The Pamoja Initiative – Luo Youth Engagement Forum 13th – 14th October 2014 RESOLUTIONS

Preamble

We the youth leaders drawn from Kisumu, Homa Bay, Siaya and Migori counties have met here at Jumuia Hotel, Kisumu, to consult and reflect on the state of our people and identify ways of improving the living standards in the region. This is in recognition that our youth are challenged by poverty, HIV and AIDS infections, political intolerance and unemployment. Opportunities for youth to participate in political processes and decision making are also minimal. This state of matters has made life difficult for the residents of this region and more so for the youth.

A section of the youth during the forum in Kisumu

As youth leaders we accept the mandate and responsibility placed on us, and especially the need for us to identify, develop and implement home-grown solutions to the problems that this region faces.

Matters of Concern

During our consultations, we made extensive reference to book of Nehemiah in the Bible, recognizing that we have d duty to spearhead the transformation of our communities. Towards this, we recognized that our society’s challenges fall into three broad categories:

a)      Social Transformation

The youth in our region have over the decades been hampered by a negative attitude towards things that could bring development and improvement in standards of living. There is therefore a need for deliberate measures to gradually replace negative elements of our culture with positive ones for the betterment of all. We must all accept that we cannot move back to the way life was decades ago and instead adapt our culture to the modern times.

b)      Political Engagement

For many years the youth in our region have been identified with political intolerance and are often accused of focusing on politics more than socio-economic activities.

c)      Economic Empowerment

The youth in our region have many times had a proclivity to being misused by politicians after being given small handouts. This has created a culture of dependence, which has been worsened by the high levels of unemployment and low levels of entrepreneurship.

Commitment To Action

After extensive deliberations, we have identified various actions that we shall undertake after this meeting so as to resolve the challenges facing our people. These are:

a)      Social Transformation

1. We will organize forums to accord the youth opportunities to evaluate behaviours, habits and attitudes and agree on those that need to be changed for the betterment of our lives
2. We will actively promote national cohesion and integration by campaigning against tribalism and especially debunking ethnic stereotypes
3. We will organize inter-ethnic youth forums so that our youth and those from other communities interact and build bridges, in addition to organizing exchange visits
4. We will organize sports and similar socialization activities
5. We will encourage youths to adopt healthy behaviours and register with NHIF (National Hospital Insurance Fund)

b)     Political Engagement

1. We will encourage the youth to actively engage the political leaders so as to hold them to account
2. We will work with the youth to develop means of balancing on time, purpose, how and when to engage in active politics
3. We will organize forums for the youth to deliberate and identify means of embracing democracy and promoting political tolerance
4. We will encourage and support youths to seek positions of leadership and decision making
5. We will encourage the youths to register for ID cards and also as voters so that they can articulate their rights through established political processes

c)      Economic Empowerment

1. We will organize forums for our youth to be trained on how to engage in agri-business so as to take advantage of the huge amounts of water available in our region
2. We will encourage the youths to register business names and companies so as to take advantage of the youth funds as well as government contracts now available
3. We will sensitize the youth to come up with income generating activities and in that way transform them from job seekers into job creators
4. As leaders, we will lead the way by each of us setting up or enhancing our businesses as an example to the other youth

Conclusion

The youth in Nyanza have in the past faced many challenges, and we all have a responsibility in identifying solutions to these challenges. To do this, we must follow the example of Nehemiah who empathized with the problems of the people, made plans and eventually rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. Similarly, we have today renewed our commitment and energy to identify and implement solutions to the problems and challenges facing our youth in Nyanza.

 We therefore commit ourselves to implement these points of action in the shortest time possible.

 May God bless our nation Kenya and may God bless Nyanza Region.

 Signed on this 14^th day of October 2014 at Jumuia Hotel, Kisumu.

 Pastor Ken Ouma