What would you want included, changed or removed from the Youth Bill 2024?
The Youth Bill 2024 is a legislative proposal by the Kenyan government which has been claimed to be addressing challenges faced by the youth, particularly unemployment. The bill seeks to replace the existing Youth Enterprise Development Fund with a new Youth Fund focused on innovation and livelihoods, providing accessible financial resources for entrepreneurship and sustainable projects.
To ensure inclusivity, the public was invited to share their views on the Youth Bill 2024 during the consultation period from 11 December 2024 to 19 December 2024.
The Youth Bill 2024 outlines measures aimed at addressing challenges faced by young people in Kenya, particularly unemployment and access to opportunities. ✨💼 Some key proposals include:
- Establishment of a Youth Fund: 🏦 Replacing the Youth Enterprise Development Fund with a new initiative to support innovation, livelihoods, and entrepreneurship.
- Capacity Building Programs: 📚 Equipping youth with skills to enhance employability, promote self-employment, and support sustainable livelihoods.
- Talent Identification and Commercialisation: 🎨 Identifying, nurturing, and supporting the commercialisation of youth talents across various sectors, including the creative economy.
- Youth Registrar’s Office: 🗂️ Setting up an office to register youth organisations, maintain a database, and address issues affecting these groups.
- Award Scheme for Creative Industries: 🏆 Introducing a scheme to recognise achievements in the creative sector and encourage participation in cultural and artistic activities.
We recognised that the voices of the youth was needed to shape these critical conversation! zKe conducted a series of consultations with the youth on digital spaces including on zKe social media channels, on X spaces and using deliberative technologies such as Pol.is.
Digital Consultations
From the total of 564 participants, the majority, representing 66%, identified as young people belonging to Generation Z.
Note: The pol.is platform allows us to identify both the statements that received the highest number of agreement or disagreement votes and the statements with the highest or lowest group informed consensus. In summary, group informed consensus is a measure of how favorably a statement is viewed by people who otherwise disagree with each other. Statements with high group informed consensus scores (we’ll call these “consensus statements”) are often those that bring everyone together across dividing lines; statements with low group informed consensus scores (we’ll call these “divisive statements”) are often those that are likely to be most divisive because they have strong agreement from one group and strong disagreement from another group. Please see the notes at the end for a more detailed definition of group informed consensus and how this differs from majority voting.
Most Consensual statements
The youth reached a 60% consensus emphasizing the need for the Youth Bill 2024 to include mechanisms for direct youth participation in governance, prioritize equipping youth with digital skills and job opportunities, address challenges in existing youth funds rather than creating new ones, and incorporate clear accountability and evaluation metrics to ensure effective implementation.
💡 The most consensual views in the conversation included:
- The youth bill should establish mechanisms for direct youth participation in governance and decision-making. Currently it lacks this.
- The bill should focus on equipping youth with digital skills and creating opportunities for digital jobs for the youth
- Considering that youth make up the majority of Kenya’s population, shouldn’t all laws prioritize inclusivity and address their unique challenges? This bill, in particular, should include mechanisms to ensure direct youth participation in governance and decision-making processes.
- Youth Fund vs Youth Enterprise Development Fund: Both aim to support entrepreneurship. Instead of creating a new fund, addressing challenges like accessibility and governance in the existing fund may generate better results.
- Inclusion of clear accountability and evaluation metrics.
Most divisive statement
The most divisive issue centred around whether leadership roles, such as sub-chief positions, should prioritise youth representation. Overall, 62% of participants supported this idea, but the responses varied significantly between groups, with 70% of Group B in favour compared to only 28% of Group A, highlighting differing perspectives on youth inclusion in governance roles.
All the statements/ views can be accessed here.
X Space conversation
The X Space conversation on the Youth Bill 2024 highlighted several key concerns among Kenyan youth. Participants emphasised the need for the bill to address unemployment by creating more job opportunities and providing support for youth entrepreneurship. They also called for increased access to education and vocational training to equip young people with relevant skills for the job market. Additionally, there was a strong demand for youth inclusion in decision-making processes, ensuring that their voices are heard in matters affecting their lives.
Another significant point raised was the necessity for mental health support, recognising the challenges faced by the youth in the current socio-economic climate. Participants advocated for the establishment of safe spaces where young people can express themselves and seek assistance. The conversation also touched on the importance of environmental conservation, urging the youth to take an active role in protecting and preserving their surroundings. Overall, the discussion underscored the multifaceted issues confronting Kenyan youth and the imperative for comprehensive strategies within the Youth Bill 2024 to address these challenges effectively.
More insights can be found here.
Social Media Engagement
Below are some of the engaged content from zKe on the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024 on different platforms:
