HomeCommonwealth Youth Peace Ambassadors Network, Bridge Africa and Plan International Kenya organized a two-day summit which was targeting the youth. The summit themed “Sustainable peace for prosperity” brought together more than 200 youths from all walks of life in Nairobi and trained them to maintain peace in the upcoming elections.
Kenya has had instances of political violence in the past three electioneering periods. Young vibrant people are the ones that are usually at the line of fire because they’re paid to loot and cause chaos. The summit was designed to counter that problem by educating them and finding out alternative ways that young people can be involved.
Mercy Mutana, the head of CYPAN the Kenyan chapter, says that the three different organizations came in because of their different focus groups. Plan International focuses on among other things building youth-led innovative partnership solutions for job creation, CYPAN targets the youth and Bridge Africa works with students.
The summit was inspired by a report which was published by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) report. NCIC marked different areas as hotspots for violence during the August 9th 2022 elections.
“The National Commission on Cohesion tasked with peace building has marked several counties as hotspot regions of violence as well as moderate risk counties. To this end, as CYPAN Kenya, we have been working since August 2021 with youth serving peace organisations, youth and student groups towards peace advocacy and youth engagement in democracy through voter education. Plan International advocates for women’s safety during this campaign period as women and children are vulnerable during the conflict,” writes CYPAN.
For two days there were various youths drawn from different interest groups such as Community-Based Organizations, Youth Networks, young politicians and students. The first day saw at least 100 young people in attendance that had come from various areas of Nairobi such as Mathare, Kibera, Kawangware and other areas.
On the 18th there were at least 120 students and student leaders who attended from various Kenyan universities. There were student leaders from the University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, St Paul’s University and others.
Aspiring politicians were also allowed to sell their manifestos to the youth leaders and were asked to explain what different things they would do. Sticking to politics, the youth representatives of the Azimio and Kenya Kwanza camps, the biggest political factions in the 2022 elections, also had an opportunity to show the youth how they will meet their interests if they get voted in.
“We recognize that peace cannot be realized without justice, hence the call to have leaders of various political factions, government and other duty bearers in this forum today. We seek their commitment towards a peaceful electioneering period and ensuring the safety of our women, girls and vulnerable during this period,” says Deogratius Magero Technical Advisor, Youth Empowerment and Employability at Plan International.
One of the biggest challenges cited was a lack of employment for the youth. When youth have no source of income they become goons for hire so that they can put food on the table. The conference was designed to help young people see how the little money they get from politicians ends up hurting them in the long run. They were urged by speakers such as the Deputy Director, Youth Development State Department for Youth Affairs Daniel Kirui to go out and vote.
Winnie Nyadiga, one of the youth administrators of the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Party told young people that the power they have is not in fighting but in making their voice known through voting. “Many young politicians are not making it to the seats of power simply because the youth, who are the majority in Kenya, are shunning going to vote. Therefore it’s tough pushing youth-oriented policies and agendas because we don’t have enough young leaders in Parliament,” lamented Nyadiga.
At the end of the summit, the young people signed the Mkenya Daima Peace Pledge where they committed to maintaining peace and urge their peers to do the same. Follow-up forums will be held in communities such as Kawangware, Mathare and Kibera in the coming days to foster peace and rally young people to change the conflict narrative.
