Kefeta Project

Kefeta is aligned with the Positive Youth Development (PYD) approach, which rests on the idea that youth with more developmental assets are more likely to enjoy academic success, have greater economic prospects, be more civically engaged, and be healthier in the long term.

Kefeta's theory of change is based on the belief that by:

• creating sustainable grassroots youth groups that form local- and national-level youth coalitions and building their capacity to advocate for their rights and take leadership roles in solving the challenges faced by their communities;
• developing the assets and agencies of youth and assisting them to acquire employability and entrepreneurship skills; and
• linking them with employment and/or innovative funding mechanisms to back their own solutions to the problems they face...

...the programme can expand opportunities for millions of young people, including young women and other marginalised groups around the country - transforming their futures and with that, the future of Ethiopia.

Centred on and informed by the aspirations of Ethiopian youth, the programme has identified 3 groups of actors as the focus of Kefeta's activities:

• Young people, who are supported to increase their assets and agency, strengthen their self-efficacy and skills, and improve their physical and mental well-being. The idea is that economically active youth will then contribute to their families, communities, and country, advocating for their rights and becoming more resilient.
• Youth-led and youth-serving organisations (including civil society organisations (CSOs), faith-based organisations, universities, technical vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, and private sector partners), who are strengthened to provide YFS across sectors and to create spaces for youth to engage in civic and community affairs.
• Youth policy environment actors, who, through active national youth coalitions, will reflect and incorporate youth voices. The idea is that the public and private sectors will then be more supportive of youth, such as by designing packages that specifically address their needs.

Overall, the objective of Kefeta is to benefit the lives of at least 2 million Ethiopian youth in 18 cities over a period of 5 years. This objective is being realised by working toward the following 3 goals and related activities:

1. Increase youth capacity for advocacy and agency
The Kefeta project works to establish and strengthen democratic and representative youth coalitions in the 18 targeted cities of Ethiopia. The project encourages youth to join existing youth groups and/or to establish new interest groups in schools, higher educational institutions (HEIs), workplaces, and out-of-school settings. Kefeta then links these groups through local, regional, and national coalitions with democratically elected boards and builds their institutional capacity in governance, fundraising, inclusivity, and more. The coalitions are meant to be a permanent platform for youth to network and collectively advocate for their rights, amplifying their voices and fortifying their actions.

2. Create new economic opportunities for youth
This goal will be achieved through 3 main activities:

• The establishment of a youth empowerment fund, which has US$10 million to provide seed grants for the creation of new youth groups and HEI activities, matching grants to help youth groups and coalitions address community challenges and low-interest loans for youth who want to start or grow their own business through a Kefeta Youth Saving and Credit Cooperative (SACCO).
• The establishment of the Ethiopian Higher Education Institution Alliance, which is a platform comprising 16 universities and TVET institutions to develop approaches and tools to align education and workforce needs, strengthen career services, and enhance data systems to monitor student outcomes.
• Private sector engagement: Kefeta works with Ethiopian private companies to support youth employment, the creation of YFS within the private workspace, and the use of private companies as learning platforms for all the project's employment and youth engagement-related interventions.

3. Expand youth access to essential services that are more youth friendly
This goal will be achieved through the following activities:

• Creation of youth hubs: Using a franchise model, Kefeta is establishing eight geographic cluster hubs and 20 city hubs managed by youth coalitions. Housed in existing youth centres, all hubs provide a range of free services, including life skills training, career services, business incubation, and referrals to YFS. The youth hubs are seen as a crucial safe space for out-of-school youth to congregate, learn and explore, and exercise creativity.
• The promotion of YFS: Kefeta works to improve access to high-quality, comprehensive, respectful, youth-friendly, and gender-sensitive services by engaging and training service providers and expanding service delivery points in locations frequented by youth, such as youth hubs, schools, and industrial parks.

Approaches that will cut across all activities are:  

• Conflict-sensitive programming: Kefeta seeks to fast-track the engagement of youth in conflict resolution and peacebuilding through training that addresses: the role of youth in conflict prevention; management of emotions, including through communication skills such as active listening and separating facts from emotions; and the merits of compromise and win-win solutions.
• SBC​: Kefeta engages the youth with strategically designed SBC interventions. At the individual level, Kefeta promotes youth agency to build resilience to respond positively and productively to changes. Through the SBC activities, Kefeta also works to shift youth mindsets using evidence-based human-centred design approaches. As of 2023, SBC activities have included:
  • Capacity building for youth on audio-video production: Kefeta works to hone the skills of youth in video and audio production, empowering them to craft effective SBC materials. Participants comprise interns, radio programme hosts, and Kefeta coalition staff.
  • Transmedia campaigns: Kefeta produces radio programmes that are broadcast across 8 radio channels. The Kefeta Youth Radio programme is hosted by young people who are meant to serve as relatable role models. The content is designed by young people starting with design workshops where youth actively identify the issues they wish to address. Prior to broadcast, each episode undergoes rigorous review processes, both internally by producers and SBC experts and externally by technical specialists and the broader project staff. This approach ensures that the content aligns with the project's objectives and resonates with its intended audience. Kefeta also solicits feedback from its listeners through a dedicated phone line, providing a direct channel for audience engagement and evaluation. Topics covered include family planning (FP)/sexual and reproductive health (SRH), sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), mental health, youth SACCO, and financial literacy. Kefeta has also created a digital space where young people can interact with the project and obtain information, including podcasts of the radio programmes.
  • Training on SBC: Kefeta is conducting basic orientation training on SBC for CSO staff to provide skills for developing advocacy messages and setting objectives.
  • Distribution of SBC materials: Kefeta disseminates SBC materials across all intervention cities with the intention of increasing community awareness on various thematic areas.

More information on the Kefeta Project can be found on their website.

Context:
With youth between ages 15-29 accounting for 33.8% of the urban population, and another 32.8% below the age of 15, Ethiopia is poised for a significant youth bulge. Readying the youth ecosystem to accommodate this growth and harvest the demographic dividend is therefore considered of paramount importance for the country's socio-economic and political transformation. Statistics highlighted by the project also show that:

• 29% of Ethiopian youth finished secondary school, and only 13.3% went on for tertiary education.
• 2.6 million youth are out of school.
• Ethiopia's urban youth unemployment rate in 2020 is 25.5%.
• 18.4 is the median age at first sex for urban girls.
• 21.5 is the median age for first contraceptive for urban girls.
• 34% of young girls have experienced physical violence.
• 30% of girls have been raped.
• The rate of rural to urban migration lies at 40%.