Retreat Report

Theme: “Investing in youth”

Opening remarks by Abas Kunyo the CECM, Department of Education, Vocational training, Youth, Sports, Gender, Culture and Social services welcomed everyone at the commencement of the retreat. He gave a recap of the previous day’s discussions which revolved around the objectives of the retreat, the vision of the Centre, the challenges affecting youth in Tana which he gave examples like the high levels of unemployment among the youth who are 75% of the population and 35% of them below 35yrs, high level of poverty within the Tana Community, negative cultural practices especially early marriages among the youth, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), teenage pregnancies.

He later pointed the interventions by the County government that are being used to help eradicate the challenges the youths are facing, for example incentivize the youth by creating the Youth Policy Document. Mr. Abas Kunyo invited the deputy Governor of Tana river County to officially open the forum.

His Excellency Mahadh Ali Loka thanked everyone involved in planning for the retreat, the team of professionals for making time to brainstorm on how to come up with the best solutions and ways for the institution to reap its full potential and blessed the forum for having interest of the youth at heart. He then stated “The Youth in Tana River is quite large which comprises of over 75% of the population but faces a lot of challenges like high levels of unemployment, drug abuse, illiteracy among others. So the Tana River Centre for Innovation and Youth Empowerment will better include the youth to be self-reliant and productive citizens of the nations” and declared the forum officially opened.

SWOT Analysis Presentations

The participants were divided into teams to come up with an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT Analysis) that the Centre would face.

Group 1: Strengths

• Availability of youths who are creative, eager to participate and be trained
• Availability of a pool of experts from KSG and implementing partners
• Readiness of the youth of Tana River to volunteer in the programs
• Political goodwill from the County Government in terms of scholarships, bursaries etc
• Willingness of the communities to support and accept the Youth Programs
• Availability of the National Irrigation schemes for the agri-business sector
• Availability of sport facilities
• The Blue economy i.e. Tana river, Indian ocean

Group 2: Weaknesses

• Lack of a clear formal management structure
• Inadequate awareness of the Centre’s existence
• Low urban population for produced products
• High illiteracy & poverty levels
• Lack of developed industries and enabling infrastructure to promote the skills learnt
• Negative attitude from the youth to seek for skills
• Inadequate technical expertise for envisaged programs and Human resource attitude
• Lack of a youth empowerment & innovation act
• Few partners and donors
• Lack of amenities for example water, Network connection
• Limited financial resource allocation
• Inadequate equipment and infrastructure within the Centre to adequately provide training

Group 3: Opportunities

• Availability of trained youth to provide opportunity for the county to tap the skilled labor
• Availability of local resources like land & water
• Innovation in solar energy value addition for proper utilization for untapped resources
• Strong private sector, civil society networks and partners that support the youth
• Stakeholder support and advocacy
• Availability of other departments in the productive sectors for example, Agriculture & livestock, fisheries and cooperatives
• Both genders are given an equal platform to access the programs
• Availability of strong infrastructure that is already in place
• Political goodwill

Group 4: Threats

• Political interference by civic leaders who may incite the public to boycott the programs
• Financial constraints like lack of funds leading the Centre to be dependable on partners
• Competition from other organizations that have friendly youth empowerment programs
• Lack of refresher courses for the instructors
• The ever changing market trends
• Weak social/family structures causing deviant behaviors in the youth
• Change of Government Policies
• Lack of an organizational structure
• Collaboration — Lack of commitment and ownership from the management
• Lack of awareness of the Centre
• Distance from the Centre to where the youths reside
• End of political goodwill when there is change of governance
• Poor cultural mindset where the youth want handouts so as to attend trainings

Capacity Building

• Career Guidance
• Financial Literacy and Book keeping
• Leadership & Management training
• Peace and Conflict resolution
• Life skills & mentorship programs
• Community Youth Clubs
• Social civic engagement

