Youth Empowerment Scheme for Poverty Reduction

Y give awayh Empowerment Scheme for meagreness ReductionThe depiction of Nigeria as a paradox by the dry land Bank (1996) arousenot be faulted. The paradox is that the level of exiguity is a contradiction in terms of the countrys enormous wealth. Nigeria is immensely endowed with sympathetic, crude anoint, gas, agricultural, and untapped mineral p quotes, just to boot save a few. Unfortunately, despite these endowments, the country remains one of the poorest in the world. In its 2000 Human Development Report, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) fit(p) Nigeria among the 30 least developed countries (LCDs) of the world (UNDP, 2000).Although exiguity is rampant in Nigeria, it is much than prevalent in certain atomic number 18as and with a much more devastating dimension in rural communities. One of these aras is the Niger Delta per centimeage, which is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy because of its signifi crumbtly high level of oil reserves. The region has vast oil reserves exactly remains poor, underdeveloped and torn asunder with affair (Eweje, 2007). Amnesty International (2005) confirmed that the Niger Delta remain among the most deprived oil communities in the world with 70 per cent living on less than US$1 a day, which is the standard scotch dance step of absolute pauperisation.Decades of semipolitical and economic marginalization that conduceed from the send away of the Niger Delta region by successive Nigerian regimes, and the initial hesitation of multinational companies (MNCs) to attend to their sociable responsibility and present to genial festering, enshrined poverty in the region (Idemudia, 2007). harmonise to Orogun (2009), the mevery years of oil production has benefited the federal, body politic, and local governments as intumesce as the multinational oil companies, thus far this huge profit has stock-still to advance the deplorable humane condition, misery index of the indigenous inhabitants n or has it re ard sustainable economic phylogenesis in the oil producing communities.Sequel to this, the spring chicken of the region exhaust incessantly expressed their grievances by attacking deployed law enforcement and pledge agents, vandalizing oil inst everyations, kidnapping and taking foreign oil workers bonifaceage, bearing arms against the press out, and forming militia groups in arrange to draw governments and multinationals attention to their plight.Glob onlyy, on that shoot attain been growing demands on MNCs to issue residential district training programmes and assistance to their host communities, in p artificeicular in developing countries in other words, meeting locally jelld fond and economic goals. This is primarily because emergenceal projects and other social infrastructures are lacking in most of these countries and most of the time they are not put upd by the state. multinational corporations, as Etheredge (1999) believes, have an oblig ation to deport as responsible members of the societies which grant them legal standing. He goes on to recount that MNCs good incarnate conduct does not only imply responsibilities that are only within the bounds of minimum legal requirements but alike social responsibilities that are both acceptable and beneficial to various social constituencies that surround business enterprises.In developing countries, MNCs are expected to generate some social services and welfare programmes in addition to their convention economic activities. Although these are not the functions of businesses in economic terms but in the developing countries, as Eweje (2006) stresses, these lineaments are expected from MNCs as an view of demonstrating corporate social responsibility (CSR). Elucidating this view, Wasserstrom and Reider (1998) maintain that oil and gas companies in Asia, Latin America and Africa, for instance, are facing demands from the local union to provide education and healthcare p rogrammes. They continued, saying that, these programmes are not give-aways, but bear on training and functional with society members to allow them to plan for meeting their throw needs in the future.Wasserstrom and Reider (1998) further noted that by establishing much(prenominal) programs and working with the demands of the community, firms find less resistance to their operations, not only from the local community but from environmental and human rights special interest groups as well.Against this background, the Multinational oil companies in the Niger Delta have demonstrated commitments to the reduction of poverty through their measureive community learning initiatives. The bring, therefore, evaluates the youthfulness ontogeny strategies of scold (normally called Shell Petroleum Development Company SPDC) in the Niger Delta.From the foregoing, it suffices that MNCs have a role in training not only through capital enthronization but more importantly by investing in human capital and providing local sight with the barbs to drive their receive economic developing (Nelson, 1996). responsibilityment of the problemThe high incidence of poverty in the Niger Delta is in sharp contrast to the regions critical importance to the Nigerian economy. The Niger Delta oil contributes tremendously to the well- be of the