How did you come to choose your research topic?

I first became interested in the topic while working for a regional NGO, Twaweza, which conducted national topical polls on a range of issues, including citizen views on the gas sector. This work exposed me to the growing public interest and debate around who stood to benefit from Tanzania’s natural gas discoveries.

Building on this experience, I focused my master’s research on analysing data from two national surveys conducted by Twaweza in 2013 and 2015. This allowed me to track how public perceptions were changing over time, particularly around concerns about inequality, corruption, and the distribution of benefits from the gas sector.

Anecdotally, I also noticed many people within my social circles shifting their career plans toward the gas industry, which deepened my curiosity about how these expectations were playing out in communities closest to the extraction sites, like Mtwara.

By the time I started my PhD, investment in the gas sector had stalled and many development promises had gone unfulfilled. I wanted to understand how this shift from early optimism to prolonged stagnation was affecting youth in Mtwara, especially as they tried to navigate the difficult transition to adulthood in a region marked by both historical neglect and the unmet promises tied to the gas industry.

Can you describe your thesis questions?

My research was guided by two main questions. First, I wanted to understand how the natural gas industry shaped the economic aspirations and life transitions of young people in Mtwara, Tanzania, especially in the context of unmet development promises and prolonged uncertainty. Second, I explored how youth actively shaped and responded to the development narratives and opportunities tied to the gas sector.

What was your methodology to approach those questions?

I spent 18 months living and conducting fieldwork in Mtwara between 2020 and 2022. I used a range of qualitative research methods common in anthropology. This included participant observation, during which I spent time in youth workplaces, training centres, and social spaces to observe daily life. I also conducted interviews and life history conversations with young people to learn about their experiences, aspirations, and how they navigated the challenges of finding work and achieving independence in the aftermath of the gas boom.

Importantly, I did not focus only on the gas industry itself but also explored the wider network of ancillary sectors that developed around it, such as logistics, transport, and small business services. This allowed me to examine both the formal and informal ways in which the industry’s presence and its later slowdown shaped local economic opportunities.

In addition to conducting interviews in specific places like vocational training centres, markets, and workplaces, I stayed in close contact with four young people with whom I developed a strong rapport. Over the course of my fieldwork, I followed their journeys in more depth, mapping out how each navigated the search for livelihoods and responded to the uncertainties linked to the gas industry. This close engagement helped me capture the complexities of youth trajectories and how their plans and strategies evolved over time.

I also engaged with local development actors, reviewed policy documents, and analysed corporate social responsibility programmes targeting youth. This combination of methods helped me capture both the broader development context and the everyday realities young people were facing.

What are your major findings?

My research makes three key contributions. First, it shows how youth transitions to adulthood in Mtwara were shaped by both the material realities and the shifting promises of the gas industry. Bold political statements, such as promises to turn Mtwara into “the next Dubai”, sparked widespread hope for jobs and social mobility. Many young people adjusted their life plans with the expectation that the gas sector would offer a pathway to economic independence and stability. When these promises failed to materialise, youth were left navigating frustration and uncertainty. Unlike patterns often seen in Global North contexts, where unemployment can lead to self-blame, young people in Mtwara largely attributed their frustrations to broader structural failures and broken development promises, both current and historical.

Second, the dissertation reveals that development in Mtwara has followed a repeated cycle of grand promises and deep disappointments. The gas boom of the 2010s and 2020s was just the latest chapter in a longer history of large-scale projects introduced in the region. By connecting the current gas story to earlier initiatives like the British colonial Groundnut Scheme and Tanzania’s post-independence villagisation programme, the research shows that Mtwara has been repeatedly positioned as a testing ground for national development experiments. These projects have often delivered limited and uneven benefits for local communities. This historical perspective challenges narrow, output-focused definitions of development and draws attention to the longer-term social and emotional impacts these cycles produce.

