REPORT ON THE

9TH COMMONWEALTH YOUTH MINISTERS
MEETING (9CYMM)

31ST JULY 2017 – 4TH AUGUST 2017
MUNYONYO, KAMPALA UGANDACOMMONWEALTH ORGANISATION FOR
SOCIAL WORK DELEGATESMr. Okiria Gerald – Uganda
Mr. Nyoroge Stephen - Kenya

INTRODUCTION.
The

9thMinister

Commonwealth
Meeting(9CYMM)

Youth
took

place from 31st July 2017 to 4thAugust 2017 in Kampala, Uganda,
under the theme; “Resourcing andFinancing Youth Development;
Empowering

YoungPeople.”

The meeting brought together YouthMinisters, leaders and stakeholders
thatalso

includedinternational

Commonwealth countries flags flying high in Kampalaorganizations from the 52 Commonwealth countries. 2.4 billion people are estimated to be
citizens of the Commonwealth countries within 1.8 billion people estimated to be youths inthe age bracket of 15 years – 35 years.
The 9th Commonwealth Youth Minister Meeting (9CYMM) main objective was to enable
government ministers and senior officials to share good practices, debate emerging issues,
take stock of pioneering Commonwealth initiatives and forge new partnerships forresourcing youth development.
Within the meeting was the Stakeholders’ Forum which provided space for youth sector
stakeholders to influence policy-making across the Commonwealth through engaging
Ministers and youth sector stakeholders in a bid to ensuring multiple perspectives areincluded in the decision making. It’s from the decisions made that documents are developed
and presented to Commonwealth Heads of Government at their Meeting.
The Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work (COSW) was honoured to have actively
participated in the 9th Commonwealth Youth Minister Meeting (9CYMM) both as presenters
and also participants at the different sessions and high level meetings held. COSW wasrepresented by young carers from National Social Work Associations of Kenya (Mr. NyorogeStephen) and Uganda (Mr. Okiria Gerald).
The meeting was convened by the Commonwealth Secretariat and hosted by theGovernment of Uganda, with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development taking
the lead.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CONFERENCE AND MEETINGS
The meeting was officially opened by thePresident of the Republic of Uganda, H.E
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, on 2nd August
2017. He emphasized the need to locallymobilize resources and also promote tradeand market of youth made products so as
to reduce the donor dependence syndrome.
Healsoencouragedyouths

totakeadvantage of such forums not only tosocialize

but

also

createeconomic

From Left is Stephen Njoroge (Kenya) andOkiria Gerald (Uganda)

benefiting relationships as one of the ways
to strengthen the Commonwealth fraternity as their incomes also grow. The President also
encouraged youths to be disciplined as the world today was built by disciplined people,
though it is currently dominated by undisciplined people.
Before that, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Hon. Patricia Scotland, thanked
youth workers for their unwavering service in supporting the youth. She encouraged all
youth workers to learn the practices shared by other youth workers and use them toholistically support the youths. She also noted that investment in young people’s
development is key towards their development and none of them should be left behind. She
added to this saying that “it’s through the youth that we step into the gates of promises.”She encouraged youth ministers without youth friendly policies to work towards
establishment of policies that boost youth potential and also help them benefit from
opportunities within their different communities.
There was great emphasis on the need to have programs that reflect the need and will ofyoung people, which will ease program implementation and evaluation. The need to mentor
young people, helping them not only to get resources but also to put them into proper use,
was highlighted. Stakeholders were also encouraged to have youth engaged from the initialstage of program development of planning, budget, implementation and evaluation.
It was noted that the three E’s (Empower, Educate and Employ) are key principles inbuilding a quality and sustainable youth work force. Education specifically is one of the key
investment means to transformative development and thus to overcome social evils thathinder them from achieving their ultimate goals in life.

3 of 12PRESENTATION BY OKIRIA GERALD ON YOUNG CARERS
Okiria Gerald on, behalf of theCommonwealthOrganisationforSocial Work (COSW), presented apaper on the need to support youngpeople (young carers) below the ageof 18 years who take care of theirsiblings and for some their parents orcaregivers as a result of the primary
caregivers

passingon,orbeing

chronically ill, or due to displacement

The team during the open session at the Commonwealth
Speke Resort Hotel – Munyonyo, Kampala

as a result of natural disasters or wars.
The presentation gave a general overview of how such groups of youth are exposed tocompetition for the limited government resources and how they are affected in accessing
and meeting the different social services.
A case study on the success of the Young Carers Festival was presented which was also
among key recommendations put forward to policy makers and other stakeholders on howto support youths in this category, by giving them opportunity to live a meaningful life insociety, while easily accessing other social services with education included.

