Prime Minister's Youth Round Table on 24th November 2010

Dear Good Kenyans,

On 24^th November 2010 marked a key milestone in the quest to to put the agenda of youth on the national platform. The Inaugural Prime Minister's Youth Round Table (PMYRT) was held in Nairobi. Over 300 Kenyans attended 250 of whom were Youth Leaders selected from across the country. Gracing the Occasion was The Right Honorable Prime Minister, Raila Amolo Odinga, Minister for Youth Afairs and Sports, Mr. Otuoma, among other Ministera, PS, OPM, Dr. Issahakia, PS Youth Affairs and Sports, among others drawn from the Ministries of Education, Health, East Africa Cooperation, Labour and Human Resource Development, Finance, Public Health, and Cultural Heritage.

The round table was held in emulation to the success of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance that has had very successful impact in its PM Private Sector Round Table.The main objective is to have Youth and Government Partner in implementing policy issues that will result in the empowerment of Youth in Kenya. Over 25 Youth Organizations based in Nairobi have been meeting for over 1 month to organize the Round Table meeting. Out of the preparations four thematic sectors were identified;

1.      Empowerment (Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Employment)

2.      Education and Health

3.      Leadership and Governance

4.      Creative Arts, Sports and Culture

Key policy challenges and recommendations were presented as per the attached Matrix for your information. This is the beginning of a partnership of purpose to ensure continued dialogue, negotiation and pressure to Governenement on pertinent issues affecting the Kenyan youth population. Key agreements were arrived at and a communiqué with commitments from Government and the Youth.

To ensure the Unity of Purpose and Coordination of the issues, the National Youth Sector Alliance (NYSA) was announced. It is proposed that NYSA will facilitate the negotiations and identification of all sectors in partnership with Government. It will oversee implementation of the agreed upon issues through a 100 day Rapid Response Initiative. NYSA will be a sector based committee of all youth organizations involved in this process in Kenya that will subscribe and join in on the discussions.  If your organization would like to be represented on this committee please send your details to emmanuel@yesweb.org with subject NYSA Committee.

We will be announcing dates for 8 regional Meetings coordinated by NYSA to ensure the voices of the youth from all the 47 Counties are brought on board before the second Round Table meeting to be held in the first quarter of 2011.

This is to request your support for NYSA and continued engagement on the issues for us to can achieve the most urgent youth empowerment that Kenyan youth have been yearning for since the 90's.

Best Regards,

Emmanuel Dennis.

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Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo
YES Kenya Leader
Initiator of the Green Teams Initiative
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Nairobi Kenya
Cell: +46706048398
http://emmanuel-ed.blogspot.com/
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Corporate Driven Development & the Millennium Development Goals

A GREENER AFRICA WE WANT BY 2015.

A Presentation to the International Youth Leaders Summit

Session: Corporate Driven Development & the Millennium Development Goals

By Emmanuel Dennis

Regional Coordinator, YES Africa & Green Teams Initiative

KICC, Nairobi 20th November 2010

 

My fellow young Leaders. It is a great honor and privilege to speak to you. Today in a world that is growing younger by the day, with the population of youth bulging, I want to reaffirm that Government Leaders cannot solve global challenges on their own any more. Today, it is everyday people – and, critically, their personal networks – who have the potential to be the world's big new problem solvers. Post-disaster emergency responses in recent months have vividly displayed the need for coordinated efforts from non-profits, companies, individuals, online communities, governments and the UN system. The same mindset of partnership, urgency, and "all hands on deck" is also required to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the world's integrated targets for tackling extreme poverty by 2015.

 

Today we are seeing a new breed of players coming on board to support the efforts in reclaiming the glory that the world should be today. They are the Green Entrepreneurs, committed to reworking the world to retain its virgin nature and provide plenty for a world that is starving and at the same time create a source of revenue through ecopreneurship.

 

The next five years provides an opportunity for us young people, to learn about and become involved with organizations that address global and local issues, network, and become engaged and empowered to take leadership roles in their communities. At the Millennium General Assembly in 2000, all Heads of States unanimously agreed to work toward the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals. But it is the people that must come together to take action to see that these goals are achieved.

 

Let me exemplify a few areas:

 

Corruption – Just as poverty is multifaceted, corruption also manifests itself in various forms. Development assistance that aims to increase the sharing between the rich and the poor and to support equitable development processes is vital to reducing poverty. It is therefore of critical importance to ensure that development resources are used for this intended purpose and not diverted through corruption. Rooting out corruption promotes equality, development and reduction of poverty. 

http://blog.transparency.org/2009/09/23/gcr2009_privatesector/

 

Entrepreneurship – I want to laud the Young people who are coming up with new innovative enterprises with capabilities of creating the jobs of tomorrow. Entrepreneurship and Innovation are the prerequisite of social, economic and political development of any society and will be the determinant of quick attainment of the MDGs. I want to encourage young people to start viewing every development effort through an entrepreneurship prism. The millions of unemployed youth today could be a huge social investment for effective mitigation of global problems. There is increasing pressure to combat the global Climate Crises through various approaches.

