The Youth Enterprise Development Fund has opened ten regional offices across the country, in its boldest move to take services closer to its clients, the youth. Over 30 staff, all drawn from the head office, have been dispatched to serve in the regional offices which are expected to increase the Fund’s touch points. The offices became operational on January 3, this year and are a first step towards opening county offices.

According to the Youth Fund’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mwatata Juma Mwangala, the initiative is in line with the new constitution that requires government institutions to take services closer to the people. It is also a positive move towards enabling the Youth Fund coordinate its own activities on the ground thus increasing efficiency and effectiveness of its services. “We were previously not in full control because we were using interns to carry out our activities who were in turn reporting to the District Youth Officer in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. We will now be able to carry out our activities on our own and improve on service delivery” said Mr. Mwangala.

Indeed in a customer satisfaction survey carried out last year many youth complained about not feeling the Fund’s presence on the ground and loans taking long to process. This has been the chorus in the new county interactive forums that the Fund has been running since May 2011.

The regional offices are located in Kisumu, Meru, Machakos, Nyeri, Mombasa, Kakamega, and Garissa. Others are in Nakuru, Eldoret, and Garissa, Nairobi’s regional office will be based at the headquarters. Each of the regional offices will be headed by a regional coordinator. The offices, which will coordinate the Fund’s programmes in the counties under their jurisdiction, have been provided with a four wheel drive car and a driver, to ease mobility. They will be responsible for the implementation of the six mandates of the Fund at the regional level. Plans are underway to recruit county coordinators and constituency officers who will assist the regional coordinator in the implementation of the Fund’s programmes in the region.

The new regional offices will go a long way to save on costs. Previously, the Youth Fund had been coordinating all its activities from the head quarters in Nairobi and incurring heavy costs moving staff to various regions to implement or monitor its activities. “The constant movement of staff from Nairobi to various regions was becoming very expensive especially considering that we do not generate our own income and the funds allocated to us by the government are not sufficient” said Mr. Mwangala.

The turn around time for processing loans will now reduce drastically because unlike before, all vetting and approvals will be done at the regional level and only forwarded to the headquarters for disbursement. Entrepreneurship training, which is a prerequisite for accessing Youth Fund loans will also be enhanced, and made continuous to meet the needs of the young entrepreneurs. Monitoring and evaluation of Youth enterprises will also be more efficient and regular.

The regional offices will enable the Youth Fund obtain timely feedback on its services and use it to design products and services that are specific and meet the needs of the young entrepreneurs in that specific region.

Mr. Mwangala is calling upon all stakeholders to support this initiative. He is also urging all young people to take advantage of this opportunity by visiting the regional offices to access products and services.