Empowering Youth for Peace: Insights from the Kenya Peace Forum Programme

In the recent Youth Kenya Peace Forum Programme, a significant initiative aimed at fostering peace and conflict resolution skills among young leaders took center stage. Spearheaded by Mount Kenya University (MKU) and Kenyatta University (KU), this program received a grant of $13,215.95 USD from UNESCO-IICBA, marking a crucial step towards promoting peace education amidst the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aligned with the objectives of TICAD 7 and NAPSA, the program focused on preventing extremism and fostering peace through education in Africa. Its primary aim was to equip student teachers from MKU and KU with the necessary tools to become ambassadors of peace within their communities.

Under the expert guidance of Dr. Mary Mugwe from Mount Kenya University and Dr. Olivia from Kenyatta University, the program unfolded with a series of training sessions tailored to address key aspects of conflict resolution and peace-building. Facilitated by Cyprian Chenani, Bramuel Wekesa, Alice Nyamai, and Eunice Pande, these sessions delved into understanding the root causes of conflicts, imparting peace-building skills, and highlighting the importance of youth involvement in fostering peace in Kenya.

Integral to the success of the program was the meticulous coordination by Mr. Patrick Oyenga, an esteemed expert in research and project management. Mr. Oyenga played a pivotal role in ensuring the effective implementation of the program, from documentation and procedural guidance to monitoring and evaluation.

Throughout the program, participants were encouraged to reflect on their role as future leaders in nurturing peaceful and healthy environments within their communities. By instilling a sense of responsibility and equipping them with practical skills, the Youth Kenya Peace Forum Programme aimed to empower a new generation of leaders committed to building a peaceful and harmonious society.

In essence, this initiative not only addresses the immediate need for peace education but also lays the groundwork for sustainable peace-building efforts in Kenya and beyond. Through collaborative efforts and a shared commitment to fostering peace, the Youth Kenya Peace Forum Programme stands as a beacon of hope for a brighter, more peaceful future.

Training 1 – Ushirika Secondary School, Dandora- Nairobi

The first training took place in Ushirika Secondary school located in Dandora, Nairobi County. Dandora lies in the larger Eastern part of Nairobi city, Kenya’s capital. The estate was established by the support of World Bank financing in the late 1970’s as an alternative for residential housing in Nairobi. In the estate, sits a designated main dumpsite for the City county which has created a range of negativities from health hazards to hideout for criminals. The February 2022 report by National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) showed that not only does Dandora appear in the 2007/08 post-election violence hotspots, but also appears in the most likely sites for election violence in the upcoming 2022 general elections.The training took place on Friday 27^th May 2022 between 8am and 5pm at Ushirika Secondary school, in the main hall. The training involved two schools, i.e., Ushirika secondary school (public) with 76 students and Sterling Silver high school (Private from Ruai estate) with 28 students.

Training 2 – Community Youth, Mukuru- Fuata Nyayo – Nairobi

Training 2 took place in Mukuru, Fuata Nyayo located on the outskirt of South B estate of Nairobi county. The training was hosted at Mariakani Primary school. Mukuru is one of the largest infamous slums in Nairobi County. The slums are synonymous with crime and illegal activities such as drug abuse. The low living standards make some arguments raised such as “the mere existence of slums is violence itself”. Mukuru appeared and still is in the list of both crime and election violence hotspot areas in the listing by NCIC.

The training took place on Saturday of 28^th May 2022 between 9am and 5pm. The trainees were drawn from the youth groups aged between 15 and 37 years old. Coordinated by three youth leaders, the trainees were 82 in number with 49 males versus 33 females.

The youth have formal groups with registered CBOs. The trainees have had various other trainings pertaining sexual reproductive health and rights, peace – in the voluntary disarmament programmes by the government, and other initiatives including digital literacy.

Training 3 – Moi Forces Academy – Mombasa

The third training took place at Moi Forces Academy in Mombasa. Moi Forces Academy has a unique structure with huge student body of over 1,600. The uniqueness is its accommodation of diverse nature of schooling including boys and girls, day and boarding. The school is located in Likoni subcounty, the South Coast subcounty of Mombasa County. Likoni has been on the police radar for violence and criminal activities especially dominated by drug abuse. In 2013, Likoni hit news when a group of armed youth raided Likoni police station stealing guns and ammunitions.

The training entailed 88 students drawn from two public secondary schools, i.e., Moi Forces Academy 63 students and Shika Adabu Secondary school 25 students.

