In February 2020, 24 youth from four Informal Settlements within Nairobi namely Mathare, Dandora, Kibra and Korogocho presented petitions to their respective Police Stations outlining the police excesses rampant in their respective neighbourhoods as well as the actions they would like the police to take or desist from. This followed a training on active nonviolence advocacy against police brutality conducted by CEEC with support from A.J Muste Memorial Institute in December 2019. The training was informed by reports reaching CEEC of mutual hostilities between the police and the youth, and the impunity with which the police mete out excesses such as arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture and extra judicial killings against youth in the informal settlements. The objective of the training was to equip the youth with skills necessary to conduct nonviolent advocacy against these police excesses. In addition t presenting petitions, the trainees also carried out various activities within the police station, aimed at mending the broken relationship between them and the police. These included clean ups, painting the police stations and planting trees. Feedback received at the end of the project pointed at an improved relationship between the police and the youth, reduction of mutual suspicion and hostility as well as a willingness by both sides to work together to address issues of common interest, especially maintenance of law and order devoid of human rights violation.
Category: Uncategorized
-
Combating Electoral Gender Based Violence Through Positive Masculinities and Femininities in Burnt Forest, Uasin Gishu County
CEEC with support from GIZ conducted a training of women leaders on Combating Electoral Gender Based Violence through Positive Masculinities and Femininities, on 27th – 30th January 2020 at the Deliverance Church in Burnt Forest, Uasin Gishu County. The four days’ training brought together a total of 30 women leaders from eight farms in Burnt Forest namely, Lingway, Kamuyu, Rukuini, Kaplalach, Ndungulu, Chuiyat, Barekeiywo and Kagongo participate. The training was in response to the poor representation of women in leadership in general and specifically in the political space. In addition, most women in the said region are not free to exercise their democratic right of voting for candidates of their choice. CEEC’s assessment of the dynamics on the ground pointed to flawed masculinities and femininities grounded in a deeply entrenched patriachal culture as the root cause of the problem. This is the background against which the project is being implemented with a view of promoting healthier Masculinities and Femininities as a way of Curbing Electoral Gender Based Violence. Hopefully this will enhance women’s leadership in general. Participants got insights on gender, masculinities/femininities, how male disempowerment contributes to electoral gender based violence and how women themselves hinder their own and other women’s prospects of getting into leadership due to their internalization of patriarchy. The trainees pledged to play a key role of engaging and mobilizing the community to embrace women’s leadership. It is CEEC’s hope that this will translate in more women vying for and hopefully succeeding in getting elective leadership positions in the 2022 General Election.
-
Embracing Diversity Road Show – Informal Settlements, Nairobi
As part of the project “Cohesion Building: Youth Promoting Respect for Diversity in Five Informal Settlements in Nairobi”, youth from Kibra, Kawangware, Korogocho, Dandora and Mathare engaged their peers in style during an “Embracing Diversity Road Show” on 28th and 29th October 2019. The youth used skits, music and dance to spread the message “Our Diversity, Our Strength” – “Utofauti Wetu, Nguvu Yetu” during the Road Show that traversed the five informal settlements. This was the last in a series of project activities which included a training on embracing diversity, community conversations and radio talk shows. The “edutainment” nature of the road show was a crowd puller, with a lot of appeal to the young people. As in all the other project activities, the young people committed to avoid manipulation along diversities such as ethnicity, religion, gender and political affiliations. They agreed that forging a common identity as youth would help them address some of the challenges they face and contribute to cohesion building.
-
Training on Alcohol and Substance Abuse for Youth in Kikuyu Sub County
Upon recommendations from a Baseline Survey conducted in 2018, CEEC, with the support of DKA Austria conducted a five days’ youth training on Alcohol and Substance Abuse on 20th – 23rd and 27th May 2019 at the ACK Guest House, Kikuyu. The training brought together 30 male and female youth from the five wards in Kikuyu Sub County namely Kikuyu, Kinoo, Karai, Sigona and Nachu. The two main objectives of the training which was facilitated by Support for Addiction Prevention and Treatment in Africa (SAPTA) were to help the youth understand addictions and also learn how to run Alcoholics/Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA) groups. The training was an eye opener for the youth who got to understand the dynamics of addictions as well as the harmful chemicals in some of the substances they were using. They also better understood some of the negative health and social effects of alcohol and substance abuse and expressed the desire to do what was within their power to get out of their dysfunctional behaviour. To get practical experience on how to run AA/NA groups, the trainees embarked on the 12 AA steps and upon completion they are expected to start and facilitate AA/NA groups in their respective wards.
