3. Policy Goals and Objectives The National Youth Policy seeks to achieve the following goals and objectives: Goal 1: To empower youth to participate and contribute to the socio-economic development of the nation. Objectives a. To provide opportunities for sustainable livelihoods and decent work for all young men and women; b. To assist youth in attaining the knowledge, skills and experiences required to enable them to effectively participate in national development and society as a whole; c. To promote the rights and freedoms of all youths paying special attention to empowering previously marginalized sections such as young women and girls, youth with disabilities, youth living with HIV, out of school youth and youth living in rural areas; d. To involve youth at the planning, decision making, implementation and evaluation levels of all youth development programmes; e. To promote gender equality and equity among the youth, in particular, in education and training, socio-cultural, political, economic and legal spheres. Goal 2: To develop a coordinated response and participation by all stakeholders in the development and empowerment of the youth. Objectives a. To ensure adequate resources are directed towards youth development programmes and promote financial accountability and sustainability; b. To facilitate access to resources for development projects and activities by youth and youth development organisations; c. To make available reliable and up-to-date information on the youth development situation in the country in order to inform policy making and programme design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation at all levels and in all sectors; 9