WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

Back in the days when women had no voice and all they could do is be subjected to men, be constrained to household chores and so forth. Due to women empowerment they have been able to stand up for their rights and also run for seats in Parliament and their constituencies. The Law states that; women should be given equal opportunities, as men furthermore they are faced with challenges. I will state a few such; as lack of financial stability; in that they  do not have enough funding to run for a seat.

Secondly lack of support from fellow women ;truly the writer of this quote was not wrong when he stated "women are their own worst enemies". Reason being, women tend to create a certain rivalry amongst each other and forget that they need each other in all aspects of life. If only women could support each other in what they do, then as a Nation we would be so ahead in terms of development. If we look at recent success stories of  Women in Arabic Countries, they are now running for seats and winning because of the massive support given by their fellow women.Statitstics has shown that, approximately 52% of Kenya mainly consists of women population 47.1%being registered voters. Unfortunately they do not vote for their own fellow women.

Thirdly the Culture effect; this basically talks about the patriarchal society. We have been raised to view women as second to men. This perception that men are the only ones who rule, at the same time this has affected our young women who would want to lead our counties they cannot simply because of cultural influences per say.

Fourthly perception that women are fragile; sometime last year there was a joke going round, that if women rule the world there will be world War III. It might seem as a joke but if we keenly look at the negative side of the joke, it is abit sad and absurd to see that women are perceived that way in this time and age more women are trying to prove the society at large wrong. A good example would be Professor Olive Mugenda the Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor, she has proven to be very strong and self driven hence establishing a better foundation for the University. The late Professor Waangari Maathai was another influential and inspiring woman in the society,  she stood her ground and because of that she was able to conserve trees for the future generations. When I look at this two examples they leave me to wonder what about a thousand women what can they do?

Lastly  lack of equal opportunities this is very evident in the African Context whereby women are not recognized. The Kenyan law has highlighted clearly that, women should have 2/3 of representation in all leadership positions which is being acted upon.At the same time it is not equal everywhere when it comes to other jobs, men are given jobs which are perceived to be masculine at the expense of women. This is because they are believed to do the job better, which is not true nowadays women equally perform tasks better than men themselves.

In conclusion we need to support women in their  leadership positions.

Innovative Minds Going The Business Way.

Business in Kenya has become profound and a very good way to earn money.I believe that; in our world today, white collar jobs are not the only way to put food on the table. You can start a small business and within a short period of time you are earning more than you can imagine.Meet Brian, a 21 year old student at St. Paul's University who is passionate about machines, well according to him machines are like "toys"(chuckles).I have been working around the clock to make this innovation come to life.Fee has been a challenge to pay, thanks to our ignited minds we are where we are now. For a few semesters I had to drop out luckily I resuming this semester.
I was amused by how well he and his colleagues sat down and created an application,which can be easily used by so many youth to check what events are happening,movies showing on Cinema and many more.One day we sat down and thought this application can give us money, since we had an innovation club at St.Paul's University we launched it.A few months later we went to Safaricom, after keenly looking at our application they offered to take us in and pay us a good amount. Ever since that magical moment my life changed fully.
I realized that, you can create your own job opportunities you do not have to rely on the white collar jobs.I believe everyone out there has an innovative mind be it entertainment,technology,it all sums up to one thing,the youth are very brilliant and they can do so much if they put effort into it he concluded.
Well we can see that we have so much creativity and knowledge but we do not put them into use.It is how you look at it that matters.Go for it there is nothing too difficult to achieve.

Have a look at KenyaMax Beta On play store.This what Brian and his friends came up with,you can also like their page on Facebook  KenyaMax and look at what they have been doing.YES YOU CAN!!! Always remember you can do wonders by utilizing your ideas.Stop Wishing start doing!!!

KENYA URGENTLY NEEDS A NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY

The revamped NYS strategy and implementation of the same in some areas like Kibera, is welcome and a move in the right direction. The increasing youth bulge, increased unemployment, increased levels of immorality and indiscipline among young people  have far reaching future consequences in Kenya hence my total support for the well thought out NYS stategy.

Listening to the Cabinet Secretary Ministry  for  Devolution and Planning Ms Ann Waiguru on Cheche Citizen TV last week Wednesday 15^th October 2014 on NYS and whose focus is  on socialisation, promoting civic competencies and instilling discipline, it is evident that this new strategy will not only empower the youth but transform our society by 2030.  The service men as she referred to them will have a great opportunity to be the pillars at the county level but only if they instil the same values and skills to those that they will be mentoring.

