Brief History

The Ministry of Youth Affairs was first established in December 2005 to address youth concerns in the country upon realization that the government  needed to deal with the many socio-economic challenges facing the Kenyan youth to achieve the Millenium Development Goals. With the promulgation of the new Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and subsequent re-organization of government ministries, the youth docket has been domiciled in several ministries and is currently one of the three state departments in the Ministry of ICT Innovation and Youth Affairs. Agencies under the State Department for Youth Affairs  are the Youth Enterprise  Development Fund (YEDF) and The National Youth Council (NYC).

Mandate and Functions

The mandate of the State Department for Youth Affairs is anchored in Article 55 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 from which the functions of the Department are derived and  outlined in the Executive Order No.1 of 2020 (Revised May, 2020) on Organization of the Government of the Republic of Kenya as follows:

1. Youth Empowerment;
2. Mainstreaming Youth in National Development;
3. Harnessing and Developing Youth Talents for National Development;
4. Managing and promoting Engagement with Youth for National Development;
5. Collaborating and overseeing stakeholders engaged in Youth promoting Activities.

Vision

To be a leading government organization in developing and empowering youth for holistic participation in national development.

Mission

To provide leadership, coordination and an enabling environment for the development of Kenyan youth through participatory engagements that serve their needs and aspirations for global competitiveness.

Quality Policy Statement

The State Department for Youth and its agencies is committed to deliver efficient and effective service delivery of such quality that fully meets customers’ expectations. Thus, for all stuff, including the Statement’s Management, quality is a priority and quality culture will be our strategy as follows:

• Establishing a Strategic Plan that guides the State Department’s direction;
• Establishing periodic performance contracts that shall further be cascaded as quality objectives at relevant functions, levels and processes within the organization;
• Meeting applicable statutory, regulatory and customer requirements;
• Continuous upgrading of skills of staff particularly within the service provision and other engagements that have a direct impact upon the services quality;
• Continually improving the established quality management through internal audits and management review; and
• Commit to have a positive impact on Youth Fraternity that we serve.

To realize this, the management shall regularly monitor and review its performance for continual improvement and sustainability, by implementing an effective Quality Management based on best practices.