Background

Kenya’s population of youth continues to grow, with the current number of 18- to 34-year-olds at 13.6 million or 29% of the total population (KNBS, 2019). A youthful population is a vast and important asset for a society – with innovation, creativity, energy, and hope. However, in Kenya, the potential of youth has not been effectively harnessed, and in fact youth experience several social, physical, and economic challenges. Our own professional and personal experience interwoven with a thorough review of the literature has highlighted the following as some of the key challenges facing youth in Kenya – 

• poverty;

• inadequate education and skills development;

• lack of opportunities to develop and use skills in constructive ways;

• unemployment and precarious/hazardous employment;

• lack of access to spaces and opportunities for leisure, recreation, sport, and participation in community activities;

• social and political exclusion;

• separation from family and community support;

• drug and substance abuse;

• HIV/AIDS and other illnesses;

• teen pregnancy;

• early marriage especially among youth from disadvantaged backgrounds;

• mental health/ depression;

• abuse and neglect (physical, sexual, emotional, verbal);

• crime, prostitution, extortion, and radicalization.

The challenges faced by female youth are further compounded due to systemic and cultural root causes such as adultism and the privilege of men/boys and marginalization of women/girls. 

A recent systems analysis facilitated by Imaginable Futures (Firelight’s major donor partner in this effort) also further fleshes out an important analysis of the ways in which the education system continues to perpetuate inequities, with many youth experiencing unemployment and underemployment in school and after school. This is intertwined with negative effects on self-esteem, self-value, belonging, and connections to one’s family and community. These challenges can be further exacerbated and more limiting in the vulnerability youth experience with regards to poverty/ financial security, hunger, challenges in mental and physical health, high risk sexual activity, early marriage, sexual abuse and exploitation, teenage pregnancy, gender-based and interpersonal violence, and risky activity such as gambling and prostitution.

There have been important efforts and progress made over the years. Successive policy reforms over the years demonstrate the stakeholders’ appreciation of the problem and commitment to improve opportunities and outcomes for youth. There have been important interventions and policy reforms for youth in the areas of education, vocational education and training, entrepreneurship and youth employment, health, teen pregnancy, youth engagement, and much more.

However, many of these top-down reform and intervention efforts have failed to realize true change at the micro (community, family, youth, local) level. In recent years, there has been increasing recognition and value for the importance of ‘bottom-up’ approaches and community-led work to improve outcomes for children and youth. Moreover, engaging youth themselves in understanding and addressing the issues they face offers multiple ways to support and empower them – 

1. Because youth are the ones directly experiencing their own lives, they have the lived experience and expertise to provide insight on underlying root causes and identify and carry out potential solutions;

2. Youth engagement and youth-led action creates space and opportunities for youth to develop and use critical thinking, leadership, civic engagement, and other important life skills;

3. Engaging youth in community and civic action strengthens their relationships with their communities, connects them with mentors and peers, and builds families’ and communities’ respect and trust towards their youth.

Indeed, when questioned on the benefits of civic engagement, younger people consistently cite the acquisition of skills, enhanced confidence and self-esteem, and greater awareness of their rights, according to a literature review by SWP and DFID CSO-YWP (2010: 19). Parents also report improved capacities among youth and positive benefits to local communities. Another evidence review concludes that, “common outcomes of child and youth participation include increased access to decision-making and increased influence, advocacy and voice, which can all lead to better development outcomes” (Aske and Gero 2012:15). 

In a similar vein, Imaginable Futures’ systems analysis found that support, recognition, belonging, and purpose at the community level, along with access to mentors, peer networks, and opportunities are critical to youth wellbeing and success. Essentially, when they are well supported, mentored, motivated, valued and connected, youth can engage effectively with the challenges and opportunities they face, feel a sense of belonging and purpose, make positive contributions to their communities, and act together to influence fundamental changes to society.

About the initiative

Firelight has been supporting community-based organizations in Kenya since 2000, having made over 100 grants to organizations for up to five years. 

