Youth Engagement and Empowerment Initiative

Introduction

Young people below the age of 30 consist of 68% of the population, those between ages 16 and 30 consist of 26% of the total population (UNICEF2010). This means that a quarter of the entire population is at a crucial stage that can determine not only their personal growth and development but the future of growth and development of Rwanda as a country.

Given the recent history of Rwanda more so influenced by the 1994 genocide young people of Rwanda find themselves at the crossroad. The country is in economic, social, political and to some extent cultural transition. This situation brings with it enormous uncertainty and anxiety among the populace. This is also coupled with renewed hope and optimism among a people who not so long were at the blink of total collapse. Underneath this fast changing situation are major social, political and economic challenges, Young people are faced by most of these challenges. The question is “are the young people of Rwanda adequately equipped to handle these challenges”.

YADEN Rwanda believes that young people are dynamic, they have energy, are highly mobile but most important they are creative and innovative. Qualities that offer hope to the community. A community crippled by poverty, degraded environment, disease, inequality, among other challenges.

YADEN Rwanda based on its experience believes that young people, both young men and young women have a crucial role to play in social-cultural and econo-political development of their communities. This crucial generation while utilized as an entry to the wider community has the capacity to assist in seeking sustainable solutions for challenges affecting them and the community.

To realize such a vision YADEN Rwanda acknowledges that the highly diverse generation of young people need to be mobilized, organized, equipped with knowledge/information and skills that will empower them to actively engage in community development especially at the grassroots level.

PROJECT MISSION

The pilot Project YOUTH ENGAGEMENT AND EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE aims to mobilize in and out of school young people in three neighborhoods (Kacyiru, Nyamirambo) of Kigali, Rwamagana and Kisenyi, assist them to get organized within youth associations/groups/cooperatives, assist them gain social, entrepreneurial and developmental skills through trainings, sharing and exchange programs and finally equip them with community engagement capacity through community outreaches besides lobbying and advocacy initiatives.

PROJECT VISION

The project visions of a well equipped, empowered and progressive youths actively participating in their communities development.

PROBLEM ANALYSIS

Youth groups/clubs/associations/cooperative capacity

In Rwanda there exist many youth based groupings, some registered while others existing informally. In Kigali alone YADEN Rwanda is in contact with over 60 such groups though only 24 groups are engaged within our Network. The major challenge for these groups is capacity. The groups have very little or no organizational skills. Members especially the representatives lack basic skills such as leadership skills, group dynamics skills, understanding of developmental agenda, understanding of basic administrative systems and procedures in project management and financial management. This contributes in making the groups ineffective and thus failing in their primary goal of empowering and improving the lives of its members and by extension failing in their role of educating and leading their communities on developmental issues.

The project targets to build the capacity of all the targeted 50 youth groups using an intervention mechanism developed by YADEN East Africa based in Nairobi that breaks down youth groups capacity into eight steps.

Participation of Young people in the developmental agenda and their leadership role in grassroots community matters

Though young people are in the majority their impact in positively influencing grassroots and national developmental agenda is limited. Various factors contribute to this situation including lack of capacity in understanding development and its interventions, cultural and social inhibitions which does respects older opinions more than younger opinions, lack of young people in leadership positions, lack of material and financial resources that plays a key role in influencing decisions among others.

This leads to young people depending on others to develop and drive the agenda including on issues affecting them both at the grassroots as well as at the national level.

Besides building the individual and group capacities the project also aims to engage various activities such as community outreaches, festivals and exhibitions which will assist in getting the youth to take a lead in addressing developmental issues at the same time display their capacities/capabilities/potential to their communities, government agencies and other developmental stakeholders.

Young women position in the community

If women are marginalized young women and more so young/teenage mothers are at the bottom of the society ladder. Rwandan government through affirmative action and other circumstances such as post genocide increased role for women have contributed to an expanded role for women within national developmental agenda. The role of young women especially at the grassroots remain minimal while violence against women and more so young women in all its forms continues to prevent young women realizing their potential and by extension denying the community the contributions these young women can make.

The project will insist on deliberately targeting 50% young women within its beneficiaries at the same time mainstream the issue of gender equality/equity and the issue of violence against women within all its activities.

Young people and economic independence 

In the recent past Rwanda and more so Kigali has witnessed tremendous economic and infrastructure development but gainful employment especially for the young people from poor backgrounds is very limited. Lack of viable skills has been blamed for this situation. This group continues to be disenfranchised and their situation helps contribute to other developmental challenges including teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, petty crime among others. Research shows when young people are economically empowered they become active participants in seeking solutions on developmental issues affecting their communities.

