The Youth Cafe’ will host a podcast on Youth and women's political and civic engagement in Africa. The podcast will be interactive, and it will take the format of a panel. TYC participated in the pre-summit Global Coalition Forum in Brussels, Belgium, by giving significant input in developing The Menu Of Possible Commitments to help prioritize, facilitate and enhance youth civic and political participation.

On the 29th of November, 2021, the Executive Director of The Youth Café, Willice Onyango will be speaking at a forum organized by Engage Jamii Initiatives in partnership with the US Embassy in Nairobi. The program will focus on the “Role of Youth and Women in Peaceful Election Campaigns” in Kenya.

On 30th September 2021 The Youth Café will conduct the physical video/photo award ceremony at their offices at Kitisuru Gardens to officially present the winners with their awards. Several key players will attend including the 3 finalists, members of The Youth Café, invited guests Amos Onyango and Nerima Wako-Ojiwa and our keynote speaker, Mr Samuel Kimeu, the Executive Director of Africa’s Voices Foundation.

The International Youth Day is an annual social impact awareness day observed on 12 August each year, to celebrate the energy and possibility represented by the youth and amplify their voices, abilities and innovations. We hope through supporting important initiatives such as these that The Youth Café can make a significant impact in the community.

BACKGROUND

The 2030 Agenda, adopted in 2015, is a global development framework, which guides development policy and practice at national, regional and global levels until 2030. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an integral part of the 2030 Agenda, are a call to action to end poverty worldwide, to protect the planet, and to promote peace and prosperity for everyone, everywhere.

The SDGs do not constitute a process that is separate but rather a framework for action on different streams of work in development and environmental conservation. The 2030 Agenda, therefore, reaches across all aspects of government, including parliamentary business.

Parliament’s constitutional responsibility to steer its country’s sustainable development directly impacts SDG implementation and plays an integral role in realizing the 2030 Agenda by representing the interests of citizens and localizing the implementation of the SDGs through deliberate efforts to ensure action at the national level.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Parliament Open Day 2019, themed “The Role of Parliament in realizing Agenda 2030” will bring together Members of Parliament, key agencies of the United Nations in Nairobi and Development Partners to critically examine the important role of Parliamentarians for the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Youth Cafe is taking part in the dissemination workshop on a research recently conducted in partnership with VSO Kenya, The Ford Foundation on Youth Leadership and Governance.

The research was youth-led and explored deeply the views of the youth in regard to the provisions of Chapter 6 of the Constitution of Kenya. It sought to employ varied qualitative and quantitative approaches to better understand the barriers and enablers to youth leadership and meaningful youth participation and engagement in governance in 4 counties in Kenya; namely Siaya, Taita Taveta, Nandi, and Wajir. Together, we hope to plot the way forward in regard to increasing the level of youth participation in leadership and governance in Kenya.