Latest News And Updates
The Youth Assembly Plenary, held at the Parliament of Kenya, brought together 60 young representatives from all 47 counties. During the session, participants engaged in meaningful discussions and proposed practical policy recommendations aimed at addressing key national challenges, including youth innovation, climate action, education, and poverty eradication.
In partnership with Young Women Leaders Connect(YWLC), The Youth Cafe organized a Twitter(X) space and chat discussion on December 7, 2023, centred around the theme 'Exploring Online Gender-Based Violence Among Youth in Kenya.' A turnout of 635 participants, composed of young individuals and youth organizations, actively engaged in the live discourse on Twitter(X). Additionally, many viewers continued to join the conversation and interacted with the Twitter(X) recording post-event. The discussions provided an invaluable platform for raising awareness, fostering dialogue, and encouraging meaningful interactions surrounding the critical issue of online gender-based violence affecting the youth in Kenya.
The Youth Café (TYC) is a trailblazer in youth empowerment in Kenya, utilizing Participatory Budgeting (PB) to drive accountability, transparency, and good governance. Through its innovative PB approach, TYC has successfully mobilized over 76,000 young people across 12 counties, empowering them to take part in crucial budgetary decisions. With a staggering $3 million USD allocated through this process, TYC has set a new standard for how public resources can be managed effectively and ethically when young people are at the helm. This initiative not only empowers youth to influence public resource allocation but also transforms them into vigilant custodians of government accountability, ensuring public funds are directed toward community-driven solutions.
Working towards achieving this vision, The Youth Café, in partnership with Indonesian Youth Foundation, is organizing a youth virtual cultural exchange intended to be an event where Kenyan and Indonesian youth between the ages of 16 and 35 engage and network and build linkages. The workshop will open up the world to the wide diversity and richness of Indonesian and Kenyan culture, a fascinating tale of two countries waiting to happen. Kenyan and Indonesian youth will be able to showcase their talents and the rich diversity of their cultures in food, language, traditions, and fashion.
In collaboration with United Nations Development Programme Accelerator Lab Kenya and the Healthy Internet Project (HIP) incubated at Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED), Busara Center for Behavioral Economics conducted a live behavioral science experimental demonstration of the Healthy Internet Project (HIP) plug-in, an open-source web browser extension that allows users to flag content online anonymously: it is intended to help curb the spread of lies, abuse, and fear-mongering, as well as to uplift useful ideas on the internet.
The heads of state or the government of the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) met for the sixth European Union - African Union summit in Brussels on 17 and 18 February 2022. The meeting was co-chaired by the President of the European Council, H.E Mr. Charles Michel, and the President of Senegal and the Chairperson of the AU, H.E Mr. Macky Sall. Ahead of the summit, EU leaders took part in an informal meeting of the members of the European Union Council on the latest developments related to Russia and Ukraine. EU and AU leaders agreed on a joint vision for a renewed partnership.
In the margins of the 6th European Union - African Union summit on 17 and 18 February 2022, over 10,000 delegates from Europe, Africa, and beyond participated in the first Africa-Europe Week together with 15,000 delegates in the 7th EU-Africa Business Forum (EABF). Hosted in a hybrid format in Brussels and virtually, during over 100 sessions, panel discussions, and concerts, the first edition of the Africa-Europe week was a key moment to bring together young people, civil society, and the private sector from Africa and Europe to discuss the aspects of the Africa-EU Partnership that matter to them the most. The Africa-Europe week aimed to strengthen the links connecting people from Africa and Europe.
The Youth Café was invited for a 3-day Collaborative Futures Workshop, which is a hybrid hackathon and fellowship designed to help you, and fellow social justice organizations and leaders envision ways that emerging creative technology can expand your impact, understand how new technologies will shape your work and how we can change these technologies, and learn how to act on this knowledge in partnership with East Africa's boldest creatives and technologists using a Do It Yourself (DIY) ethos and active collaboration.
The Youth Summit on Magnifying the Visibility of Youth Leaders was a unique in-person event designed by young people for young people. The summit was convened by the International Republican Institute and The Youth Café and organized with strategic partners, including 254 Youth Policy Café, The Global Development Incubator, and The Global Opportunity Youth Network support. The summit convened 40 youth, including youth political aspirants and civil society representatives with diverse sectoral knowledge on policy issues and priorities for the Kenyan youth. The three-day summit called on young people from all over Kenya to discuss the needs of youth that will integrate into the Kenya Youth Manifesto 2022.
In many developing countries, informal settlements are a widespread occurrence. "Informal settlement" is sometimes misinterpreted as a shorthand for urban poverty and misery, overcrowding, and exposure to environmental dangers. This may be influenced by the fact that informal settlements lack essential infrastructural services and facilities and have a high concentration of difficulties to cities' social and political fabric.