-
Community Conversations and Radio Talk Shows on Embracing Diversity in Nairobi’s Informal Settlements
Under the project “Cohesion Building: Youth Promoting Respect for Diversity in Five Informal Settlements in Nairobi” supported by GIZ-CPS, youth from five informal settlements in Nairobi namely Kibra, Korogocho, Mathare, Dandora and Kawangware went through a three days’ training on embracing diversity in April 2019.Thereafter, they organized four sets of community conversation forums within their respective areas in May, July, September and October 2019. Each forum brought together at least 50 young people, ensuring that both male and female youth were equally represented. The forums provided the youth with a platform to engage in cohesion building discourse. The youth interrogated stereotypes surrounding various diversities, negative consequences of holding onto the stereotypes and together explored creative and sustainable solutions to manipulation of diversity. Alongside the community conversations, project participants also took part in a series of radio talks shows at Pamoja FM (Kibra), Mtaani Radio (Kawangware) and Koch FM (Korogocho, Mathare and Dandora). The weekly talk shows which ran from May to October 2019 had two youth guests, male and female, who discussed the role of youth in promoting cohesion, tolerance and respect for diversity. They also discussed the strategies they can use to promote respect for diversity which included sports, cultural events, dialogue, re-socialization and inter marriages. The youth committed to unite and use their different strengths to address the challenges that they face instead of allowing their diversity to divide them.
-
Launch of “Walk the Talk”
On 30th November 2017, CEEC launched the publication “Walk the Talk: A Call by Women to Electoral Duty Bearers”. This was under the GIZ-CPS supported project “Giving Women a Voice: Advocacy against Electoral Violence towards Women Candidates. The publication chronicles the experiences of 16 women who vied for Member of County Assembly (MCA) seats in Murang’a and Nairobi counties during the 2017 General Election. The aim was to amplify the women’s voices to electoral duty bearers who are charged with the responsibility of promoting women’s political participation. These duty bearers include the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Political Parties, the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) and the media. Representatives from these institutions who were present during the launch were urged to play their part in ensuring that the Constitutional provisions as well as their own commitments to gender equity and equality in political processes do not remain mere undertakings on paper. The electoral duty bearers were urged to indeed Walk the Talk
-
Political Dialogues
Under the Heinrich Boell Stiftung-East & Horn of Africa supported project Youth Promoting Inter-ethnic Harmony through Political Dialogue in Nairobi County, youth from five informal settlements in Nairobi held political dialogues between 22nd November and 15th December 2017. The dialogue forums which were held in Dandora, Kawangware, Korogocho, Kibra and Mathare aimed at promoting inter-ethnic and political tolerance. Three sets of forums were held in each of the settlements bringing together 25 youth from Jubilee party and 25 from the NASA coalition. The forums gave the youth a safe space to not only interrogate their reasons for supporting either side of the political divide but also talk to each other candidly about the things they did not like about each other’s behavior. The youth appreciated the forums which they said were the first of their kind. Most organizations preached peace but now for the first time, they were able to face each other and talk to each other openly. From the discussions, it was evident that most of the youth do not understand the manifestos of the parties they follow. Their allegiance to particular political parties is not issues based but rather it is informed by factors like blind loyalty to personalities, following in their parents’ footsteps or even handouts. The youth also realized how they are all grappling with similar challenges regardless of which political divide they belong to. There was general consensus that the youth were the losers when they agreed to be manipulated by the politicians. The politicians themselves differed politically but never fought each other. Instead, they used the youth to fight their battles for them. Asserting that every person has a right to their own political opinions and to support political parties of their choice, the youth committed to make their own decisions instead of following politicians blindly. Under the tag phrases #Siasa isi 2 divide and #Siasa Mbaya Huleta Hasara, the youth agreed to disagree without resulting to violence. They also agreed that they belong to one tribe that is called Vijanaa (youth) and they undertook to join hands to hold their leaders accountable so that youth issues can be included in development plans.
