Strengthening Kenya’s Youth Enterprise Development Fund to Serve Young People

Kenya’s Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) was introduced to support self-employment and entrepreneurship, and to ultimately generate wealth and create jobs for young people. But despite this government initiative, youth unemployment in Kenya remains high. Analysis of Kenya’s YEDF shows that YEDF programmes lack supportive implementation structures and are marred by mismanagement of funds, corruption, and unclear eligibility criteria. Further, the lack of young people’s social networks, entrepreneurial skills, and mentorship programmes mean many cannot access the youth funds. For YEDF to benefit young people, policymakers must establish effective accountability mechanisms, and implement entrepreneurial training programmes and mentorship schemes for youth in business.