Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust

Programmes

=Advocacy

As an organization, YETT has been a leading youth voice on policy advocacy by either creating platforms for policy discourse or mobilizing and organizing youth for a common policy agenda. YETT has recognized successes in stirring debate on policy through mass outreaches in communities, sponsoring on-air live debates on and radio, submitting policy briefs to the Parliament of Zimbabwe through Parliamentary Portfolio Committees. YETT also continue to organize policy briefings and public meetings between youth and key policy-making and implementing institutions such parliament, government ministries and political players.

Through, several meetings between the youth and institutions such as parliament, government ministries and other key stakeholders organizations YETT has been working to promote youth participation in various initiatives related to the country’s political future and framework. YETT also worked with partner organizations to mobilize young people to attend and submit their views on the Electoral reforms, Consumer Protection Bill, MOPA Bill. All this work has been done in partnership with several other youth partner organizations thereby fostering coordination of youth work in the country. A variety of platforms in the form of potluck gatherings and advocacy coordination meetings are offered annually to about 10 000 young people with opportunities to respond to context specific issues related to the welfare of young people and their voices were consolidated into statements presented to decision makers as well as articles published in the media.

YETT has also led the process of advocating for the National Youth Policy review in 2009 through coordinating and consolidating youth voices at grassroots level by way of provincial consultations in all administrative provinces of the country. The input of the consultations was presented to then Ministry of Youth Development Indigenization and Empowerment now Ministry of Youth ,Sports, Arts and Recreation leading to the government youth policy review process led by the Zimbabwe Youth Council (ZYC). In addition, YETT has been participating in advocacy initiatives for youth participation in the development of the national healing framework, the Electoral Reforms, Peace Initiatives etc.

Partnerships

The partnerships programme is premised on sharing skills and knowledge with youth organizations at local, region and international level as a strategy for strengthening the organizational capacity of YETT and its partners. The capacity building that is derived from partnerships with like-minded organizations can be classified as direct training and experience exchange. As such, concrete partnerships have been established and are summarized in the following cooperation.

LOCAL COOPERATION

YETT is a loose network comprised of 42 community-based organizations dotted across the ten provinces of Zimbabwe with a focus on the following thematic areas including, but not limited to; governance, education, arts, young women development, entrepreneurship, information communication and technology and peace building. The community-based organizations assist YETT in mobilizing and implementing activities. The network has a networking relationship with stakeholders such as the Zimbabwe Youth Council (ZYC), the Ministry of Youth, Sports Arts and Recreation, the Gender Commission, Zimbabwe Council of Higher Education (ZIMCHE), Peace Ambassadors, Women Rise and Excel alumni and winter school alumni.

REGIONAL COOPERATION

YETT is currently in cooperation with the Swaziland Youth Empowerment Organization (LUVATSI) and the Zambian National Education Coalition (ZANEC) working on the Student Academic Freedom Regional Advocacy Programme (SAFRAP). For more information on the programme please visit www.safrap.wordpress.com . In addition, YETT utilizes on its long-term cooperation with youth networking organizations in Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Mozambique and Botswana to coordinate youth cluster activities at the SADC People’s Summit thus providing an opportunity for regional advocacy. YETT participated in the 2019 SADC People’s Summit which was held in Tanzania and managed to come up with “Regional Youth Key Asks”. Furthermore, in 2019 YETT consolidated its alliances with youth organizations from various Southern African countries by hosting the Southern Africa Youth Regional Conference. Moreover, YETT has strong partnership with Youth Alive Kenya and Centre for Youth Empowerment and Civic Education (CYECE) Malawi collaborating on a Youth Participation Exchange Programme designed to foster South to South learning and sharing of experiences.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Global Action Local Empowerment (GALE): YETT is part of the eight countries in the Global Action Local Empowerment (GALE) platform facilitated through the cooperation with the National Council of Swedish Youth Organizations (LSU) which began in 2011. The GALE cooperation seeks to strengthen YETT as a networking organization, providing opportunities for capacity building and international advocacy. Since inception the cooperation has connected YETT to other international partners. Notable contributions include the implementation of the Youth Cooperation Initiative (YCI) facilitating cooperation between Zimbabwean partner organizations and other organizations on advocacy and youth participation projects. In addition, increased cooperation between YETT in Zimbabwe and Youth Alive Kenya has facilitated mutual learning which is crucial for the capacity development of both organizations in areas such as monitoring and evaluation and financial management.

