Description
USAID/Kenya has formally launched a new program (Yes Youth Can!) to empower Kenyan youth to increase their economic opportunities, create self-reliant organizations, improve their voice in local, regional and national policy dialogue, and expand access to essential services that are more youth-friendly. The Yes Youth Can! Program (the Program) will comprise a series of activities over the next three years, particularly focused in provinces of Kenya where 2007-2008 post-election violence was most acute, or where there is a possibility of future election-related violence. This Program Description describes a sub-set of activities envisioned under the Yes Youth Can! Program that focuses on building youth-owned, youth-led and youth-managed institutional arrangements and capabilities at both national and county levels. The over-arching goal of the Program is to empower youth in Kenya to promote their own development and become responsible citizens for peace and prosperity. The objective of the Program is to support recovery and development in areas that experienced post-election violence or are at risk to experience election-related violence in the future. This will be accomplished through building the capacity of youth, youth groups and youth-serving organizations to engage with each other, with markets, government and communities, and pursue their legitimate needs and interests more effectively while promoting inter-ethnic understanding and tolerance. Given the multifaceted character of the circumstances Kenyan youth face, the activities contemplated to support youth development must be integrated, multi-sectoral and mutually reinforcing. II. Background The marginalization of youth in Kenyan society is neither coincidence nor conspiracy. The concentration of opportunities since independence in a small elite political class based on rent-seeking through non-transparent economic arrangements, corrupt practices and restricted access to assets now manifests itself in the exclusion of youth from viable economic livelihoods and positive citizen engagement in policies that affect them. Youth, defined by the Kenya Government as people between 15 and 30 years old, constitute 32 percent of Kenyas 33 million people. There are approximately 500,000 youth who leave school each year. Over the last six years, the Kenyan economy has generated only 150,000 formal sector jobs in total, leaving hundreds of thousands of youth without opportunities for employment in the formal sector. The informal jua kali sector, the principal source of income for Kenyas 60% who live on less that $2 a day, is subject to pressures to pay fees to local police and youth gangs in order to buy security to operate. The Government of Kenya (GOK) has a National Youth Policy; however, in USAID sponsored research, youth focus groups in nearly every case were unaware of the policy and expressed that they had not been consulted about its contents. Other GOK initiatives to support youth, namely the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) and the Kazi Kwa Vijana (KKV) program, are viewed by youth as lacking transparency and their genuine involvement. The Yes Youth Can! Program, under USAID's new Strategic Objective of strengthening and sustaining Kenya's post-election recovery, will empower youth by providing robust support to: address the multiple facets of youth livelihoods that impede their ability to develop diverse viable entrepreneurial skills and employment opportunities; engage as citizens in local and national issues that affect them, and; empower themselves to be positive forces for change in their communities. Authentic empowerment of youth means program design must embed youth ownership at all levels in every activity, including the internal dynamics of project decision-making. It must enhance leadership capabilities of the youth themselves for self-development, and expand genuine voice to promote youth interests and youth needs advocated by youth organizations with the capacity to be agents of change. By addressing one of the key agents of the 2007-2008 post-election violence youth without voice or opportunity the Program will help reduce the possibility of violence ahead of the 2012 national elections. III. Activity Objectives The Yes Youth Can! Program has five objectives: Increase economic prospects for youth through skills development and access to finance to create: economically viable microenterprises; self-reliant community level economic development projects, and; employment opportunities Improve youth voice in local, regional, and national policy dialogue through enhanced advocacy capabilities and inter-ethnic dialogue Expand youth access to essential services that are more youth-friendly Establish new institutional arrangements that can leverage public and private resources through youth-managed organizations Create a new approach to empower youth through youth-owned, youth-led and youth-managed actions. Even as the Program focuses its attention on at risk youth as its primary beneficiaries, the Program will explicitly leverage the contribution of youth who can serve as role models, mentors and coaches for other youth. Concrete examples include drawing upon more experienced and/or educated youth as trainers within the context of delivering technical assistance, or as mentors to individual youths or youth organizations. More broadly, non-risk youth who are leaders of effective, existing civil society organizations can be expected to play a major role in the Program. At the end of the three-year Program period, USAID expects that: A new, successful model of engaging youth as decision-makers and leaders in the development of their communities will have been demonstrated New livelihood opportunities, largely through self-employment, will have been created that break through market barriers Youth will have achieved a greater voice and role in governance and civic affairs National grassroots-based networks will have been established to serve as a platform for youth to promote their own development