In 2022, Firelight and Imaginable Futures came together to co-invest in and support community-born-and-raised organizations (CBOs) to catalyze and sustain community-driven systems change for resiliency, belonging, and holistic development among their youth in a contextually-grounded, impactful, and sustainable way. The initiative will take place in three geographic areas in Southern Kenya – Makueni, Kajiado, and Machakos counties.

This initiative is founded on community-driven systems change, where relevant and lasting impact comes when communities, families, and children and youth have the agency, voice, and capacities to analyze and act to change local and national systems, structures, norms, and other root causes that underly the most pressing issues they face. Our approach is to support CBOs to create and open opportunities for youth and communities to access or build their own resources, knowledge, capacities, networks, and other supports so that they can surface, analyze, and address the root causes and systems that affect youth’s holistic development, resiliency, and belonging in their community.

Our theory of change

Firelight’s goal is to strengthen community agency, analysis, and action to create long-term systemic change for children, youth, and their families. We do this by supporting the role and capacities of CBOs as community leaders and mobilizers, catalysts for social change, and locally-rooted long-term civil society organizations that offer stability, energy, facilitation, and support to local communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Our theory of change is that:

• Firelight provides funding, capacity, and support for community-driven systems change to CBOs who are rooted in and responsive to their communities and working on issues facing children, youth, and their families;

• These CBOs are better equipped to mobilize and strengthen community agency, systems and root cause analysis, and action for systems change relating to children, youth, and their families;

• This strengthened community agency, analysis, and action leads to contextually-relevant and community-driven action (including action driven by children, youth, and families themselves) to address systems and root causes underlying priority issues facing children, youth, and their families in the community;

• Meaningful change in systems and root causes results in better environments, experiences, opportunities, agency, and outcomes for children, youth, and their families;

Read more about our Theory of Change.

While our process will place CBOs, communities, and youth themselves at the centre of determining ideal states, and specific desired outcomes, those potential outcomes may include:

1. Communities, supported by community-based organizations, have and use the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and tools they need to foster holistic development, learning, resiliency, identity, belonging, and purpose among their youth.

2. Youth feel a sense of belonging and identity; feel they have purpose in their lives; and demonstrate resiliency in face of challenges.

3. Youth have and use the knowledge, skills, attitudes, tools, social capital, networks, and opportunities they need to strengthen their socio-emotional, physical, cognitive, and economic health now and in the long-term.

Phased and adaptive approach

We aim to support CBOs for 5 to 7 years to achieve genuine and lasting community-driven systems change. Current funds support the initiative for the first three years December 2021 – November 2024. We will continue working with Imaginable Futures to reach out to other potential partners to raise funds for the remaining years (years 4-7) so that CBO partners and their communities have the security, time, and support they need to understand and work on complex underlying root causes and systems.

Over the course of the initiative, CBO grantee-partners receive technical capacity support, mentorship, funding, and participation in a community of learning and practice, to prepare and support them to work with their respective communities and relevant stakeholders (including youth, community leaders, faith leaders, local government officials, parents to the youth, and community members) to lead or drive the following in an iterative process– 

• Mapping out systems and stakeholders, and understanding root causes of challenges youth face in communities;

• Engaging in a collaborative process of prioritization of issues and action planning with community and government stakeholders;

• Joint visioning of desired goals for youth in the community (beginning with the end in mind)

• Carrying out actions (different stakeholders may lead or be responsible for different actions) to create change in the systems affecting the youth; and

• Collaborative monitoring and evaluating, learning, reflecting, and improving actions over time.

Meet our grantee partners! Click here to find out more about our amazing grantee-partners in this initiative.

What do our grantee-partners have planned?

Below is a summary of the planned activities for each CBO grantee-partner within the Youth Resiliency and Belonging cluster during the nearly two-year Implementation Phase lasting from April 2023 to January 2025. While each organization has a different set of activities based on what they learned from their communities during the Planning and Learning Phase, there are some cross-cutting themes and goals: to increase youth access to gainful employment and greater incomes, to reduce widespread drugs and substance abuse issues, to connect youth to community mentors, and to adapt to climate change. Coalescing around this set of important issues will give CBO grantee-partners greater ability to share lessons with each other and to collaborate where possible. We look forward to sharing the lessons from this Implementation Phase with Imaginable Futures as we learn together with the cluster. 

