On 23rd April 2024; Somali Peace Line facilitated an advocacy forum on national youth policy for thirty participants representing from youth civil society organizations, youth platforms and members from SWS youth representatives. The participants comprised thirty members (11F and 19M) selected from various youth groups in Baidoa.
The purpose of the advocacy forum is to provide the participants with a better understanding of the national youth policy by emphasizing the areas of strategic activity and priority. The participants will then be able to choose the strategic activities that are appropriate for the context at hand along with the right priority areas.
The advocacy started with a presentation on the nine pillars of the national youth policy aimed to focus on the priority area and strategic activities which intended to implement to achieve the prioritized areas. Then the participants are divided into four groups while three groups are assigned to discuss with two prioritized areas and the remaining groups was given the priority areas.
Each group thoroughly examined the areas of priority and the strategic activities that needed to be taken in considering current situation of where we lived during the discussion. The participants jointly united certain activities that serve the same purpose by ranking the strategic activities based on their priorities. Additionally, they prioritized the requirements of the local youth by assessing their demands in relation to the Ministry of Youth and Sports’ capacity to carry them out.
After the presentations of each group, there was a plenary discussion in which the participants shared their ideas with the groups and some questions were posed for each group. The participants reached a consensus that most of the activities served a shared objective, and that all strategic activities centered on empowering youth and offering them opportunities for employment and economic innovation.
