Lucy Wanjiku Njenga

When young people and their allies come together, there is magic in their partnership especially when the young leaders lead the change. The session explored best practises in a meaningful conversation between partners and young leaders.

The Ready+ movement and the Her Voice Fund were the best practices that were discussed in the session. The former had created a strategic plan that was launched last year that will see the movement registered as it’s own entity and with global and not just regional recognition and implementation. The Her Voice Fund had revolutionized how funding was accessed by smaller community-based organisations where more organisations could now get funded as sub-granting mechanism through the platform. The donor could otherwise not manage to have the small grants program if Y+ did not take up the leadership and the donor trusting them to grow and deliver. It was agreed among the donors and the young leaders that donors need to stop asking for capacity and trust that the young leaders can do what they say they will when invested in. “Fund and support the young people organisations that have been designed for and by young people,” Cyprian Komba, the Ready Plus Movement Tanzania Focal Point shared. Leeroy Gumpo ended the session with, “Show and give us the money to implement the Ready+ strategy.”

The discussion highlighted the importance of having young people at the driver’s seat of their initiatives and all the great wins that come from this. The donors in the room also urged other donors to keep investing and believing in the power of young leaders to grow the global movement and address inequalities.