Jiwakilishe CBO (Machakos County)

Jiwakilishe’s main goals are to empower their youth with greater skills, to reduce the number of youths affected by drugs and substance abuse, and to increase youth engagement in climate change campaigns. They plan to do this through the following main activities: 

·       Youth training sessions – working with community volunteers to conduct 22 youth training sessions in 9 sub-locations on life skills, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, modern agriculture, employability, and group formation & dynamics. Youth from these sessions will then be supported to form and register youth groups of at least 15 youth each

·       Awareness & trainings on drugs and substance abuse – creating community-driven committees (led by assistant chiefs) on drugs and substance abuse, conducting trainings and holding events for youth on the effects of drugs and substance abuse and how to seek help

·       Establishment of rehabilitation programs – working with the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) and government officials to establish rehabilitation programs for those affected by drugs and substance abuse

·       Training of youth groups working on climate change – working with and training existing youth groups to plant trees and to improve community action around climate change adaptation

·       “Mutituni Green Fest” – holding a community event on climate action and tree planting in partnership with government and civil society partners

Key partners for Jiwakilishe during this phase will be the Ministry of Youth, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Kenya Forest Service, NACADA, private banks, SACCOs, religious leaders, many local community leaders and chiefs, and of course, youth themselves.

Jumuisha Initiative CBO (Makueni County)

As a youth-led organization, Jumuisha’s goals are to enhance youth employment opportunities, to advocate for political systems that support youth participation and inclusion, and to mitigate the effects of climate change through youth action. Notably, Jumuisha works very closely with existing youth groups as a lever for social change. Key activities for Jumuisha during this implementation phase are: 

·       Financial literacy training for youth groups – adopting materials from KCB Bank and the government to train youth in financial planning, bookkeeping, savings, and investment

·       Agriculture training for youth groups – adopting materials from the government to train youth in climate-smart agriculture, marketing, and agribusiness; then, supporting youth groups with seed capital (loans) from a revolving fund to upscale agriculture activities. Youth will also visit established farms to promote learning and networking with successful farmers.

·       Campaign against drug and substance abuse – holding a one-day event for youth groups to cover topics around drug and substance abuse in partnership with a psychologist and other CSOs

·       Forum to promote awareness of existing government-funded opportunities/processes for youth – conducting a one-day stakeholder meeting for youth and government leaders to promote youth awareness and uptake of existing government opportunities/initiatives; in addition, conducting a workshop with youth and government officials to include youth in government budgeting processes

·       Training on climate change adaptation for youth groups – adopting materials from World Resource Institute Makueni and county government to train youth groups on climate change adaptation and tree planting

Important to Jumuisha’s approach – and the CDSC methodology – are ongoing community reflection meetings to promote inclusion of various stakeholders in the initiative and to seek feedback on the initiative’s progress.

Kitise Rural Development CBO (Makueni County)

Kitise’s goal is to empower youth both economically and socially – instigating more active youth participation in community development, greater number of youth with steady income, strengthened youth groups, less drug and substance abuse, and reduced unwanted pregnancies. Key activities during the implementation phase will include:

·       Development of mentorship program and manual – recruiting community mentors and volunteers to train youth; developing mentorship manual; training mentors in group dynamics and leadership; linking mentors and mentees

·       Training for youth – training youth in lobbying and advocacy, critical thinking, creative thinking, decision making, problem solving, effective communication, interpersonal relationships & empathy, life skills, and village savings & loan programs

·       Formation of youth groups – forming and strengthening youth groups; connecting groups to financial institutions, existing government programs, and seed capital

·       Campaign against drugs and substance abuse – training youth “champions” for anti-drug and substance abuse; developing and distributing educational materials on the effects of drugs and substance abuse; referring youth to rehabilitation/health facilities

