Chairman of the Special Parliamentary Committee, Hon. Powes Parkop presented the report on Child and Youth wellbeing in parliament from its Parliamentary Inquiries conducted on the 14—15 of October 2025 and 16 – 17 of April 2026 for children from 0- 14 years of age.
He said the committee’s full inquiries convened the departments, stakeholders and duty bearers responsible for children and youth from education, health, documentation, treasury, and finance and community development.
The inquiry also confirmed that too many children and youth remain left behind despite strong policies and increasing investments, national outcomes remain deeply concerning noting that;
- Only 48 percent of the children receive full routine full immunization coverage
- 48 percent of the children under five years are stunted due to chronic malnutrition
- Only 13percent of births are formally registered
- Only half the country have access to basic water services.
- Only 23.6 percent of the population has access to basic sanitation
- Only 45 percent of grade 3 children meet minimum reading standards and
- 27.7 percent of the youth are not in employment, education or training.
“These are not simply statistics, these are numbers representing children and youth whose opportunities are being constrained before they even begin life properly. “Said Mr. Parkop
“They represent unrealized human potential, weakened national productivity, and growing inequality across province and communities.”
“According to the inquiry, the central challenge facing the country today is, “weak implementation”, fragmented systems, poor coordination, weak data systems, and insufficient accountability for results.” Parkop added
“Across the sectors, we have, policies, strategies, institutional frameworks and budget allocations, but these investments and interventions are not consistently translating into measurable improvements in the lives of children and young people, particularly at provincial, district and community levels.” Said Mr. Parkop
He said this led to the committee identifying five urgent national shifts required across sectors that include;
- From policy ambition to execution at scale
- From fragmented systems to integrated child and youth focused service delivery
- From input based budgeting to outcome accountability
- From siloed information systems to real time integrated child and youth data and
- From national planning to effective subnational national delivery capacity.
The chairman said that the inquiry further emphasised several priority recommendations in areas of, education, health and nutrition, birth registrations and identity systems, water, sanitation and hygiene, child protection and juvenile justice and the urgent need to strengthen pathways for youth through Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), entrepreneurship, sports, digital skills, mental health support and employment opportunities.
In conclusion, the chairman said, “After a year of work, the job of our committee is not yet finished, we have only just started, we have not yet inquired into the situation facing youths of our country at all levels.”
“We have been focused on 0- 14 years old up to now, hence, the committee respectfully recommends that the Special Parliamentary Committee on Child and Youth Wellbeing be transitioned into a permeant parliamentary committee.” Sad Mr. Parkop
“Such step would institutionalize parliamentary leadership and ensure sustained national focus on child survival, development, protection, participation and youth wellbeing across successive governments and national development plans. “He said
Mr Parkop said “Our Children’s tomorrow depends on the decisions and actions we take today.”