The European Union Delegation in Kenya is in the process of elaborating the next phase of the EU-Kenya Partnership which will span over a period of 7 years in the context of the new EU multi-annual financial framework. This ‘programming process’ foresees inclusive consultations with all relevant stakeholders including the Government of Kenya, County Governments, the Parliament, civil society organizations including women and youth, the private sector, and the donor community in Kenya.
Youth Excel was finally launched on 4th May 2021! All of us implementing partners of the project are excited to finally have the project launched to the general public! We hope, moving forward, we will be able to attract more buy-ins, from both the donor community, private and public institutions!
The launch was facilitated by Sylvia Kananu, who is the Youth Excel Project Lead based in Kenya. The launch was held on the zoom platform. The agenda of the launch included a brief breakdown of the project, remarks from the IREX team, Keynote addresses, a youth panel discussion, a Q&A session and a celebratory moment for all the participants in the launch.
Willice Onyango, the Executive Director of The Youth Cafe has been honored to be one of the speakers at an online event: Democracy In East Africa In The Wake Of The Coronavirus Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities. . Some of the speakers are Former President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan, Former First lady of Mozambique Graca Machel, and Ugandan Political and Human Rights Activist Kifefe Kizza-Besigye among others.
The Youth Café has been invited to support some of our budget components at the International Conference. The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Multifunctional Youth Forum is an organization established by Heads of State and Government in 2014 to champion the interests of youth in Member States at National, Regional and Global Level.
The 2021 Generation Equality Forum is a once in generation opportunity: to repair the damage done by the pandemic, to address long-term barriers to gender equality, and to secure women’s rights for decades to come. It will bring together governments, corporations and change-makers, united in pushing for urgent implementation and action. The event is organized by UN Women with the governments of Mexico and France, and with the involvement of youth and civil society organizations all over the world.
From the 13-16th February 2020 I had the chance to visit the festival Sauti za Busara in Zanzibar. Sauti za Busara is a festival that takes place every year and this year we celebrated the 17th edition of the festival. It’s one of the biggest festivals in East Africa with 44 shows over 4 days on 3 stages. This year over 27000 fans from around the world came to listen to musicians from all over Africa like Ambasa Mandela & the Last Tribe (Kenya), The Mafik (Tanzania), FRA! (Ghana), Tarajazz (Zanzibar) and Mehdi Qamoum (Morocco).
As part of my internship with The Youth Cafe’s External Communications and Stakeholder Engagement, I was given a unique opportunity to attend the 19th OIDP conference in Itztapalapa, Mexico on Monday, 09.12.2019. The main topic of the conference was Participatory Democracy and its vision, scope, and obstacles.
Within the network, member think tanks work together on key issues in international affairs and are committed to developing constructive, coherent and future-oriented policy solutions. Such an organisation aims to be a game-changer in shaping our future and shares a culture of open debate and discussion.