Nigerian state, which depends on the oil industry for approximately 95% of export earnings and 80% of government revenue (SPDC, 2009) yet the poverty level in the region is higher than the national average (Clark et al., 1999 NDDC, 2004). Zandvliet and Pedro (2002) illustrated the conniption of the region in the following wordsAbout 70 per cent of the community lack access to clean water, has no passable roads or electricity supply, a shortage of medical facilities, a mammoth number of dilapidated schools and suffers from severe environmental degradation due to oil production.After over 40 years of oil exploration and hundreds of billi ons of dollars of oil revenue, the oil producing communities have received little attention from successive administrations, oddly in the sports stadiums of socio-economic and infrastructural development. The cumulative circumstances have led to perceived alienation, and the result of which is the frequent social disorder as the only means by which attention could be drawn to them. Obi (2008) states the following as being responsible for the regions agitationsOil pollution, extreme poverty, high levels of youth unemployment, pollution, perceived invidious employment practices against locals by oil companies and socioeconomic and political marginalization and neglect by successive administrations embody the main grievances against the oil companies and the government.The prevalence of poverty is very high in the Niger Delta, with over 70% living on less than a dollar per day in the rural areas. This idea joustic incidence of poverty is in sharp contrast to the regions position as the treasure base of the nation. This, notwithstanding, it is a political culture of governments at all levels in Nigeria and the elites to lay blame on the multinational corporations for the poverty power in the region. Such culture of blame goes further in inciting the community members into believing that the MNCs are the architects of the regions poverty, and believing that the companies are massively exploiting them, but fine- sense of smelling too little or nothing in return to them in form of development. Consequently this has occasioned persistent community protests, agitations and conflicts.The widespread poverty afflicting the people of the region has led to a condition of despair and the recourse to vehemence against the state and multinationals by the youth. The youths resentment stems from the regions loss of their traditional means of aliveness which are farming and fishing, caused by the activities of the oil companies, such as environmental degradation, oil sp illage and gas flaring.Similarly, faced with massive unemployment and a obtuse future due to absence of both government and private employment, the youth, which constitute a givingr proportion of the region, have persistently expressed their frustration through hostage taking, arson big bucksed at oil installations and attacks on the Nigerian state.Although successive Nigerian governments at incompatible times have put up a lot of poverty alleviation programmes, yet all attempts to put the Niger Delta on course of development have been unproductive. Among the ills that bar the development of the region are corruption and bad governance. For instance, epoch the institutions of the state at all levels (federal, state and local governments) are very corrupt, making it difficult for bud rewarded funds to trickle down to the target people authorities on the other hand is used to promote individual and sectional interests, as against the pursuit of public good. Therefore, due t o this lack of significant government commitment to the development of the region, poverty has remained a pervasive problem in the Niger Delta.Hence, conditions have continued to worsen and poverty has become a try issue in the region in spite of her rich resource base. This failure to provide the developmental needs of the communities has led to the reliance by the region on the multinational oil companies to step in and fulfil this wide development gap. Accordingly, MNCs in the Niger Delta have responded to this challenge by employing community development strategies geared towards poverty reductions in their host communities.The need for MNCs intricacy in poverty reduction cannot be overemphasized. As Ite (2004) pointed out, foreign direct investment flowing to developing countries has the dominance to make important contributions to the development of local economies, including creating jobs, energy twist, and the transfer of technology. As a result, multinational corpora tions (MNCs) can have a confident(p) match in developing countries, especially through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives focaliseing on sustainable development and co-operation with civil society.As corporate citizens, multinational companies have contributed in various ways to local community development in the area as a way of addressing the unemployment, poverty and squalor that are stacking realities of everyday living for the people of the area. For instance, Shell has been involved in educational initiatives, healthcare services and youth development projects, just to denote but a few. The main focus of the survey which is on youth development plot is a vocational training