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- Cross-cutting commitments
Commitments that travel with every programme.
Gender equality, disability inclusion, conflict sensitivity, a climate lens, digital-first delivery and local partnership. They apply to every programme, every project and every region we open.
Women in conversation at an outdoor community session.
Who it includes, what it risks, who it leaves in charge.
A programme is only as good as those three answers. These commitments sit across all 8 of CAYO’s thematic areas, from learning and livelihoods to health and climate.
Each one says what we will do in practice, so that partners and communities can hold us to it. Where a commitment depends on a policy, that policy is drafted for the Board to adopt.
Gender equality
Women and girls lead, decide and benefit, in equal measure.
Our vision names young people and women together. We will design every programme so that young women take part and lead, and so that it does not widen the gaps they already face.
In practice, we will
- Report every result by sex and age
- Hold at least half of Youth Advisory Council seats for women
- Recruit women to skill seats on the Board, not only to representation seats
- Work through women-led partners and women’s groups
Where it starts. Community-led prevention of violence against women and girls with the International Solidarity Foundation, completed in October 2026, and Back2School with CAYO alongside Ugaaso Women Space Org.
Disability inclusion
Designed in from the start, not added on.
We commit to young people with disabilities taking part in our programmes on equal terms. We will plan for access before an activity begins, not after someone has been left out.
In practice, we will
- Plan venues, materials and channels for access from the start
- Report results by disability status
- Treat disability as a factor in fair participant selection
- Adopt a gender and disability inclusion policy
Where it starts. Our values commit us to designing in people with disabilities from the start, and our draft code of conduct requires respect for everyone, whatever their disability or background.
Conflict sensitivity
Do no harm, and strengthen what holds communities together.
In a region with strong clan and religious institutions, every choice of place, partner and participant can ease tension or add to it. We commit to working through local institutions, not around them.
In practice, we will
- Publish participant selection criteria at each site and apply them fairly across communities
- Seek advice from elders and religious leaders through a Community Reference Group
- Check conflict risk before every new activity and location
- Adopt a conflict sensitivity and do-no-harm policy
Where it starts. The Peace Ambassadors Fellowship, completed with U-Report Ethiopia, and the Somali Region Peacebuilding Actors Network (SR-PAN).
A climate lens on every programme
Drought and flood are operating conditions, not surprises.
Pastoral livelihoods in the Somali Region rise and fall with the rains. Every programme, from learning to health, will be planned to keep working when drought or flood arrives.
In practice, we will
- Assess climate risk in every programme design
- Track livelihood results through the rainy and dry seasons
- Ask funders for crisis modifiers that let programmes adapt when drought hits
- Build a rapid-response mechanism that releases funds quickly when drought or floods strike
Where it starts. The Green Horn Initiative and CAYO Rapid, our climate programme and youth responder corps, are in design with partners.
Digital-first delivery
Mobile, offline-ready and in local languages.
Long distances and mobile households make phones the most reliable way to reach young people. We will put learning, feedback and opportunity sharing on mobile channels, and protect the data that comes with them.
In practice, we will
- Choose channels that work offline and on slow networks
- Offer content in local languages
- Build one shared data platform with offline mobile data collection
- Ask for consent before any photo, story or personal record is used
Where it starts. The Fursadaha Dhalinyarada network already connects 13,000+ young people on Telegram. Our data protection and consent policy is drafted for Board adoption.
Local partnership
Never ahead of a local youth-led partner.
We open work in a new region together with a local youth-led partner, and we will pass funds and decisions toward youth- and women-led groups over time.
In practice, we will
- Find the local youth-led partner first, then plan the work with them
- Hand day-to-day leadership of regional programmes to local co-leads
- Offer our partners multi-year funding and fair overhead
- Put partner names beside ours on every report, story and press release
Where it starts. Collaboration Over Competition links local civil society organizations, especially those led by youth and women, for partnership and shared resources.
Funders and partners
Build these in with us
Every partnership with CAYO carries these commitments. Talk to us about the programme you want to support.
Accountability
Hold us to them
Our standards for feedback, protection and transparency, and how anyone can raise a concern.
Governance
Who keeps them
The Board, the Youth Advisory Council and the team responsible for these commitments.
See the commitments in a programme.
Every programme page says who it is for and what it does.