EASTERN AFRICA YOUTH NETWORK (EAYN)

The Eastern Africa Youth Network (EAYN) is composed of all the Youth from 14 National Societies namely Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Comoros, Seychelles, Rwanda, Burundi, Mauritius, Madagascar and Eritrea represented by their youth leadership in the Annual Youth General Assembly. EAYN operates under the RC-Net and was established in September 2009 as a follow up to the resolutions and commitments the E.A Youth delegates made in Solferino during the 3 rd World Youth Meeting. The youth in the Network mandated EAYN Coordinating Team to;-

- discharge the objects of the network.- advocate for youth governance, leadership and participation in decision making.- enhance Social Mobilization.- Share best practices.- resource mobilization and identification.- advocate for adoption of IFRC youth policy and youth structures.- increase space for youth participation in the movement.- develop, design and initiate new program opportunities to retain youth.- develop a peer review mechanism to increase resource sharing, learning and interaction.

The coordinating team (CT) held its half-yearly meeting at the IFRC Regional Office in Nairobi from June 7th -8th 2010 presided by Joram Oranga (Kenya RC) the Chairman/President and attended by Vanessa Bandhoo (Mauritius RC) the Secretary and four members Hannignton Ssegrinya (Uganda RC), Jean Batiste (Burundi RC), Hassan Taha (Sudan RC), George Kinyanjui of IFRC OD office in Nairobi is the Technical Advisor.

The meeting was held with a view of addressing the challenges it has encountered since its inception and map out a short-term strategy that would assist youth programs within the region improve their visibility and inputs in the National Societies (NSs). Among the discussions was the review of the period between the last and current meeting.

the following were noted;-

a rapid situational analysis done in eight National Societies showed representation of youth in governance boards and leadership is only at 27% comparably with a youth volunteer force of 86% of the total volunteers. While youth policy widely remains ignored and underutilized with only 37% of NSs having policies, Resource allocation for youth programs is at 33%. Evidently showing that a lot still needs to be done in terms of youth targeting and development.

access to information by the youth in NSs is yet another huge challenge, very few RC Youth are able to get timely updates, periodic information, news, upcoming events and feedbacks while the few who are informed is hugely due to their proximity to urban centers which greatly marginalizes and discriminates the rural youth with no such incentives.

NSs have no clear instruments of communicating to its youth, to enable youth communicate, interact and provide feedbacks. Most of the NSs rely on the traditional methods of circulars, letters and emails to the branches/chapters which hardly reaches the targeted audience

Lack of funding, under staffing and resource allocation to the youth program was identified as the biggest impediment to growth. The youth have a lot to do in their NSs but very limited facilitation and opportunities.

another notable challenge was lack of facilities within the region to allow youth from different NSs come together, interact, learn and share information and skills to better their programs. It was sadly noted that the NSs youth within the region hardly interact with one another nor invite each other to their functions.

challenges faced by the Coordinating Team;-

The coordinating team as an institution has not been left out , despite the efforts employed so far, the following challenges were encountered;

ownership of the network by NSs is still negligible, meaning that most youth programs have not fully embraced and adopted the concept of the network.

feedbacks from NSs on matters pertaining to the youth program are hardly provided, nor do NSs share information on their youth activities, leadership and involvement.

the strict protocol in some NSs makes it difficult for the youth staff and leaders to add more value in the network through learning and interaction.

lack of interest or participation in some NSs has made it very difficult to target them in the network activities.

lack of representation of the EAYN leadership in the main RC-Net has made it a little bit difficult to have effective advocacy for the voice of youth.

New challenge;-

The reorganization of the EA Zonal Office to two Regional Offices (Eastern Africa and Indian Ocean) and Country Representation (Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Eritrea) with different secretariats. This requires more in-depth involvement of the coordinating team to maintain relevance, including close and frequent interaction with the regional coordinators and country representatives to ensure proper understanding of the EAYN activities and readily available information for the concerned persons.

Process output;-

However, the meeting managed to take an in-depth look of the possible solutions during its two days sitting. Some of the possible areas of engagement discussed were;-

- exploring the communication possibilities provided by the IFRC including collaboration with the youth communication unit at the IFRC Geneva.

- use of social media to provide information and communicate to the youth, encourage feedbacks and updates.

- initiating Youth as Agents for Behavior Change (YABC) activities to aid youth programs design new activities for youth, attract new opportunities under climate change and conflict resolutions and do away with routine/traditional activities that no longer attract and retain youth.

- encouraging strategic partnership with youth organizations with similar objectives to enhance social mobilization.

- regional youth leadership forums to promote governance, learning, skills development and best practices.

- promote exchange programs with a suggested model of host family kind of setup to enable youth travel, visit places, learn different cultures and contribute to the humanitarian work of the movement (this model is suggested in the context of developing a webpage for RC Youth only who are willing to travel to other NSs to find host families in the intended NSs and work with their programs for the period hosted.)

Recommendations;-

Strengthen Youth access to information and information materials through social media, IFRC website, establishing youth information desk in each NSs, newsletters, discussion forums and networking.

Increase advocacy for youth in governance and leadership by developing peer review mechanism, lobbying, initiating regional leadership forums, advocacy for representations in RC-Net and other governance boards.

