Nairobi Youth Forum is an initiative of young people living in Kenya. The concept is rooted on the understanding that young people in Kenya can and have the power, capacity and potential to influence the decisions that are made in this country. Kenya just like other African countries exists in a context of a leadership that diverges from the real issues and fails to fulfill promises made to the pe
ople. If promises made by our governments are met, African governments have the ability to lift over 75 million people out of extreme poverty, to give over 25 million more children access to basic and higher education, to save the lives of over 4 million children dying from preventable diseases, to provide skilled health care personnel to attend to over 35 million births and to provide access to clean and safe drinking water for over 70 million people. This forum or Call to Action offers a unique and critical opportunity for the youth and the civil society to hold our governments to their promises and to improve the lives of millions of people who suffering due the governments unfulfilled promises. Today’s young people have diverse experiences given the different political, economic, social and cultural realities we face in our communities. Young people today face many challenges, which include unemployment, sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, unsafe abortion, school dropout, harmful practices like early marriages, female ge***al cutting, crime, sexual violence, and drug and substance abuse among others. Young people have always taken a back seat when it comes to active participation in public affairs. Public affairs according to many young people are generally reserved for influential political figure heads that controls the resources of our country. Inadequate resource allocation to programs promoting young people’s participation in public affairs has contributed to the discrimination and marginalization of young people from active participation in the debates and politics of this country. Another factor which has discouraged the youth from active participation is the lack of and inadequate information regarding their legal and human rights to participation in national debates and politics. Many young people believe that in order to participate in national politics one must have a degree in political science or law, this perception is wrong considering the fact that most of the fundamental human rights can be well understood by even laymen. Young people in Kenya today are in dire need of institutional support to pursue many of the dreams that they have for this country and for themselves. Constituting over 40% of the country’s population, young people in Kenya have systematically been marginalized from national development debates and processes. It is disheartening to note that their voices and interest are not listened to and that no official channels exist to harness the immense resource that young people have. It is on this basis that we formed the Nairobi Youth Forum to mobilize young people to take their rightful positions in the politics of this country-politics of representation, resource allocation, and national development. An integral part of this forum is the mobilization of ideas that can transform this country into a haven of opportunities for all Kenyans, irrespective of religion, age, gender, political persuasion, health or economic status. Through the various forums, Kenyans have admitted that we have a leadership crisis. Our leadership is characterized by intransigence, aloofness, selfishness, deception, and lack of ideological clarity. This is what young people have to contend with to be able to meaningfully engage in reconstructing our nation. Kenya has over invested in its present and overdrawn from its future. Our leaders are busy cashing in as if there is no tomorrow. We believe that it is through conscious effort that Kenya will attain equity and social justice where young people will be recognized as important players in the affairs of this country. We are committed to collaborating with progressive forces to ensure that we develop good, trustworthy, informed and visionary young leaders for this country from the very able young leaders we have amongst us to take over the reigns of power and make the current brood of leaders accountable to the people of Kenya. Come join us, let us register as voters and play our democratic roles as citizens of this great country and elect, visionary, honest and hardworking Kenyans to lead this country to prosperity where every Kenyan can live in peace, love and harmony.
