A coalition of youth-led and youth-serving organizations in Kenya has officially been launched with the goal of promoting meaningful engagement and participation of adolescents and youth in the implementation of Kenya’s commitments made during the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25. The coalition will be supported by UNFPA in collaboration with the National Council on Population and Development (NCPD).
The ICPD25 Youth Coalition is indeed a testimony that the youth are ready and willing to take leadership on various development processes if accorded the right opportunities.
The launch of the coalition was led by the Principal Secretary for the State Department for Planning in The National Treasury and Planning Mr. Saitoti Torome, who urged the youth to take leadership in moving the development agenda forward. “The Government through the State Department for Planning has prioritized the ICPD25 Kenya Country Commitments through mainstreaming them in development plans, including the fourth medium-term plan (MTP IV) which will guide the implement the fourth phase of the Kenya Vision 2030,” said Mr. Torome.
for Planning Mr. Saitoti Torome, NCPD Director General
Dr. Sheikh Mohamed and UNFPA Deputy Representative
Dr. Eziz Hellenov at the launch of the ICPD25 Youth Coalition.
During the Nairobi summit on ICPD25 held in 2019, Kenya made 17 commitments which include pledges on access to sexual and reproductive health services, universal education, promoting gender equity, harnessing the demographic dividend, and financing for population programmes. The engagement of young people before and during the summit also ensured the development of youth-centerd commitments on the elimination of teenage pregnancies, new adolescent and youth HIV infections and harmful practices such as child marriages while at the same time ensuring universal access to friendly quality reproductive health services and information to the youth and adolescents by 2030.
Speaking during the launch event held in Nairobi, coalition member Mohamedin Hussein urged fellow youth to empower themselves through education so as to be more effective in advocacy efforts. UNFPA Kenya Deputy Representative Dr. Ezizgeldi Hellenov assured the young people of UNFPA’s support in achieving the goals of the coalition. “The ICPD25 Youth Coalition is indeed a testimony that the youth are ready and willing to take leadership on various development processes if accorded the right opportunities,” said Dr. Hellenov.
Youth organizations from Kenya’s 47 counties have so far been onboarded onto the coalition which will be guided by established structures of governance developed by member organizations.
