2012jul30 kiini kti youth participation conference kenya jul26'12 leiderman edit

7/31/2019 2012jul30 Kiini Kti Youth Participation Conference Kenya Jul26'12 Leiderman Edit

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

The stakeholders from organizations empowering the youth in the County ofNyeri participated in the meeting held of July 20, 2012 at the Batian GrandHotel, Nyeri Town. The function was held at the background of countdown toGeneral Elections expected to be held on March 4, 2013. The stakeholdersfocused on examining the underlying causes of poor participation of the youthin political process, mainly in the electoral processes. They strategized onencouraging the youth to fulfill the preliminary requirements of obtainingnational identity cards, especially the fresh applicants and all the youth toregister as voters so as to cast their votes and/or contest in the upcomingelections.

The meeting started at 9.30am at the above venue. There were 38participants representing sectors that included tertiary institutions thatare targeted by the project, civil society organizations that focus onyouth development, people with disabilities, private sector institutionsmainly cooperative movement and banks, public institutions amongthem the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Office of

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the Registrar of Persons, Provincial Administration, Ministry of YouthAffairs, Women and Youth Enterprise Funds.

From media, there was a representative from the Nyeri based Rware FM101.7 Radio.

From academia world, tertiary institutions represented were KimathiUniversity, Karatina University College, Kagumo Teachers College,Mathenge and Nyeri Technical Training Institutes, all in Nyeri County.

In attendance was Mr. James Murage from the Kenya TransitionInitiatives (KTI).Mr. Timothy Kariuki was the Facilitator.

The function was organized by the Kiini Sustainable Initiatives (KISI) anNGO based in Nyeri.

After prayers, participants introduced themselves. The meeting ended at4.45pm and was closed with prayers.

1.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

a. To sensitize the youth on the projectb. To identify the challenges facing the youths participation in the politicalprocess and

suggest solutions to tackle the challengesc. To examine the issues affecting the youth and suggest how they can be

addressedd. To strengthen youth engagement in County Development issues andLeadershipe. To formulate Strategy to enhance Sustainability of the Intended project

1.2 SUMMARY OF OUTPUT AND ACTIVITIES

The stakeholders, inter alia discussed the underlying causes of poorparticipation of the youth in political process and the strategies to applyin enhancing their participation in the upcoming elections. Activities inthe meeting included explanation by stakeholders on their current

programmes in empowering the youth. Some of the stakeholders gavetheir schedule of activities in the coming months. There was facilitationon background of inadequate participation of the youth in politicalprocess since 1963, challenges facing them as they strive to participate,issues affecting them, how the youth can contribute to the developmentof the county and proposals on sustaining this project.

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After facilitation, the stakeholders engaged in group work. One groupidentified information gaps among the youth and issues affecting them,and suggested solutions to solving them. The other group looked intohow the youth can engage in the leadership and development of NyeriCounty and strategies to sustain the project. During plenary, the

stakeholders, apart from partnering with KISI, through their respectiveorganizations they had represented they will sensitize the youth on theproject whereby they will conduct civic education, build their selfconfidence, promote peaceful co-existence and non violence during theelectoral processes.

Among the strategies they will apply are meeting the youth on one toone basis, family circles, neighborhood forums, organizing focusedgroups through their organizations, seeking slots of time in opportunisticmeetings to deliver civic and voter education, engaging the youth inconcerts, road shows and sports. Some of the participants gave out the

schedule of activities their organizations are to undertake in the comingmonths geared to empower the youth on elections participation.Stakeholders were addressed by representatives from the offices ofRegistrar of Persons and the Independent Electoral and BoundariesCommission on their institutions roles in issuance of identity cards andvoter registration respectively.

