Youth Development Agents' Needs: Challenges for Extension Volunteer Management Competencies in Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the needs of youth development agents as it affects extension volunteer managers' competencies. Youth development agencies who had registered with Global Youth Actions Network (GYAN) in Nigeria were used as the population of the study. A total of twenty nine (29) managers of these agencies with agricultural extension based activities were selected using purposive sampling technique. Structured questionnaire was administered online to elicit relevant information from the respondents for the purpose of the study. The study revealed that, majority (70%) of the respondents were male with an average age of twenty six (26) years. Out of the seventeen (17) areas of competencies identified among these managers, motivating youth volunteers ranked first, having a mean value of 4.07. The hypothesis testing carried out using correlation showed a significant relationship between agent's frequency of using volunteer administration and importance of volunteers in management (P<0.01) giving 0.653 while a significant relationship of 0.390 (P< 0.05) was also observed between importance of volunteers in management and training among agencies managers. It was also observed that volunteer agents could benefit from educational opportunities, resource materials and other support services in each of the areas of competencies. Regular training was therefore recommended for youth development agents to enable them update, improve and learn new strategies in the application of their competencies for extension service delivery.Keywords: Youth, Development, Agents' needs, Volunteer management, Competencies.