Why the Learning Circle Mattered

Many young people in Kenya have seen the Global Gateway logo on EU-funded projects but remain unsure what it truly represents. Few are aware that the European Union has committed over €150 billion to Africa through this strategy, one that directly shapes the continent’s future in areas such as decent jobs, digitalisation, climate action, trade, transport, and governance.

Despite this scale of investment, youth participation in Global Gateway processes remains limited. The initiative’s language and spaces including the Global Gateway Forum and the seventh EU-AU Summit are often invitation-only, creating barriers that exclude youth and Kenyan civil societies from engaging meaningfully in decisions that affect them.

To bridge this gap, the EU Youth Sounding Board Kenya (YSB) convened a youth-led learning circle on 8 October 2025, ahead of the second Global Gateway Forum in Brussels (9–10 October 2025). The session was designed to demystify the Global Gateway, unpack its relevance to Kenya’s development agenda, and identify how young people can shape its implementation and accountability.

The learning circle created an open and inclusive space for young leaders, youth-led CSO representatives, and partners to interrogate how the EU’s flagship investment strategy connects with the lived realities of Kenyan communities. Through open discussions, participants reflected on the opportunities, risks, and structural barriers surrounding youth engagement in EU’s Global Gateway programmes.

Specifically, the learning circle sought to:

• Unpack Global Gateway for youth: what it is, how it works, and why it matters for Kenya.
• Connect Global Gateway to youth priorities i.e decent jobs, digital inclusion, climate justice and good governance.
• Create a space for open discussion gathering youth perspectives to feed into the Youth Statement to be presented at the 7th EU-AU Summit in November 2025.
• Strengthen accountability by discussing how youth can track progress and transparency in Global Gateway implementation.

Expected Outcomes;

• Clearer understanding among Kenyan youth of what Global Gateway means for their future.
• Collective youth recommendations on priority areas for Global Gateway in Kenya.
• Strengthened capacity of the EU Youth Sounding Board Kenya to act as a bridge between youth and the EU Delegation.