Well managed, this is a venture all tax payers should be happy about and support since it will contribute to Kenyans economic growth. If 6.7 Billion can be generated from NYS annually, the youth of Kenya will make a name in the history of Kenya. And yes they will do it.

As i further listened to the Cabinet Secretary, she also indicated that the National Leadership and Entrepreneurship Strategy will replace the National Youth Policy which was due for review in 2013. Having gone through the strategy, noting the need to have one policy strategy and guided by the governments priority in the 2013-2017 Medium Term Plan, i believe there are other key issues affecting young people that should be incorporated in a youth policy that are not necessarily a matter of leadership and entrepreneurship.

The success of any youth policy is the responsibility of the entire society and should be  document that  represents a holistic, integrated and coordinated approach to youth development which luckily  was the President commitment in April 2013 when challenged by youth on why his government did not consider having an independent youth ministry. The government through the Ministry of Devolution and Planning should therefore unpack the leadership and entrepreneurship strategy through the public policy process that allows for extensive engagement with stakeholders between government, Kenya Young Parliamentarian Association, County Executives responsible for youth, youth organisation among other key individuals or organisation. The strategy for example does not state which approach will be used to address the alarming drug addictions, reproductive health issues such as early pregnancy among young women and rural to urban migration among others. Moreover, the policy should also clearly define the mainstreamed approach to achieving the youth agenda and similarly have clear affirmative action frameworks and programmes guaranteed in article 55 of the Kenyan Constitution. The national leadership and entrepreneurship strategy in its current state will not sufficiently serve as Kenya’s National Youth Policy. 

Susan Mwongera,

Chief Executive Officer, Youth Agenda

Home bound :)

Let us stop moving. Honestly we are doing more harm than good. Remember before devolution we spent months and months saving up for fare and life in the big city? Because we had limited access to resources that would render us more financially stable through jobs in our rural settings. But all that changed, I’d like to believe. Every day for as long as I can remember there are at least five jobs on the classifieds being offered by the county governments; yes; the very counties we are running away from. So we are in a desperate situation in which we have all flocked the big cities, with no motivation whatsoever to max on funds set aside for us, no proper housing, no proper sanitation (perfect recipe for health constraints by the way), no source of income and a myriad of other problems.

We are so quick to pack up and go because we have this insane misconception that there is automatic employment as soon as we touch base in the big city. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but whoever told you that that is the situation lied! Guess what? An analysis of hands-on data indicates that the counties with high rates of urbanization such as Kisumu, Nairobi and Mombasa tend to have higher levels of unemployment. That is the sad truth. And yes, urbanization equals employment but for how many of us? How about grass root development which is a whole lot likely to give a large number of jobs, and in the comfort of your ‘home’.  We leave so many opportunities in our hope to live the dream without necessarily putting into consideration the burden that it bears. We need to give our best shot in exploiting the opportunities that we are presented with at the county level. Let us turn them into blue print plans for developing our counties and possibly be the revolutionary youth who paved unlimited employment opportunities for consequent youth by getting rid of factors necessitating this rural-urban movement craze that has landed us in a lot of trouble. In any case, charity does begin at home, right? Human determination comes with it an unbridled resilience that liberates us from being victims of consequences. That is why success stories are bred from corners we once deemed impossible. What’s your story? Go back home and start from there. Leave no stone unturned guys. Remember the grass is NOT greener on the other side; the grass is greener where you water it!

No experience, no job; no job, no experience

Many youth experts and institutions have realized the severity of a deep cutting constraint that is facing today’s youth. In recent times especially, this issue has become more and more emphasized as unemployment continues to be deemed a national disaster.

As we know the job market today, it is a prerequisite of sorts that one must have some experience if one is to stand a chance at a job vacancy; the irony , right? In its most absurd demand, the experience is often a minimum of two years. So what happens to the fresh, well-skilled and learned scores of graduates released into the corporate world each year? They end up adding on to the already unmanageable and rapidly growing unemployed section of the demography.

However, it is clear that the Jubilee government has a genuine interest in mainstreaming the youth agenda thus presenting an obvious disconnect; a thorough disconnect between the government and the job providers both in the private and public sectors.

It is not enough to preach empowerment with no action and that said, it is evident that someone somewhere has failed.

