Program Objectives
To enhance the involvement of local youth in the planning, implementation and monitoring of development projects in the six counties within the coast region and to increase the ability of local youth to fully utilize existing economic opportunities available in their respective counties with a view to mitigating push and pull factors of radicalization and involvement in acts of violent extremism.
The youth action for open governance and accountability program is targeting to increase the capacity of the youth for meaningful participation in county development programs through:
- Awareness creation on constitutional rights and role of the youth when it comes to participation in county development programs. Empowering local youth with constitutional knowledge on their roles and rights could influence implementation of County programs that are relevant to youth socio economic welfare.
- Facilitate youth discussions on key development programs through our online platforms including the web portal and app blog as well as through focus group discussions that would help the youth critic county development projects and programs with a view to influencing county development agenda that takes better care of their own socio economic interests.
- Youth action for open governance and accountability program is seeking to support local youth to ensure maximum value addition is achieved through county projects and programs that are meant to impact positively on economic empowerment of local youth. Such programs include but not limited to:
- Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO),
- Uwezo Fund,
- County Trade Funds meant for youth development,
- National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF),
- County Vocational Training Program for Youth Economic Empowerment
- County Public Service Board strategies for youth employment and internship engagement, County Sports and Talent Programs for Youth Economic Empowerment
- County Agricultural Programs for Youth Economic Empowerment
- Many youth are currently excluded from important discussions on County Integrated Development Plan which is a five year blue print influencing county development direction. The Youth Action for Open Governance and Accountability is seeking to ensure effective participation of the youth right from the planning stage of CIDPs to implementation monitoring and evaluation. Strategic involvement of local youth has the potential to influence county economic development projects and programs that have significant potential to empower the youth economically.
- Youth Action for Open Governance and Accountability program is further interested in training local youth to understand county budget making processes and ensure they participate actively and effectively in county budget discussions and budget tracking. This should increase the amount of resources allocated for relevant youth development programs and should give local youth a unique opportunity to oversight usage of county resources to ensure maximum value for money is achieved.
- Involvement of local youth in county assembly agenda is very crucial for the successful realization of the county youth development agenda. This program for youth action for open governance and accountability purposes to ensure adequate involvement of the youth in the following county assembly roles:
- Representation
- Legislation
- Oversight
The program will thus ensure local youth have better capacity and mechanisms to hold their ward representative accountable as far as representation is concerned. Through the program for youth action and open governance local youth will be able to track development efforts of their ward representatives including what they do inside and outside the county assemblies and through quarterly opinion polls rank their ward representative in terms of youth development performance.
In order to ensure youth friendly legislation the youth action for open governance and accountability program will work very closely with county youth citizen councils to ensure appropriate youth friendly county development policies are enacted. To achieve this youth will be trained on county policy development processes, how to analyze and critic development policies and best way to engage both county executive and county assembly to enact new policies and amend existing policies to ensure relevance in terms of youth development agenda.
Local youth will be trained and facilitated to conduct useful social accountability activities for county development projects and programs. Our social accountability approach will target to evaluate the following development aspects for each of the county development programs and projects selected for review:
- Youth understanding and appreciation of specific county development project / program concept
- Youth involvement during planning stages of specific county development projects / programs
- Level of youth involvement during project / program implementation
- Level of youth involvement in the monitoring of specific county projects / programs
- Project / program relevance
- Fair involvement of all genders at all development stages of project / program under review.
- Fair utilization of resources for each county project / program under review including rate of implementation and status of the program / project at the time of review.
- Value for money in terms of budgeted and utilized resources for specific development projects and programs compared to the benefits expected to be enjoyed by the target beneficiary community.
- Availability of sufficient management structures for specific county development projects / programs.
- Availability of appropriate policy framework to guide implementation of specific county development projects / programs.
- Potential for youth economic empowerment in the specific county development project / program under review.
- County development project / program potential to support efforts against youth radicalization and violent extremism at the village, ward, Sub County and county levels.
- County development project / program usefulness and friendliness to PWDs
- County development project / program usefulness in supporting efforts towards countering drug abuse among the youth.
