The Sauti ya Vijana Nairobi Project is an initiative that aims to support the emergence of responsive, transparent, and accountable leadership. At the core of this project is a focus on organizing a roundtable themed “Building youth-adult partnerships in local governance” to bring 40 youths from diverse youth organisations to form a community of practice discussing issues around local governance in all sectors. Activities in this project will include; Developing, Designing and Disseminating The County Youth Advocacy Handbook from the case studies. The Handbook will contain 30 case studies from our mapping exercise in Nairobi County, Mobilizing youth groups to establish local networks that connect communities to leaders through one Advocacy Handbook Case study presentation workshop and one Youth Network Meeting, Holding 4 podcast shows on a quarterly basis to engage the youth, leaders and other relevant actors and holding consultative policy dialogues with political youth leaders and key stakeholders.
There will be continuous monitoring and evaluation of the activities throughout the project implementation period, which will be done through interviews to gather inputs and assessments from specific/representative project actors and stakeholders. In addition, we will carry out one in-depth team Retrospect Workshop to capture and prioritise lessons and improve results.
Take Part in the Sauti ya Vijana podcast.
Take Part in the Sauti ya Vijana roundtable discussions.
Project Overview.
A majority of the Counties in Kenya do not have youth policies that give guidelines on addressing youth issues at the County level. They thus do not know how to tackle youth issues. There is the marginalisation of youth at the County level, especially regarding experience as a requirement. This is especially in employment, county decision-making boards, and committees in tendering business, among others. There is a lot of clearance required for youth to access government jobs and tendering business; these include The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) clearance, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), and Certificate of Good Conduct.
County governments are closest to the neighbourhoods and communities in which their citizens live and are often the most visible to youth. They, therefore, have an indispensable role in fostering the inclusion of young people into society. County governments are immediately responsible for upholding youth rights, ensuring community cohesion, a healthy environment, high quality of life, and sustaining social and economic development (KYM,2022).
Our Sauti ya Vijana Nairobi project aims to support the emergence of responsive, transparent, and accountable leadership. The Youth Cafe will organise a roundtable themed “Building youth-adult partnerships in local governance” to bring 40 youths from diverse youth organisations to form a community of practice discussing issues around local governance in all sectors, including those working with; Youth with Disability, Youth Living in the Streets and Vagrant youth, youth with health concerns, Female youth and the Boy Child, Unemployed and Underemployed Youth, Youth in Emergency Situations, Youth in Learning Institutions, Incarcerated Youth, Youth in Conflict Situations, and Youth Living in Informal Settlements.
As part of the roundtable sessions, there will be case study presentations from 5 youth organisations and five podcasts sessions which will have a follow-up discussion with the organisations that did not get a chance to present their case studies, donors and researchers, all these will facilitate consistent and constructive engagement between youths and local leaders. The Youth Cafe will also produce a report on good governance best practices, featuring an exchange visit and focus groups for persons with disability, young women/ (marginalised youths) and youth representatives to learn how good governance and accountability can improve service delivery.
The project aims to create opportunities for young people to have a voice in local governance issues, improve service delivery and promote their participation in civic life.
Take Part in the Sauti ya Vijana podcast.
Take Part in the Sauti ya Vijana roundtable discussions.
Goals & Objectives
Overall objective/Goal: To support the development of a youth Community of Practice for responsive, transparent, and accountable leadership.
Specific Objectives:
Create opportunities for young people to engage in dialogue and consultation with decision-makers on governance issues that affect their lives.
Build linkages, areas of collaboration, and partnerships amongst youth-led organisations, the community and the county government collaborations.
Create platforms for dialogue and engagement between young people and decision-makers, donors, and researchers.
Create an evidence-based advocacy report derived from the roundtable discussions
Involving the youths, youth-led organisations and the county government representatives
Constraints & Assumptions
Lack of participation: Young people may not be interested in participating in the project due to the notion that the government doesn’t include youths and youth issues, which can lead to low attendance at meetings and events and a lack of engagement in decision-making processes.
Resistance to change: There may be resistance from older, established members of the community to the idea of youth participation in governance.
Limited resources: The project may not have enough funding or resources to implement all of its planned activities and initiatives successfully.
Limited capacity: Young people may not have the necessary skills or experience to effectively participate in governance activities.
Inadequate support: The project may not receive adequate support from the local government or other organizations, which could limit its impact and sustainability.
Security concerns: There may be security concerns for young people participating in the project, particularly if the project is in a high-risk area.
Limited reach: The project may not be able to reach all young people in the community, particularly those who are marginalized or disadvantaged.
Project Scope
Through the creation of Community of Practice as a dialogue platform for elected officials, community leaders, and youth organisations to examine and engage citizens and governments on governance issues that are important to ordinary individuals. This will improve the citizen’s ability to express their opinions, foster networking and peer learning, and hold governments accountable successfully.
The Youth Café through the “Sauti ya Vijana Nairobi” will collaborate with the Nairobi County Government, 30 Youth-led and Youth-serving organisations based in Nairobi. This collaboration will be achieved through our interactive roundtables which create room for networking, birth partnerships and collaboration amongst the youths, youth-led and youth-serving organisations and Nairobi County government.
The Youth Café will also perform the following key activities:
Developing, Designing and Disseminating The County Youth Advocacy Handbook from the case studies. The Handbook will contain 30 case studies from our mapping exercise in Nairobi County.
Mobilizing youth groups to establish local networks that connect communities to leaders through one Advocacy Handbook Case study presentation workshop and one Youth Network Meeting.
Hold 4 podcast shows on a quarterly basis to engage the youth, leaders and other relevant actors. Consultative policy dialogues with political youth leaders and key stakeholders. Hold One Roundtable discussion meeting bringing together 30 participants. This will be done as part of network building.
Target Audience
Our expected target groups are youth between the age of 18-35 years in Nairobi County, including youth from low socio-economic status backgrounds, social minorities – religious, ethnic , young women and girls, youths living in informal settlements, Youths with a disability, young aspiring leaders, and to ensure their engagement and participation in the implementation, review of policies thus amplifying youth voices in accountability and governance processes at the county level. We will also work with other grassroots organisations, youth-led and youth-serving organizations.
Success Indicators
Youth Advocacy Handbook is developed and published.
➔ A network of young leaders within Nairobi County is developed.
➔ Educative podcasts on Youth leadership are uploaded on the Youth Café website for easy access by young people.
➔Youth groups are Mobilized and local networks are created that connect communities to leaders
➔ Opportunities for young people to engage with the Nairobi County government are created and enhanced.
➔ County Registry of Advocacy Youth Networks/Organisations in Nairobi County is developed.
➔ Final Project report is published and disseminated
Timeline
The Project is scheduled to be implemented within a period of one year, starting from June 2023 to May 2024.The first quarter will run from June to August 2023, the second quarter from September to November 2023, the third quarter from December 2023 to February 2024, and finally the last quarter from March 2024 to May 2024. There will be quarterly reports. Additionally, monitoring and evaluation will be carried out throughout the whole project duration.
Benefits of partnership
Partnering in this project provides the partners with a platform to gain skills and more knowledge on youth engagement on governance and democratic processes.
The partners will also get an opportunity to network with other like minded organizations in the various project activities