Harnessing Counselling Practice to Empower Youth for National Development

IJEE; IJEE; Denis Mwatungwa Kaye; Mangai Amos Mahanan; Dorcas Bakari Gono

doi:10.56201/ijee.v12.no.2.2026.pg995.1007

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Harnessing Counselling Practice to Empower Youth for National Development

IJEE, IJEE, Denis Mwatungwa Kaye, Mangai Amos Mahanan, Dorcas Bakari Gono

Abstract

Youth constitute one of the most strategic human resources for sustainable national development because of their creativity, productivity, innovation, and capacity to drive socio- economic transformation. However, increasing rates of unemployment, underemployment, poverty, mental health challenges, substance abuse, social exclusion, insecurity, and poor career preparedness continue to limit the realization of their full potential, particularly in developing countries. Counselling practice has emerged as a critical professional intervention capable of empowering young people to overcome these challenges by promoting psychological well-being, career development, life skills acquisition, resilience, entrepreneurship, leadership, and informed decision-making. This paper examines how counselling practice can be harnessed as a strategic mechanism for empowering youth toward national development. This paper synthesizes contemporary literature on counselling, youth empowerment, and national development while drawing insights from established counselling and developmental theories. It argues that effective counselling extends beyond addressing personal and emotional concerns to facilitating employability, innovation, civic engagement, social responsibility, peacebuilding, and lifelong learning among young people. The paper further highlights emerging counselling approaches, including digital counselling, career coaching, entrepreneurship counselling, and artificial intelligence-assisted guidance services, which are increasingly transforming counselling practice in the twenty-first century. It concludes that strengthening professional counselling services within educational institutions, communities, workplaces, and government youth programmes is essential for building productive, resilient, and globally competitive youth capable of driving sustainable national IJEE IJEE www.ijee.io development. This paper recommends increased investment in counselling services, supportive public policies, digital innovation, and multi-sectoral collaboration to maximize the developmental potential of youth.

Keywords

Counselling practiceyouth empowermentnational developmentcareer counsellingentrepreneurshipemployabilitysustainable development.

References

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Harnessing Counselling Practice to Empower Youth for National Development

Abstract

Keywords

References

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