KISUMU, Kenya Apr 9 – Four Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have embarked on an initiative to create awareness on leadership and governance among the youths in informal settlements of Kisumu County ahead of the August 9th General Elections.
The program spearheaded by Blue Cross – Kisumu in collaboration with Nyalenda Young Turks, Gifted Hands and Clothe a Child Initiative targets youths from Nyalenda A, Nyalenda B and Manyatta slums who are prone to being used by politicians to engage in violence during the electioneering period.
Blue-Cross social worker Alvina Atieno said the program targets to equip the youths with skills to reject voter bribery and violence to ensure that peace prevails during and after the elections.
The beneficiaries, she added, are expected to train their fellow youths on how to conduct themselves during the electioneering period to ensure that they are not deceived by selfish politicians to perpetrate violence.
Through the initiative, she added the youths are also able to know their leaders from the grassroots to the national level, through civic education, active debates and youth-led Leadership Summits in the community.
“The youths from these areas are vulnerable and some politicians give them handouts and alcohol to attack their opponents,” she said.
The initiative, she added, has roped in the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) and National Government Administration Officers (NGAO) to crack down on illicit brews and drugs in the slums and at the same time offer support to the affected youth.
“NACADA has been supportive in terms of policy adherence to the campaigns to stop alcohol consumption and drug abuse by educating them on the effects of the menace,” she added.
Millicent Atieno, a grade 5 pupil from Blue-Cross Organization, said most children don’t understand matters of leadership and elections adding that the program has enabled the youths and children to gain knowledge on the subject.
“Children and the youths follow the politicians to be given handouts. When this happens most of them get hurt in the process of struggling for the money thus causing violence and loss of young lives,” she explained.
Through the training, the children and youths have a platform to air their challenges, ask questions about leadership and governance and at the same time receive advice from social workers on various issues affecting them in the informal settlements.
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