 

The problem of youth unemployment now needs to be connected to the global crises with clear cut solutions to reducing it. First; Financial, social and ecological pressures mean that a new kind of employment programmes must emerge. Secondly, these must meet the short term imperative: engage youth on a large scale to prevent social conflict, and be cost effective and largely rely on private flows, not aid or government money for sustainability. Thirdly, they must meet the long term imperative: support the emergence of sustainable value chains that opens up a new avenue for sustainable action.

 

Networking and Shared Responsibility– Young people are increasingly and should plug into the power of information. The creation of online networks allows for sharing of information and cross pollination of ideas. With the command of numbers, young people can ensure greater action is achieved through collaboration with peers and by finding out what is being done and what still needs to be addressed. Information

Technology has made it easy now for people to communicate, exchange ideas and run business. ICT is an accelerator of MDGs if used with a business mind. IT influences the way people perceive things and has played a critical role in changing the culture of people around the world.

 

Environmental issues – If we don't take care of the earth, it will not take care of us. The future is green if we have to attain MDGs. With Greener infrastructure, we will have food. With Cleaner environment, we will breed healthy livelihoods. With Greener Forests, we will have clean and safe drinking water from thriving rivers and other water bodies. The world is moving to greener, and cleaner energy for sustainable economies. The economies of the future will be dependent on green energy and clean environmental efforts. Climate Change as it is today can be tackled at a larger scale through adopting Green Based enterprises and increasing Green Jobs for our youth.

 

The Green Teams Vision for Africa that offers a promise to create the next millions of jobs through investing in Green Value Chains is one initiative that all of you should subscribe to. We are in partnership with the UNHABITAT's Cities in Climate Change Initiative, to Train Trainers in Four Cities on creating Green Teams to curb the effects of Climate Change. The green Teams Initiative will integrate both labor intensive green jobs, as well as high end intellectual sectors with abilities to create jobs for the youth.

We are building an interactive web portal, www.thegreenteams.org Young people in rural communities will be able to interact with investors in larger cities and exchange goods and services. The content will be translated into simple mobile telephony technology to make it accessible with the slowest of bandwidth speeds. Every Country, City, Community, Village needs a green Team. I would like to encourage all of you to start thinking green by creating your own green team and taking your community to the next level of sustainability. Let us take care of the future generations by adapting to measures that will support our environment, sustain our livelihoods, and support the growth of our communities. With such practices not only will we have achieved the millennium Development Goals. We will have saved ourselves and our natural habitats. But we cannot do it alone.

 

We need enabling Partnerships between Governments, Private Sector, Public Service, The Professions the unemployed youth in communities and the Cooperate Sector to attain the Millennium Development Goals. In deed the Cooperate World is playing a critical role in the development of the economy. The Youth must start embracing cooperate practices but at community level. It is at the community that Development shall be felt. It is high time we restructured development to make sure we reach to the unreached communities. A wholistic approach to achieving MDGs.

 

We MUST Work together.

 

Thank you very much and May God Bless you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQmz6Rbpnu0&NR=1

Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo

YES Kenya Leader

Initiator of the Green Teams Vision

Nairobi Kenya

Cell: +46706048398

http://emmanuel-ed.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Emmanueldennis

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"We Can Take Over Leadership by 2012" Youth Leaders in Meru and Kajiado Counties Challenged

"WE CAN TAKE OVER LEADERSHIP BY 2012"

 Youth Leaders in Meru and Kajiado Counties Challenged

By: Emmanuel Dennis 1^st November 2010

 

In the quest to mobilizing young people across the country to prepare their arsenal for national leadership, an action packed week characterized the activities in Meru County on Wednesday 27^th October and Kajiado County on Saturday 30^th October 2010 respectively.  Two counties in one week, National Leaders from various Organizations joined hands to support organized grassroots empowerment forums in the two counties. The Forums were held at the need of self organizing for change at community level, the young people of MERU and KAJIADO brought together by the fact that the older generation of leaders had failed in uplifting the positive agenda of their communities at national level, decided to come together to chart the way forward for the country.

Inspired by a declaration to bring together the youth networks in the over 7 Constituencies, the Meru County Youth Forum brought together over 100 participants in Meru Town, while the Kajiado County Youth Forum brought together 140 youth leaders at the Isinya District Headquarters. 240 the number of Youth Leaders who attended the Forums.

The Meru County's Forum purpose was to interrogate the place of the youth of Meru County around Social, Economic, Leadership, Good Governance and the Constitution. The Kajiado Forum focused on organizing the youth leadership around matters affecting them at local and national level into a powerful force that will change the way of running business themed "Towards a youthful society in our days". The youth organized themselves, raised resources on their own and invited the national leaders to facilitate key themes on the program.

