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In December 2007, Kenya descended into political violence following disputed presidential elections. Compounding the political clash were ethnic tensions among different tribes in the regions. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan brokered a power-sharing agreement which ended the violence and both parties now coexist in an uneasy coalition government.
While the violence has subsided, many of the underlying causes of Kenya’s post-election crisis, such as competition over land, deep poverty, widespread unemployment, youth alienation, and political manipulation of grievances remain.
In August 2010, a constitutional referendum was held and was overwhelmingly successful for Kenya—both in terms of the fairness and transparency of the voting and the lack of violence. The upcoming election in 2012 provides an opportunity for Kenyans to demonstrate they have moved beyond 2007. Young Kenyans have watched youth around the world take collective action for the betterment of their countries and see that peaceful action can create change.
Mercy Corps’ role in Kenya is widespread and varied, from working with youth to address the heart of conflict causing issues to responding to the drought crisis that has affected the Horn of Africa.
Yes Youth Can
Yes Youth Can is an unprecedented youth empowerment program, funded by USAID that puts youth truly in the lead of their own and Kenya’s development. The core of the program is that it is:
- Youth-led: Youth ideas, local knowledge and innovations drive the process.
- Youth-managed: Youth implement program elements (grants, investments, Bunges, research) while leveraging mentoring and coaching.
- Youth-owned: Youth are in control of all decisions within the institutional structures as a result of fair, democratic elections, using a bottom up approach, localized demand approach.
By integrating the principles of youth-led, managed and owned throughout each element of the program, young people throughout Kenya will begin to identify with and internalize these principles through a process where they lead Youth Bunges, implement community grants, network with youth throughout the country and increase their income through microenterprises and jobs. Through this process, youth will recognize that they are in charge of transforming their society and will become catalysts for development in their communities. This approach to youth development programming has the ability to change the paradigm for youth programming both in Kenya and around the world.
An innovative component of YYC is the operational, financially sustainable youth led, owned, and managed investment fund—The Tahidi Fund. The Tahidi Fund is a concrete and transparent catalyst for youth empowerment by promoting a “learning by doing approach” through access grants for community development initiatives and micro-capital investments for existing and new youth enterprises.
Mercy Corps is implementing the Yes Youth Can National Award in six geographic regions — Rift Valley, Nairobi slums, Central, Nyanza, Western and Coast, as well as two regional awards for Rift Valley and Central. Over the course of three years, we will directly reach 1 million Kenyan youth to empower themselves to take control of their destiny.
Local Empowerment for Peace (LEAP II)
Mercy Corps is implementing a two year Local Empowerment for Peace program (LEAP II) to build up on recent gains in peace building efforts in Rift Valley by addressing key remaining challenges. LEAP II aims to strengthen the ability of local, district, and provincial structures to address the causes of post-election violence and promote sustainable peace and reconciliation.
Mercy Corps is pursuing this goal through strengthening sustainable mechanisms for conflict mitigation and reconciliation, supporting community dialogues and supporting youth integration. LEAP II is also addressing a key cause of violence through youth leadership training, small scale cash-for-work community reconstruction projects, and income generation activities.
Western Union
With much of Mercy Corps’ focus in Kenya being to support productive opportunities for youth to learn and work, Mercy Corps is using funds from Western Union to support job creation activities in Kenya. Specifically Mercy Corps is implementing a mobile-based savings development program that will enable all youth to save their earnings in mobile accounts.
Job creation is more likely to provide long-term benefit if youth are also able to save a portion of their earnings and plan for their future. The activity allows youth to better understand and utilize their income as well as gain a financial identity (similar to a credit history) that can be used for additional financial services. In partnership with local mobile service providers, Mercy Corps is developing targeted mobile savings products for the youth and supplement the services with financial and cash management training.
Emergency Response
In response to the drought and famine crisis affecting northeastern Kenya, Mercy Corps is working to address some of the most critical issues now and to help rebuild for the future.
Looking towards the immediate crisis, Mercy Corps is providing clean water and access to food to those affected by the drought. Mercy Corps is increasing access to affordable water through the provision of safe potable water by trucking, provision of fuel subsidies and repairing of water storage facilities.
To date, over 141,000 individuals have been reached with clean water and/or fuel subsidies. Mercy Corps is also engaging in cash-for-work programs for food insecure households to purchase food and spur the economy by supporting local traders. These programs inject cash into the economy and create temporary employment for vulnerable community members.
Mercy Corps is also working with pastoralist communities to rebuild for the future. By helping affected populations rebuild their asset base, i.e., their livestock, communities will be able recover and become more resistant to future shocks. Mercy Corps is working with communities to diversify their asset base, engage in animal-for-work projects, vaccinating livestock and training community members on better animal practices. Once the crisis recedes, safety net activities will be followed by activities designed to improve livelihoods and resilience to shocks. This will ensure that the immediate needs will not reemerge once improved revenues from a broader base of activities have been achieved.
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