On 23 January 2026, ahead of the International Day of Education, we collaborated with our Kenyan partners, EACHRights and Hakijamii, to convene a virtual roundtable discussion on the theme: Recognising youth and their role as agents of change in achieving inclusive and equitable quality education and building peaceful, just and inclusive societies.

 

The roundtable brought together youth, civil society actors, and education advocates to reflect on Kenya’s progress towards realising Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, with a particular focus on the role of young people in shaping education policy, financing, and accountability.

 

The discussion was attended by approximately 30 participants from across the country, who jointly assessed progress on SDG 4 and highlighted persistent challenges in accessing quality education. Participants noted that meaningful youth participation remains uneven across regions and that youth engagement in major education reforms is often tokenistic, with limited influence over decision-making and implementation. While existing policy frameworks recognise public participation, discussions underscored that youth perspectives are still insufficiently reflected in national and county education priorities, budgets, strategies, and reform processes. Young people, especially those from marginalised communities, continue to face structural barriers that limit their ability to shape education policies that directly affect their lives.

 

Our Associate Programme Officer-Africa, Roselyne Onyango, moderated a session that created space for open reflection on youth participation in the education budget and public finance processes. Participants observed that youth engagement in budget planning, allocation, and oversight remains minimal. Key barriers identified included the technical complexity of the budget process, limited access to timely budget information, and exclusion from formal fiscal and decision-making spaces.

 

Despite these challenges, participants emphasised that when adequately supported and meaningfully included, youth engagement can significantly strengthen community-level accountability, particularly at ward and county levels. Youth-led monitoring of education projects and budgets was identified as a powerful tool to promote transparency, prevent the misuse of public resources, and ensure public investments respond to real community needs. The discussions reinforced the need to recognise youth not only as beneficiaries of the education system, but as active stakeholders and accountability actors capable of influencing policy outcomes.

 

For GIESCR, the reflections and priorities emerging from this roundtable strongly align with our calls for sustainably financed, high-quality public education and for meaningful public participation in monitoring the use of public resources. Moving forward, GI-ESCR will continue to work closely with partners to create inclusive spaces for collaboration, support youth-led monitoring of education financing and projects, and strengthen youth capacity to engage with education policies, fiscal governance, and human rights processes at the national and sub-national level.