Voice of Youth Africa

I started working on VOY Africa on September 2020 at the midst of COVID19 Pandemic. It was seven months since the schools were closed as one of the measures to curb the pandemic. After seing how the highschool kids were suffering in my village and even coutrywide, many resulting to drugs abuse and hundreds of girls having early pregnancies I started to think how I could help those kids have the school mentality. I started a free online revision program for highschools. I was happy because I was able to impact the lives of 12 students who appreciated my work.

However due to finacial constraints I could not manage to sustain the program. But thank God, after running that program for two months the schools were reopened on November that year,

If selected for the Elevate Price I will use the funding to build my community which comprises of the VOY Africa and the community. We shall install the equipments that will help us push the conversation of change by creating engagement with youth, their leaders and the influential peaople  in the coomunity. We hope to be fully operational by January 2022.

A sixth born to a family of eight, I was brought up by a widowed mum in a rural village in Nyandarua County, Kenya. From a very humble background I was able to experience the challenges the people face. I began to dream of impacting change in my family at a tender age later on developing that desire to a society viewpoint when I began to understand that the challenges we were facing were global and not confined to our family only. It is that desire which has held me to this point.

With VOY Africa I want to rally my generation which comprises the modern youth to join me in pushing this dream. The dream to change the story of the African child. I want my fellow youth to aspire to became resposible leaders who will bring sustainable leadership in Africa because I believe that the many challenges we are facing as a continent is not because we are inherently incapable but because of poor leadership.

One goal we want to drive through VOY Africa is to rally the youths to go for elective positions in the August 2022 General elections in Kenya

The mission of VOY Africa is to inspire transformative leadership among the youth for sustainability through massive engagement and involvement. We want to have the youth at the center of key decision and policy making in the major aspects of governance because we believe that youth are the major stakeholders of the future therefore they should be involved in all matters that affects the future.

The problem of poverty has persited in Africa for way too long despite the continent having large deposits of minerals resources, fertile lands for agriculture and access to technology. Because much of the technology is already in place ours is just to pick what matters for us but this has not been possible. 

Having studied the world history of major civilizations I was able to understand the impact the governments have over the development of people. I came to one conclusion that solution to many of our problems is centered in leadership. If we can heal our politics then we shall be able to install responsible leadership ambitious to bringing positive transformation. 

We are trying to engage youth through social media driving a conversation of change using the hashtags #AGenerationDream and #203rdDecadeforAfricaYouths hoping to launch our studio soon when we get resources hopefully from MIT Solve

From my experience with social media especially Facebook and YouTube I have seen that youths are very sensitive to issues that affects them but they lack a platform to air or express their views. Majority (myself included) try to engage with their small online communities. The effects of COVID 19 pandemic has made them even more vibrant.

The VOY Africa is a platform we want to establish for youth to converse, raise issues, nurture their dreams and prepare for future roles as responsible leaders. Inspired by Youth for Sustainability (Y4S) program, a Masdar Initiative under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan of UAE, we want to make VOY Africa a program that will major in preparing our generation for transformative leadership who will bring sustainable transformation in our education system, political system, agriculture and economy 

I began this program by running an free online revision program for high school students at the time when the schools were closed. As I have mentioned elsewhere in this application, I was able to impact 12 people.

By encouraging youths to participate in elections because it is through legislative processes that we can be able to easily assert our voices, about 6 youths has come to me and vowed to participate in 2022 Kenya general elections in various capacities. I am still pushing to reach more people and hoping to inspire more youths by the time we reach general elections. 

Our executive consists of 7 vibrant young people whose average age is around 24 oldest being 26. These are people I dream to grow with and to help each other in pushing our dreams. We hope to establish ourselves as pioneers and good examples of transformative leaders.

The Tuomoke Pamoja Initiative as a program we are incoporating as part of our activities. With this program we want to create a culture of saving with cautious/controlled/budgeted spending. This is one of our plans in addressing poverty problem.