Abstract:
The extent to which - Youth Development Fund (YDF)-supported income-generating
activities contributed to youth livelihoods among beneficiaries is unknown, although it is
generally believed that -YDF has not managed to create employment opportunities among
youth since its establishment in Tanzania. This study aimed at establishing how - YDF
contributed to the improvement of youth livelihoods by examining the reasons behind the
choices of income-generating activities that youth who are the beneficiaries of YDF are
engaged in. The specific objectives were: i) To identify and characterize the YDF-
supported income-generating activities that YDF recipients are engaged in; ii) To
determine factors that influenced the choices youth make to engage in YDF-supported
income-generating activities; iii) To assess the contribution of YDF-supported economic
activities to youth livelihoods in terms of income, food security, and asset ownership of
the YDF recipients; and iv) To assess the effect of YDF-supported economic activities in
generating employment and strengthening community participation of the youth. Results
show that most of the critical factors were not considered when youth were choosing the
types of enterprises intending to engage in as YDF beneficiaries. However, YDF still has
been shown to contribute to the livelihoods of youth at P ≤0.01, leaving other factors such
as financial support from the family, friends, and personal saving constant. Finally, it was
concluded that YDF has contributed to improving the livelihood of the youth beneficiaries
of YDF. However, it is recommended that the sum of funds provided should reflect the
enterprise selected by youth and more options on how funds can be accessed should be
added, such as individual loans and equipment or machinery loans.
