Hundreds of young people over the weekend gathered at Masinde Muliro University for the Kakamega County Youth Leadership Dialogue Forum, an event that brought together youth voices, government leaders, and development partners to chart a way forward for youth empowerment.
The forum, themed "Building Bridges, Inspiring Futures", was a joint initiative between the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports, and the County Government of Kakamega, with support from Co-operative Bank, Equity Bank, World Scout Parliamentary Union - Kenya, and the Youth Enterprise Development Fund.
Speaking at the event, Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa noted that over 75 per cent of the population in Kakamega county comprises the youth, making it essential to centre development programmes on them.
He said that the county government has come up with the Kazi mashinani programme, benefiting over 3,000 people, where 80 per cent of beneficiaries are the youth. "We will bring onboard the second cohort of Kazi mashinani in September and unveil a textile industry at Lugari to offer more opportunities to unemployed youth across the county," he announced.
