News & Events

What's New?

Take a glance at what’s happening in the world of young people in Kenya

Peace Race - Nairobi Youth & Development Working Group

The inter-slums peace race dubbed “Run to bring back our stolen peace” is borne out of the need to promote harmonious co-existence among the different communities living in Nairobi’s slum areas. The race targets youth of all communities living in slums in all the eight divisions of Nairobi. Youth in these areas usually encounter similar day-to-day issues, and rather that being divided the race aims to show what can be achieved when there is unity among the youth in Nairobi.

The race is organised by the Nairobi Youth & Development Working Group which draws its membership from eight youth organisations around Nairobi. The youth working group is hosted by Youth Alive! Kenya and is geared towards advocating for youth involvement in the local and national development processes.

Youth Alive! Kenya and KIOS launch a new partnership programme!
Youth Alive! Kenya and the Finnish NGO Foundation for Human Rights (KIOS) have rolled out a new partnership programme in June 2008 that aims to identify and support community based human rights groups to harness their full potential and become key human rights actors in their region and ultimately nationally. The central aspects of the programme are networking the groups with each other and with other relevant institutions in the country (whether governmental or non-governmental), and providing individualised training and mentoring on issues that will be identified together with the participating groups. The groups to be chosen in this programme are community based groups that have shown unique commitment to advancing human rights in their communities and who have capacity and drive to become significant human rights advocates in a wider context.

The partnership, currently in its pilot year of implementation, seeks to work with eight (8) selected community-based human rights until May 2009.

Call for Articels - The First Issue of the Youth Alive! Kenya Quarterly Policy Brief on Child Rights & Juvenile Justice

Kenya held its general elections on December 2007, the fourth since the resumption of multi party politics in 1992. The events and activities leading up to the general elections were seen as largely peaceful and a plus to the country’s democratic credentials. Co-ordinated efforts by relevant government institutions and civil society organisations towards civic education resulted in the expansion of the democratic space and increase in civic responsibility. As a direct consequence, the country witnessed the highest voter registration since independence and especially young people who wanted to exercise their democratic right to participate in the country’s electoral processes. However the outcome of the presidential election was fiercely disputed. The dispute also created a cleavage that has since then been used by sections of the country to articulate, rather violently, long held frustrations on issues like land policy and inequity in the distribution of national resources, natural or otherwise. The rapidity and intensity of the violence underscores fundamental flaws in the institutional structure and dispensation of power in Kenya. Children being among the most vulnerable in society suffered both physical and psychological harm with many being displaced, separated from their families or dying from the directly from the conflict or its effects. Inspired by the events of post-elections 2007 in Kenya, the 1^st issue of the Policy Brief themed “Ethno-political Aggression & Child Rights: A Case Study of Post-election Kenya” seeks to explore the impact of post election violence on children in Kenya with a special focus on events during and after the violence. It seeks suggestions on policy and practical approaches to protect children in the event of similar occurrences in the future. The brief encourages contributors to explore social, psychological, economic, political and legal aspects as of the violence as it related directly and indirectly to children, approached from two broad categories:

a)      During the violence to focus on separation from families; death of parents, siblings and children; sexual assault of parents/guardians/siblings in full view of children or even the assault of children.

b)      After the violence including the plight of internally displaced children (IDC) such as loss of community, disruption of education, privacy, and; social and psychological implications on children and the task of reconstruction around children.

These contributions should entail specific recommendations as to both policy and service delivery actions across the stakeholder spectrum that would ensure the protection of children from similar occurrences in the future while assisting in the restoration of children’s lives.

Youth Alive! Kenya can be reached through the contact details on the "contact us" page. Contributions should preferably be emailed to peace.campaign@youthalivekenya.org

Youth Alive! Kenya in Strategic Planning 2008 - 2012

Youth Alive! Kenya has over the years registered remarkable progress in its transformation as a CSO in Kenya. However, there has been a strong feeling that time had come for the organisation to pose and redirect  its work and mission to ensure it remained relevant to the needs and aspirations of its constituency. In 2007 the organisation embraked in a review process that sought to re-look our way of doing business to ensure we were more strategic, people-centred and enabling. This meant we had to look at our past to discern the future. Youth Alive! Kenya therefore embarked on the formulation of a strategic plan to guide its operations from 2008 – 2012. The strategic planning process is nearing the end with a functional Plan due to be unveiled by the end of July 2008! Keep checking this site for further information.

Read more about Youth Alive! Kenya and children in conflict with the law.

Upcoming Events

- Open Air Forum – November 2008

- Training for Youth Leaders in Kisumu – November 2008

- Peace Race, Nairobi – 7^th December 2008