Call For Profiling Youth Organisations Working On Climate Change In Kenya

Climate Change is definitely well known to us, however, the key issue is preparing or being prepared to live with its impacts or minimize its impacts on our lives.

The extreme events associated with climate change will make life extremely hard for the majority of the youth and to this end Kenya Young Greens, which works with youth on climate change, is calling upon the youth of this country to stand and take action in order for us to be able to survive the storm of the effects of the phenomena and contribute towards reducing its causes.

Forests (Conservation)

Despite the extent of our local environment degradation, Kenya is described as having a low forest cover, just below 3% whereas some countries have as high as 50 % forest cover.

The international climate change policy making is moving towards creating a framework in which developing countries in the tropics would be paid either through market scheme or funds based scheme to halt deforestation, forest degradation and enhance the ability of forest to absorb one of the gases that cause global warming that is carbon dioxide, however, the same policy is also moving towards incorporating afforestation in which Kenya has even greater potential.

Agriculture

Agriculture has two faces in climate change:

1. It is one of the most vulnerable sources of livelihoods for the majority of Kenyans to extreme events like rainfall (both change in timing of onset, intensity, distribution, and duration) and drought.
2. In terms of contributing to climate change itself, since through agriculture there are gases that get released to the atmosphere that cause global warming, this include methane gases which largely come from animal farming. And Nitrous oxide which comes from the use of fertilizers and are even more dangerous than carbon dioxide.

The Call:

There are plenty of opportunities for the youth largely working on Agriculture, Forestry, Renewable Energy and Waste Management sectors and it is for this reason therefore that Kenya Young Greens is calling upon the youth engaged in these sectors.

Kenya Young Greens seeks to profile the youth groups and organisations involved in agriculture and conservation towards finding solutions to adapt to the effects of climate change and also employ technologies and techniques that contribute to reducing the levels of these gases that get emitted.

The mode of profiling is open to both individuals and organisations although organisations such as registered groups, CBO’s and youth serving NGO’s are highly encouraged.

Kenya Young Greens will accept information in form:

• The Name of organisation,
• Contact Details of the organisation
• Location where the organisation is based
• Size of the organisation
• Activities undertaken by the organisation
• Contact person of the organisation

Once documented, the profile will be disseminated to all actors both governmental and non-governmental actors working on climate change so as to assure that youth participation is assured. It will also provide a chance for youth to pitch their voices to push for policy and legislations that enhance productivity in the face of the changing climate, moreover for mitigation there could be a potential for engaging in the carbon markets. The profile will also be made available to the organisations documented therein so as to enable them to be part of networks working on the same issues.

Where to send your profile

Kenya Young Greens

P O Box 13229-00200

Nairobi- Kenya

Or

Email: info@kenyayounggreens.org

In case of need for further clarification please feel free to reach us on the office number 0202680745 or Contact Philip Otieno on 0724857647 or Stephen Mwakesi on 0723229117

In case of need for further clarification please feel free to reach us on the office number 0202680745 or Contact Philip Otieno on 0724857647 or Stephen Mwakesi on 0723229117

African Youth Leaders Introduce the youth Charter at a Social Media Forum

African Youth Leaders Introduce the youth Charter at a Social Media Forum

Friday 19^th March 2010

Venue: University of Nairobi Sports Ground Nairobi, Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya— At least 100 youth leaders from 24 African countries will introduce the African Youth Charter to the public today, 19^th March 2010, at a social media forum at 3.00pm at the University of Nairobi Sports Ground. Maina Kiai, the immediate former Chair of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), will officiate at the forum.

The youth have been attending a Pan African Youth Meeting at Lukenya Gateway since 15^th -19^th March 2010 to discuss new tools and effective strategies of youth participation in democracy and governance in Africa. The weeklong event culminates in a public social media forum today.

Dubbed the Youth AfriCamp 2010, the theme of the forum is: Youth, Media, and Governance. An initiative of Open Society Institute Youth Program, the Youth AfriCamp is the first of its kind in the region.

The Pan African Forum seeks to provide a platform for positive transformation of African youth by encouraging them to harness new strategies and tools to get their message heard. At the forum, the youth will showcase their work, share their experiences, discuss the African Youth Charter and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance; and learn how they can apply these important instruments in their work. Hon Cecily Mbarire, Kenya’s Assistant Minister for Tourism and Wildlife and Member of Parliament for Runyenjes addressed the youth on Wednesday 17^th March 2010, at Lukenya Gateway.

The Open Society Institute (OSI) is a New York-based organization with a presence in over sixty countries around the world. OSI is a non-profit operating and grantmaking foundation that aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to support the rule of law, education, public health, and independent media. Since 2005, OSI has been represented in East Africa through its Nairobi office, the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA).

For more information on the Youth AfriCamp 2010 contact: www.idebate.org/africamp

In East Africa: Linda Ochiel, Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA), at Lochiel@osiea.org or + 254 727-642-193 or Ronald Rwankangi, Open Society Initiative for East Africa, at rrwankangi@osiea.org or +256772302979

Youth AfriCamp: Building expressive advocacy capacity for youth participation

Themes: Youth and New Media; African Youth Charter and African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance

Open Society Institute, Youth Initiative seeks to empower youth to become active citizens who are willing and able to influence public life and promote open society ideals. The international initiative is an expansion of what began in 1995 as the Debate Program. While its work with debate continues, the initiative also provides small grants and technical assistance to build the capacity of youth-focused local organizations and encourage a broader range of youth-led projects that promote open society values. The Youth Initiative (YI) aims to build a community of networked, civically engaged young leaders who understand the underpinnings of a democratic society, and will therefore become its active guardians.- www.soros.org/youth

The Youth AfriCamp provides a forum that allows the participating youth to showcase their work in their respective regions.  In addition, the camp includes training segments that will allow youth to acquire skills in creative social messaging techniques that they can apply to their work. The YI sees added value in convening the AfriCamp to not only act as facilitator and sponsor, but most importantly, to raise the profile of the work young people are doing under challenging conditions.

The AfriCamp will bring young activists together so that they can learn from one another while we learn from them. It is integral for the YI to identify these local actors and collect this information to inform the OSI network. It will allow young activists to gain hands-on training in new media that could be translated to their advocacy efforts in their given fields. The participants will be recruited across the sub-Sahara Africa with ages ranging from 18-29 years.

Format

The AfriCamp will accommodate both Francophone and Anglophone participants.  The selection process will be competitive ensuring high caliber participants. The format includes a week long combination of presentations, training sessions and breakaway sessions for direct peer consultation for those working on similar issues or issues of interest. Training sessions will consist of outside facilitators procured by the YI as well as peer to peer trainings. The event will culminate with an afternoon long advocacy concert featuring local artists. The Youth Initiative has developed the following general themes for the Youth Camp: Youth and New Media, Youth and the Africa Youth Charter, Youth and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance

To register, fill in an application form online: http://www.idebate.org/africamp/ and for any inquiries please contact Ronald on email:  rrwankangi@osiea.org.

Application deadline 5^th March 2010.