UNV Kenya
VOLUNTEERING FOR CHANGE A newsletter of the United Nations
Volunteers Programme in Kenya| March 2013
SPECIAL EDITION
UN VOLUNTEERS’ CONTRIBUTION TO THE 2013 GENERAL ELECTIONS HELD ON
MARCH 4TH.
Photo ©UNDP In Kasarani Constituency in Nairobi, residents
take to the streets to march for peace.
UNV Peace Monitor Jeremiah Mzee was instrumental in coordinating
peace activities in this area before,
during and after the Elections
‘Get Informed, Get Involved’ Project Places UN Volunteers
At the Heart of Youth & Elections
The 2013 General Elections held on March 4th
provided UNV with an excellent opportunity
to enhance youth participation in volunteerism through the Get Informed, Get Involved
project. Implemented by Youth Agenda with support from UNDP, UNV and the Democratic
Governance Thematic Trust Fund, the project aimed to get youth informed, involved and
actively participating in political party processes, thereby contributing to peaceful elections.
The first step in the process was to bring on board 7 young UN Volunteers to facilitate the
involvement of youth in different locales. UN Volunteers were recruited to engage with
youth in Nairobi, Eldoret, Nakuru and Kisumu as well as Kilifi, Mombasa and Trans-Nzoia
counties.
By coordinating with youth organizations and contacts working on the ground in those areas,
the UN Volunteers were able to find out the extent of youth involvement in the political
process, as well as monitor youth activities during the election period including on Election
Day. In addition, the UN Volunteers were tasked with identifying youth contestants for each
of the six positions at the ballot, with the aim of highlighting their effort and drawing
attention to youth participation.
To augment these efforts, the UN Volunteers organized a youth forum on the 27th
of
February, bringing together young people from all over the country. The forum was themed
“Jihusishe Jitolee Kwa Amani” (Get Involved and Volunteer for Peace), and focused on
encouraging the youth to play a part in ensuring peaceful elections in their areas. At the end
of the forum, the youth were assigned as volunteer election monitors/ observers for the
general elections and their role entailed informing the UNVs of the situation on the ground
prior to, during and after the elections.
Photo ©UNDP In Kasarani Constituency in Nairobi, residents
take to the streets to march for
peace. UNV Peace Monitor Jeremiah Mzee was instrumental in
coordinating peace activities in this
area before, during and after the Elections
There were about 38 UN Volunteers involved in
giving direct support to a
peaceful Electoral process,
representing about 25% of
all UNVs in the country.
The Annual UNV Retreat brought together 111 of the 145 UN Volunteers serving in the country, as well as colleagues from UV Somalia.
Mary Ondiek, UNV Local Community Facilitator,
Working with youth in Eldoret.
“It’s been a very busy start for us, having come into the project so close to the Election.
The youth forum for me was very impactful. I remember one of the sessions at the forum
where the facilitator asked the participants to close their eyes and reflect on what
happened during the 2007 post-election violence. The youth did so, and one particular
lady caught my attention as she immediately broke down into tears. It occurred to me then
that conflict truly digs deep and the peace message is a real one.
I was also privileged to facilitate a discussion session on Gender & Volunteerism, and
apart from encouraging the youth that all of them can volunteer wherever they are, it was
especially heart-warming to hear their ideas on volunteerism being a means to ensure
engagement of young women in the political processes in a way that elections may not be
able to accomplish.”
Judy Kabillah, UNV Local Community Facilitator,
Working with youth in Trans-Nzoia.
“I must say the highlight of the youth forum for me was the lighting of candles by the
youth and singing of the famous Candle Song by gospel artist Chris Rice.
To me, it symbolized a deep desire and commitment amongst the youth to promote and
maintain peace during the election period and to live together as brothers and sisters in
our beloved motherland Kenya. It was a moment to cherish.”
With the Elections over, focus has now shifted to empowering youth leaders who have been elected, with a forum
planned for April bringing together elected youth leaders from all the 47 counties. In addition, the UN Volunteers
will be particularly working with youth leaders and organizations to increase the participation of young women in
political processes, considering very few women were elected to leadership positions.
