Ni Sisi

10/10/2026

This , Inuka Kenya calls for a world where mental health is prioritised, lived experiences are heard, and everyone can access the support they need.

Let’s listen without judgment, challenge stigma, and turn lived experiences into meaningful change. Every voice matters. Every life matters.

08/10/2026

4 DAYS TO GO!

Civic tech enthusiasts, hii ni yenu! 🚀

If you're passionate about using technology to strengthen civic participation and make an impact, this could be your next move!

⏳ Only 4 days left to apply!

📲 Check the job requirements and application details:
nisisikenya.org/opportunities/

Don’t wait until the last minute. Apply today!

08/10/2026

Inuka Kenya Ni Sisi! will participate in the Youth Devolution Festival (YDF 2026), taking place on 29th –30th October 2026 in Kilifi County.

Themed “The Kenya We Want: Youth Participation in Electoral Processes and Peaceful Elections,” the festival will bring together young people and stakeholders to strengthen civic participation, voter education, peaceful elections, and responsible digital citizenship ahead of the 2027 General Elections.

05/10/2026

A new chapter for Chelal's tea growers

In the tea economy, the person who grows the leaf is often the last to influence what happens to it. Prices, markets and representation are decided far from the farm. At AIC Roret Church, a group of Chelal Tea Factory farmers spent two days working on a different approach.

Thirty farmers took part, five from each of the six directorate zones of Chelal Tea Factory. Having every zone in the room mattered. It meant the ideas discussed would travel back to the whole farmer community, not stay with a few individuals.

The training worked on two things that reinforce each other. The first was choice. Farmers learned about alternative tea auction systems and direct sales: how registration works, what is required, and the steps for setting up and running these channels. A farmer who knows other routes to market is less dependent on one route and has more bargaining power.

The second was voice. Farmers examined why a trade union matters, and the legal and administrative steps for registering one. Individual complaints are easy to ignore, but a registered, organised body that speaks for its members is much harder to dismiss.

Informed choice and collective voice are two sides of the same effort to give farmers a fairer position in the value chain.

The farmers also left with a plan. They committed to grassroots sensitisation at tea buying centres, starting immediately. Trained farmers will act as ambassadors, engaging their peers through barazas and social media and speaking with opinion leaders and stakeholders. An information brochure on the proposed Tea Auction will make the issues easier to understand. A nine-member implementation team will coordinate the work. A progress meeting will review the Tea Auction and Trade Union registration processes, and farmers will seek radio and TV platforms to tell their own story.

The two processes will run side by side. Once Trade Union registration is substantially complete, membership recruitment will begin.

Real change in agricultural value chains rarely comes from outside. It starts when farmers understand their options, organise themselves and speak with one voice. INUKA Kenya, through its Enterprise Development is proud to support Chelal's farmers as they lead this work. 🤝

What does a fair deal for tea farmers look like to you? Share your thoughts below.

05/10/2026

LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS
From the Mrima Hill conversation on critical minerals and community rights to strengthening access to information and supporting grassroots organising, last week brought important conversations on transparency, accountability, and citizen participation.

In this week’s digest, we share the key activities, conversations, and stories that shaped our work across communities.

📖 Catch up on last week’s highlights. Read, share, and stay informed.

02/10/2026

Wait… you mean the SHA system that cost KSh 104 billion has been shut down, and the services simply moved to another system, HMIS? 😭 So just like that, Kenya has potentially lost KSh 104 billion?

Being Kenyan is really not for the weak, wallahi. 😭😂

01/10/2026

WHEN DIFFERENT COMMUNITY STRUGGLES COME TOGETHER, THEY CAN BEGIN TO SEE THEIR COLLECTIVE POWER.

On 29th and 30th September, civic and community actors in Kiambu came together for a two-day convening to reflect on movement building, organising and collective power.

The conversation brought together actors working across different spaces- from public participation and accountability to livelihoods, youth opportunities, labour rights, land and housing. While these issues may appear different, they are often connected by one bigger question: how can citizens organise and work together to influence the issues that affect their lives?

