Yes youth can! impact evaluation : final report

(YYC) is a program to promote youth empowerment in Kenya. The goal of YYC is to address the underlying social, economic, and political factors that drive youth marginalization in Kenya. In so doing, YYC seeks to affect a range of outcomes related to these factors, as well as to prevent a recurrence of the violence that followed the 2007 elections in Kenya, in which youth played a significant role. YYC's approach is to work with young people in communities to organize themselves into groups called "bunges." In accordance with the learning and accountability objectives described in USAID's Evaluation Policy, YYC includes an independent impact evaluation to assess the impact of the program on the outcomes it seeks to influence. The key findings of the evaluation are as follows: (1) bunges tended to remain active and engaged throughout the evaluation period; (2) YYC improved relations between youth and their communities; (3) YYC was successful in terms of increasing participants' self confidence and self-esteem; (4) YYC led to some improvements in political engagement, but youths continue to feel alienated by political elites and the political system; (5) the impact of YYC on economic outcomes was limited; (6) important sources of benefits from YYC were the skills and lessons derived from the process of participating in the bunge; (7) youth groups such as bunges could benefit from "mentoring" relationships with respected members of the community; (8) youths perceived the trainings they received as part of YYC to be a particularly valuable aspect of the program, and (9) post-election violence was minimal throughout Kenya following the 2013 presidential elections, which was a major goal of YYC. (Excerpt, modified)