The group had 45 girls and 43 boys. The trainees were accompanied by a group of 5 teachers. All the trainees from Moi Forces Academy were drawn from the existing Amani Club.

Training 4 – Manyatta Youth Group, Mtongwe – Mombasa

The training was conducted in Mtongwe, Likoni among a formal youth group. The group known as Manyatta Youth is a registered Community Based Organization (CBO) with activities aligned on skills training, mobilizing youth towards economic engagement as well as peace initiatives. Led by a director, Mr. Sangoro Nicholas, the group is well founded with the community will and support.The CBO has mobilized resources and thus safeguarded a youth training hub with lots of Artistic works and showcase for talents. The foundation of the CBO is also aligned to extremism activities of the youth in the area. The director notes that youth involvement in drug abuse is a major stir into criminal activities including theft, killings, violence and even ethnic clashes.

The director is among those interviewed during the Never Again Kenya Documentary that focused on preaching peace among Kenyans.The training achieved a total of 46 participants of whom 31 were females and 15 were males. The gender distribution difference was significant as the female participants seemed the more affected by unemployment with some having small babies.

Experiences from the implementation of Trainings

• The youth are very excited with their involvement in the talk and discussions on the topic of peace.
• Most of the community youth have had experiences that they are willing to share.
• The community youth are ready and willing to be involved and be part of the wheel driving peacebuilding within their communities.
• Quite a number of the community youth have earlier on participated in peacebuilding initiatives. However, the process of cascading it to others within their reach is not evident. They attribute these to several reasons including the unemployment which makes it difficult for transversing around the community members.
• In both Mukuru and Mtongwe cases, the youth leaders had been trained and well-versed with peacebuilding initiatives. They shared common background of being victims or having experienced violence themselves.
• The experiences from the community youth also pointed at causes of conflicts to revolve around the drug abuse and theft cases where most perpetrators join criminal gangs. As such the gangs are used to cause violence through political orientations and related conflicts.
• Similarly, the student trainees were excited about the engagement. While a few had formed and had active AMANI clubs, majority heard about peace clubs for the first time and were willing to have such clubs in their schools.

Relevance of transformative pedagogy in responding to contextual realities

• The transformative pedagogy is effective in tapping the views and opinions of the participants. The trainees’ perspective of peace and peacebuilding can be harnessed into useful information for changing the peace narrative. For instance, many community youth indicated knowing the real issues that cause unrests and violence within their communities.
• The transformative pedagogy among the secondary school students became informative as the learners were awakened into the causes of conflicts and distractors of peace. More specifically, the students were keen on acknowledging that peace starts with them as individuals, and from their own houses.
• Transformative pedagogy that entailed trainees’ involvement made it possible to generate new ideas and perspectives for specific solution for every group in their unique environments. The pedagogy showed that while there are many causes of conflicts, and various solutions for conflicts, each region and population have their own unique ways of effectively addressing the challenges.

Lessons learned and good case practices

• Peace initiatives can be cascaded effectively downwards without reinventing the wheel. However, this needs support and guidance. The case of the trained community youth who are not practicing the peacebuilding initiatives pointed at lack of support as well as the need for partnerships.
• The student trainees indicated that learning peace and peacebuilding can be more effective in social interactions. For instance, mixing of the different schools into the training sessions ignited the sense of acknowledging diversity. Peace may not only be steered towards common populations but can be adopted more effectively in diverse groups of gender, ethnicity, economic background etc.
• Causes of conflicts as well as their solutions are as diverse as the population s across the country. Different regions experience different types of conflicts caused by various unique reasons. As such, unique solutions may apply for different contexts. However, the solutions pegged on transformative pedagogy cannot be overemphasized. Every member in their own contexts can effectively play roles in peacebuilding.

Summary

The interventions have shown that enhancing social interactions through transformative pedagogy has a rich role in redefining peacebuilding. Apply mechanisms that are inclusive of every member in society are potential avenues for ending extremism as well as acknowledging diversity among youth.

Some of gaps identified include inadequacy of information on peacebuilding. Specifically, among the secondary school students, the training showed gaps in availability of information on formation and running of peace clubs. For the community youth, lack of commitment in cascading the peace initiatives were outstanding gaps.

The way forward from the findings would be conducting similar peace initiatives in other areas while maintaining an eye on the trainees. Through this, cascading of peace messages and focus will be a rolling wheel system where the trainees become peace ambassadors among their peers.