By Bobby Dean (Vice President of IFLRY)
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the 3rd Africa-Europe Platform Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, which included an inspiring visit to some fascinating youth-led projects emerging from the slums.
The Platform Meeting is part of a number of co-operation initiatives organised by the North South Centre (funded by the Council of Europe) between a wide range of youth organisations across Europe and Africa including Scouts, Girl Guides, National Youth Councils, political organisations like our own and so on.
The Platform exists to oversee all of that co-operation and as we are approaching the end of a programme cycle we predominantly focused on structural reforms that we believed were necessary to ensure a stable future for the co-operation as well as the drafting of a new programme.
The discussions were intense and at points looked like they may break down but I’m proud to say that we achieved a positive solution by the end of the meeting and we now have a solid set of reforms as well as an exciting draft programme to work up over the course of the year.
Inspiring Youth Projects
The personal highlight of the trip for me came in the afternoon of the second day, when we had the opportunity to visit some youth projects in a slum area called Kariobangi.
In a humble building packed full of young people, we were shuffled into a small office room and introduced to a group of young men behind an organisation called Sauti Ya Mtta. They are running a citizen journalism initiative that is empowering young people by giving a platform to issues that are ignored by the Government and traditional media.
In the same building we were also introduced to a group of young women creating their own path out of the slums with a breathtaking entrepreneurial initiative, Ghetto Models Kenya. They are a collective of fashion designers, models and photographers who together have created a stunning portfolio of shots that enable them to sell the clothes they design on Instagram and Facebook.
Both of these groups were supported by a wider youth-led initiative based in Nairobi called Pawa254. They’re a unique social enterprise that puts faith ‘artivism’ as a driver for social change, enabling young creatives to collaborate on community-driven projects. Our visit to their headquarters in the evening was the perfect way to end a day that will stay with me forever.
The passion and creativity that I witnessed in this impossibly tough environment has only served to underline my faith in one thing – that young people, given the right opportunities, are the key to development.
The next Platform meeting is due before the end of the year and IFLRY will once again attend representing the global voice of young liberals. In the meantime, we will continue our drive towards making the Federation more global by intensifying our co-operation with our African members and partners.
If you are working on any projects in Africa or think you can help with IFLRY’s co-operation initiatives in this region, please contact Vice President Bobby Dean on bobby.dean@iflry.org