Youth livelihood vulnerability in the era of Covid-19: the case of Phoenix in the greater Durban area.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has created enormous social, economic, and political challenges worldwide. The study assessed the Youth Livelihood Vulnerability in the era of COVID-19: The Case of Phoenix in the Greater Durban Area of KwaZulu-Natal in the Republic of South Africa. This study aimed to investigate the impact on youth livelihood vulnerability, the economy, and particularly the unemployment that the COVID-19 pandemic caused. To interrogate this phenomenon, data employed from oral evidence cutting across different race groups of the area was collated, interpreted and analysed. The findings indicate that the community’s ability at the grassroots level to identify the peculiarities of its immediate environs regarding youth livelihood amid the hazards of COVID-19 will be of value to the government. This will help fine-tune the government’s strategic effort of tapping grassroots initiatives to address the situation. This study, therefore, recommends full cooperation between the government and all the other stakeholders, including the youth, who should combine this with self-help projects handled individually, in groups or through collaboration with constituted authorities of the community. Areas for further research should include the extent and pattern of cooperation between the government and grassroots communities in South Africa under COVID-19 in response to youth livelihood vulnerability during the era.