The project aim is to build capacities of young people and assist them explore innovative ways of earning a descent income thus helping address this challenge.

Community and more so young people role in achieving millennium development goals

Achievement of millennium development goals (MDG’s) is key to communities realizing their developmental potentials but their role is very limited. The project will aim to engage young people to create more awareness on MDG’s to the community and thus increasetheir contribution in achieving these goals.

Participation of educational institutions in community developmental agenda

Educational institutions at all levels are home to a significant number of young people in any society. Mostly the main focus in these institutions is on educational excellence which means pupils and students lack in social and developmental skills. Research has shown that these life based skills are vital in developing well balanced young people with the capacity to contribute in addressing developmental issues at a personal and community level. The project will engage educational institutions through student clubs to educate the students on developmental issues and support them to reach out to their parents, relatives, neighbors and community at large.



PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Objective one 

To mobilize and assist 1500 young people get organized and focused on income generating activities and community development activities through engaging and organizational capacity building 50 youth based associations/groups/cooperatives in Kigali, Rwamagana and Kisenyi and organizing them into three locality based youth networks.

Results to Objective One

• 50 Youth Groups from Kigali, Rwamagana and Kisenyi will have organizational capacity in areas of basic financial systems, project management, Reporting, Monitoring and evaluation. 

• 1500 young people, 50% young women will have shared and exchanged their experiences and learned from one another. 

• A platform for youth development will exist.

Objective Two

To train 150 youth groups representatives (50% young women) drawn from 50 youth groups with Art-preneurship skills (income generating skills) as trainers of trainers. (ToTs) and facilitate them to train/share their experience and skills with other young people within their groups thus training an additional 1000 young people and by extension encouraging at least 25 youth groups (50% of total target) to develop art-preneurship based business plans, publish these plans on our website and encourage potential donors, funders and well wishers to support them.

Results to Objective Two

• 150 young people, 50% young women will have become trainers of trainers. 

• 50 youth groups will have identified creative and innovative Art-preneurship based income generating activities. 

• 1 000 young people in Kigali, Rwamagana and Kisenyi will have income generating skills. 

• 25 youth groups will have viable Art-preneurship based business plans.

Objective Three

To reach and create awareness to 150 000 people directly in Kigali, Rwamagana and Kisenyi through arts and sports based methods with the project developmental message/issues on Gender equality especially ending violence against women, HIV/AIDS, embracing diversity to promote peace and good/accountable governance, importance of universal access to basic education, importance of citizens especially youth participation on social, political, cultural and economic development.

Results to Objective Three

• 150 000 people from Kigali, Rwamagana and Kisenyi will have been sensitized and will be aware of HIV/AIDS, Gender based violence/violence against women, diversity and peace, participatory governance and universal access to basic education issues.

• Youth based groups will be developmental leaders in their communities.

Objective Four

To educate and sensitize 10 000 pupils and students in primary, secondary, colleges and universities drawn from 20 educational institutions on their role in seeking solutions to developmental issues contained within the millennium developmental goals.

Results to Objective Four

• 20 educational institutions (10 primary schools, 5 secondary schools, 3 vocational training centers and 2 universities) in Kigali, Rwamagana and Kisenyi will have established WE CAN community developmental clubs in their institutions.

• 10 000 pupils and students will be aware of millennium development goals and their roles in seeking solutions to these goals.

• 100 000 community members will have been reached by pupils and students and awareness created to them on millennium development goals.

Objective Five

To lobby and advocate for increased support and engagement of young people through their groups/clubs/associations/cooperatives in the grassroots and national developmental agenda.

Results to Objective Five

• Awareness will have been created to 50 stakeholders drawn from government, civil society, educational institutions, the media, faith based institutions among other stakeholders on the role of young people in community development.

• 50 stakeholders will have been equipped with youth engagement methodology capacity.

• Increased youth focused programs will be realized among development stakeholders.

Objective Six

To strengthen the organizational capacity of YADEN Rwanda as a national youth focused and youth led national development organization so that it can best serve and support young people in Rwanda identify and advance their potential, enabling
them earn a descent income and thus empowering them to become active participants in their communities development.

Results to Objective six

• YADEN Rwanda will have strengthened its financial and programmatic systems.

• YADEN Rwanda staff will have acquired extensive capacities in project management.

• YADEN Rwanda will have increased its profile as a developmental stakeholder in Rwanda. 

• Young people and their communities in Kigali, Rwamagana and Kisenyi will engage YADEN Rwanda and its programs as a platform for development.
  
  
  
  Attached to this page is our full project proposal.