Sunday 10 January 2016

Commonwealth Youth Council Granted Funds to Youth Organisations: CYC Partnership Grants Initiative 2015


The Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC) has granted funds to the following youth development projects in four countries from three regions in the Commonwealth, i.e. Kenya and Mauritius from Africa, Pakistan from Asia, and Jamaica from the Caribbean.

1. Community Youth Apprenticeship Project to be delivered by the Kangema Youth Group, Kenya
2. Economic and Social Integration of Youth to be delivered by the Laureate Foundation, Pakistan
3. Dynamic Youth Programme to be delivered by the National Youth Council, Mauritius
4. Realize, Embrace and Achieve your Purpose – REAP Project to be delivered by the Young Women/Men of Purpose (YWOP/YMOP), Jamaica

Announcing the final beneficiaries and projects, Ahmed Adamu, the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Youth Council said this pioneer initiative is to ensure inclusive participation and partnership with the CYC member organisations.

“We are glad that these funds have already been disbursed, and implementation of these projects has already commenced. The distribution of the funds are regionally balanced, and we have put in place all monitoring and evaluation mechanism to ensure efficiency of these projects.” Mr Adamu said.

These youth development projects were selected by the CYC after thorough and rigorous application and selection processes. This aims to ensure that young people in their communities from rural areas to urban areas are empowered to become active participants in their societal development and to improve their well-being and in line with its overall mandate and strategic objectives, the CYC allocated certain amount of funds to sponsor youth-led organizations to implement youth development projects in their communities in partnership with the CYC. As a result, the CYC called for applications from youth-led organizations in the Commonwealth in May/June 2015.

The CYC received 32 applications together with project proposals from 14 countries of the Commonwealth, i.e. Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Jamaica and Saint Lucia.

The received project proposals were in five thematic areas such as Education & Skills, Youth in the Post 2015, Employment & Enterprise, Youth Engagement & Governance, and Reconciliation & Social Cohesion.

The selected four applicants were the best project proposals from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. All these projects were in Education & Skills and Employment & Enterprise, some of the thematic areas to which high priority was given by the CYC.

These projects would mainly focus on capacity building, enhancing leadership, improving entrepreneurial skills and thereby reducing the unemployment rate especially among vulnerable, marginalized, and disadvantaged youth groups that includes youth living with HIV/AIDS, the disabled, internally displaced youth, the homeless, abandoned single teenage mothers, sexually and physically abused, drug addicts, and youth heading households.
 
The CYC has granted 2500 GBP to each of the selected four youth development projects, i.e. in total 10,000 GPB was granted. The Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) between the CYC and the selected youth-led organizations were signed and in accordance with the MOUs, the youth development projects would be implemented by those youth-led organizations in partnership with the CYC.

The CYC believes that this is a significant investment and partnership in enhancing employability, leadership and thereby the life standards of those vulnerable, marginalized, and disadvantaged youth groups in Kenya, Mauritius, Pakistan and Jamaica.

From the CYC Secretariat, Commonwealth Youth Council on 19th January 2015

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