Mr. Okiria Gerald (Right) with fellow presenters from other countries pose fora photo with the Commonwealth Secretary General Hon. Patricia Scotland

4 of 12ACHIEVEMENTS
1. We were able to participate effectively in the meetings, mainly at the stakeholders’forum where a presentation on young carers was made.
2. Through the different discussions and interactions, we were able to share thepresence of young carers in our communities and thus advocate for inclusive
budgeting.
3. The meeting also exposed us to learning about better practices, how to address
young carers’ problems and address them from the local to international level.
4. We were encouraged to keep promoting the voice of the young carers until it isheard and responded too.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Our participation in the 9th Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting gave us a great
opportunity to share our approaches in helping young carers in the East African region but
also provided many opportunities to learn about good practices from others. Below are someof the recommendation we present for consideration for effective intervention into theyoung carers lives.
1. Extensive research need to be commissioned by the Commonwealth Organisation forSocial Work (COSW) and conducted by National Social Work Organizations /Associations in Commonwealth countries. This will present more evidence and add
more weight as we keep popularizing our case for the young carers and highlighting
their needs.
2. There is need for COSW to continue supporting young carers and for otherstakeholders to use all available structures in creating more awareness campaigns.
3. More stakeholders (both government and Non-Government Organization) need to beincorporated as we collectively intervene and support young carers.
4. The principle of equity needs to be integrated in our intervention into addressing
young carers’ issues. This during the forum was emphasized with a major need tohave inclusive budgeting.
5. Organize stakeholders forums that can be helpful in addressing both the case forpreventative and remedial interventions into young carers lives.

5 of 12FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE MEETINGSNews reports and videos can be found on the Commonwealth website.
Ministers pledge to mainstream youth priorities and address gap in financing – news reportand communique.
New Commonwealth youth worker alliance endorsed by governments – news report

Table 10. With delegates from the Caribbean, Singapore, COSW, Kenya after thestakeholders and senior ministers session.

FINANCES
The delegates received funding of £395.00 from the Noel & Thea Jones Fund and £200.00
from the Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work to cover travel, accommodation,subsistence and miscellaneous expenses.

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CONCLUSION.
The 9th Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting, under the theme of “Resourcing andFinancing Youth Development; Empowering Young People”, exposed, for theCommonwealth Organisation for Social Work, that there are agencies willing to support ourcause and we just have to tap into those opportunities with evidence.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We in conclusion would wish to express our sincere gratitude to our National Social Work
Association through our members.
To Mr. David Jones of Commonwealth Organization for Social Work for the being available
and for liaising with the Noel and Thea Jones Fund and COSW to ensure that we got boththe financial and emotional resources towards a successful participation in the meeting.
To Mr. Charles Mbugua of the Commonwealth Organization for Social Work and the Kenyan
National Association of Social Workers for effectively coordinating the pre-conference
activities, actual and post conference activities.
To Mr. Charles Draecabo and the National Association of Social Workers of Uganda(NASWU) for working closely in having a great support into the presentation.
More thanks goes to the East Africa Regional Young Carers team for the unwavering supportand service to the young carers.
To the young carers who meet during the Festival in December 2016 to share theirchallenges and hopes for the future.

