Notwithstanding the remarkable economic growth, propelled by diamond mining and sales over the past five decades, Botswana is facing a humongous challenge in the form of unemployment, particularly, youth unemployment. According to Statistics Botswana (2013), overall unemployment in the age group 15-35 is estimated at 25%. In age groups 15-19 and 20-24, unemployment is estimated at 41.4% and 34% respectively (ibid). Unsurprisingly, poverty incidence is reported to be high in these age groups (see Statistics Botswana, 2013). Official statistics also reveal that the majority of informal sector employees fall within these age groups. An estimated 66.8% of informal sector employees (excluding business owners) are reported to be in the age group 20-34 (see Statistics Botswana, 2009). Research has shown that most informal sector participants go into these activities out of a lack of options and a need to survive. Research has also shown that oftentimes, informal activities do not constitute decent work as embraced in the ILO decent work agenda. For an uppermiddle income economy, with a relatively small population (about 2 million), the reported unemployment and poverty rates are quite high and worrying. Despite these disturbing levels of youth unemployment and poverty however, youth unemployment in the country is little understood. The proposed project is intended to disentangle this problem, and identify practical solutions to address the problem. The project will employ a community based approach (i.e. the community based monitoring system, CBMS) which permits analysis of a phenomenon such as the one under consideration, at a disaggregated level. It also allows for active community participation in developing interventions to problems that directly affect them. The target research area is a key satellite village of the Capital City (Gaborone), Gabane. While data are limited in terms of youth unemployment and poverty rates are limited, anecdotal evidence (observation) suggests that Gabane is home to much unemployed youth, including those involved in informal activities. The proposed project is expected to yield community-based practical solutions to solving the youth unemployment problem in this area. 3 While the project is targeted at this locality, it is anticipated that the labour market model developed through this research can be extended, not only to other satellite villages of the Capital City, but rural communities (with modifications to suit rural conditions). Developing countries with similar characteristics to Botswana may also benefit from the methodology employed in the research

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