Latest News And Updates
The Youth Café was honored to speak at the African Entrepreneurship Forum, that took place virtually on the 30th of November, 2021. The Youth Cafe’s Executive Director, Willice Onyango and a young entrepreneur from our network, Glodine Ndhlovu who is a young business woman and speaker from South Africa
The Youth Coordinating Committee for Elections having been launched with the obligation to enhance youth participation in the electoral process, it is imperative to enhance the capacity of this committee to be able to carry out its mandate as per the aspirations shared by the commission. The Y.C.C. draws its membership from youth focused and youth-serving organizations across the country and will use these existing structures to conduct voter education and mobilization of young people to register as voters ahead of the general elections in 2022.
On the 29th of November, the Executive Director of The Youth Café, Mr. Willice Onyango, spoke at a forum organized by Engage Jamii Initiatives in partnership with the US Embassy in Nairobi. The program focused on the “Role of Youth and Women in Peaceful Election Campaigns” in Kenya.
The Youth Cafe’s legal aid pro bono program ensures youths acquire the much needed legal aid and most importantly legal representation in court processes. The scope of pro bono work is wide, ranging from supporting research on law reforms, legal education to the public, to direct assistance with client legal cases such as assistance with lodging and filing forms, drafting legal documents, provision of legal counsel and client interviewing. Our pro bono program allows young lawyers to provide legal services to young people who would otherwise be deprived of legal representation.
The Rap Session On Youth Leadership And Political Participation held on the 20th of November, explored the role of youth leadership and political participation in Kenya’s democratic process. The session brought together national leaders from the Executive Office of the President, Youth Ministry and other functions of government along with the youth to discuss these pertinent issues. These issues are even more urgent given the upcoming general elections in 2022.
Kenyan youth have been disconnected and disengaged with political processes and electoral participation, and this has caused widespread apathy among young voters. Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission IEBC is collaborating with youth serving organizations (YSO’s) to provide young people with a forum to fully and effectively deal with issues important to them during the electioneering period. The Youth Café is part of the Youth Coordinating Committee (YCC) working with the IEBC to drive voter education and enhance the voters registration drive.
The Kenyan youth have been largely excluded from meaningful political participation in the past. Hence, leading up to the 2022 general elections, The Youth Café and partners are collaboratively writing Regional/County Youth Manifestos that will eventually feed into a National Kenya Youth Manifesto 2022 (KYM 2022) to outline the views of the nation's youth and demand to be given equal chance and supported to actively participate in the forthcoming general elections.
The Africa True Stories program is a digital brand project implemented by The Youth Café in collaboration with Pumbaa Eco. We invite leaders in different industries, young people, and Chinese people living in Africa to share stories about their lives in Africa. In doing so, the information gap and bias is reduced and enables Chinese and African content creators to obtain income growth and digital opportunities.
Despite the need to be vaccinated, Africa is falling behind in the global vaccination drive with only 3% of the continent’s population being fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a press release from the African Union. Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), dedicated to “immunization for all” had a virtual introductory meeting with The Youth Café. The meeting involved discussion on increased engagement and collaboration in the African continent engaged in Covid-19 advocacy at the regional and continental levels.
