Kenya News Agency
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Kenya has called for greater collaboration among the Horn of Africa countries on youth empowerment initiatives to develop the requisite skills and human resource personnel required for the region's economic development and security.
Addressing a forum on the Youth in the Horn of Africa at the IGAD Secretariat in Djibouti, Kenyan Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr.Paul Otuoma said countries in the region could only achieve the desired impact in the implementation of youth development programs through joint initiatives.
"With the emergent need to strengthen regional cooperation in the implementation of the African Union Ten Year Plan of Action (2009-2018), there is urgent need to foster regional cooperation on youth development," said Dr. Otuoma.
The Minister said Kenya had already started the process of reaching out to countries in the region in jointly addressing youth empowerment and integration, citing the establishment of the Kenya -Djibouti Joint Commission for Cooperation in the field of Sports as an example that will promote understanding and collaboration between youths from the two countries.
He stressed the need for IGAD member countries to "appreciate that young people are emphatically in the global agenda" adding that the progress of civilization in the region would be determined by the extent to which the youth would be given the opportunity to contribute to the advancement of society.
The minister explained to the regional forum the steps Kenya had taken towards empowering the youth including the development of the Youth Policy and the implementation of various programs to give the youth a chance in life and enhance their participation in national development.
He cited the Youth Enterprise Development Fund through which the government had within the last three years disbursed over $ 35 million (KShs 2.8 billion) to 100,000 youth enterprises, trained over 150,000 young entrepreneurs and assisted 1500 youth obtain jobs abroad.
Other initiatives, he said, included the setting up of youth empowerment centres in each of the 210 constituencies, sports and talent promotion through the National Youth Talent Academy which will have eight regional centres, and the National Greening Program which aims to create 105, 000 temporary jobs to involve youths in environmental conservation.
Otuoma said the National Youth Service had also expanded its intake to 10,000 to give more youth opportunities and that the government planned to establish model youth polytechnics in each of the constituencies in the country besides the ongoing rehabilitation of the existing youth polytechnics to promote technical, entrepreneurial and vocational training.
The three day youth forum from Dec 21-23 was organized by a regional think tank and research body, Greater Horn Horizon Forum (GHHF) based in Djibouti in collaboration with IGAD and UNESCO.
Other ministers in charge of Youth Affairs at the forum from other IGAD member countries echoed the need for collaboration, experience sharing and research to effectively tackle the challenges facing the youth in the Horn of Africa to stop them from drifting into crime and conflicts including joining rebel movements, militias and fundamentalist groups such as Al-Shabaab.
Source: KNA