The IGAD Youth Policy is an important tool for advancing Youth rights in the Horn of Africa region. While building on the same basic principles as the African Union Youth Charter highlights issues of special importance in the African context. The two legal instruments complement and reinforce each other in a powerful way. The IGAD Youth Policy has been widely consulted with the Technical Experts responsible for Youth Affairs from the Horn of Africa region member states, representation from the National Youth Councils and Youth Led Organizations and the IGAD Secretariat.

In making this happen, Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Horn of Africa Youth Network(HoAYN), Save the Children (SCI) has spearheaded the development of the IGAD Youth Policy and its implementation roadmap to guide and mainstream youth issues in policies, laws and programmes geared towards empowering the youth to develop their potential, creativity and skills as productive and dynamic members of the Community while ensuring meaningful youth participation in political processes and building for political, social and economic stability of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.

The youth affairs programme at IGAD falls under Pillar 2 of the IGAD 2016-2020 Strategy that focuses on economic cooperation, integration and social development. In 2012, IGAD updated its Gender Policy and Strategy which was in use since 2004. In 2014, IGAD developed a supplement to the Gender Policy and Strategy, the IGAD Adolescents and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health (AYSRH) Policy, that serves as a handy advocacy, harmonization and coordination tool for focused, comprehensive, timely, and user- friendly sexual and reproductive health services to adolescent and young people in the IGAD Region. These instruments address a wide range of youth issues focusing on gender and reproductive health.

The High Level Ministerial Council of Ministers Conference will be organized by Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in collaboration with Horn of Africa Youth Network, Save the Children

This Conference aims to mobilize the Council of ministers responsible for Youth Affairs, Youth Technical experts, Youth Led CSO’s and National Youth Councils in the Horn of Africa region to analyze structural barriers for meaningful youth inclusion and Engagement in the region through already developed IGAD Youth Policy. It is hoped that through this conference, the council of ministers will officially adopt the proposed IGAD Youth Policy thus creating an enabling environment for youth coordination at the IGAD Secretariat.