At the core of GOYN Mombasa is the inclusion of the youth voice. This allows youth to lead in finding their solutions. This principle shifts from a top-down approach to bottom-up: anchoring GOYN solutions on what the youth desire for their future.
GOYN engages the youth both directly but also building their capacity to reach out to their fellows through peer-learning. Through the process, youth practice leadership roles, build their soft and technical skills, as well as grow their networks.
The youth voice not only provides the youth perspective but also demonstrates the ability to engage youth in learning about themselves and their peers in efforts to develop their solutions. To ensure the youth voice GOYN has set three key approaches:
Advisory to the GOYN Board
Youths are selected from the 6 sub-counties of Mombasa and become an official advisor to the GOYN Mombasa initiatives. The youth advisors are engaged in co-design/co creation for different pieces of work and linked with other youth platforms where they can lobby for youth agenda.
Co-creating GOYN pathways
Youths (including the youth advisory members) are engaged in co-design/co-creation for different pieces of work.
Advocacy of the youth agenda to key stakeholders
GOYN empowers the youth to advocate for their own issues. Youths under the initiative are linked with other youth platforms to enable them to harness the youth voices.
With the 3 key approaches in mind, GOYN Mombasa inducted a new cohort of Youth Advisory Members (YAG) to serve in the period 2020-2021. The 12 incoming members drawn from the 6 sub-counties went through a rigorous assessment process that aimed at identifying unique talents and voices to drive the youth agenda in Mombasa.
The team was then taken through three days induction forum which focused on equipping them with the necessary knowledge and skills as well as an in-depth understanding of GOYN Mombasa. The team is expected to deliver amongst others the following key responsibilities;
1. Activate/Mobilize young people’s involvement with the initiative
2. Facilitate policy discussions aligned to GOYN Mombasa strategy.
3. Promote inclusive approaches for youth to ensure no opportunity youth is left behind
GOYN Mombasa wishes to congratulate the new YAG members and wish them a very engaging and impactful year ahead. We also wish to pass our regards to our Cohort 1 members who have done a tremendous job over the last year. Indeed in GOYN, there is Nothing for the Youth, Without the Youth!!