Other than the young people involved in the Get Informed Get Involved project, there also a large number of UN
Volunteer Peace Monitors serving in potential conflict hotspots across the country, and they also played a big part in
contributing to peaceful elections, working with district peace committees and other agencies.
Here are some UNV voices involved in the General Elections;
UNV’s current involvement in supporting peaceful elections in Kenya spans over 5 years, starting from the neighborhood volunteer
scheme established in 2008 to respond to the post-election violence that rocked the nation.
Benson Kimaiyo, UNV Peace Monitor, Elgeyo Marakwet
“Some of the roles I played during this General Election included making sure that
peace prevalence was observed, by reporting incidents that could both compromise
security and raise tensions among the different ethnic communities in the county,
detecting trends that can trigger violence and give out alert reports with necessary
recommendations on the same and submitting it to the head office for further actions by
security response teams.
This exercise was made possible through liaising with the local community residents
and various area chiefs. I also worked closely with district peace committees instituted
across the county, cohesion monitors and data analyst who helped in collection of
security related information before I would analyze them and submitting the final report
for necessary response by different security response teams.”
Gladwell Kahara, UNV Local Community Facilitator,
Working with youth in Nairobi.
“The highlight of my experience in this project so far has been the visit to Mathare slums
(which was part of the CDLF training by UNV on youth volunteering). This was my first
time to go into Mathare slums and despite the poor living conditions of these young people,
I was so humbled by their zeal and positivity.
After introductions and short speeches by their leaders and our UNV team leader, we
started the discussions on how the youth can be involved in peace processes during and
after elections. We were divided into groups and the task was to identify the causes of the
post- election violence in 2007/2008, its impact on the society and come up with strategies
of avoiding a repeat of the violence.
I was in a group full of brilliant and talented youth and I must say that I was very impressed
by their intelligence and their motivation to see a peaceful and developed Mathare and
Kenya as a whole. It was also inspiring and encouraging to see these young people so
passionate about preaching peace and fighting against tribalism in Kenya.”
Evans Muriungi, UNV Peace Monitor, Tharaka-Nithi
“To avoid inter-county conflict between Meru and Tharaka Nithi County residents along
the borders during elections, I identified hot spots areas and polling stations within the
county which could experience violent conflict like in 2007 General Elections where
Tigania East parliamentary aspirant (Meru County) almost lost his life when violence
broke out at one polling station which was shared between Tharaka Constituency
(Tharaka Nithi County) and Tigania East Constituency (Meru County).
The identified areas fall along the borders of Tharaka and Tigania, Tharaka and Igembe
communities. I informed the provincial administration and NSC national secretariat who
increased security in those areas before, during and after elections. I also worked closely
with district peace committees from both Tharaka Nithi and Tigania whom I contacted
throughout the election period for updates and sharing of information. After the elections,
with the assistance of the district peace committee, I urged all residents to unite and forge
ahead with their normal lives as they had new leaders. I urged those who lost together
with their supporters to respect the newly elected leaders and accept them as their leaders
as well.”
Tina Stoum, UNV Gender Advisor, Nairobi
“As I am new to the Kenyan context, being introduced to the UNVs working as Local
Community Facilitators and Peace Monitors and the significant work they do, helps me
grasp the concurrent gender issues within the peace and conflict sector. Throughout the
next months, I am looking forward to travel to various locations to meet the UNVs, in
order to increase my own understanding and hopefully be of assistance in mainstreaming
gender within their every-day work.
Kenya’s 2010 Constitution and other recent national institutional frameworks provide
UNV with a strong basis for addressing gender equality in all its initiatives. Devolution,
which is taken place at the very moment, implies a shift in power to more people-centered
governance, where all voices, regardless gender or other social and cultural categories,
ought to be heard. This gives us, as UNVs, ample opportunity to ask the questions that
epitomize gender mainstreaming; are our interventions benefitting both women and men,
and are the results of our initiatives reaching both women and men? Posing these simple
questions in our work will already greatly contribute to the Government of Kenya’s
commitment and the implementation of the new Constitution.”
For more information on this Newsletter, the UNV programme or to submit stories of your volunteering, contact the UNV Communications Officer in
Kenya George Oloo on [email protected] or [email protected] or call us on +254 20 762 5540
www.ke.undp.org UNVKenya @unvkenya