REPORT COMPILED BY:OKIRIA GERALD.
August 20177 of 12

Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work (COSW)
13 Ridgeway, Weston Favell, NORTHAMPTON, NN3 3AP
Tel: (44) 1604 414 345
E-mail: DavidNJones@PeopleNeedPeople.org.uk
COSW is an organisation for citizens of the Commonwealth who are interested in supportingsocial work and social development. It is registered in the UK as a company limited byguarantee. There is an informal membership arrangement with meetings held at biennial
world social work conferences. It is supported by a number of social work associations in theCommonwealth.
It aims to promote and support communication and collaboration between social workers
and social work associations of Commonwealth countries, and to uphold and promote thecode of ethics of the International Federation of Social Workers.
Foundation: In 1994, at a meeting of social workers from Commonwealth countries during
the biennial conference of the International Federation of Social Workers in Colombo, SriLanka. The constitution was signed by social workers from 11 Commonwealth countries inMontreal in 2000.
Governance: COSW is registered in the UK as a company limited by guarantee. It has aformal constitution. The Board is elected every 2 years at a General Meeting held in thewings of the IFSW World Conference. Board members reflect the 5 global regions identified
in the IFSW and COSW constitutions. COSW is accredited by the Commonwealth
Secretariat. Formal reports are submitted to Companies House and the Commonwealth.
Officers: Chair: Ai Hua Teoh (Malaysia); Honorary Secretary: Monique Auffrey (Canada);
Treasurer: Fiona Robertson (New Zealand), Representative to the CommonwealthInstitutions in London: Terry Bamford (UK), Board members: Nigel Hall (UK), David N Jones(UK), Civil Legodu (South Africa), Charles Mbugua (Kenya), KS Ramesh (India), Daisy
Romanus (India), Naomi Spencer (Australia).
Activities: COSW provides a Commonwealth network for information about social work andsocial development, sharing technical knowledge and expertise between and among social
workers in Commonwealth countries. It is keen to work closely with other Commonwealthorganisations with similar objectives, such as the organisations involved with health issues
and those involved in the youth and Habitat agendas.
COSW has a priority focus on supporting the development of social work in Africa. A young
carers project, linking young people who care for adults and siblings in a number ofCommonwealth countries, aims to provide support to help them with education andemployment whilst also linking social workers involved in providing support for them.
COSW is a formal partner of the International Federation of Social Workers and promotes
active involvement of Commonwealth social workers in international social work and social
development organisations.
http://thecommonwealth.org/organisation/commonwealth-organisation-social-work-cosw
http://ifsw.org/what-we-do/partners/

8 of 12YOUNG CARERS PROJECT
Young carers in sub Saharan Africa face numerous challenges due to the extensive damage
to their family structures because of the HIV pandemic and a range of other factors1,2.
Problems include taking over family responsibilities at a young age, caring for sick parents
and younger siblings, inability to attend or make effective use of school, risk of loss of family
possessions and land to extended family members who usurp ownership, social isolation,
physical and psychological health problems, lack of emotional support, lack of opportunity
for employment and risk of falling into illegal income generation such as crime andprostitution.
The COSW project grew out of a Commonwealth Professional Fellowship in 2003. It waslaunched at a conference in Nairobi in 2006 for young carers from the UK and several
African countries and professionals funded by the UK Department for Education, jointly
organised by Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work (COSW), Kenyan National
Association for Social Workers (KNASW), Children’s Society (UK) and Council for British
Teachers (CfBT)3.
Three further ‘festivals’ have already been organised in 2009, 20124, 2016. These areweekend ‘camps’ for young carers from different parts of Kenya, with participants fromRwanda, Tanzania and Uganda and sometimes from the UK.
Three Kenyan young carers were funded by the Noel and Thea Jones Fund (NTJF) toparticipate in the UK annual young carers’ festival, organised by The Children’s Society, andto meet young carers. A Commonwealth Fellow from Kenya worked with the Children’sSociety in 2009 to support this work. There have been several visits between the UK andKenya and regular contact to sustain and develop the project.
The 2006 consultation with young carers told us they need: employment chances withreasonable pay; social care for their families; health care, sanitation and nutrition; end tochild labour and exploitation by upholding children’s rights; promotion of the term ‘youngcarers’ as opposed to ‘orphans and vulnerable children’ (o.v.c)5 and formation of networks ofyoung carers, especially in Africa, to raise issues and engage in activities to improve theirwelfare. These issues have been confirmed in all subsequent consultations.
The young carers work is linked with the Kenya National Association of Social Workers(offering extensive national networks) and guided by learning from our partnership with theChildren’s Society (UK charity with extensive experience of running similar activities) andCOSW (source of international expertise). We have continuing funding for local youth
advocacy and exchanges from the NTJF.
Following the 2006 consultation with young carers and professionals in Nairobi, Kenya,young people were recruited as young carer advocates and have developed basic support
programmes. One completed basic social work training. Three have been funded to visit
the UK for structured personal development and to participate in the young carers’
1Becker, S. (2007). "Global Perspectives on Children’s Unpaid Caregiving in the Family: Research and Policy on‘Young Carers’ in the UK, Australia, the USA and Sub-Saharan Africa." Global Social Policy 7 (1): 23-50
2
Mukherjee, A., M. Waring, M. Shivdas and R. Carr (2011). Who cares?: the economics of dignity, London,
Commonwealth Secretariat.
3