Increase Social Mobilization by targeted recruitment of quality youth, designing new programs to overcome routine activities, identifying strategic partners for increased opportunities and funding, enhancing Movement Dissemination, Principles and Values.

Strengthen youth role in conflict management and resolutions through YABC activities. Integrate climate change in youth program to create new opportunities for the youth. Establish convergence point for best practices and information exchange among NSs within the

region.

The youth network also made resolutions to work very closely with NSs to ensure that the short-term strategies are achieved including close interactions with the RC-Net leadership, OD working group and Regional/Zonal Office. Despite the challenges encountered, EAYN still sees great potential among its youth and has embarked on an aggressive advocacy campaign to ensure results are achieved within shortest period possible. EAYN CT meetings are carried out on a rotational basis with the next meeting expected to be held in Mauritius in November 2010 or as will be advised.

___________________________________________Prepared by

Joram .H OrangaChairman/PresidentEastern Africa Youth Network___________________________________________guiding strategy statement);

A special focus on young people is a crucial investment, not only for today but also for the future. The safety and protection of young people in vulnerable circumstances must be addressed, taking into account their age-and-gender-specific needs. In their multiple roles as contributors-and acknowledging their skills, inter-cultural ambassador and peer-to-peer facilitators-young people are educated, enabled and empowered to be active in leading and participating in voluntary activities and in the governance, management and services of their National Societies. To this end, we use non-formal approaches as well as specific training and skills development. These are underpinned by dedicated youth networks and structures. We also encourage young people to continue membership as adults. Young people bring much needed skills when working alongside the increasing numbers of older people in a spirit of mutual respect. This is crucial to the intergenerational transfer of experience that is vital to both progress and stability in Society.

EAYN short term strategy

  Strategy Action 1: Promote effective Communication and free flow of information among the Youth within the Region

  Enabling Action Activities Benchmarks (Verifiables)1.1 Strengthen Youth access to information

and information material within the network through the Regional IFRC Secretariat.

Constant interaction with the Communication unit to ensure periodic updates. EAYN ownership at least 10 out of 14 NSs

Enhance information sharing through Social Media (facebook pages, constant updates on fednet) Periodic updates increased to atleast 1 per NSDevelop information desk in each NSs to share updates on the network.

atleast 50% of the youth in the network understand the network activities. Timely and effective communication upto 2 weeks

Regional Secretariat fully understands and support youth network

mutual interaction with the regional office to speed up communications and follow ups.

Develop strong discussion forums and interactions at the region

increase youth particpation in the network up to 230347 (30%) for the next years

1.2 Increased advocacy for youth in governance and leadership.

Lobby for participation of Youth in Leadership, Representations in RC-Net and Regional Working Groups.

Youth Representation increased upto atleast 9NSs out of 14

Disseminate the IFRC Youth Policy and lobby for its adoption within EAYN

youth policies and governance instruments adopted in atleast 8NSs in the next year

Develop peer review mechanism to assist NSs youth programs to establish youth structures

best practices increasingly shared upto atleast 60% of the NSs.

Bi annual regional forums on leadership and governace upto 2 youths per NSs meeting with other youths in biannual leadership forum

Develop lobbying materials for information dissemination i.e. Newsletters, reports, feedbacks, appraisals

increasing youth particpation in governing boards by 57%)

1.3 Strengthen Youth Social Mobilization Enhanced targeted recruitment and retention of quality youth members

youth recruitment and retention up to 60%, and recruitment of quality youth up to 30%, and resources allocation for youth programme at 9 NS out of 14

Increase dialogue with other programs within the movement to identify youth as key partner in implementing result based projects

Programs like health, disaster, watsan increasingly work with youth

Identify and network with strategic partners to boost resource mobilisation and allocation for youth

key partners identified and networked with annually

2 Strategy Action 2: modify and adopt Youth as Agent for Behaviour Change (YABC) tools to attract new programming2.1 Conflict Management Use the YABC thematic issues to develop new program

activities for youth to promote peace and tolerance.routine activities shelved for new program areas to attract more youth

Encourage the training of YABC peer educators in the region to increase peace resolution activities. Increased tolerance and respect for diversity

Promote principles and values of the movement to increase social mobilisation of youth.

more visibility and understanding of RC programs among youth

Conduct regional forums for youth on peace and conflict management. atleast 5 NSs with peace ambassadors

2.2 Climate ChangeAdaptation and Building of resillience to climate atleast 5 NSs develop climate change activities

Communication and outreach programatleast 5 NSs youth program conduct communication andoutreach on enviromental manageent

Enviromental Management and Awarenessupto 8 NSs increase climate change awareness among youth

3 Strategy Action 3: Regional Learning and Youth Exchange Programs3.1 Regional Learning and Exchange

Programs forumsestablish centre/convergence points for youth leadership in the regions documentation of best practices and youth programs

organise biannual governance/leadership forums for youth to share best practice number of forums conducted

networking between youth in the same area to promote more understanding of the EAYN

collaboraton of national societies to support one another

develop leadership toolkits to be used in NSs to build and empower youth blue prints supporting governance