2.0 KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS RELATED TO OUTPUTS

a) Interactive participation in exchanging their views and insights on theproject.

b) Facilitation on the depths of causes of inadequate participation of theyouth in political process, information gaps, issues affecting the youth,youth in leadership and development in Nyeri County and sustainabilityof the project; and the research report by Pan African Research Limitedfrom February to April this year. The title of the research is NationalSurvey on Kenyan Youth Perspectives on the Upcoming Elections.

c) Participants being afforded opportunity to examine issues affecting theyouth and on information gaps, among others, and giving the solutionsand their schedule of their activities during group work and plenary

d) Participants learning latest developments on issuance of identity cardsand voter registration

3.0 KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTSStakeholders, upon facilitation, looked into the participation of the youth inpolitical process in Nyeri County from new perspectives in line with the new

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Constitution and strategizing approaches to encouraging the youthparticipation in the upcoming elections.Stakeholders received updates on the development of issuance of identitycardsand processes of voter registration as the youth are the integral target.

4.0 LESSONS LEARNED

4.1 The need to empower the youth with skills and knowledge on politicalparticipation while refraining from being exploited and misled in engaging withelectoral violence and crimes during the electoral processes so as to prevent arepeat of the 2007/8 PEV and deepen democratic practices in the society.

4.2 The need to reduce unemployment, consumption of illicit drinks and drugsso as to cushion the youth from manipulations that would lead them intocommitting electoral offenses and breaching criminal laws.

4.3 The willingness among the youth to learn more about constitution asexpressed by the stakeholders.

4.4 There is need for consolidated and coordinated efforts among theparticipating organizations in empowering the youths.

5.0 CHALLENGES

Challenges include:

5.1. Inadequate resources in terms of funds, manpower and time to conductfocused deepening programs for empowering all the youth who are themajority in the County;

5.2. risks that may be posed as hurdles by politicians and political parties thatfond of thriving in political and rights ignorance of the masses;

5.3. The massive youth population and geographical expanse of the county.

6.0 PROPOSED NEXT STEPS

6.1. Similar meetings should be held at constituency level to bring morestakeholders and the youth residing in those electoral zones on board.

6.2. Political parties and faith based bodies through their representativesshould be involved in similar meetings in future.

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6.3. Its necessary to hold similar meetings in future for two or three days tocover issues more exhaustively.

6.4. There be held regular meetings to share information on youthinvolvement in political processes and promotion of non violence, assess

achievements, strategizing on tackling challenges.

6.5. There be formed Transition Initiatives Networks for carrying outmeetings mentioned above in (d).These networks comprising mainly the youthshould be empowered to assist the youth to be pro-active in exercising theirright to identify and chose candidate for elections (RICCE) as opposed towaiting for candidates to present themselves to them(the youth) for elections.This will be a principal strategy in sustaining the project countdown toelections and beyond especially if terms of reference will mandate thenetworks to be operational for monitoring and auditing elected leadership afterthe elections and if necessary under a new identity.

6.6. There be radio programs and regular newsletters, in hard and electroniccopies for sharing among the youth, and electoral stakeholders that includethe non-youth electorate, IEBC, Government, Political Parties, CSOs, FBOs, theprivate and informal sectors.

6.7. There will be outreach programs for this project for students at KagumoTeachers College, Kimathi University, Karatina University College, Mathengeand Nyeri Technical Training Institutions.

It will be very necessary to widen the horizons of this project by

involving the students from the adjacent tertiary institutions toparticipate together with students of the aforementioned institutions.

Students from the Nyeri Town campuses of Kenyatta and KenyaMethodist Universities can join their counterparts in Kimathi University.

Othaya Teachers College and youth polytechnics in Othaya Constituencycan participate together with Mathenge Technical Training Institutes.

Rware, St.Theresa, Kenya Medical (CPGH Campus) and Mountain TopsTraining Colleges can link up with Nyeri Technical Training Institute.

Mount Kenya Teachers College, youth polytechnics and other tertiarycolleges in Mathira Constituency can participate with their counterpartsin Karatina University College

7. ANNEX: PHOTOS [CD's available on request]

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2012jul30 kiini kti youth participation conference kenya jul26'12 leiderman edit

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