Ongoing Implementation report

Young Voices for Change

County Civic Literacy and Public Participation

Civic learning connected directly to public forums, county planning, budgeting, written submissions, and constructive engagement with institutions.

Period: April 2025 – ongoing
Location: Busia County · Kakamega County

A speaker addressing young people seated in a public forum.

Progress at a glance

240 young people participating in civic learning

18 public forums attended with prepared contributions

12 written youth submissions prepared and lodged

Intervention overview

The case for this work

Context

Formal public-participation opportunities exist, but young people may not receive information early enough, understand technical documents, or know how to turn community priorities into a useful contribution. Participation can also become tokenistic or politically polarised without careful facilitation.

Our response

AYCP provides non-partisan civic learning before supporting participants to analyse local priorities, review accessible planning information, prepare submissions, attend relevant forums, and track formal responses.

Beneficiaries

Who the intervention serves

Young people seeking practical, non-partisan ways to engage community and county decision-making

Objectives

01
Improve practical understanding of county planning, budgeting, and participation channels.
02
Support evidence-based youth contributions to real public processes.
03
Strengthen respectful engagement between young people, communities, and public institutions.

Apr–Aug 2025

Civic learning pilot

Participants tested accessible learning materials and mapped participation opportunities in two counties.

Sep 2025–Jun 2026

Participation cycles

Youth groups prepared evidence and contributed to relevant planning, budgeting, and community forums.

Jul–Dec 2026

Response tracking and expansion

AYCP tracks institutional responses, improves materials, and prepares additional youth facilitators.

Measurement

Results and targets

Result	Indicator	Baseline	Target	Verification
Participants understand practical county participation channels.	Participants meeting the post-session civic-literacy standard	26%	75%	Pre- and post-session assessments
Young people contribute evidence to public processes.	Written or recorded youth contributions formally submitted	0	18	Submission receipts, forum records, and copies of memoranda
Institutions respond to youth priorities.	Submissions receiving a documented response or follow-up meeting	0	10	Official correspondence and meeting records

Inclusion and safeguarding

Participation by design

Facilitation is non-partisan and actively supports young women, young people with disabilities, and participants outside established civic groups.
Technical county information is translated into accessible summaries without changing its meaning.

Risk management

Risks addressed in delivery

Participation is perceived as party-political mobilisation: Use a published non-partisanship standard, balanced facilitation, and issue-based selection of public processes.
Forums change dates or provide inadequate notice: Maintain institutional contacts and prepare more than one participation opportunity for each cohort.

Sustainability

What continues beyond delivery

Train youth facilitators to reuse the civic-learning materials with local groups.
Maintain a simple public-process calendar and submission archive for future cohorts.

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Work with AYCP

Build practical opportunities with young people

AYCP works with institutions, community actors, and aligned partners who can strengthen programme learning, reach, and long-term value.

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