Dear Reader,

I am thrilled to share with you our annual report for the year 2022. As we reflect on the past year, it is undeniable that we all faced unprecedented challenges ranging from contested elections, and economic slow-down, to a national drought occasioned by the existential threat of climate change. But despite these difficulties, our organization continued to make great strides in empowering the youth and women in our communities.

As you will see in the pages that follow, it was a year of both challenges and triumphs and I am excited to highlight some of our achievements. Through the unwavering dedication of our team, the support of our donors and partners, and the resilience of the young people and women we serve, we were able to make a meaningful impact on the lives of those around us.

In order to achieve our mission of promoting the well-being and inclusion of young people in development through partnerships, capacity building, and advocacy, we recognized the need to strengthen our internal systems. As such, we undertook a thorough review of our key policies such as finance and procurement, human resource, and developed a safeguarding policy, and appointed a safeguarding officer. These steps helped us ensure that we are operating at the highest possible standards and that we were able to maximize the impact of our work.

We also recognize that our staff are a critical part of our success, and last year we not only supported staff capacity building but were also pleased to welcome ten new team members to our organization. These new additions have brought a wealth of skills and experiences to our team, helping us to build on our capacity and to expand our reach even further.

Despite the challenges that we all faced last year, we are proud to have been able to grow our project portfolio from 5 projects to 13, allowing us to make an even greater impact in the communities we serve and contributing to achievement of our strategic priorities as outlined in our 2021-2025 strategic plan. Our team worked tirelessly to realize the strategic objectives by developing and implementing these projects. We are happy to see the positive results they have had in the lives of the youth we serve and beyond.

Notably, we took steps to strengthen our member organization’s capacity by sub-granting carefully selected member organizations.

This not only allowed us to provide additional resources and support to these organizations, but has also empowered them to make a direct impact based on the respective priority areas in their own communities.

One of the hallmarks of our organization is an evidence-based approach to our work. Last year, we continued to build on this by conducting research on a range of issues affecting youth and women in Kenya. These included a youth situational analysis, a youth work-readiness research that highlighted the impact of government and private policies on youth skills development and entrepreneurship in Kisumu County, and a maternal health survey in the informal settlements of Korogocho and Kawangware in Nairobi that captured women’s experiences in maternal health delivery. We believe that this research will inform our work going forward, and we continue to design youth responsive programmes that will ensure we make the greatest possible impact on the lives of the young people.

None of this would have been possible without the generous support of our donors and partners. We are incredibly grateful for their support, which has allowed us to continue to engage duty-bearers and empower young people in their communities to realize their full
potential in the development agenda.

As we look into the future, I am confident that we will continue to grow our program portfolio to respond to emerging issues affecting youth and women such as climate change,unpaid care and domestic work, mental health, decent work and economic empowerment of the most vulnerable groups in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We look forward to build upon on our foundation in 2023 and beyond, to nurturing existing partnerships, and forging new networks and partners to have maximum impact on our work.

Thank you for taking the time to read our annual report, and for your ongoing support to our organization. We couldn’t have done it without you!

#WeAreYouthAlive

Warm regards,

Dennis Mungo,

Executive Director,

Youth Alive! Kenya