Joint Press Release by the Development Partners Group at the 9th Development Partnership Forum 08.12.2015   

Since 2009, the Development Partnership Forum (DPF) has become the most important high level platform for consultations between the Government of Kenya and Development Partners, providing an opportunity for dialogue on Kenya’s development priorities and challenges as well as ongoing political and economic reforms. On the 8th December 2015, the 9th DPF was chaired by H.E. Hon William Samoei Ruto, Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya and attended by a broad number of Heads of Missions and Cooperation as well as Cabinet Secretaries, other national government and Council of Governors representatives, the private sector, civil society and youth representatives to discuss the challenges facing the Kenyan youth and measures to remedy the challenges.

On behalf of the Development Partners, the German Ambassador, Mrs. Jutta Frasch, and the Regional Director of the African Development Bank, Gabriel Negatu, congratulated the Kenyan institutions for their firm commitment to improving the status of the youth. However, in a stock-taking exercise on the previous thematic DPFs on the Ease of Doing Business and Devolution, both applauded the joint efforts undertaken so far. Major successful actions points such as providing an adequate regulatory framework for business or enhancing the necessary capacity building for a devolved system were mentioned.

In regard to the challenge of increasing youth employment, the DPG Co-Chairs clearly pointed out that the Kenyan private sector has the key role for creating employment and needs to be treated as such and that the Kenyan Government needs to increase its efforts in providing the urgently required framework conditions. Political destabilization  due to an increase in youth radicalization, social unrest due to unequal opportunities between gender, generations and regions as well as a fallback in Kenya’s economic potential were raised as major concerns if youth employment is not addressed adequately. Development Partners also highlighted that both international and Kenyan companies need adequately trained personnel to succeed in the global market place. 

The DPF identified three key priority areas for enhancing youth employment, namely (i) a focus on employment and skills development (ii) the strengthening of coordination mechanisms (iii) and addressing growing youth radicalization and crime. Specific and measurable key actions points have been identified to easily monitor the joint efforts undertaken to address the same. One action point, the design and development of a Labour Market Information System in order to align the skills development to the actual requirements of the labour market was considered to be a key variable for increasing employment. For the overall coordination of this and other joint efforts it was agreed that a special working group will be established.

Development Partners most welcome the proposal of Deputy President to focus the next thematic DPF on Anti-Corruption. This high level dialogue scheduled for 2016 will be a crucial next step to align all efforts. It is encouraged by the deliberate actions made by Government including establishing a multi-agency framework to combat corruption, increased funding for EACC, the record number of prosecutions of persons accused of corruption and urges responsible public participation.

Signed by:

Mr. Gabriel Negatu      
Director, Africa Development Bank (EARC), and Co-Chair, Development Partners Group 

H.E. Mrs. Jutta Frasch
Ambassador, Federal Republic of Germany, and Co-Chair, Development Partners Group.