Some of the Key youth leaders from the National leaders who joined hands to engage with the participants of the two forums were the YES Kenya Network, URAIA's National Civic Education Program, the Conveners of the VuguVugu Mashinani movement, KENGO network, Madaraka Party, the National Youth Convention, alumni of the PLDP, the Citizens Anti Corruption Watch, Makadara Youth Network, UCAHA, KCDN, Fahamu Kenya among others.

 

Peter Ngure and Emmanuel Dennis Pictured Presenting Tshirts to the Meru County Youth Leaders

 

Presentations made by various speakers at the two fora touched on the need of the youth to realize the opportunity that we have using our numerical strength and recently released census results that estimates the youth population at a staggering 80% of the total population to make sure we rise up to the occasion and ensure we lead this country at all levels. The local youth also challenged themselves and vowed to unite as a county and start addressing the leadership challenges that bedevil them.

The young generation has been fighting for the good of this nation but resource allocation to the largest cohort of the population has been limited. The youth must start to ask the difficult questions to the leaders to feel the heat of accountability and transparency.

 

The New Constitution: The young leaders were challenged to acquire basic understanding of the Constitution schedule of implementation and make sure that many young people present their cases for representation and that the institutions set to oversee the implementation do the rightful job as proscribed by the constitution. The Leaders were challenged to take the chances and opportunities available to seek knowledge and skills that will uplift their livelihoods and stop complaining and shouting at the status quo leadership that was on its sunset years.

The Youth Leaders in Song and Dance During the Forum

 

On the National Youth Council:  The leaders were asked to be vigilant and press for a democratic process of electing the representatives that will have a lasting impact in the institution that will be regulating and coordinating the affairs of youth organizations in Kenya. They were also challenged to make sure that the guidelines in electing NYC officials conform to the new constitution.

 

Whistle Blowing on Corruption: The participants identified many of the scandals that had been the epitome of the successive governments. The older generation had perfected the act of ensuring that the country does not progress by ensuring that public resources are only a preserve of a few individuals vested with the responsibility of taking care of the public funds.

The Green Teams Initiative: The participants got an opportunity of being presented the Green Teams vision that seeks to engage young people in green value chains and economically empower the young people. They were taken through various possibilities within the Green Teams vision and specific value chains that the youth in Meru and Kajiado Counties can tap into. The leaders of the groups were asked to organize the membership into entrepreneurs to receive proper training as a follow up to the meeting.

One of the Horticulture Projects that the Green Teams Initiative is Supporting in Kitui County.

 

Opportunities for the Youth in the Constitution: In a very enlightening statistical presentation of the opportunities that young people should look out for in the new constitution; the following facts were presented to the participants to ponder about and make informed decisions; 2,923 opportunities in the legislature, 616 opportunities in the executive, 1500+ Opportunities in the Judiciary, 100+Opportunities in the public service.

The youth leaders were informed that the Equalization Fund as espoused in Article 204 Will be available for the devolved government and that it would only serve the people right if the youth were vigilant.

On the opportunities presented by the vision 2030, the youth were encouraged to make sure that they audit its operation and make sure that they are part of the implementation process.

Staying with the Issues: The youth leaders were challenged to make sure they acquire the necessary information about the leadership of the country to hold their leaders accountable by engaging them on issues. The Leaders were reminded that given the statistics that out of 14 million registered voters, those aged under 35 constitute 11.6 Million making the youth a large number that can marginalize the status quo and decide the future of Kenya in the next general election. The Leaders of the Vugu Vugu Mashinani promised to work with grassroots initiatives and disseminate information to the young people in the country so that they can engage and get empowered to run the affairs of their communities.

11.6 Million The number of registered voters under the age of 35 old who could change the tide of elections in 2012.

In Kajiado, a youthful District Officer One who also attended the forum encouraged the youth to get information and use it to their benefit. He advised the youth leaders to desist from illicit brews and other harmful drugs and lead healthy livelihoods.He committed to work with the youth network for the development in the District.

Conclusion: The participants saw the need to start reworking on their vision for the country and their place in the national agenda. It was clear that using our numerical strength; we could rise up and take over important decision making organs of governance of the republic of Kenya. The only challenge is to find the common unity and trust to support each other and take on the challenge. One of our strategies is to also encourage the youth in the civil service to start engaging with the rest of Kenyans in bringing the desired change.

Similar activities are underway and young people in the counties are encouraged to organize themselves and host similar activity with support from like minded youth based organizations and movements at the national level.

YES Kenya, the Green Teams Initiative and Vuguvugu Mashinani would like to send their gratitude to the youth leaders from the Meru and Kajiado County for making these events a success. We welcome other organizations and movements to join us as we move to cover the 47 counties across Kenya. Special Thanks go to Chris Kinyua of Meru County and Nicholas Soikan of IDEYS and the Olkeju Self Help Group in Kajiado County for leading the processes and organizing the groups on the ground for the meetings.