Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to illuminate childhood, youth and adulthood as a social shifter, a sensitive barometer and a strategic catalyst in the context of Africa’s development. To this end, it draws on over a decade of ethnographic study and other studies to present exploratory conceptualizations of childhood, youth and adulthood across diverse cultures in Africa, thereby problematizing the categories. The chapter also documents varying experiences of individuals transitioning from one category to another and also interrogates the dynamics mutually reinforcing and simultaneously weakening the transitioning. Finally, the chapter examines various policies and projects meant to facilitate children and youths social inclusion, showing their merits and demerits as well as articulating some strategic ways for retooling the projects and policies of inclusion in the milieu of Africa’s development.
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Okorie, V.O. (2018). Retooling Africa’s Development: Child and Youth Inclusion in the Development Agenda. In: Akanle, O., Adésìnà, J. (eds) The Development of Africa . Social Indicators Research Series, vol 71. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66242-8_11
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