Strategic Public Administration, TVET, and Youth Policy in Balochistan: Converting a Youth Bulge into a Demographic Dividend

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Balochistan is experiencing a rapid demographic transition, with estimates suggesting that roughly 60–71 percent of its population is below 30 years of age (Government of Balochistan, 2024; Bashir, 2024; Khan et al., 2023). This youth bulge is emerging in a context marked by historic under investment, low literacy, institutional weaknesses, and limited skilled employment opportunities, which together have produced a pattern of social and economic backwardness (Ahmed & Baloch, 2017; Ahmad et al., 2020). At the same time, the approval and launch of the Balochistan Youth Policy 2024 signals political recognition that youth development, employment, and social cohesion must become central to the province’s development agenda (Daily 6 AM Newspaper, 2024; Daily Balochistan Express Quetta, 2024; Balochistan CM Bugti launches youth policy, 2025).

Against this backdrop, the reviewed literature collectively argues that Balochistan cannot realize its demographic opportunity without simultaneous reforms in public administration, strategic human resource management (SHRM), and the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system, all anchored in an inclusive youth policy that explicitly targets social cohesion (Hamouda, 2024; Khan et al., 2023; UNESCO, 2021).

Public Administration and Strategic HRM: Why the State Itself Must Change

The literature on public administration frames it as a specialized type of administration that deals with government interventions and public service delivery, rather than generic organizational management (Huberts, 2020). In this view, public administration depends heavily on coordination and collaboration among diverse human resources working toward common goals, which is why the human side of the state becomes central to performance (Nguyen et al., 2023). Strategic planning is described as the systematic analysis of an organization’s current position and the deliberate design of long term paths to achieve strategic objectives, moving away from short term, reactive decision making (Bryson & George, 2020).

Hamouda (2024) builds on this by positioning strategic human resource management as a key variable in achieving government institutional performance, arguing that HR systems must be aligned with environmental, technological, competitive, economic, political, social, informational, and managerial conditions (Khan & Liu, 2023; Hamouda, 2024). Human resource development is therefore not optional; it becomes necessary for institutional survival and responsiveness to internal and external change (Piwowar-Sulej, 2021). Zhang and Kimathi (2022) add that human, structural, and technological development form the core inputs for organizational development and should be embedded within e government systems, especially in public sector organizations.

Several authors converge on the point that effective SHRM in government requires more than access to knowledge; it also demands the effective use of training, education, and socio economic tools to build capacity, promote learning, and internalize strategic roles among the workforce (Hamouda, 2024; Anwar & Abdullah, 2021). Chowdhury et al. (2023) further argue that even when AI and digital tools are introduced into HRM, their value depends on leadership, skills development, institutional culture, and governance, reinforcing the idea that people and systems must evolve together. In short, the literature is clear that Balochistan’s public sector will not be able to deliver on youth, skills, or social cohesion agendas if its own HR systems remain traditional, fragmented, and disconnected from strategy.

Youth Socio‑Economic Development in Balochistan: Constraints and Aspirations

At the national level, Arshad et al. (2022) show that population growth in Pakistan has an adverse relationship with human development, while government social spending and foreign remittances contribute positively, implying that demographic pressure without investment can depress development outcomes. In Balochistan, Ahmad et al. (2020) describe a socio economic landscape shaped by economic and civic constraints, gender disparities, political instability, and a lack of skilled human resources, concluding that youth lack adequate opportunities for education, human capital formation, and skill development. Ahmed and Baloch (2017) trace these deficits to a historically estranged political and economic relationship between Balochistan and the federation, resulting in a shortage of social and economic resources and persistent under development.

Javed (2020) links Pakistan’s low literacy rate to poor planning, weak implementation, lack of financial and institutional resources, and notes that this has produced a workforce concentrated in low skilled, low income jobs. Ahmad et al. (2020) and Kakar and Kakar (2025) emphasize that Balochistan’s youth, despite these constraints, have clear aspirations around identity, peace, diversity, career, and dignified livelihoods, and argue that policymakers, educationists, and institutions must support young people in connecting these dimensions. Bashir (2024) and official statistics reinforce the demographic urgency, confirming that Balochistan’s predominantly young population can either become a driver of growth or a source of heightened grievances if left unsupported (Government of Balochistan, 2024; Bashir, 2024).