·       Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) sensitizations – holding a sensitization forum on SRH for youth, especially on HIV testing and counseling and sexually-transmitted infections

·       Training parents – training parents in good parenting skills

Malkia Initiative Foundation (Kajiado County)

Malkia’s goal is to create more self-actualized, empowered youth who can realize innovative, sustainable solutions to the challenges they face. Malkia plans to begin the implementation phase of this initiative through the following activities:

·       Development & analysis of a youth database – identifying the existing skills and resources of youth so that skill development training can be tailored to their goals and needs

·       Development of youth mentorship curriculum and program – working with partners in the community (CSOs and government) to develop a mentorship curriculum for youth that increases their number of skills (e.g., financial literacy, career planning)

·       Skill development training for youth – training youth in computer skills, beading, crocheting, and entrepreneurship skills (amongst others) to improve standard of living and diversify sources of income for youth. Training will also focus on elements of resiliency and belonging, such as how to build relationships with community members, how to handle peer pressure, and mental health awareness.

·       Advocacy for youth leadership – engaging with policy makers, government officials, and other stakeholders to ensure meaningful youth participation and leadership in decision making, not only at the grassroots level but also at the national level

·       Development of youth farms – training youth on best practices in creating agribusinesses/farms, but keeping in mind viability of these businesses regarding ongoing water scarcity challenges and climate change

Through these activities, they hope to also see increases in youth displaying positive relationships with other community members, an increased level of social support for youth, and an increase in the percentage of youth that report a sense of belonging.

Nareto Latia Indigenous People CBO (Kajiado County)

Nareto Latia’s goal is to create a society where youth thrive and flourish across multiple dimensions – where they have increased financial autonomy and literacy, are more resilient to climate change, have greater digital literacy, can access government and medical services, and are more involved in community leadership and governance, especially regarding issues of human rights. Key activities for the organization during the implementation phase of their work will be:

·       Financial literacy training and business incubation – collaborating with the Ministry of Youth to link youth to financial institutions; providing seed capital and incubating youth-led businesses

·       Training for youth in climate change adaptation – collaborating with the Ministry of Environment to train youth on deforestation, sustainable use of natural resources, and indigenous approaches to climate change adaptation, and climate-smart agricultural practices; hosting days for youth to plant trees, develop sand dams, and celebrate the environment

·       Guidance around technical and vocational education – collaborating with the Ministry of Education to provide guidance around learning and technical support education, vocational schools, and other courses to improve livelihood opportunities

·       Training for youth on life skills – training youth on range of topics, from digital literacy to sexual and reproductive health, mental health, substance abuse, and more through and community mentorship program

·       Youth engagement in community development and human rights – working with community leadership to inspire youth to take more action around community human rights issues (e.g., gender-based violence); training for youth on child protection and safeguarding issues and reporting

·       Drug and substance abuse campaign – collaborating with NACADA and government agencies to provide referral points for youth to seek help and support if needed; enabling youth champions, community leaders, and media houses to spread awareness about drugs and substance abuse

As many other partners, key to Nareto Latia’s approach is collaboration with a wide variety of stakeholders using approaches such as a stakeholders’ forum, youth talent showcase, community dialogues, and a youth conference.

Oldonyo Orok Youth CBO (Kajiado County)

Oldonyo Orok’s dream is to create a society where youth are sober, resilient, independent, vibrant, aggressive, and have a sense of ownership and belonging. Their focus areas are in economic/livelihood improvement for youth and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Their key activities for the upcoming two years include:

·       Establishing youth activities– creating a football tournament program for youth to reduce idleness, promote talent development, and create a platform for sensitizations

·       Establishing mentorship programs to advocate against drugs and substance abuse – engaging mentor volunteers to develop a mentorship strategy and plan to advocate against youth abuse of drugs and substances

·       Mentorship and advocacy programs – creating a program focusing on importance of education, academic performance, career guidance, and counselling for youth

·       Establishing partnerships for vocational and entrepreneurial training – building relationships with vocational institutions to offer training for youth; partnering with local experts to provide entrepreneurial training to youth; providing career linkages and seed funding for start-up businesses

