Hundreds of youths from Narok County engaged with government officials from the ministry and non government organizations where they aired their concerns and needs.
The forum organized by Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat in partnership with the State Department for Youth Affairs (SDYA), is banking on interactive youth engagement forums to accelerate the country’s achievement of Vision 2030 goals.
According to Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat Director General Kenneth Mwige, the youth-led platform dubbed “Kikao”, is intended to create synergies between youth interests and the Vision 2030 projects.
He said the participants discussed impactful approaches that youth can adopt to inculcate an entrepreneurial culture, among them strategies they can deploy in current and future situations to curb unemployment and call them to be serious and apply money the government has set aside for them saying no one need a Godfather to be given that funds but youth take a step to ask them through writing proposal .
Chief in the forum Ministry Chief Administration Secretary Nadia Abdalla, said the forum accords youth an opportunity to meet with various stakeholders drawn from State and Non-State Actors and a platform to obtain information on empowerment opportunities available to increase the level of youth participation and uptake of all the established accessible and flexible affirmative action programmes across government.
“Dialogues with young people enable us to overcome our differences, find common ground, build meaning and purpose, and set directions together as groups, teams, communities, and as citizens.
CAS Abdalla said the One-on-one sittings encourage young people to speak up about issues they care about, and gain confidence to voice their opinions saying dialogues are a platform for ensuring youth are included and become part of making decisions .
Principal secretary for ICT, innovation and youth affairs Charles ole Sunkuli, the ‘Kikao’ is meant to bring all the opportunities/programmes for the Youth to the grassroots with an emphasis of addressing specific needs based on a region.
Sunkuli said the Youth KIKAO is a one Stop Shop Government coordinated approach towards addressing challenges faced by Youth and also bring together youth in the entire county and calls them to stay in peace saying no youth will be left behind . .
The Narok Kikao is the second after Kilifi and according to them, this presents an opportunity for Youth to share experiences, challenges and forge a way forward in terms of solutions.
“It is my hope that this KIKAO will bear much fruit in the empowerment of Youth in Narok. The Forum Accord Youth is an opportunity to meet with various stakeholders drawn from State and Non-State Actors and a platform to obtain information on Government empowerment opportunities available