Youth Excel: young people leading research in Kinshasa

What if young people produced the evidence that should guide the policies that affect them? That is the ambition of Youth Excel, a global initiative funded by USAID and led by IREX, which CERC implemented in Kinshasa with technical support from Search for Common Ground.

Launched on 19 July 2021 with a total budget of US$168,697, the project helps youth-led and youth-serving organisations research how their programmes are implemented, use data to improve them and engage with decision-makers.

10 organisations – including one led by LGBTQI people and two led by people living with disabilities – formed an issue-based collaborative network (ICON). 20 young members of the network and 6 CERC staff were trained in implementation research, positive youth development, gender equality and social inclusion. In August 2022, their findings were presented at a Data Summit in Kinshasa.

The network then took action: 9 organisations joined forces in a quick-impact project for the socio-economic reintegration of 45 unemployed and underrepresented young people in Kinshasa, offering vocational training, capacity-building workshops, mentoring and access to resources to find a job or start a business.

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