Feisal Okech, Alfred Sigo,

Swabra Omar, Vincent Ouma, Rhoda Malemba, Fatma Mbarak• YouthBuild International: Joel Miranda

2

Brief Outline:

1. Executive Summary 2

2. Introduction 4

3. Survey Methodology 5

4. Results and Analysis 5

5. Recommendations 11

6. Conclusion 11

7. Reference List 12

ANNEX: 13

Mombasa county has witnessed an alarming increase in youth unemployment and economic vulnerability since the onset of COVID-19. Even before the pandemic, Mombasa had experienced youth unemployment rates at close to 44%. A steep slow-down in economic activity produced by stringent lockdown measures and restricted access to education and training, mean that youth in Mombasa now face an even greater challenge navigating a path to employable skills, income and employment.

In July 2020, popular local job website Brighter Monday registered a staggering 58% drop in local job listings (Muiruri, 2020). At the time of writing this report county public schools have been closed for six consecutive months and it remains unclear when

students will be able to return to the classroom.

This report details the results of a youth survey conducted by GOYN in six Mombasa sub-counties exploring youth perceptions of the impact of COVID-19. Survey results indicate that youth in Mombasa are anxious about the impact COVID-19 may have on their employment prospects but remain hopeful the government and their communities can devize solutions to effectively respond to the challenge. The survey also highlights a striking gap in digital access for young people, a circumstance that if left unaddressed, will deepen the socioeconomic divide between those who can afford regular internet access and connected devices and those who cannot.

1. Executive Summary

3

MOBILE PHONE: The majority of youth access digital information via a mobile device. 48.5% have access to a smartphone, 59.7% spend an average KES 1500 (USD 15) per month on airtime, which is equivalent to about 5GB of data that gives access to approximately 5 hours of video streaming.

CONNECTIVITY & ONLINE LEARNING: ~25% have limited (0-2 hrs per day) access to the internet, and over 75% have limited access to laptop devices which aid in online learning.

AWARENESS: Over 80% of survey respondents believed they were well informed about COVID-19, suggesting that the government has been somewhat effective in efforts to create awareness. The vast majority of youth rely on television as their pri-mary source of information on COVID-19 (over 70%). Other popular sources include WhatsApp, the radio, and Facebook.

OUTLOOK: 44% of youth indicated they were optimistic that a lasting solution would be found for COVID-19 while 41.3% felt concerned that the economy would not recover

ECONOMIC IMPACT: 63.7% said their financial stability had been negatively af-fected by the pandemic. 14.8% had received government support.

PRESSURES: Youth cite stress, loneliness, and losing jobs as the major factors con-tributing to poor mental health. Over 50% of the youth have experienced frustra-tion, fear, and sadness to a high intensity.

COPING MECHANISMS: 44% felt that mandatory social isolation had affected their mental health. Youth identified helpful coping mechanisms including: (i) con-necting with family and friends via social media and phone/text (90%), (ii) staying at home as much as possible (49%) (iii) physical exercise (33%) and (iv) reading (25%)

PRIORITIES: Respondents recommended 3 priority solutions to aid youth in re-sponse to the pandemic: (i) provision of food subsidies (40%); (ii) provision of life skills training and mentorship (38%), (iii) expand access to educational content (35%)

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE: Government-led interventions that youth deemed to be more effective include: cleaning & disinfecting (27%), isolation measures (19%). Government-led interventions deemed less effective: panic control (14.7%), eco-nomic aids (8%)

PEER SUPPORT: OY felt they could best support each other through a) supporting existing businesses and connecting to income-earning opportunities b) encourag-ing each other/offering advice c) creating awareness about the pandemic

AC

CES

SC

OV

ID I

MPA

CT

MEN

TAL

HEA

LTH

SOLU

TIO

NS

Youth respondents shared observations and insights around 4 key areas:

4

According to the ILO the COVID-19 pandemic may have protracted and severe consequences for this generation of youth, a population who have been termed the “lockdown generation”. Hardship from the crisis have disproportionately impacted the poorest and most vulnerable households in Kenya, a large proportion of whom reside in urban centers and depend on self-employment, informal labor agreements and daily wages (World Bank, 2020).

