Youth, poverty and inequality in urban Tanzania: New perspectives, new interpretations

Promoting young people’s well-being through a greater understanding of their social and economic needs.

Urban contexts and youth populations are relatively unexplored territories of huge theoretical and policy relevance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Tanzania’s future is increasingly urban and predominantly young, propelling urban youth to the forefront of its development challenges.

Urbanisation, however, has been accompanied by high levels of poverty, insecurity and inequality. Little is known about what this means for young people as they seek to negotiate the path to adulthood.

In exploring the impact of rapidly expanding youth populations in the context of the urbanisation of poverty and its implications on the social and economic lives of Tanzania’s youth, this research breaks new ground in exploring new perspectives and new interpretations of what it means to be young and searching for livelihoods in the city amidst endemic poverty, inequality and limited institutional support.

It will identify the strategies youth deploy in a context of urban poverty for survival and advancement, and how these are influenced by age, gender and geographic location.

Visit the project page at: https://www.gdi.manchester.ac.uk/research/themes/urban-futures/youth-poverty-inequality-tanzania/