Celebrating the 2025 International Youth Day: Kuyenda Collective Empowers Rural Youth to Champion Education Advocacy
12 August 2025
Lilongwe, Malawi – As Malawi joins the global community in commemorating the International Youth Day 2025 under the theme “Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond”, the Kuyenda Collective is proud to spotlight the transformative work of rural youth in driving evidence-based advocacy for quality education.
The Kuyenda Collective is implementing the Addressing the Learning Crisis through Systems Strengthening Project across Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. In Malawi, led by FAWEMA, the initiative is youth-driven and designed to equip young people with the tools to influence education outcomes at local, national, and regional levels.
The project works with 90 (45 males, 45 females) rural youths in Nkhata-bay and Nkhota-kota districts. Working through the District Youth Network, the project is equipping young people with knowledge and skills to conduct evidence-based advocacy for quality education outcomes in their communities, district, country and the SADC region. The youth are further equipped with skills to collect, analyse, and use data to push for quality and equitable education outcomes for all learners, particularly in rural and hard-to-reach areas.
The 2025 theme underscores the important role youths play in shaping their communities and influencing decision-making at all levels. Through the Kuyenda Collective initiative, rural youth are not only empowered with advocacy skills but also given the tools to back their demands with credible evidence.
The trained youth advocates are engaging with school committees, local authorities, national and transnational education platforms to address critical barriers to quality education such as inadequate learning facilities, teacher shortages, and inequitable teaching and learning materials. By grounding their advocacy in evidence collected from their own communities, these young leaders are ensuring that local voices shape local, national, and global education priorities in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 – Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education.
This year’s International Youth Day highlights the power of youth-led, evidence-based advocacy in building sustainable and inclusive development. The International Youth Day provides a platform to recognize the transformative potential of young people when equipped with the right skills, knowledge, and opportunities. The Kuyenda Collective’s approach reflects the spirit of the theme—demonstrating that local youth-led actions can spark systemic change far beyond community boundaries.
For more information about the Kuyenda Collective Project and its work in empowering rural youth for education advocacy, please visit: https://www.kuyendacollective.org/
Kuyenda Collective – Advocacy Story Book
This advocacy story book communicates the lived realities of rural youth and learners in most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in having a chance at having education (formal and informal) to mold better futures for themselves and their societies.
The characters, places, and stories depicted in this advocacy narrative are crafted from the lived experiences and voices of rural youth and learners in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). These narratives aim to highlight the profound impact of educational opportunities, both formal and informal, on shaping better futures for individuals and their communities. Education systems across SSA confront multifaceted challenges, resulting in inadequate service delivery that disproportionately affects marginalized communities. As a consequence, many young learners are denied the fundamental right to quality education.
Outcomes Report on the Ministerial Pre-Budget Consultation Meeting with the Youth Constituency in Malawi
This report summarizes the first-ever Ministerial Pre-Budget Consultation Meeting with the Youth Constituency in Malawi, held on Friday, February 7, 2025, at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe, Malawi. The meeting was presided by the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, who was accompanied by officials, including the Secretary to the Treasury, the Budget Director and officials from various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). The primary purpose of this meeting was to ensure youth participation in the national budgeting processes so that it addresses youth priorities, strengthen government-youth engagement, support Malawi’s Vision 2063 development goals, and enhance youth-driven budget advocacy. Over 100 youth delegates from all districts in Malawi attended this historic event and contributed significantly to the discussions. The youth raised various issues and challenges they face daily and offered recommendations to address these challenges.
Insights from Rural Youth Transnational Education Advocacy – Learning Study
The Kuyenda Collective (KC) embarked on a learning study covering the project period 2021 to 2024, where critical lessons, stories, and feedback were obtained from Rural Youth Collectives (RYCs), Government actors, CSOs and NGOS with a view to understanding how the KC and others can improve the ability of rural youth to participate in transnational education advocacy spaces.
The findings will be used to produce learning-focused insights that feed into the learning collaborative work – a key focus of the EOL’s operational component number 3 (OC3), which places significant emphasis on fostering learning within its grantees’ initiatives. Finally, as the KC is embarking on an extension of its activities with a focus on deepening its advocacy work with greater emphasis on the transnational agenda, these learnings will also assist in streamlining this work appropriately.
Kuyenda Collective Press Statement on the eve of International Day of the Girl
As the world prepares to celebrate the potential of tomorrow’s girls, the Kuyenda Collective reaffirms
its commitment to ensuring that every girl can unlock their full potential through improved education
service delivery that addresses inequality… read more HERE.