Danish Youth Council (DUF): The cooperation between DUF and YETT has existed since 2010 and the two like-minded organizations with similar interests have been working effectively to develop each other’s capacity in the areas of advocacy and capacity building of partner organizations for effective participation. The results of the cooperation can be traced in the following manner; YETT and DUF jointly participated in an advocacy training which increased YETT’s competence in planning and implementation of advocacy activities. In addition, YETT staff has received mentorship on process facilitation, which has resulted in YETT staff having increased competence in engaging with partners and other relevant stakeholders. The cooperation also leverages on the skills that DUF has developed over the years to promote the practice of democracy. The cooperation between YETT and DUF has also benefited from the tripartite agreement with the National Council of Swedish Youth Organization (LSU) resulting in the successful coordination and hosting of the inaugural international global advocacy conference- “Participate 2015” held in Zimbabwe YETT is currently collaborating with DUF on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cooperation together with National Youth Council of Ukraine (NYCUkraine). The SDGs explicitly call on respective organisations to apply their creativity and innovation to solve sustainable development challenges in Zimbabwe, Denmark and Ukraine. This cooperation hinges on the partnerships between the three countries to build global awareness, engage people in participation and compliment government efforts in the realization of this globally set standard. The initiatives focus on SDG 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions and SDG 17 – Partnerships for action with the crosscutting focus on effective youth umbrella organisations and youth councils as a unifying and legitimate voice for young people.

Norwegian Agency for Change cooperation (NOREC): Fosters the mutual exchange of employees or members between organizations across the globe. The exchange facilitates the creating of fruitful exchange programmes and successful partnerships rooted in SDG 17- Partnership for the goals. In recent years, YETT has been in the cooperation with Youth Alive Kenya (YAK), Centre for Youth Empowerment and Civic Education (CYECE) Malawi and the Students’ and Academics’ Internatioanal Assistance Fund (SAIH) Norway collaborating on Professional and Youth Participation Exchange Programmes.

Capacity Building

YETT’s vision is to create a sustainable youth civil society with young-people led institutions that aspire to deliver effective Programmes, hence continued involvement in the capacity development of youth organizations through trainings and support for implementing activities. The capacity-building approach combines strengthening capacities of youth organizations as well as individuals for effective leadership, while resources are also provided to support community based initiatives to facilitate youth development. YETT has been involved in capacity development of youth organizations through grant- making if funds permit and trainings. Through its grant making functions YETT has provided, both, activity-based support and institutional funding to over 40 youth organizations since 2004, spending about three million dollars on youth organizations, mostly community based initiatives addressing challenges in youth development covering the areas of HIV/AIDS, education and youth participation in decision making among others. The grant-making function has been supported with training in such areas as organizational development, advocacy, projects and grants management, among many other, trainings that have strengthened youth organizations and enhanced their roles in national development. As an organization, YETT has a direct stake in the improved participation of youth in national discourse through its initiatives that have strengthened the collective voice of youth. Over 30 youth organizations that have received technical and financial support from YETT have since developed into strong youth organizations and are attracting funding from other developmental partners.

Generational and Intergenerational Dialogue

These dialogues seek to create open communication among generations and cultures that enable increasing communication across the boundaries of age. As such, YETT is for the development of a stronger culture of dialogue among (youth-youth), (youth and duty bearers) (youth and policy makers) to better influence the country’s economic, political and social leadership. By creating spaces for reflection, listening and exchange of ideas between the (youth to youth) and (youth and the older generation) is an opportunity to identify and address difficulties in power relations between the young and the old. The ripple effect is to identify commonalities which build bridges to address tensions and unspoken expectations so that all generations can agree on mechanisms of inclusion.

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