Programmes

Health

The Health Programme of Youth Alive! Kenya seeks to reduce the burden of disease in Kenya by supporting the role of young people and local health systems in the prevention and management of disease and general health development. The programme works under two key components of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) and HIV & AIDS.

The ASRH component seeks to improve health and social awareness of young people and facilitate their access to appropriate and user-friendly reproductive health information and services to enable a fulfilling reproductive health life. The HIV & AIDS component seeks to reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among young people in Kenya and mitigate the socio-economic impact of the pandemic on young people and their communities.

Past, continuing and planned activities under the Health Programme of Youth Alive! Kenya include:

The Window of Hope Project
Youth Alive! Kenya implemented a successful adolescent development programme that worked to model and remodel adolescent behaviour by enhancing their capacity to make informed choices on issues of sexuality to ensure the full enjoyment of reproductive lives. The project ran in 8 selected secondary schools in Nairobi province working directly with over 940 students, and 21 teachers and reaching over 6000 students as secondary beneficiaries. The project was implemented in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and the National AIDS Control Council.

Youth Alive! Kenya & the AYP ASRH Project
Youth Alive! Kenya has and continues to provide technical support to the African Youth Parliament in the areas of Adolescent Sexual & Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS. Among past consultancies are the development of the HIV/AIDS agenda area and working papers for the African Youth Parliament 2003 sitting; ongoing technical support in the development of the African Youth Parliament Adolescent Sexual & Reproductive Health Programme including the development of training modules for Adolescent Sexual & Reproductive Health under the support of DSW, GTZ and the European Union.

The Health Programme is currently implementing the Custodial Care Health Promotion Project that began in September 2009. The goal of the project is to improve health outcomes and mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS for children and youth in statutory custodial care. Specifically is working to promote health awareness and increase demand for appropriate health and HIV/AIDS information and services by children and youth in statutory custodial institutions. The project continues to provide Health and Life Skills Education on a weekly basis to the target statutory custodial institutions: Kirigiti Girls Rehabilitation School, Dagoretti Girls Rehabilitation School, Kabete Boys Rehabilitation School, Getathuru Reception and Discharge Center and Nairobi Children’s Remand Home.

The programme has also recently completed the implementation of the Right To Life project, a work place project targeting the Youth Alive! Kenya staff and members of our network of youth groups. The work place project was implemented with support from and in partnership with VSO Jitolee. Among the outputs of the project is the Youth Alive! Kenya HIV/AIDS Work Place Policy that is still being implemented.

Justice and Human Rights

Justice & Human Rights Programme seeks to ensure access to justice by the most vulnerable and most marginalised and promote the respect for and the protection of human rights in Kenya. In particular, the programme hopes to: improve access to justice for disadvantaged children and young people from marginalised settings in Kenya; promote an effective justice system critical to the development of communities, accountable for public safety and the restoration of young offenders, and; inculcate the respect for human rights and promote human rights principles as the basis of peace and development.
Sample past and ongoing projects under the Programme include:

Diversion Project for Children in Conflict with the Law in Kenya
Youth Alive! Kenya was one of the key NGO partners working with government agencies to implement the Diversion Project that seeks to ensure the protection of children from inappropriate institutionalisation and demonstrate a viable alternative to custodial care and in a way to influence the practices and policies of key government and non-governmental agencies regional and national levels. Youth Alive! Kenya provide policy advice and administrative assistance support to the District Teams.

The Youth Alive! Kenya Juvenile Justice Project
Since June 2005, Youth Alive! Kenya has been implementing a Juvenile Justice Project in partnership with the Department of Children Services and with support from ActionAid International Kenya, GOAL Ireland Kenya, the Finish NGO Foundation for Human Rights and the Safaricom Foundation. The project seeks to promote an effective juvenile justice system in Kenya bent on restoration of young offenders by improving the quality of institutional rehabilitation while strengthening community linkages to support reintegration of discharged offenders.

One of our key objectives in the Justice and Human Rights Programme is to empower the youth to participate in the national processes because Youth Participation is a key component of enjoyment of human rights. Upon the launch of the Harmonised Draft Constitution, Youth Alive! Kenya undertook to sensitize the youth in the low income areas within Nairobi and Kisumu. In Nairobi we held dialogue circles in Kangemi, Kibera and Mathare where as in Kisumu we held only one dialogue circle. The purpose of the dialogue circles was to inter alia sensitize the youth on the provisions of the HDC so that they shall make informed decisions and respond to the Committee Of Experts call for the members of the public to submit memoranda on the areas they have concerns with.

From the dialogue circles, we were able to submit a memorandum to the Committee of Experts and addressed pertinent issues from the provision of the Executive Power, Regional Governments and the legislature.

Upon publication by the office of the Attorney general of the Constitution of Kenya, we shall spear head civic education in Nairobi and Kisumu for the youth. Therefore watch this space for information on place, time and date!!