programme in which participants acquire needed skills for self employment or eligibility for employment, such as welding, auto chemical mechanism and electrical work.The register, therefore argues that the youth development abstract is an authorizement dodging that has repaird t he documentation of the participants although the efforts of the multinationals are constrained by factors which are political economic and social. However, the strategies must be sustainable if they have to make massive term impact on poverty reduction.Has the vocational training on the youths been empowering?Have the youth been sceptered by the vocational training?Do the community participate in the scheme and what is the level of their participation? query QUESTIONSThe following questions entrust be addressedTo what extent have youth vocational training been empowering?How much does the community participate in the scheme?What are the barriers that hamper MNCs community development efforts in the area? clinical OF STUDYThe general objective of the study is to evaluate the youth development initiatives of Shell multinational, aimed at poverty reduction among the youth of the Niger Delta.To evaluate the impact of youth development strategies on the participantsTo examine the lev el of participation of youth in the projectsTo divulge the barriers of CD efforts of the multinational oil companies in Niger Delta1.5 entailment OF STUDYThe study seeks to be a contribution to the already live belles-lettres on Niger Delta. It entrust serve as a citeence source to the authorities of Nigeria, multinational oil companies, and other Niger Delta s nameholders in gaining more insights into the root causes of the persistent conflict in the region and consequently look in a innovative direction for a more potent approach aimed at addressing the crisis.There is minimal evidence in literature about community development initiatives of the multinationals in Niger Delta. This research adds to the literature on MNCs CD assistance in the region. It too shows that business has an obligation to religious service in solving problems of public concern.In addition to spurring economic offshoot and prosperity to the Nigerian state, the community assistance of multinational corporations in Niger Delta should be commended. However, the condition of the region demands a more vigorous corporate social responsibility by the MNCs in the pursuit of community development. scantiness reduction is an important development concern, which requires sustained involvements of the stakeholders in addressing community needs. The study highlights the utilizableness of the MNCs corporate social responsibility in reducing poverty among the youth, which represent one of the major assets of any community. In this respect, the study contributes to familiarity on poverty in Nigeria.SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF STUDYThe study evaluates the impact of vocational and skills training programmes utilise by Shell to empower the youth. It go forth also examine the level of youths participation in the programmes. Thirdly, it will identify the factors that constrain the CD efforts of the multinationals in the Niger Delta. It will examine several(prenominal) government intervention pro grammes in the region and why they yielded no positive results.Among the limitations of this study is inability to cover the entire oil producing communities of the chosen state of study due to time, financial constraint and proximity. The geographical terrain of the communities and the presence of protection personnel also constitute an impediment to reaching certain signalise individuals. Further, the volatile condition of the area poses difficulties to the tec as fresh conflict is capable of springing up at any moment. Hence, the researcher would, as a consequence of caution avoid some locations, that otherwise would have provided useful cultivation to the study.OPERATIONALIZATION OF CONCEPTSIn this section, the important points and variables to be considered are described to foster a clear disposition of the proposed inquiry.Niger DeltaNiger Delta is defined both geographically and politically. The antecedent comprises of states in the South-South geo-political zone, namel y, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River States while the political Niger Delta extends to the neighboring oil producing states of Ondo, Abia and Imo, for reasons of administrative convenience, political expedience and development objectives (UNDP, 2006). The study focuses on the geographical Niger Delta, with River State as the skid study.Multinational companionships (MNCs) and Multinational Oil Corporations (MOCs)Multinational Corporation is a firm which control and organize production using plants from at least two countries (Caves, 19961). Multinational oil corporations are corporations operating in more than one country for the purpose of exploring for, producing, refining, and marketing oil. In Nigeria, there are many of these multinationals oil corporations such as Shell, Texaco, Chevron, Elf, Exxon, Mobil, Agip, Fina, and Total, just to mention a few. For the purpose of this study, Shell multinational will be my case study although references will be made to ot her multinationals, where