A video on the first young carer conference in 2006 and work with young carers can be found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn2VV9WECsw.
4

Mwangi, E. and D. N. Jones (2013) "Overwhelmed young carers face the same issues worldwide" Guardian
Professional. http://www.guardian.co.uk/social-care-network/2013/jun/28/young-carers-same-issues-worldwide
5Lombe, M., H. Mabikke, N. V. Enelamah and Y. Chu (2017) "Conceptualizing the African child as orphan andvulnerable: a label in need of redefinition?" International Social Work, (June 2017).

9 of 12festival/camp (run by the Children’s Society and YMCA) on which this project is modelled.
Three Commonwealth Fellowships have enabled mid-career professionals to visit the UK forprofessional development on issues related to young carers. Two churches in England haveprovided funding for local projects, including school buildings, water and sanitation. Therehas also been contact with YMCA (involved in the UK young carers’ festival), ChristianChildren’s Fund in Kenya and Child Welfare Society of Kenya.
The project vision has been to develop local young advocates providing local services andactivities, thereby laying the foundations for the launch of a regular international camp. The
model for this event is based on very successful annual young carers’ festivals which havebeen organized by the Children’s Society UK and YMCA in England for more than ten years.
The objectives of the festivals are to;a)Develop networking and shared identity and thereby to enhance self-confidenceb)Engage opinion leaders – Politicians, journalists, advocates etc.

c)

Develop shared advocacy themes.

d)Provide an atmosphere for fun, relocation and affirmation for young people who are
frequently isolated and exhausted because of their family responsibilities.
With the numerous challenges and problems faced by young carers, in sub-Saharan Africa,
the festival provides a much-needed platform for them to raise their issues and concerns
and also to inform the relevant authorities and persons in forums to advocate for policyformulation, implementation and change. In this light, the festivals is intended to:
1.
Empower young people to raise awareness of their situations and to influence publicattitudes, national policy and service delivery.
2.
Extend awareness of young carers responses to HIV/AIDS and other challenges inbuilding solidarity among those infected and affected, influencing public policy andpromoting a positive change in attitudes.
3.
Improve young people’s understanding of their rights and their involvement incascading this.
4.
Break the vicious circle of poverty and exclusion experienced by young carers under
the age of 25 years, by empowering young people to become self-sufficient and to improvetheir standards of living, thereby avoiding risk of involvement in prostitution crime or otherforms of child labour.
5.
Improve the physical and emotional well-being of the young carers reducing isolationand stress, increasing peer support and friendship circles and improving emotional wellbeing, resilience and self-esteem.
The NTJF also supports very local activities for young carers, such as after school clubs
which provide the same opportunities for a greater number of young people in a local area.
Reports indicate that schools find these activities assist teachers and young carers to better
understand each other and to support their education.

NOEL & THEA JONES FUNDNTJF has been supporting work with young people caring for young carers in East
Africa and more widely since 2007. The Fund supports after school counselling
and recreation groups, international festivals for groups of young carers, andpolitical lobbying and public awareness campaigns.
It was created to celebrate the life and Christian service of Noel (died 2007)
and Thea (died 2017) Jones. Significant achievements can be facilitatedwith enthusiastic commitment, effective networking and modest resources.

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MEMORIES FROM A DECADE OF YOUNG CARER EVENTS 2006-2016

Young carer ina Nairobi slum

A Kenyan young carer meets
Princess Anne at a UK carers
conference

Young carers and politicians from Kenya and UK at the 2006 conference in Nairobi

Young carers in group discussions at the 2009 festival in Nairobi

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Some participants from the 2016 festival in Nairobi

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