While that stands though, finger-pointing has never worked to this great country’s advantage. So solutions need to be suggested, evaluated, decided upon and implemented.
Many youth organizations (such as the Youth Agenda, the UNV and many more) are on an impactful volunteerism hype, especially following this year’s International Youth Week during which volunteerism was largely preached and defended to be the best possible way to acquire the experience that all employers seek in prospective employees.

With devolution, it seems most favorable that volunteerism programs have a lot of potential to reach far and wide. As such, we would like to call the county and national governments to join forces in initiating and implementing volunteerism programs at county level and to come up with a legal framework to rid the programs of malicious exploitation which strains volunteerism in the world over.

If, really, we look to better the youth’s means of livelihood, since they already know that we have their best interests at heart, then let everyone under whose jurisdiction youth matters fall, work towards promoting volunteerism among the youth as a means of gaining experience prior to employment.

Matters Uwezo

Being in a position where every piece of information regarding the Uwezo Fund is at my every beck and call, I am guiltier than most of you are regarding the staggering and somewhat dismal uptake of the same. The fund has been set up for you. Correction; YOUth. Yet somehow, we still have all manner of excuses to justify our complete lack of enthusiasm in as far as tapping into the fund goes. We want to cry day and night, that this country has no jobs for us; that it is virtually impossible to earn a decent living; to make good money that goes far, far beyond basics and upkeep and that accessing the Uwezo fund is an extremely difficult process.

So, I went about my research to get tiny bits of relevant information to compile into a juicy document that will not bore you with regards to language and format. I compiled it and figured that the following really is all you need to know about the criteria that deem one legible or illegible to access the fund.

The Uwezo fund has only four conditions that we have to adhere to in order for us to be able to access it; top of the list is that we have to form groups (and for crying out loud, how hard can that be?), thereafter we are expected to register the groups using relevant government institutions (this is only so basic and so out rightly a necessary requirement whenever doing anything official so let’s not whine about that one), the groups need to be composed of members aged between 18 to 35 (because that is the age bracket that has you deemed as a YOUth in Kenya) and operate a table-banking structure or any other group fund structure where members make monthly contributions. That wasn’t so hard now was it? I’d like to think that this entry gives you hope and motivates you to apply for the fund. The youth are an obvious priority to the Jubilee government. And I’m not just saying that; remember their manifesto and the actualization of the fund? Or how about the 30% public procurement for the youth, women and persons with disability? So the facts are in their favor, we should strengthen ourselves by taking advantage of the opportunities presented to us.
I feel like they have done their part by availing the funds the final bit is for us to apply and grow ourselves. Besides, you can put food in a baby’s mouth, its decision to chew and swallow is solely dependent on it, right? Have a fruitful week fam!
See you on the UWEZO side!

Image sourced from Google images

On Mental Health

Sourced from Google Images

On mental illness, there is much that we do not know. There are the more severe kinds that require you to be in hospital taking jabs of all sorts of medicine and then there are the daily occurrences that hardly have us thinking twice that we could be suffering from mental disorders and/or illnesses. That tiny tantrum you threw this morning for absolutely no reason or that massive mood swing you had because your sugar dish ran out…or how about that bout of cursing you did because you sent the baby of all typos on that text to your boss…or how you just loooooove ‘comfort food’; that could be a sign of a mental disorder, a startup symptom so to speak; the irony that is life, right?

There’s more than the average range of mental disorders that are mostly known to us. These include the likes of anxiety disorders, mood disorders, psychotic disorders, eating disorders, impulse control and addiction disorders, personality disorders, OCD, PTSD, adjustment disorders, dissociative disorders, factitious disorders, sexual and gender disorders, somatic symptom disorders, tic disorders, dementia or what is now commonly known as Alzheimer’s Disease just to name a few, most of which you thought were normal occurrences that one could attribute to weather changes , changes in diet, sleep patterns, bodily functions etc, right? WRONG!

So journey with us for the rest of the week as we give you insight on exactly what all the above mentioned could be. And learn why you mustn’t take any for granted because, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but even Alzheimer’s starts with very mild or negligible symptoms that we deem normal.

It is also very important that we familiarize ourselves with these disorders not only for ourselves but even for those around us and the people we love. I have read heartbreaking stories of people who have had to take care of their loved ones that have unfortunately fallen victim of mental illness that could have well been avoided.

Not only for purposes of prevention but also so as to understand victims of those really-hard-to-manage diseases in a bid to build tolerance and courage to face.

I’m no doctor, but I know how to gather information, how to manage it and share it. Trust me, you’re better off knowing than not. Besides, information IS power, right?

Welcome aboard!