The impact of rural-urban migration to youth livelihoods in Tanzania: The Case of Mbeya City

Abstract

This paper discusses the impact of rural-urban migration to youth livelihoods in Mbeya city, Tanzania. In this research based on a study  conducted in 2008. A sample of 200 youths was randomly drawn from wards and village/mtaa levels. This is an exploratory design study  and was not guided by any preassumptions such as hypotheses but rather used research questions. Methods of data collection included  interviews with the youth and key informants, focus group discussions, questionnaires and non-participant observations. The methods  used for analysis were both qualitative and quantitative. The descriptive approach was used essentially in generating statistics. The paper focused on identifying push and pulls factors of youth migration from rural to urban areas. Poverty, to be precise, in the rural areas was  one of the major factors pushing people from the rural areas, while availability of non-farm activities in the urban areas were pull factor  attracting young people to urban areas. However, it showed that the majority of youths lacked formal education and necessary vocational  skills to be employed in the urban labour market. Hence, most of the young people ended up being employed in marginal  jobs like petty commodity trade, barmaids, commercial sex workers, street food vendors, commuter bus conductors, which are paying  better compared to rural earnings hence improving their livelihoods. The study also showed that due to limited opportunity of wage  employment in Mbeya city such the decay of industries and few formal employments, most of the youths were employed in informal  sector. Moreover, the finding revealed that the movement of young people from rural to urban areas was slightly changing the  livelihoods of the youth due to availability of business opportunities and other income generating activities in Mbeya city. This study  concluded that the rural poverty was major driving force towards rural-urban migration among the youth in Mbeya city. Finally, the study  recommends that effective rural development strategies, poverty alleviation, and provision of necessary physical and social infrastructure  can become an effective tool of minimising young people moving  away from rural areas.