Enabling young people to lead change and development
The Aim Youth Power project supports youth-led accountability of duty-bearers articulated around the capacity-building of a network of youth-led organizations that are already active in youth`-led accountability. Working through youth-led organizations we hope to create a sustainable way to engage young people in accountability work while making it safer than training young people directly and asking them to stand up in front of their leaders.
We train Youth-led organizations so their capacity is strengthened and increased to deliver for their peers and communities in a sustainable way. Bringing them all together in a network will support their collective actions. With this increased capacity, they will better be able to inform and influence State actors on service provision issues pertaining to young people and will take action for dialogue between State actors and young people. Ultimately, this will result in Youth-Focused and Youth-Led Organizations collectively being able to hold State actors accountable and to influence their decisions.
The following are the project outputs:
YFOs and YLOs inform State actors on performance issues of services in favor of young people
Interventions include YLOs and YFOs researching and publishing on service provision issues pertaining to young people, monitoring laws, policies and programmes as they are implemented in communities and documenting cases of untransparent service delivery.
Activities include: Publishing of youth-led reports, data collection exercises, documented cases, situation analyses (including if possible on issues of corruption and budget tracking).
YFOs and YLOs influence State actors’ decision-making on service provision for young people:
The project supports the network of YLOs and YFOs to take on evidence-based advocacy targeting State actors, demanding for young people’s rights to be represented in decision-making spaces as mapped out and identified in Government institutions. Interventions will strive to better understand mandates and responsibilities of duty-bearers for services targeted at young people.
Activities include: advocacy and campaigns, inputs into policies and Government plans (including the 8NDP), mapping of mandates and stakeholders.
YFOs and YLOs take action for dialogue between State actors and young people:
Under this output, YFOs and YLOs will be able to sensitize and mobilize young people in their constituencies on youth-led accountability while RDZ sensitizes State actors on the need to engage meaningfully with young people, resulting in the opening of dialogue opportunities.
Activities include: development and dissemination of material (digital, video, print) on youth-led accountability for young people (inclusive of various marginalized youth populations), meaningful youth engagement training, dialogue/platform creation, support to community-based action.
YLOs and YFOs have increased capacity, sustainability and collective impact:
Through the project interventions, YLOs and YFOs are be trained in key areas to build their capacity to effectively engage with State actors on accountability issues. In addition to institutional strengthening, the work with YLOs will include sensitization on gender, diversity and inclusion. They will be brought together in a network that is able to collectively raise their voices. Their sustainability will be supported through direct assistance on fundraising.
Activities include: training on youth-lead accountability, institutional strengthening (in the areas of finance, human resources, quality programming, monitoring and evaluation), gender transformative approach, Diversity Equity and Inclusion, scoping exercise on funding opportunities for local YLOs and FYOs, creation of the network, support to youth sector coordination.