Third, the research highlights the gendered nature of youth experiences in the context of extraction and development. While both young men and women faced the consequences of the gas sector’s rise and decline, their opportunities and constraints were shaped by gendered expectations. For young women, the gas boom opened new possibilities in traditionally male- dominated sectors and contributed to changing ideas about work, marriage, and economic roles. For young men, the study examines how stalled employment opportunities and prolonged waiting undermined their ability to meet widely held expectations of adulthood, fatherhood, and being a provider.

Beyond these core findings, the dissertation also explores the less visible but equally important ripple effects of the gas industry. It examines how extraction reshaped everyday economic exchanges, local markets, and even the practicalities of conducting research in the region, such as securing permits and finding accommodation. By looking beyond formal employment statistics and infrastructure projects, the research offers a more grounded understanding of how extraction influences daily life in both visible and less visible ways.

Theoretically, the study draws on two key fields: the anthropology of youth and the anthropology of resource extraction. It shows how both youth transitions and extractive industries move through cycles of anticipation, promise, and disillusionment. By tracing these parallels, the research invites deeper reflection on how development, labour, and life trajectories are shaped by the temporal rhythms of extraction.

Finally, the research contributes to ongoing academic and policy debates about the social costs of extractive industries in sub-Saharan Africa. It offers new insights into how large-scale resource projects affect not only national economies but also youth livelihoods, gender relations, and the wider social fabric of regions like Mtwara.

What could be the social and political implications of your thesis?

My research challenges dominant narratives in international development and policy circles that often frame youth in Africa either as a demographic “crisis” to be managed or as an economic “resource” to be mobilised for growth. These narratives frequently overlook the structural and historical conditions that constrain youth opportunities, especially in regions like Mtwara that have experienced repeated cycles of development promises and disappointments.

Socially, the findings highlight the need for more grounded and context-sensitive approaches to youth development. Programmes that focus narrowly on skills training, entrepreneurship, or behavioural change risk missing the larger picture. Without addressing the stalled investments, uneven regional development, and limited employment opportunities that shape youth realities on the ground, such interventions may unintentionally reinforce the very frustrations they seek to solve.

Politically, the research shows how broken development promises tied to large-scale resource projects can deepen social grievances and erode trust in both government and corporate actors. The youth-led protests in Mtwara illustrate how young people mobilise not only around employment concerns but also around broader demands for recognition, inclusion, and a fair share of national resources. Ignoring these grievances risks fuelling further disillusionment and social unrest.

Importantly, the thesis also brings a gender lens to these debates. It shows how young men and women experience the gas boom and bust differently, and how their strategies for navigating limited opportunities are shaped by gendered expectations around work, marriage, and social roles. For international organisations and policymakers, this underscores the need for youth-focused development initiatives that are both historically informed and gender-responsive.

Finally, at a broader level, the research calls for a shift away from abstract, one-size-fits-all models of youth empowerment toward policies that engage more seriously with the economic, political, and historical conditions that shape youth livelihoods. This is especially urgent in resource-rich but marginalised regions where cycles of extraction and neglect continue to define young people’s relationship with the state and the economy.

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Genevieve Justin Sekumbo defended her PhD thesis in Anthropology and Sociology, titled “On the Brink of Development: Youth and the Economics of Hope in Mtwara’s Gas Industry”, on 3 February 2025. Assistant Professor Anna-Riikka Kauppinen presided over the committee, which included Associate Professor Graziella Moraes Dias Da Silva, Thesis Co-Supervisor, Associate Professor Filipe Calvão, Thesis Co-Supervisor, and Assistant Professor Isabel Pike, Department of Sociology, McGill University, USA.

Citation of the PhD thesis: 
Sekumbo, Genevieve Justin. “On the Brink of Development: Youth and the Economics of Hope in Mtwara’s Gas Industry.” PhD thesis, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 2025.

Access:
A brief abstract of the PhD thesis is available on this page of the Geneva Graduate Institute’s repository. As the thesis itself is embargoed until May 2028, please contact Dr Sekumbo for access.

Banner image: Shen Stone / Shutterstock.com.
Interview by Nathalie Tanner, Research Office.