In March 2020 the Government of Kenya set in place a suite of strict measures to control the spread of COVID-19, including an 6am - 7pm curfew, lock-down of entry into and out of Mombasa and Nairobi counties, and social distance and mask restrictions. By late September, more than 38,000 Kenyans had contracted the virus. Mombasa was one of the hard-est hit counties nationally, recording 2670 cases of infection. The county has been particularly vulner-able due to its reliance on hospitality and tourism, an industry that accounts for close to 70%of wage employment and typically absorbs large numbers of young people (US Embassy in Kenya, 2020).

There has been a rallying call to support developing countries with resources to fight the pandemic. The World Bank, for example, committed to 1Billion USD

funding to support Kenya in addressing financing gaps during COVID-19 (World Bank, 2020). Momba-sa county has received economic support to with-stand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic from various entities including the ‘Kazi Mtaani’ national hygiene initiative hosted by the government of Ken-ya (“National Hygiene Program (NHP) ‘Kazi Mtaani,’” 2020). This was complemented by a Danish Embas-sy grant of DKK 20 million to support a cash transfer program that will support about 12,000 households with cash transfers provided through the Kenya Red Cross (Oxfam, 2020). These are but a few of the ini-tiatives designed to to support youth in vulnerable communities.

While these generous efforts are extremely useful, they barely scratch the surface of the need for the estimated 373,000 Opportunity Youth in Mombasa who are unemployed, not in education or informal employment (GDI, 2019). More investment, creativ-ity and political will is required to deconstruct the systemic barriers that cause youth unemployment to persist at such high rates, limit the economic mo-bility of marginalized populations and ultimately to stimulate the creation of sustainable, locally rele-vant employment opportunities.

The survey had two key objectives :

1. Gauge youth perceptions on the impacts of COVID-19 in Mombasa

a. Health impact: i.e. mental health, and physical health as relates to COVID-19

b. Employment impact: i.e. ability to secure income and earn a livelihood

2. Understand OY capacity to engage in online learning, collaboration and job seeking and identify barriers to access

2. Introduction

3. Survey Methodology

5

The survey included 194 Youth in Mombasa County i/e youth aged 18-35. These youth were selected through a convenience sampling method to ensure diversity of sub county and ward. Surveys were conducted via phone where youth were interviewed by GOYN Youth Advisory Group members who advice the GOYN work

on a regular basis. 53.1% of respondents were male and 45.9% were female. 22.4% were persons with disabilities. Over 50% were aged 18-24 with an almost equal representation from each of the sub counties of Mombasa.

a. AccessOpportunity Youth in Mombasa do not have regular access to the internet and computing devices. In fact, about 25% of youth have less than 2 hours of internet access per day.

Many online learning curriculums are designed to be accessed via laptops/desktop devices, however, more than 75% of youth in Mombasa have less than 2 hours of access to these devices per day. More-over, men are 6 times more likely to have laptop devices than women. Less than half of youth have access to a smartphone that can provide access to mobile learning.

59.7% of respondents spend an average of KES 1500 (USD 15) per month on airtime, enough to stream about five hours of online video content.

Process

Research design and training Collection and AnalysisMay - June 2020 July – Aug 2020

Survey questionnaire design:

• GOYN Bogota Survey

• Cities Rise (GDI initiative/)

• GOYN Digital access survey

Data collectors training

• Survey questions

• Interview techniques

• Safeguarding policy

Data collection

• 5 days

• 194 responses

• At least 30 per data collector

• Participating OY re-cieved KES 100(USD 1$)

Analysis:

• Google form analytics

• Insights development

4. Results and Analysis

Figure 1 Research design and analysis workplan

6

Facebook

b. COVID Impact80.6% of respondents felt well informed about measures to prevent COVID-19, however, a third considered social distancing restrictions to be a barrier to accessing employment. Primary sources of information about COVID are (i) TV (over 70%); (ii) WhatsApp; (iii) Facebook; and (iv) Radio. 65.8 % of the respondents would volunteer to take a COVID test and carry out the necessary social restrictions.

Opportunity Youth feel that COVID has severely af-fected their financial stability, personal and family wellbeing, and access to basic needs, but are op-timistic their peers and the government can pro-vide solutions to address some of these challenges. 14.8% of respondents have received financial sup-port from the government. Youth agree that govern-ment efforts to support young people and promote isolation measures have been somewhat effective. 44% of youth feel that a solution will be found for COVID-19 but, 41.3% doubt that the national econ-omy will recover.