The convening provided a space to look beyond individual organisations and initiatives and understand Kiambu’s wider civic landscape. Through stakeholder mapping, power mapping, group discussions and organising simulations, participants explored who holds power, where opportunities for collective action exist, and what could bring different constituencies together.

At the centre of the conversation was Ni Sisi “It is us.”

The idea is simple: communities do not have to give up their individual identities to build solidarity. Farmers, workers, traders, students, young people, civic actors and other community constituencies can organise around their own priorities while finding common ground on shared concerns.

This was therefore more than a two-day meeting. It was an opportunity to begin building the relationships, shared understanding and organising foundations needed for a locally owned Ni Sisi Social Movement in Kiambu.

The work ahead is clear: connect the different struggles, strengthen solidarity and turn shared concerns into collective action.

Sisi. It is us.

30/09/2026

30/09/2026

WILL WHAT HAPPENED AT BASE TITANIUM REPEAT ITSELF AT MRIMA HILL?

Growing global interest in critical minerals is putting Mrima Hill in Kwale County under renewed attention because of its reported deposits of rare earths and niobium.

But beneath the discussion about minerals, investment and global supply chains is a more immediate question: what happens to the communities whose lives, land and culture are tied to Mrima?

During a community engagement, Inuka Kenya Ni Sisi!, together with the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) under the Haki Madini and Human Development Agenda (HUDA), met women from the Mrima community to hear their concerns about proposed mineral development.

One issue stood out: access to information. Community members questioned whether they have received sufficient information from government about the proposed development and what it could mean for their land, livelihoods and future.

Land rights are another concern. Some residents do not hold formal title deeds, raising questions about how customary occupation, ancestral ties and livelihoods will be recognised in any future land acquisition or compensation process.

Then there is the Kaya.

For the Digo and wider Mijikenda community, Mrima is a sacred and ancestral landscape. Sacred sites including Bege, Mzemani and Chigongoni are spaces where prayers and traditional practices take place.

This raises an important policy question: how will cultural heritage be protected if mineral extraction proceeds?

Kwale's experience with large-scale mining, including concerns previously raised around compensation, resettlement and community benefits in relation to Base Titanium, provides important context for the conversation.

Mrima offers an opportunity to address these questions before extraction begins.

As Kenya considers the economic and strategic value of critical minerals, communities are also asking to understand their rights, participate meaningfully in decisions and know how they will benefit.

The conversation around Mrima, therefore, cannot only be about what lies beneath the ground.

It must also consider the people, culture, livelihoods and heritage above it.

Who benefits? Who bears the costs? And who gets to participate in deciding what happens next?

30/09/2026

What happens after a community issue gets attention online?

That question shaped the second day of Inuka Kenya Ni Sisi!’s digital organising capacity-building session, bringing together Social Justice Centre representatives and grassroots human rights defenders to examine how digital platforms can support sustained organising, mobilisation and civic action.

Building on the previous day’s work, participants explored how to move from digital visibility to meaningful participation-mapping the journey from *seeing an issue, engaging with it and sharing it, to organising, acting and sustaining momentum.

The sessions also placed storytelling at the centre of digital campaigning. Participants examined how community experiences, evidence and lived realities can be translated into digital content that informs public conversations without losing the context or dignity of the people at the heart of the story.

Through practical exercises, participants worked on campaign messages and calls to action, while considering the role of different platforms, including social media and WhatsApp, in reaching audiences, building networks and mobilising communities.

The training also addressed the risks that accompany digital visibility. Participants discussed online harassment, misinformation and disinformation, coordinated attacks, account security, protection of sources and community members, and how organisers can prepare for and respond to digital backlash.

The day concluded with participants refining their campaign concepts and identifying next steps, allies, responsibilities, timelines and opportunities for collaboration** among Social Justice Centres.

The discussions reinforced an important organising principle: digital platforms are not the campaign themselves. They are tools that can help communities tell their stories, build solidarity, mobilise people and connect online conversations to action on the ground.