Collectively, these studies contextualize youth development in Balochistan not as a generic challenge, but as the outcome of structural under investment, institutional capacity gaps, and demographic pressure, making it clear that any serious solution will have to address systems, skills, and opportunities together.

TVET, Employability, and Social Cohesion: From Skills to Stability

Within this context, TVET is presented as a bridge between education and the labour market. UNESCO (2021) defines TVET as sitting at the intersection of education and the world of work and expects it to facilitate youth and adult insertion into the labour market and career progression. The UNESCO TVET Strategy 2022–2029 identifies three priority areas: fostering youth employment and entrepreneurship, promoting equity and gender equality, and facilitating transitions to green economies and sustainable societies (UNESCO, 2021). Khan et al. (2023) extend this conceptualization by defining TVET as encompassing technologies, related sciences, practical skills, attitudes, and occupation related knowledge in multiple sectors of economic and social life.

The same study by Khan et al. (2023) goes further to link TVET with employability and social cohesion in Balochistan, arguing that equipping youth with technical skills, soft skills, and employability competencies can help convert the province’s demographic transition into a demographic dividend. They conceptualize employability as a mix of attributes, qualities, and non technical skills that enhance a graduate’s ability to obtain and retain employment and contribute to organizations. Kazmi (2007) provides earlier evidence from Pakistan that TVET has a direct relationship with employability, improving producer profitability, generating skilled employment, and contributing to economic growth.

The literature on conflict and TVET adds another layer. Abebaw and Iyer (2022) show that when youth gain access to education and TVET in fragile contexts, grievances and vulnerability decrease, while economic stability, constructive peace, and social cohesion improve. A. Khan (2023) similarly argues that integrating soft skills and TVET competencies with education promotes social cohesion and mitigates conflict, warning that excluding women, who make up half the population, undermines these gains. This set of findings moves TVET beyond a narrow “skills for jobs” lens and positions it as a tool for economic empowerment, social inclusion, and peacebuilding, which is particularly relevant in Balochistan’s conflict affected and politically sensitive environment (Khan et al., 2023; Abebaw & Iyer, 2022).

Balochistan Youth Policy 2024: Linking State Capacity, Skills, and Cohesion

The Balochistan Youth Policy 2024 is introduced by the provincial leadership as a major initiative to empower youth and address systematic neglect, with an explicit emphasis on stakeholder consultation (“Daily 6 AM Newspaper,” 2024; “Daily Balochistan Express Quetta,” 2024; Balochistan CM Bugti launches youth policy, 2025). The policy frames youth as key actors in the province’s economic, social, political, and cultural development and commits to building mechanisms that embed youth voice in decision making and programme design (Government of Balochistan, 2024).

When read alongside the literature, the Youth Policy becomes a potential convergence point for three streams of change. First, literature on public administration and SHRM suggests that for the policy to be implemented effectively, provincial departments must adopt strategic HRM, invest in continuous human resource development, and integrate e governance systems that support efficient, transparent service delivery (Hamouda, 2024; Piwowar-Sulej, 2021; Zhang & Kimathi, 2022). Second, TVET and employability research indicates that the policy should treat TVET as a central pillar, prioritizing youth employment, entrepreneurship, soft skills, and gender inclusive skills development as direct responses to unemployment and exclusion (UNESCO, 2021; Khan et al., 2023). Third, conflict and cohesion literature reminds policymakers that youth access to education and employability is a concrete pathway to reducing grievances, vulnerability, and the risk of violence, thereby strengthening social cohesion (Abebaw & Iyer, 2022; A. Khan, 2023).

In essence, the reviewed literature suggests a coherent logic: a young, under served population in a historically marginalized province requires a reforming state that manages its own people strategically, builds youth skills through TVET, and uses an inclusive youth policy to connect these strands in ways that strengthen both livelihoods and social cohesion. Without this integrated approach, Balochistan’s youth bulge is likely to remain locked as an unrealized demographic opportunity.

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