Ruptured and Coveted Spaces: Youth Livelihood Trajectories in Post Conflict Context of Nigerian Communities
- PDF / 326,309 Bytes
- 13 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 91 Downloads / 142 Views
Ruptured and Coveted Spaces: Youth Livelihood Trajectories in Post Conflict Context of Nigerian Communities Jude Kenechi Onyima 1 Received: 9 December 2019 / Revised: 9 August 2020 / Accepted: 12 August 2020 # Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
Abstract This paper examined how youth in post conflict context navigate livelihood spaces and why some spaces rupture whereas others are coveted. The focus of the study was on why youth in post conflict communities in Nigeria who depended on agriculture for their livelihood lost interest in farming despite various intervention programmes. Drawing on six focused group discussions and a survey of the pattern of agricultural engagement of 420 youth, the paper argues that in post conflict context, a new order is created and youth’s choice of livelihood strategy is not usually based on moralistic assumptions but on craving for an improved position in the new order. Findings from the study attributed youth disinterest in agriculture to change in the societal incentive structure which shapes and validates livelihood options. By highlighting how youth in post conflict settings construe livelihood spaces and employ different agencies for gaining respectability in a new post conflict order, the paper provides insights into optimal attributes of post conflict interventions and incentives. Keywords Post conflict . Nigeria . Youth . Incentive structure . Livelihood spaces
Introduction Post conflict situation is usually characterised by new socio-economic structures that demand new norms, identities, and interpretations that are different from conditions witnessed before and during the conflict (Iwilade 2019). As a result of the changes, the manner in which youth identities and spaces are construed and validated changes significantly in regions recovering from conflict. Agencies and identities which enabled youth to maintain socio-economic and political relevance previously may be rendered * Jude Kenechi Onyima [email protected]
1
Middlesex University, London, UK
Journal of Applied Youth Studies
irrelevant in the new order implying that post conflict intervention programmes that do not proactively reflect the new order achieve less success. This study used the shift in youth interest in agriculture to explore how youth navigate various livelihood spaces in post conflict settings. In some developing economies, agriculture served as a source of livelihood and life wire of community life (World Bank 2019). This was the situation in some Nigerian communities where agriculture served as dominant livelihood strategy for a significant number of youth population. However, after ethno-religious conflicts that occurred between 2011 and 2015, youth interest and engagement in agriculture waned considerably in these communities. The Nigerian government provided agricultural incentives as part of post conflict recovery interventions but a significant percentage of youth farmers did not only disengaged from farming but also lost interest (Adesiji et al. 2014; Ibidapo et al. 2017). Some o
Data Loading...