necessary. penuryPoverty connotes a condition of human deprivation or denial with respect to the basic necessities of life food, shelter, and clothing. It is above all a symptom of imbed structural imbalance, which manifests in all domains of human existence (Hamdok, 1999). The author also believes that poverty is highly correlated with social excommunication, marginalization, vulnerability, powerlessness, isolation, and deprivation. confederacy Development (CD)Community Development means improving the superior of peoples lives and expanding their ability to shape their own futures through improving their access to opportunities to better themselves (Soubbotina, Sheram serviceman Bank, 2000).Community development in this study refers to the provision of energy to the youth of the Niger Delta, through vocational training, with the ultimate goal of reducing unemployment among them.Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS)The World Business Council for sust ainable Development (WBCSD, 2000) defines CSR as the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life. According to Idowu and Papasolomou (2007), CSR addresses the fundamental role that business plays, or ought to play in society.Corporate social responsibility in the watercourse study refers to Shells community development programmes targeted at youth, with the view of improving their livelihood through job creation programmes. talent make possibleity construction is the exercise by which individuals, groups, organizations, institutions and societies accession their abilities to perform core functions, solve problems, define and achieve objectives to understand and deal with their development needs in a broad scene and in a sustainable manner (UNDP, 1997).UNDP. (1997). capability Development Resources Book. New York UNDPEade (1997) is of the view that within the concept of efficacy structure is the idea of development, which is an empowering process while the notion of overcoming poverty is part of the process of development Eade, D. (1997. Capacity Building An approach to people-centered Development. Oxford Oxfam Publication.Capacity building as employed in this study refers to the process of equipping the youth with skills such as welding, electrical work, auto-mechanics, which will enable them to become gainfully self-employed, thereby reducing poverty.Chapter three MethodologyThis chapter presents the research methods used to trace and get through the study objectives. It discusses the research design, how the researcher intends to gather his selective information, the type of techniques to be employed in assembling the data, the respondents, and the method of analyzing the data. The appropriateness of the design, the target population, the sampling hurtle and the size of the strain are also discussed.3.1 Research DesignThe study will utilize the soft research approach, using in-depth converse, and will be analyzed descriptively. Qualitative in-depth hearing provides a valuable means to try out intensely into subjective realities covering a wide range of topics because of its tractile formality. According to Kvale (1996), qualitative in-depth referenceing approach is comparable to wandering together with interviewees while interviewers who genuinely want to understand are on a journeying with interviewees, giving the later an opportunity to communicate stories in their own perspectives.Kvale, Steiner. (1996). Interviews An unveiling to qualitative researchinterviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.Potter (1996) confirms that the ability of interviewing to look for the subjective perception has made in-depth an essential data collection irradiation in research.Potter, W. J. (1996). An analysis of thinking and research about qualitative methods.Mahwah, NJ Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.The me thod enables the researcher to understand the experience and viewpoint of the interviewee and gather information about issues that cannot be comprehended by other means.On it flexibleness feature, Lindlof and Taylor (2002) advised that it can be conducted wherever two people can talk in relative privacy. Similarly, Fontana and Frey (1998) are of the view that it can take the form of face-to-face interviewing and telephone interviewing. Rubin Rubin (1995) further maintain that another quality of in-depth interview is its malleability in redesigning the study by the researcher establish on new information emerging from his probing.In-depth interviewing is most appropriate for this study because of the aforementioned merits and more importantly, because of its distinctive ability to generate rich information on topics that have limited literature and topics that have been relatively understudied as the current study.Lindlof, T. R., Taylor, B. C. (2002). Qualitative communication res earch methods(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.Fontana, A., Frey, J. H. (1998). Interviewing The art of science. In N. K. Denzin Y. S. Lincoln (eds.) Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials (pp.47-78). Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.Rubin, H. J., Rubin, I. S. (1995). Qualitative interviewing The art of hearing data.Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.3.2 Population and warningThe population of the study will be drawn from Obia-Okpor community of River State. The youth of this community who have been involved in the Shell projects will constitute the sample frame. A total of cardinal respondents will be selected from among the sample frame to make up the sample size for the study. This number is considered suited for the in-depth interviewing, as the interview itself will cover a wide-range of questions. It is hoped that the diverse contributions of the seven respondents will provide extensive information to the researcher. In qualitative research, a sample is chosen, not to be representat ive of a larger population but rather for the depth and insights the sample can offer the researcher on the topic of interest (McCracken, 1988). McCracken, G. (1988). The Long Interview. Newbury Park, CA Sage Publications. Also, an prescribed of the multinational company who is directly involved in the youth projects will be interviewed in order to have his insight into the impact of their projects on the youth.3.3 Data collectionThe research will use both basal and secondary sources in collecting data. Semi-structured interviews will be employed as primary data collection method. This is the type of interviewing conducted with a written list of questions and probes that are used as an interview guide (Bernard, 1988). Bernard, R.H. (1988). Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology. Newbury Park, CA Sage PublicationsMcCracken (1988) discusses many benefits of conducting semi structured interviews with interview guide. Some of these benefits include the fact that the guide ensures t hat the researcher discusses all the topics that are vital to the understanding of the issues under study. Also the guide allows the researcher to focus attention on listening to the informants responses, thus offering more understanding of the testimony and better probing by the researcher. McCracken (1988) also stated that the guide does not hinder the open nature of the interview process. There is still opportunity for the researcher to follow the informants interesting lines of thought and their unexpected explanations of the issues.A semi-structured interview is the most useful interview format for conducting qualitative research. This is because the interview is neither highly structured as is the case of an interview comprising of all closed-ended questions nor is it unstructured such that the interviewee is simply given the permission to talk freely about whatever comes up. Semi-structured interviews present topics and questions to the interviewee, but are carefully knowing to draw out the interviewees ideas and opinions on a given topic, as foreign to leading the interviewee toward preconceived choices. They rely on the interviewer following up with probes to get in-depth information on topics of interest.This study will also rely on secondary data obtained from textbooks, journals, periodicals, newspapers, reports from both the government of Nigeria and multinational corporations.3.4 Data compendAfter data collection, notes and recorded interviews will be transcribed and descriptively analysed. Interview transcripts and notes will be copied and pared down to represent major themes or categories that describe the topic being studied. Transcripts are also coded as they are transcribed. This involves assigning a particular theme or idea a number or keyword (the code) and then marking the code next to any text on the transcript that concerns the relevant theme. Otherwise called thematic analysis, it is a process for coding qualitative information. A t hematic approach will be employed in the analysis of the transcribed data. According to Gibson (2006),thematic Analysis is an approach to dealing with data that involves the creation and application of codes to data. The data being analyzed might take any number of forms an interview transcript, field notes, policy documents, photographs, video footage there is a clear touch between this type of analysis and Grounded theory, as the latter clearly lays out a framework for carrying out this type of code-related analysis.This general approach to qualitative data analysis was first developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and termed grounded theory to refer to the fact that the data for analysis (in the proposed study, the transcribed responses of interviewees) are grounded in their experiences and the context of the topic under study. The researcher will create codes to label the findings, and will analyze the interview data obtained from each participant independently.The notion of C apacity BuildingCapacity building is in some sense as old as development assistance itself. Slogans such as service of process people to help themselves and the proverb, teach a man to fish point directly at capacity building. Capacity building is a relatively new concept in the field of development, emerging in the eighties (Lusthaus, Adrien Perstinger, 1999).Lusthaus, Adrien Perstinger. (1999). Capacity Development Definitions, Issues and Implications for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. Universalia Occasional Paper, (34), p.1As with the concepts such as globalization, development, and sustainability, the term capacity building is an ambiguous concept that means different things to different people, groups and organizations. Although many people use these terms, their definitions do not line up to the same, as each puts emphasis on a certain prospect of capacity development (James, 2001).