Innovation

• Digital marketing
• Waste recycling for example Briquette making, glass décor
• Food production — Baking & Pastry
• Business — Bio-degradable or recyclable sanitary pads manufacture from locally available raw materials
• Education — Easy access of reading materials
• Agriculture — crop cultivation technologies for arid areas
• Transport — a tracking software of vehicles
• Marketing

Creativity

• Building and Structural Molders
• Hairstylist and Hairdresser
• Disc Jokey
• Nail Specialists
• Home care
• Landscaping
• Interior design

ICT

• Computer Lab for free browsing and online jobs/marketing
• Website design and cyber security
• Library Services
• Coding & programming in mobile applications
• Graphic Design
• Online research and Writing
• Proposal writing

Talent Development

• Performing Arts: Music, Drama, Dance, Instruments
• Creative Arts: Film, Theatre, Photography, Sculpture, MC
• Fine Art: Murals, Graffiti, Mosaics

Sports, Leisure and Recreation

• Coaching, Referee & sports officials courses
• Recreation facilities e.g. Swimming pools, Tennis courts, Darts
• Martial Arts
• Gym

Health

• Counselling and Guidance on drugs and substance abuse
• HIV/Aids
• Mental health
• Reproductive Health
• Guidance and counselling on harmful traditional practices

Agri-Business

• Farm yard manure making (composting)
• Production of clean energy from domestic waste (Biogas)
• Apiculture (Bee keeping)
• Hydroponics
• Fisheries

Entrepreneurship

• Event Management
• Digital mechanical diagnostics course for motor vehicle repair and maintenance
• Automated Car wash training
• E-commerce

Survey Recommendations

In regards to the programs presented Prof Nura who was the facilitator from Kenya School of Government gave a review that the county should carry out a survey so as to have a baseline of some important factors like:

• The number of youths interested in the courses being offered at the Centre
• How many youths have the capacity to do the skills at hand
• The number of youths with skills but lack certification

This survey is to help in resource mobilization in that the youth with skills but lack certification, the county could partner with an organization like NITA (National Industrial Training Authority) to conduct a short training program and help them attain certificates. After that the new experts could be drafted into a database and let the database be launched by the County Governor.

He also urged county to create a Research, data analysis and advisory brief department to help establish emerging issues and challenges happening within the county since with the right statistics the county will manage to address issues like FGM head on.

He also pointed that the county could establish mentorship programs for the youths who are in school so that during holidays the programs like camping which could give them hope and guide them in their career paths and also go through a psychometric assessment to help choose their careers of choice.

Resource Mobilization

Prof Nura facilitated this session where he tackled on ways of mapping resources to help in resource mobilization and gave the following examples:

• National Government by creating a youth agenda policy
• County government by assessing the government procurement opportunities
• Development of partners
• Internally Generated revenues
• Community based organizations (CBO’s) and Civil society organizations (CSO’s)
• From the youth themselves

TRCIYE Business Development Model

Overall objective is to Attract synergies, Build on engagements, Turn opportunities into prospects.

What went well?

• The innovation centre picture was articulated clearly from where we are to where we want to be.
• Participation by participants was high
• The use of group work encouraged member to participate
• Participants willing to share what they got from the sessions
• The participants experienced great team work
• The thematic areas suggested were relevant
• Objective of the retreat was met with over 85%

What didn’t go well.

• Due to unavoidable commitments some participants missed out on some of the days sessions.
• There was no clear delegation of tasks, duties and responsibilities by the organizers thus contributing to laxity
• Set clear timelines on way forwards agreed upon
• Reimbursements of DSA to be done by the end of the last day of the meeting

What can be done better?

• Ensure that time management, duties, tasks and responsibilities is clear from the onset.
• Share the documents to be discussed in advance
• Incorporate all key players within the county relevant with the Tana river centre of innovation and youth empowerment.
• All the attendees to commit on 100% participation for consistency
• Capitalize on the current supplementary budget to executive suggested action points.
• Make sure the realization of centre goal and objective is achieved
• Disseminate the already developed county youth policy since some of the thematic areas of focus are similar.