·       Engaging youth in climate change mitigation and adaptation – establishing a tree nursery and tree planting campaigns; facilitating workshops for youth on ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change, as well as building more community climate resiliency (in infrastructure, water, conservation, agriculture, livestock keeping)

Youth for Sustainable Development (Machakos County)

YSD’s goals are to develop a youth mentorship program to improve youth employability and entrepreneurship, to strengthen partnerships that enable greater youth resiliency and belonging, and to increase access to existing youth-friendly services. Key activities for the organization over the coming years will be: 

·       Development of mentorship program – creating a mentorship curriculum for youth; recruiting mentors and trainer of trainers (TOTs); recruiting youth mentees in the community; conducting mentorship in behavior change, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, life skills, digital skills, career guidance; matching mentees to work experience and formal/informal employment opportunities

·       Formalization of government partnerships for mentorship programs – collaborating and signing formal MoUs with the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Gender, and Social Welfare; Deaf Empowerment Kenya; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Education; and Ministry of Information, Communication, and Technology

As with all other organizations in the cluster, YSD will focus on community engagement through various means: community dialogues, inception meeting(s), courtesy calls, formal agreements with community stakeholders, and stakeholders review meeting(s).

What progress we are seeing already?

While still relatively early in the initiative, Firelight has already noticed significant promise for community-driven systems for youth that can be catalyzed by the CBOs that have been selected. The three main successes have been:

1.    CBOs are well-suited to implement community-driven systems change approaches and can navigate complex circumstances.

Due to a rigorous selection process, Firelight has selected CBOs that are well-suited to the challenges of adopting and implementing a community-driven systems change approach. For example, one CBO – Jumuisha – noted that the CDSC approach allows them to align with their stakeholders, create joint solutions, and push back on top-down approaches and powers. In addition, CBOs have been able to bring together disparate stakeholders while navigating complicated circumstances – such as elections (which were held in Kenya in August 2022), post-election uncertainties, and changes in government partners, officials, and clearances – all while maintaining community trust and apoliticism.

2.    Communities and stakeholders are responding positively to this initiative.

CBO grantee-partners have reported positive feedback from their communities in 1) confirming there is a youth resiliency and belonging issue to address and 2) supporting the CDSC approach that allows for bottom-up instead of top-down approaches to systems change. For example, some partners have reported that there has been overwhelming interest from community stakeholders in attending stakeholder meetings, sometimes with over 100 people wanting to attend a meeting. And in these meetings, community members have not been afraid to challenge each other in a productive and constructive way – demonstrating the level of interest and passion community members have for the youth in their communities.

3.    Government officials have been interested and involved in this initiative.

Notably, government officials – both county government officials and national government representatives at the local/county level – have been very supportive in this initiative from the very beginning – from taking meetings with Firelight team members and CBOs to helping to identify potential CBOs to be part of the cluster to attending and speaking at the onboarding workshop in July. All CBOs have been able to invite government officials to their stakeholder meetings to help identify available opportunities for youth, such as microloans and employment training. Malkia Initiative Foundation, for example, notes “We have been working with both the county and national government, who embraced the program, especially because very few offer projects that wholly target the youth to come up with solutions to their issues. They also alluded that the government has lean budgets for youth-related projects and activities and therefore this project will go a long way in complimenting their work. We are also in the talking stages of forming a technical working group for youth-serving CSOs, to be chaired by the National Government Youth Office and co-chaired by the county department of youth.”

Government officials have also demonstrated their support for the CDSC approach, lending legitimacy to the entire initiative. As Oldoinyoo Orok Youth CBO notes, “Working with the government, especially the collaboration of both National and County government really helped during the learning and planning phase by offering legitimacy to what we were trying to achieve. It also opened up many opportunities for collaborations in future for the improvement of our communities.” Similarly, some CBOs have reported that the government has gone above and beyond in their support, even pushing back on religious and community leaders who have tried to embarrass and undermine youth by oversimplifying or dismissing the challenges that youth face.