-
Dialogue Initiators Meeting
On 15th November 2017, CEEC held a meeting of 19 youth Dialogue Initiators from five of Nairobi’s informal settlements namely Dandora, Kawangware, Korogocho, Kibra and Mathare at Central Park Hotel Nairobi. This was under the Heinrich Boell Stiftung – East & Horn of Africa supported project Youth Promoting Inter-ethnic Harmony through Political Dialogue in Nairobi County which was implemented between November and December 2017. The project was informed by the inter-ethnic tensions and animosities that are characteristic of the electioneering period. Being electoral hot spots, the informal settlements witnessed an escalation of political hostilities into violence which resulted in displacement, destruction of property, maiming and even loss of lives. Inevitably, this kind of violence always takes on an ethnic nature, and the 2017 General Election was no different. Ethnic profiling and stereotyping between supporters of Jubilee and NASA, eviction of those living in “enemy” strongholds, destruction of property and general ethnic and political intolerance were rampant. Needless to say, majority of those involved in the perpetration of violence were in the youth age bracket. It was therefore important for youth from across the political divide to have candid discussions on their perceptions, true or false, and stereotypes that they hold towards each other and also explore ways of co-existing despite holding different political views. During the meeting, the youth discussed the situation in their areas and came up with a strategy of promoting harmonious co-existence through political dialogue. Youth from each informal settlement agreed to hold three sets of dialogue forums between November and December 2017 each bringing together 50 youth (both male and female) from the two political divides.
-
Sauti Mtaani Popularization Forums
The objective of the project “Youth and Governance: Enhancing Youth Participation in 2017 General Elections through the Sauti Mtaani Platform within Nairobi County” was to facilitate engagement between youth and MCA aspirants in Nairobi. This engagement was expected to help the youth make informed choices at the ballot. In this regard, 22 aspirants and 92 youth from 17 wards went through a Sauti Mtaani induction process between May and June 2017. Thereafter, the aspirants and the youth organized popularization forums within their respective wards in order to raise awareness about the platform. The forums which reached about 2500 youth gave the aspirants an opportunity to articulate their agenda for the youth who in return engaged their potential leaders on issues of concern. After a practical demonstration of how Sauti Mtaani works, CEEC encouraged the youth to continue with the engagement online since not all their questions would be answered face to face. The aspirants were happy with the platform which they said would help them reach a huge segment of the population easily. The youth on their part were excited that the platform provided easy access to their potential leaders at no cost. Together with their aspirants, they were grateful to CEEC for coming up with such an innovative idea and promised to popularize the platform within their respective wards.
-
Anti-Bias Training – Burnt Forest
From 19th to 23rd June 2017, CEEC provided support to GIZ/CPS to conduct an Anti-Bias training that took place in Burnt Forest. In this regard, CEEC mobilized 24 participants from eight farms in Burnt Forest namely Lingway, Kamuyu, Rukuini, Kaplelach, Ndungulu, Chuiyat, Barekeiywo and Kagongo. Three participants were mobilized from each farm ensuring there was gender inclusivity. CEEC also assisted with logistical arrangements, facilitation of the training and filming which was done on the last day. Two similar trainings were conducted in Mombasa and Kisumu respectively and all the three trainings culminated in a short film called “We Are” which can be found on https://youtu.be/te8nEGTe2yU. (available both in English and Kiswahili)In a nutshell, the theme of the training which was captured in the short film was;
It is not about overcoming our differences – it is about acknowledging them. We can all learn to acknowledge and appreciate our diversity, if we are ready to critically reflect on our stereotypes and prejudices about each other. Peace is the respect for freedom and diversity.
#WeAre