Youth festival opened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia today promotes intercultural understanding among the yourths.
Ambassador Tracey Jacobson, Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, and Minister of Women and Social Affairs Dr. Ergoge Tesfaye officially opened the Kefeta Youth Festival at Millennium Hall in Addis Ababa. The Addis Ababa youth festival was one of three youth festivals held throughout the country, and around 20,000 youth attended this final event. Under the theme “Be Inspired, Own Your Future,” the festival was a job fair and forum for building intercultural understanding and civil society support for youth development.
The festival was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s youth activity, Kefeta, and was organized in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MoWSA) and the Addis Ababa City Administration. USAID/Ethiopia Mission Director Sean Jones joined Ambassador Jacobson and Minister Ergoge to open the event.
The festival showcased youth-owned businesses, health and financial services, a peace forum with intergenerational dialogue, inspiring stories of young change-makers, and a market fair.
USAID’s Kefeta activity, launched in March 2022, is lifting up millions of youth in 18 cities across Ethiopia by working to improve their access to health, education, economic, and civic opportunities. These three youth festivals were just one element of this transformative program.
In 2022 alone, USAID provided more than $1.8 billion dollars in development and humanitarian aid to Ethiopia.