 

 

Democracy and Governance

The D & G Programme seeks to expand and sustain democratic space in in Kenya by strengthening the capacity of public institutions essential for democratic governace and the rule of law and improving the involvment of citizen's and their institutions in the promotion of democracy and good governance. Specifically the programme seeks to: expand democratic participation and support the development of a democratic culture among young people in Kenya; support the strengthening of key institutions essential for democracy and teh rule of law, and; stregnthen the capacity of young people and youth-led civil-society organisations in the promotionof democracy and good governance.

The NEPAD APRM Project
In conjunction with the African Youth Parliament and the Ministry of Planning & National Development was involved in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) process of the NEPAD. As a member of the civil society and a voice for the Kenyan youth, Youth Alive! Kenya was involved in the sensitisation, review and consensus-building process.

Kenya National Youth Policy
In conjunction with the Youth Division under the Department of Social Services (currently the Ministry of Youth Affairs) and GTZ, the organisation has been working on the formulation of the Kenya National Youth Policy and its subsequent Action Plan with a critical focus on the priority areas of Health and Youth Empowerment & Participation since January 2004. Thereafter, Youth Alive! Kenya through the support from the African Youth Parliament Project of the African Youth Foundation, and in partnership with its affiliate country programme, Kenya Youth Parliament, conducted an elaborate awareness creation and dissemination of the Policy and its Action Plan to youth constituencies and local leaders across several districts of Kenya.

Human Rights Education for Schools
Youth Alive! Kenya is currently implementing a Human Rights Education Programme for Schools that aims to inculcate respect for human rights and integrate human rights principles in the management of school systems and school communities in Kenya. More specifically and working within the Nairobi region, the project seeks to: expand knowledge about concepts and application of human rights principles among school systems and school communities; foster the development of a human rights culture among school-going adolescents in the Kenyan education system, and; enhance the capacity of institutions to create and sustain a free learning environment that enables the active participation of young people and full enjoyment of human rights.

Ni Wajibu Wetu Project
Youth Alive! Kenya is currently implementing the Ni Wajibu Wetu Project loosely translated as “Our Responsibility”. The project aims to promote youth civic engagement in democratic governance and national development by building civic awareness, supporting informed decision-making among youth in electoral processes and developing leadership competencies among young people to enable their full participation in the political, social and economic development. The project is working with selected secondary schools and youth-based local organisations in Nairobi by providing training on the development of leadership competencies as well as facilitating community dialogue on issues of democracy both at local and national levels.

Uongozi –Youth Leadership Project 2008-2010

The “Uongozi – The Youth Leadership Project” project was borne out of a preliminary audit of the contribution by young people in Kenya to democracy and national development with a key focus of their involvement in development and democracy. This entailed an analysis of the levels of involvement of young people in the social, political, economic and democratic processes of the country in light of significance of this demographic constituency. It emerged that youth empowerment and participation in national development and democratic processes was critical to the progressive development of Kenya. Notable achievements of the project include the successful leadership-essay competition, in-school leadership debates and more so the sensitization workshop for teachers on strengthening the in-school leadership project. With the generous funding of the KCDF and working with over 10 schools in Nairobi, the first phase of the project is currently coming to an end but a broader in-school project is currently underway.

The Uzalendo-Youth Patriots Project 2009-2010

The Uzalendo ‘Youth Patriots’ project is an offshoot of a broader Youth Alive! Kenya’s Youth leadership Programme has been under implementation since the year 2008 in Nairobi and Kisumu cities of Kenya. The project was developed in response to the increasing disillusionment of the Kenyan citizenry especially young people with the public policy process. Core areas of concerns include failed leadership that has become unresponsive to public priorities and insensitive to the prevailing economic and social and political conditions. Also of concern are the weak public system and institutional structures that are unable to ensure the effective delivery of services and are ineffective in stemming corruption and promoting accountability. Compounded by lack of information and general apathy by youth to public policy processes, there has been a growing need for action to reorient the direction public policy to ensure it addresses the needs and priorities of the public. The first Phase of the Uzalendo project is currently under implementation for more information see www.uzalendo.youthalivekenya.org

Upcoming Events -Working Group Expansion Under Youth and Democracy Thematic Collaboration

Working Closely with the support of Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, the programme will soon be launching a working group expansion project under the Youth and Democracy Thematic Collaboration project. This will involve recruiting more groups in three new provinces of Kenya to be identified soon to join the current youth and development working groups in Nairobi & Kisumu.

Environment and Livelihoods

The Youth Alive! Kenya Environment & Livelihoods (E & L) Programme aims to protect the environment and use natural resources to create and improve livelihoods for poverty reduction and sustainable development. The programme works in three focalareas: natural resources managment; pollution & waste managment, and; energy.