Preface
Willice Onyango - Director, The Youth Café
At The Youth Café, we are very passionate about the youth (18-35 years) and their role in driving change in the world. This report exemplifies our dedication to our mission of driving change through empowering society. It is a result of the hard work of different teams of The Youth Café and our associated partners.
COVID-19 has undoubtedly changed the fundamental logistics of our lives. We felt it was our duty to spark conversations on the issues that have emerged across platforms as a result of coronavirus. These conversations were meant to help us cope with the situation as well as find solutions to emerging problems.
We believe that the insights in this report will shed light on youth perspectives of the experience of COVID-19 and help identify global and local issues and solutions that people are experiencing in different countries around the world. These insights are of value to researchers, educators, parents, governments, and, of course, other young people.
The Youth Café, in partnership with the Sussex Writes team from the University of Sussex (UK), invested their time, knowledge, and resources to make the Lockdown Live series successful.
This report is generated to expose the issues that were discussed in the webinars and our platforms collectively to inform and empower the youth during the pandemic on learning, misinformation, and mental health. The issues discussed herein were raised by youths and show the possible solutions that could be developed.
The section on COVID-19 futures links the current situation to future possibilities through actions and behaviours that the youth themselves can undertake. We hope that our young team’s hard work proves of interest and use to our readers and supporters. Just as our common goal is to create awareness and inspire change, we hope that we will remain united as we face the challenges that life brings forth.
We thank all of our partners in this project and all of the participants who impacted our work. Again, we thank you for your involvement in our work, and we wish you an insightful read. Thank you for the time you are taking to read this report. You inspired us, and we hope to inspire you.
“As a result of this project, The Youth Cafe’s leadership in youth involvement amidst the crisis was recognised and as such took part in COVID-19 Relief Fund disbursement program to over 200,000 marginalised youth. In addition, The Youth Cafe’s health information literacy programs won the first position during the UNESCO global Awards for 2020. Our participating youth featured and continue to feature in various local and national TV and radio interviews to magnify youth voices and promote their meaningful involvement in Post Covid recovery programs.”
INTRODUCTION
Rationale
On 13th March 2020, the history of Kenya shifted as we recorded the first COVID-19 case. 21st June marked 100 days from the day the pandemic hit the country, and the ministry of health has recorded 4, 738 cases of coronavirus in total since then .
The novel disease was encroaching our life and causing various undesirable changes not only in Africa but around the world. It was thus necessary to develop measures to counter the challenges that the disease has presented and also develop strategies to survive the new normal created by COVID-19.
The Organization
The Youth Café is a youth-led, pan-African nonprofit organization founded in Kenya in 2012 and incorporated in 2014 as a company limited by guarantee. Our strategy has focused on today's youth bulge in Africa, seeing it as an opportunity for development and economic growth. Working across eight program areas critical to Africa’s youth. The Youth Café models, inspires, informs, and advances youth-led approaches.
To date, we have reached 1.6 million young people across Africa. We pride ourselves in our commitment to elevate youths and their quality of life. Even with the challenges we are facing, we believe that the youth remains to be an integral part of the country’s prosperity. The Lockdown Live program reported here is in line with the organization’s effort to fulfill our purpose.
Themes in the Report
We saw governments invoking executive powers and calling for extraordinary measures, such as lockdowns, quarantines, and increased surveillance in response to COVID-19.
In the absence of sunset provisions, civic space contract and freedoms of assembly, privacy and expression may be negatively affected, silencing young people’s calls for change. Moreover, these unprecedented restrictions by governments can leave advocates less protected against attacks and threats.
Thus, following The Youth Café COVID-2019 Policy, we launched Lockdown Live— a series of webinars aimed at the strengthening meaningful engagement with the youth, amplifying their voice and actions in supporting the expansion of civic spaces and advancing civic engagement.
This was achieved in collaboration with creative writing students involved with Sussex Writes at the University of Sussex and SOS Villages Kenya Youth. Sussex Writes gives students at the University of Sussex a space to explore their talents, with the aim of sharing a love of literacy and creativity with the wider community and with the ultimate aim of widening participation into higher education. They are represented by members from the UK, Nigeria and Indonesia.
The series featured a global exchange of experiences, problems, ideas and youth-led solutions to the COVID crisis both now and in the immediate future. The global aspect to the conversations invites collaboration between the twelve nations represented during the conversations and dismantles borders in new and vital ways in order to address a global crisis.
Through this webinar series, young people from Africa and around the world had the opportunity to exchange ideas and strategies amongst themselves and other stakeholders. Youth representatives discussed the impact and consequences of the current COVID-19 pandemic on civic spaces.
Young people also presented successful examples of their contribution to the COVID-19 in their communities. The webinar was carried out in parts where youths developed ways to deal with COVID-19 and the upcoming issues.
During these webinars, the youths came up with ways to initiate learning and to encourage the youth to increase their skills during these trying times. This report presents the programs that The Youth Café has taken in information articulation, mental health, and learning during the lockdown period.
Lockdown Live Process Chart
The project team from The Youth Café and Sussex Writes were determined to develop Lockdown Live as a reliable and informative series to educate and inspire conversations.
The initial stage involved producing and sharing digital posters in order to create awareness about the series. The posters were posted on social media platforms, specifically Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
During the planning session, key people in the project came up with questions and concerns they would love to address during the webinar. After adequate preparation and insight into the goals of the series, the actual webinars took place where candid conversations on various themes were used to generate new knowledge.
Participants were then urged to write perspective blogs which are published on the website while some were incorporated in this report. This report is thus a product of participant views, webinar discussion with experts, blogs, baseline and impact survey and Optimized Search Engine (OSE) research.
The launch of this research during the Youth month (August) was an intentional decision to model and inspire youth participation in issues that matter.
RECOMMENDATIONS from THE REPORT
CONCLUTION
The series also examined the underlying mental challenges that have been an adverse effect of Coronavirus. Although COVID-19 has rendered tough situations, it has also helped to expose the mental challenges that existed even before the pandemic. Depression, stress and anxiety are the most common psychological disturbances during this period.
The pandemic has resulted in the loss of many lives and created uncertainties about the future and negativity towards life. During the final Lockdown Live event, participants reported that taking part in the series had given them a greater sense of positivity and togetherness as well as new insight and purpose in their lives, producing a net social and emotional benefit for the participants.
The expert opinions on the issue were necessary and relevant in uplifting people. Experts offered insights on remaining positive and occupied during the period. Over-exposure to contradictory information about the virus during this period was highly discouraged since it is one of the sources of anxiety.
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The Coronavirus pandemic has turned many lives upside down temporarily and permanently. We cannot help but ask the question: What next after this? Wondering what happens next is not only an individual question but also an institutional and group concern.