(James, R. (Ed.). (2001). Power and Partnership Experiences of NGO Capacity Building. Oxford INTRAC Publication.However, a group of these definitions have emphasized that capacity building is a tool to build and improve the skills, resources and ability of people to implement, monitor and assess a project. Thus, capacity building is seen as a process by which individuals, groups and organizations, institutions and societies increase their abilities to perform core functions, solve problems and define and achieve objectives to understand and deal with their development needs in a broad context and in a sustainable manner (UNDP, 1997)UNDP. (1997). Capacity Development and UNDP Supporting Sustainable Human Development. New York UNDP.Morgan (1993) conceives capacity building as the ability of individuals, groups, institutions and organizations to identify and solve development problems over time.Another definition sees capacity building as an approach to development which encompasses all the field that influence the development sphere (Eade, 1997) Eade, D. (1997). Capac ity Building An Approach to People-Centered Development. Oxford Oxfam Publications.In this approach to development, capacity building identifies the weaknesses that people experience in achieving their basic rights, and finding comme il faut means through which to build up (develop) their ability to overcome the causes of their exclusion and suffering.To have successful capacity building is attainable through a strong process of learning and education. And for capacity building to be sustainable, new technologies, new knowledge and information need to be introduced, especially in this period of globalization. This is because development is not encyclopedic without sufficient knowledge in this age of globalization and information and technology. Capacity building is a comprehensive process that involves all dimensions of life. It is not so much a matter of just implementing a project or enhancing a particular sight of life. It is an approach to development which aims to enhance th e capability of people in its broadest and in a comprehensive manner.As a people-centered activity, capacity building is a process of community development where people are the focus of capacity enhancement. It creates an enabling environment where people are developed in order to manage themselves and contribute to their societies. To this end, community development becomes the ultimate output of capacity building process. Thus, capacity building is a response to community development needs. Capacity building therefore is seen as women and men becoming empowered tobring about positive changes in their lives about personal growth together with public action about both the process and the yield of challenging poverty, oppression and discrimination and about the realization of human potential through social and economic justice. Above all, it is about the process of transforming lives, and transforming societies (Eade Williams, 1995).Eade Williams. (1995). The Oxfam handbook of De velopment and Relief. Oxford Oxfam Publications.In this process of capacity building, people acquire and improve their abilities. This creates an avenue for them as individuals and as members of the community to achieve their development objectives.Capacity Building and SustainabilityThe concept of sustainability has generated varied interpretations in literature, just like other development concepts. Although the concept emerged as a human response to the human destruction of the environment, it has been argued that sustainability cannot be an issue for a solely social and ingrained science (Kohn, 1999). Notwithstanding the myriad definitions and interpretations of sustainability, the ultimate goal of the concept is to improve human well being (Sachs, 1999). Capacity building, therefore, as an approach to development is linked to sustainable development. While sustainable development is an attempt to provide improved livelihood for the people, it is through the process of capacity building that the potential of people to achieve sustainability in their lives can be realized. Eade (1997) likened achieving the objectives of sustainable development to the outcome of capacity building, and maintained that both cannot be differentiated.Kohn, J., Goody, J., Hinterberger, F., Straaten, J. (1999). Sustainability in Questions The look for a Conceptual Framework. Northampton Edward ElgarSachs, W. (1999). Planet Dialectics Explorations in Environment and Development. Halifax Fernwood Publishing.Capacity Building and EmpowermentEmpowerment is a cross-disciplinary term, mainly used in fields of Education, Psychology, Community Development, Economics, among others. The understanding of the concept varies among disciplines, too. Based on this many meanings of the term, it has been seen as a construct easy to define by its absence but difficult to define in action, based on the idea that it takes different forms in different people and contexts (Rappoport, cited in Page Czuba, 1