Assessing Coordination, Effectiveness and Divergences in Implementation of the East African Youth Policy

To enhance the participation of the youth in economic development, the East Africa Community (EAC) through the EAC secretariat developed and adopted the EAC youth policy (2013) with the sole purpose of providing for a common approach to address the various youth issues at EAC level and ensures that the programs initiated at regional level are youth centered. However, the full implementation of the EAC youth policy has proved challenging and this has exposed the youth to economic mar&usrli7ation. The current study assessed the coordination, effectiveness and divergences in the implementation of the East African youth policy. Three research objectives were chosen; to evaluate effectiveness in the achievement of EAC Youth policy, to examine divergences in the implementation of EAC Youth Policy in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and to examine the levels of coordination in the implementation of the EAC youth Policy. The methodology used included case study research design, simple random sampling, questionnaire, interview guide, and descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation. The study found that coordination levels, divergences, and lack of effectiveness affected the implementation of EAC youth policy. The study concludes that coordination levels in the implementation of the EAC youth policy was low thus hampering full realization of youth objectives. It was concluded that there were divergences in the implementation of national and regional EAC youth policies. The study concludes that effectiveness in the achievement of objectives of EAC youth policy was impeded. The study recommends the need to streamline information flow from line Ministries to the youth-led organizations, need for proper coordination of resources allocated for implementation of EAC youth policy. It recommends that there should be adequate resources (financial, human, equipment) and youths should be fully involved in structuring, developing, planning, and implementing their policies alongside governments. The study recommends that there should be uniform financing mechanism across all the three countries that will promote even channeling of funds to the youth kitty to enhance their participation in development.