Kefeta is an Amharic word which means to elevate.
Prime Implementer
AMREF Health Africa
Implementing Partners
International Youth Foundation (IYF)
Arizona State University (ASU)
John Hopkins University Center for Communications Program (JHU-CCP)
Development Expertise Center (DEC)
Ethiopian Center for Disability and Development (ECDD)
Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE)
Talent Youth Association (TAYA)
Youth Culture Development Foundation (YCDF)
Youth Network for Sustainable Development (YNSD)
Dereja.com (EthiopoJobs.net)
Orangeswitch Marketing and Advertising
EGA Management and Financial Solution PLC
Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Quality Improvement Consultancy PLC (MERQ)
Project Timeline
August 2021 – August 2026
Project Goals
Kefeta will benefit the lives of at least 2 million Ethiopian youth in 18 cities over a period of five years, with an overall objective of empowering Ethiopian youth to advance their own economic, civic, and social development. Kefeta plans to achieve this objective by first laying the foundational work of forming youth coalitions and networks and by establishing a youth-led Youth Empowerment Fund (YEF). The Kefeta overall objective will be realized by working toward the following goals:
- Increasing youth capacity for advocacy and agency:
- Create new economic opportunities for youth
- Expand youth access to essential service that are more youth friendly
Kefeta’s vision of success looks like, Ethiopian youth who are game changers: empowered to advance their own economic, civic, and social development; resilient in the face of shocks; actively promoting development within their communities and contributing to the country’s peace and prosperity.
View Kefeta's FY2023 Achievements
Brief Background
Ethiopia is poised for a significant youth bulge, with youth between the ages of 15-29 accounting for 33.8% of the urban population, and another 32.8% below the age of 15. Readying the youth ecosystem to accommodate this growth and harvest the demographic dividend is of paramount importance for the country’s socio-economic and political transformation.
The USAID Integrated Youth Activity - Kefeta, is a five-year, 60 million dollar program implemented by the lead partner, Amref Health Africa and its consortium partners. Kefeta takes a holistic approach to support economic and social opportunities for youth in Ethiopia, by focusing on democracy and good governance, basic education, higher education, economic empowerment and sexual reproductive health in its program activities.
Centered on and informed by the aspirations of Ethiopian youth, we have identified three groups of actors as the focus of Kefeta’s activities:
- Youth will have increased assets and agency, strengthened self-efficacy and skills, and improved physical and mental well-being. Economically active youth will contribute to their families, communities, and country, advocating for their rights and becoming more resilient.
- Youth-Led and Youth-Serving Organizations (including communities, civil society organizations [CSOs], faith-based organizations, universities, TVETS and private sector partners including industrial parks) will be strengthened for providing YFS across sectors and creating spaces for youth to engage in civic and community affairs.
- Youth Policy Environment Actors, through active national youth coalitions, will reflect and incorporate youth voices, and the public and private sectors will be more supportive of the youth by designing packages that specifically address their needs.
Overview of Activities
In the 5 year lifetime, Kefeta will work on the following major activities:
Increase youth capacity for advocacy and agency
USAID Integrated Youth Activity will establish and strengthen democratic and Representative Youth Coalitions in the 18 targeted cities of Ethiopia. Kefeta will work for youth to join existing youth groups and/or establish new interest groups in schools, HEIs, workplaces, and out-of-school settings. Kefeta then links these groups through local, regional, and national coalitions with democratically elected boards, and build their institutional capacity across governance, fundraising, inclusivity, and more. The coalitions will be a permanent platform for youth to network and collectively advocate for their rights, amplifying their voices and fortifying their actions.
Create new economic opportunities for youth
- Youth Empowerment Fund, Kefeta allocates $10 million to provide seed grants for the creation of new youth groups and Higher Education Institute 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).
- Establish Ethiopian Higher Education Institution Alliance: Kefeta created a platform comprising 16 universities and technical and vocational education and training 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 will work with Ethiopian private companies to support youth employment, creation of youth-friendly services within the private workspace and to use them as learning platforms for all our employment and youth engagement related interventions.
Expand youth access to essential services that are more youth friendly
- Youth Hubs: Using a franchise model, Kefeta will establish eight geographic cluster hubs and 20 city hubs managed by youth coalitions. Housed in existing youth centers, all hubs will provide a range of free services, including life skills trainings, career services, business incubation, and referrals to youth-friendly health services. The Youth Hubs will be a crucial safe space for out-of-school youth to congregate, learn and explore, and exercise creativity.
- Youth-Friendly Services: Kefeta will improve access to 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.
Cross-Cutting Issues:
- Social and Behavior Change: Kefeta will engage the youth with strategically designed SBC interventions that cut across Kefeta Activities. At the individual level, Kefeta will promote youth agency to build resilience and respond positively and productively to changes. Through our SBC activities, Kefeta will work to shift youth mindset using evidence-based human-centered approaches enhancing individual agency.
- Conflict Sensitive Programming: Kefeta will fast-track the engagement of youth in conflict resolution and peacebuilding through training that addresses the role of the youth in conflict prevention; managing emotions, improving communication skills such as active listening, separating facts from emotions, and the merits of compromise and win solutions.
Expected Results
Build capacity for advocacy and agency
- Establish 26 Democratic and Representative Youth Coalitions
- Provide youth advocacy training for 16000 youths
- Build the capacity of 24000 youths in civic engagement activities
Create new economic opportunity
- Enable 236,000 youths with training in foundational skills leading to workforce development
Increase access to youth friendly services
- Establish 61 youth-friendly hubs, career centers, health and financial service centers
- Build the capacity of 1100 health service providers youth friendly services
- Reach 2 million youth through targeted youth-friendly messages on youth services
Contact
Chalachew Tiruneh - Chief of Party
Integrated Youth Activity - Kefeta
Amref Health Africa in Ethiopia
Office +251116627851 I email: chalachew.tiruneh@amref.org
Website: www.amref.org
Kefeta | Elevating Ethiopian Youth – Amref Health Africa in Ethiopia