Primary sources of

information

TV

WhatsApp

Radio

44% of youth feel that a solution will be found for COVID-19 but, 41.3% doubt that the national

economy will recover.

7

Facebook

Severely Considerably Somewhat Not at all

How has COVID-19 affected access to basic

needs?

How has COVID-19 affected your financial

stability?

How has COVID-19 affected your family?

How has COVID-19 affected your mental

health?

How has COVID-19 affected you personally?

11

42

14

9

17

41

44

34

11

34

49

77

66

51

68

95

33

82

125

77

How can young people support

each other during this season

Support each other and take care of each

other eg. create online/virtual

support groups

Be there for each other and encourage each

other – peer counselling

Sensitize each other with

information on COVID-19

Sharing the little we have

with those who don’t

have eg. Food support

Support each other’s small businesses

Sharing available information and

opportunities with friends

Hea

lth a

nd psyc

ho-social supports Econom

ic Supports:

Figure 2 How has COVID affected OY?

Figure 3 How can young people and government support in this season?

8

Hea

lth a

nd

psy

cho-

soci

al su

pports

Economic Supports:

What can the government do to

support this season

Educate people on effects of COVID-19

Increase ac-cess to health facilities and medication

Provide sup-port to unem-ployed youth

and vulnerable families eg. cash transfers; food

supplies

Provide mental health supports

Provide water and sanitizers

Create op-portunities for employment

eg. make proj-ects like ‘Kazi Mtaani’ more permanent

Work with youth groups to ad-

vance economic opportunities

Create job opportunities

for those who have

lost their jobs

Invest more in youth

programming

Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neither Agree or Disagree Somewhat Disagree

A Solution Will Be Found For Covid-19

People Will Comply With Mandatory Isolation Measures

The National Economy Will Recover Quickly After This Situation

Disagree

To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding covid-19

Figure 4 Youth response to questions asked about a future with the COVID-pandemic

9

A majority of the respondents feel COVID-19 is a dangerous disease that kills. They feel it has impacted livelihoods and made most feel sadness and fear.

c. Mental Health

90% 49% 33% 25%

Connecting with family and friends via social media and phone/text

Staying at home as much as possible

Physical exercise Reading

Most have identified coping mechanisms such as:

Figure 5 Word cloud of youth responses to how they could describe their feelings about COVID-19 impact

10

The youth ranked the proposed interventions to COVID-19 in the following order. The first line of action proposed is the provision of food subsidy. This is closely followed by lifeskills training and access to edu-cation content.

Fired

Food subsidy assistance

Life skills training and mentorship

Access to educational content

Job search resources

Investment in creative economy

Academic mentoring - finding the right course of study*

Unemployment Benefits such as social protection, unemployment checks

1 2

3

4

5

6

7

d. Solutions

Figure 6 Prioritized interventions

11

Upon review of the survey responses, the GOYN Youth Advisory Group provided five key recommendations:

1. Expand data and evidence gathering

• This survey provided useful insights on the impacts of COVID-19 on the youth of Mombasa

• Youth recommended that community leaders carry out more extensive, regular youth surveys with a larger sample size to monitor changes in youth wellbeing over time as the pandemic continues. Results should be shared and discussed with youth, policy makers, youth services providers and development institutions to inform and guide efforts in Mombasa.

2. Strengthen mental and psychosocial supports

• COVID-19 has intensified pressures on young people, amplifying feelings of stress and anxiety. Community leaders should extend psychosocial supports available to youth in Mombasa such as counselling, peer support groups and resources on managing stress and building resilience.

• The government and other agencies should increase awareness-building activities to reduce stigma and disinformation about COVID-19 that have harmful psychological and health impacts.

3. Make digital education accessible to all

• Access to the internet and connected devices is not yet ubiquitous in Mombasa. Those youth who cannot reliably access the internet for training, learning and employment will be further marginalized unless these gaps are addressed.

• Youth recommend that community leaders work to democratize digital access, to en-sure all youth can participate in online learning and training, not just the most privi-leged.

4. Prioritize life skills development

• Youth want more focus to be placed on life skills and mentorship. Financial literacy, personal planning and life management are critically important competencies that help youth navigate life and career. Life skills enable youth to make better decisions and avoid pitfalls like debt that can have long-lasting consequences on further education and employment.

5. Promote youth volunteerism

• Many youth are ready to volunteer and support the COVID-19 response and recovery effort but do not know how to get involved in such activities.

