The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has been implementing the Sweden phase 2 program of issue of land governance has far-reaching implications for the youth, particularly in improving land governance in the IGAD region. Demographically, the IGAD region has a youthful population (youth is defined as persons aged between 15 and 35 years in line with the African Youth Charter). According to the http://mo.ibrahim.foundation, almost 60% of Africa’s population in 2019 is under the age of 25, making Africa the world’s youngest continent. For example, and except for Djibouti, the proportion of the population aged less than 25 years is more than 48 percent and peaks at 67 percent in Somalia and Uganda (United Nations, 2019). This youth form a bulge, and this makes them a transversal social group. While youth involvement and participation in land matters is a human right and obligatory, their sheer numbers, energies and innovativeness present a huge opportunity for championing socioeconomic development through land utilisation. Thus, Africa’s youth is its biggest resource and Africa’s growing youth population offers enormous potential (African Youth Charter).
However, and regardless of this youth recognition as a cross-cutting social group and their potential, they have to date received little attention either as active stakeholders or beneficiaries in land governance-related initiatives According to the UN Youth-Global Plan for Sustainable Development, 2016-2020, youth in most places represent a disproportionate number of the unemployed and their contributions to development processes are thus limited.
