Vibrant youth group in London estate leading in civic education

A youth group in London Ward, Nakuru West, has joined hands to ensure the young people from the ward take part in the governance processes and advocate for mental and reproductive health within their community.

According to Angela Kioko, the team leader at Ignite Youth group, the group was born out of the issues that arose from a meeting that was planned to discuss the issues of drug abuse and insecurity in the area.

"We had planned a one-day meeting, but we saw there were more issues that needed to be addressed to solve the problem sustainably," she says.

The meeting brought together young people where they saw accountability, economic disempowerment, and lack of participation by the youth were some of the major problems facing the young people.

Angela notes that through that, they agreed to meet more often to deal with the problems sustainably.

"We meet every Sunday at London social hall where the young people get to air their views and get knowledge on how to deal with them," she reveals.

She notes that since the group began in 2021, she has seen an increase in the number of young people participating in public participation.

Angela points out that public participation gives a balanced understanding of the youth's views and enhances the value of the final decision because most people take part.

“As Ignite, we have been doing civic education on good governance, and we realized there is a gap in public participation. To bridge the gap, we give young people at the grassroots an opportunity to present their issues by listing their wishes,” she says, 

She adds that the public participation helps in combining the views of the young people at the grassroots, which helps list projects in terms of priority.

Deborah Okumu tells Mtaa Wangu that she joined the group in 2022 because the group discussed issues that affected her as an individual.

"The discussions provided an opportunity to understand that I was not the only one struggling. It also provided solutions to the problems," she says.

Deborah notes that it shows that when the young people work together, it makes the leaders understand their perspective, and they can frame their initiatives to align with the youth's top priorities.

"This has helped us to benefit from some of the economic initiatives, whether it's sports, or business, which shows our efforts are not in vain," she says.

Ignite Youth group has faced challenges of some of the young people's laxity but they are committed to changing the mind-set of the youth towards public participation.