Urban Research Series: Access to Decent Work

Author(s): Plan International

This report, the third in the Urban Research Series, examines young people’s experiences around the issue of decent work across six major cities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Accelerating urbanisation across sub-Saharan Africa is partly fuelled by hopes for better livelihoods, including decent work and improved economic prospects. However young people living in informal settlements, particularly young women and girls, are less likely to reap these benefits. This report offers insights into how young people perceive the availability and accessibility of decent work in their localities, the skills and capacities used at work, and their influence on decisions relating to economic issues.

This report aims to address research gaps by examining evidence generated by Plan International’s Safe and Inclusive Cities (SAIC) programme. Through analysis of this evidence the report answers the following questions:

What are young people’s perceptions of decent work availability, accessibility and influence on decisions relating to economic issues?
How involved are young people in income generating activities? How satisfied are they with aspects of these activities? And what skills and capacities do they have in relation to these?
What are young people’s perceptions of their own capacity to secure loans for various purposes?
What is the effect of the SAIC programme on young people’s involvement in income generating activities, their satisfaction with key aspects of these activities, their knowledge of work-related rights and how to apply them, as well as their capacity to secure loans for their businesses?

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