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Why Do We Need Youth Engagement for Development?

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Youth represent the most copious asset Kenya has or will have over the near future. Surveys and reports continue to show that there are persistent risks and challenges facing Kenyan youth. 

The youth are and will remain to be a significant share of the Kenya’s population, this means that, failure to provide appropriate opportunities for this large section of the population will lead to continued enormous economic, political, cultural and social consequences. Worse still, Kenya may not be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that it intends to achieve by 2030. 

Developing and implementing appropriate strategies to mitigate the risks and challenges youth face needs to be more of a priority for the government and other relevant stakeholders than it currently is.

We are in taxing times, with the COVID-19 pandemic pulling down the world population and resulting to effects such as; increases in gender-based violence (GBV) in lock-down, unintended pregnancies, the redirection of health system resources away from Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) and the effects associated with the reallocation of resources, as well as climate change call for global action and meaningful youth engagement and participation at the local, national and global levels.

Meaningful Youth Engagement is where youths are purposefully involved in the political, economic and social aspects of development to guarantee that they are effectively contributing to community progress. An ideal youth engagement system should be inclusive, transformative and purposeful. 

This can be achieved by creating environments where their voices are heard without judgment or discrimination. Meaningful youth engagement should amalgamate the experience and the ideas of the youths into the systems’ design while also improving their skills and strengths.

Why do we need Meaningful Youth Engagement to help solve the world’s challenges?

-      Youths are creative. The fresh perspective they bring to the world gives them a unique ability to think creatively. Unconstrained by deep-rooted societal norms, youths can come up with ideas that would not have crossed the minds of the aged world’s population. These solutions can uncover hidden mysteries and opportunities that illuminate new pathways forward.


-      Youths want to make a difference. They are sharp witted when it comes to society issues because they have access to information on social media, and other online programs. They are, therefore, able to look at the world with fresh eyes, and see possibilities of solving the problems in it.

-      Change making develops effective, optimistic future leaders; when young people contribute their ideas, inspiration and energy to addressing social issues, they begin to see themselves as capable leaders who can make significant contributions to the lives of others. With this confidence, they can pass the empowering effect to other youth and as a result they are able to influence more youth who can take up leadership roles at different capacities and help in empowering the community and driving of the development agenda.

While there only remains 10 years to meet the 2030 development agenda, engaging the youth population fully is therefore a thing that should be considered at all levels.

Article by By Jane Nkirote Kanyaru.


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