• Active organizations need to better promote youth volunteering opportunities that en-able youth to respond to COVID-19 while gaining valuable skills and competencies.

6. Continue to provide emergency supports

• While there are important larger systemic issues to be addressed, there remains an immediate need to connect youth to emergency financial support and essential sup-plies given the steep reductions of income and work opportunities, e.g. food, sanitary towels, PPE*.

• Youth cited good examples of such initiatives e.g. ‘Sanitary Towels Mashinani’ project by Changamwe Youth Caucus.

5. Youth Recommendations

12

County Integrated Development Plan 2018-2022(CIDP). (2018).

ILO. (2020). Youth, Education and COVID-19 Sur-vey Report_final. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_753060/lang--en/index.htm

Muiruri, K. (2020). Job opportunities drop by half as COVID-19 bites. Retrieved September 29, 2020, from Citizen Digital website: https://citizentv.co.ke/business/job-opportunities-drop-by-over-half-as-covid-19-bites-339867/

National Hygiene Program (NHP) “Kazi Mtaani.” (2020). Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://housingandurban.go.ke/national-hygiene-pro-gramme-kazi-mtaani/

Oxfam. (2020). OXFAM. Retrieved September 21, 2020, from https://kenya.oxfam.org/latest/press-re-lease/denmark-providing-dkk-20-million-cash-transfers-food-insecure-families-and-sgbv

Parsitau, D. S., & Jepkemei, E. (2020). How school closures during COVID-19 further marginalize vul-nerable children in Kenya. Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/edu-cation-plus-development/2020/05/06/how-school-closures-during-covid-19-further-marginalize-vul-nerable-children-in-kenya/

US Embassy in Kenya. (2020). COVID-19 Informa-tion. Retrieved May 16, 2020, from https://ke.usem-bassy.gov/covid-19-information/

World Bank. (2020). Kenya’s Tough Balancing Act: Protecting Lives and Livelihoods in the Time of COVID-19. Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/kenya/pub-lication/kenyas-tough-balancing-act-protecting-lives-and-livelihoods-in-the-time-of-covid-19

7. Reference List

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected Youth well being and access to livelihoods. Eco-system actors need to consider both the short-term emergency response needs such as food subsi-dies and long-term youth economic empowerment

needs such as skills development for emerging jobs. It is imperative that the government and other stake-holders draw together and coordinate efforts to mit-igate the effects of COVID-19 on youth livelihoods in Mombasa.

6. Conclusion

13

ABOUT GOYN MOMBASAThe Global Opportunity Network is housed at the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions and is co-designed by partners Prudential, the Global Development Incubator, YouthBuild International and Accenture, and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The organizations bring complementary strengths and expertise to the challenge of global youth unemployment and, collectively, share a deep commitment to supporting employment and income-earning pathways for global opportunity youth.

• The Aspen Institute’s Forum for Community Solutions promotes collaborative, community-based efforts that build the power and influence of those with the least access to opportunity. The Forum brings to GOYI experience and insight helping communities come together to eliminate systemic barriers and create their own solutions to their most pressing challenges.

• The Global Development Incubator (GDI) is a non-profit that builds startups and partnerships to address some of the world’s toughest global development challenges. GDI brings to GOYI significant experience launching place-based multi-stakeholder initiatives as well as expertise in impact finance.

• YouthBuild International is a global non-profit focused on unleashing the intelligence and positive energy of young people to transform

their lives and rebuild their communities. YouthBuild International brings deep in-market experience to GOYI and excels in ensuring youth voice and agency influence solutions at every step of the process.

• Prudential has, for many years, been a leading champion and funder of opportunity youth programming and initiatives in the United States. With GOYI, Prudential is bringing its substantial experience and global footprint to support global opportunity youth.

• Accenture applies the passion and expertise of its people, deep knowledge of technology and its impact, and strategic partnerships to create innovations that help address urgent social issues. Accenture will facilitate GOYI design and planning processes in specific communities, supporting anchor institutions and community leaders to form a local strategy to create career pathways for opportunity youth.

• Catholic Relief Services (CRS) works with organizations around the world to help poor and vulnerable people overcome emergencies, earn a living through agriculture and access affordable health care

In Mombasa, the GOYN is led by a core team consisting of Global Development Incubator, Swahilipot Hub and Catholic Relief Services.

1. ANNEX: