Assessment of the Benefits of Livelihood Strategies Adopted among Youth in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Abstract

This paper examines the benefits of livelihood strategies adopted among youth in the North ‘A’ District of Zanzibar. A descriptive case study design was applied, while a mixed methods approach was essential to inform the breadth and depth of the topic. The target population were youth sampled by simple random sampling to obtain a 260 sample size. Purposive sampling was employed to interact with the participant. Data were collected using questionnaire surveys and documentary review methods. The quantitative data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics via the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The qualitative data were processed by theme and content analysis. The study revealed that many respondents were engaging in different livelihood activities in the study area. These involved 95 (36.5%) respondents who dealt with fishery activities, 6 (2.3%) respondents who were carpenters, 15 (5.7%) respondents who were tailors, 60 (23.0%) respondents were farmers, and 11 (4.2%) respondents were doing tourism activities. It was found that 6 (2.3%) of respondents were drivers, 40 (15.3%) respondents were students, 15 (5.7%) respondents were businesspeople, 5 (1.9%) were undertaking mechanics, and 7 (2.6%) respondents were teachers. These results reflect the dominance of agricultural and fishery livelihoods in the study area. It was found that there were expressed benefits related to livelihoods. These benefits involved 70.8% of respondents receiving financial benefits from their livelihood strategies, 85.4% as a source of food, and 66.2% as social benefits, among many others. It was concluded that the youth experience multiple benefits associated with livelihood strategies in the study area. These involve social, financial, skills development, and ownership of properties.  Recommended that investment in youth’s priority livelihoods is an imperative strategy in attempt to promote sustainable socio-economic benefits at local and national development. Agriculture and fishery skills, being the dominant sectors innovatively have the potential in facilitating youth livelihoods. Hence, they should be adopted and taught in the basic levels of education that accommodates the majority of youth in Zanzibar and Tanzania as a whole.