The third module of the leadership training took place in Arusha from the 31st October to the 4th November 2022. Fourteen participants were able to take part in the training. The main focus of the third module is social transformation and towards this we look at global trends and movement of aid, programming, movement building and partnerships. This was a youthful group so the module sessions were tailored to reflect this.
After discussion on the various programming methodologies used, we had a chance to look at programming for youth and a group was tasked to look at how we have fared on in this area. They came up with this abstract which we hope to take forward with a special task force from the fourth cohort.
Understanding working with Youth in our institutions/constituencies
An Abstract
In November 2022, seven organizations convened in Arusha to discuss Programming for youth across the region. Among other things, the conversation revealed the underbelly that is the knowledge gap in working with and/or mainstreaming the youth agenda in the various facets of our institutional and project undertakings across East Africa. It was also a reminder of the lost opportunities and mis-prioritization of youth at national and local levels, even by governments across the region. Statics indicate that youth make the biggest population across the region, but are by and large not in the driver’s seats in both governance and other leading private sector initiatives that determine the direction and wellbeing of young people in East Africa. If this trend continues, it is only a matter of time that East Africa will be faced with a leadership crisis as youth engagement is left to apathy and individualistic survival-like contributions, or knee-jack responses by governments and civil society.
It is against the above backdrop that the convening in Arusha left unanswered questions like what the youth agenda needs to prioritize. The youth agenda can collectively respond to inclusion, involvement, and empowerment issues. There is an opportunity to start at institutional levels, to understand the youth agenda in our work, the communities we serve and at national levels. Another point of contention is whether or not there is a regional youth agenda or organization and countries have their own. We propose more investment into clarifying the whole agenda of “working with the youth.”
There is a need to focus on the work of the different institutions – As institutions what do the youth agenda mean to you and how is it encapsulated in your programming? Some organisations don’t recognize that there is youth in their work. Having a youth agenda across the continent might be contentious because different regions have different challenges.
Key Lessons
- There is need to change stakeholder mindset regarding resource mobilization.
- There is need to develop the theory of change in order to understand well and identify the underlying assumptions and risks and to ensure the proposed approach will contribute to the desire change.
- To always develop both the visual and narrative Theory of Change when planning an intervention so as to get a clear understanding of the change we want to bring about.
- That for there to be change there needs to be intention, clear direction as well as accountable leadership.
- That no matter how innovative we are, it’s important to adopt a more systemic and theoretically grounded approach to programming
- To think beyond the spheres we currently work in.
