Mozambican project redefines what it means to include youth

With the youngest population in the world, it's crucial that African governments recognise that empowering young people is the only way to ensure the continent's sustainable development. By Prof Adriano Nuvunga

- Prof Adriano Nuvunga

In northern Mozambique - specifically in Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa provinces - the youth face a complex reality of exclusion, multidimensional poverty, structural unemployment and a profound erosion of trust between citizens and the state.

Cabo Delgado has been affected by armed conflict since 2017. Non-state groups have launched attacks that have claimed thousands of lives, displaced more than one million people and devastated communities.

The humanitarian crisis has deepened because of the weak presence of the state and unequal access to aid, fuelling feelings of abandonment and resentment.

Simultaneously, the extraction of natural resources such as natural gas and rubies has exposed the tension between promises of development and the persistent exclusion of local populations. In areas like Montepuez and Palma, displaced communities and unemployed youth live alongside multimillion-dollar investments from which they rarely benefit.

The consequences of this sociopolitical and economic fragmentation are visible in everyday life: inadequate education systems, a lack of public services, disempowered local governance structures and an economy that fails to provide decent jobs or promote inclusive growth. As a result, many young people are left disillusioned, navigating a precarious existence that fuels cycles of dependency, marginalisation and, in some cases, radicalisation.

Many young people, cut off from education, healthcare and dignified work, have become easy targets for recruitment into armed groups, trafficking networks or exploitative labour.

Others, driven by a sense of social invisibility, have turned to silence or forced migration. Women and girls, in particular, face compounded vulnerabilities, often excluded from public life and disproportionately affected by violence and poverty.