Age
13
Country of Residence
Kenya
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
The spark for the Kisii Youth Civic Changemakers Lab came from what I have personally observed among young people in my community. One moment that stayed with me was seeing a young person with ambition and potential struggle with negative peer influence and limited opportunities. I felt concerned and kept asking myself what could change if young people had the right support, mentorship and space to lead. That moment became my “aha!” moment: young people should not only be treated as beneficiaries; they can be problem-solvers and community leaders when trusted and equipped to act. Instead of allowing the concern to remain just a thought, I began speaking with young people and community contacts about the challenges they experience and the solutions they would like to see. Their responses confirmed that many young people want to contribute but need practical opportunities, guidance and supportive networks. That early engagement inspired me to develop the Kisii Youth Civic Changemakers Lab. I began shaping a model that brings together youth from schools, churches, faith-based groups and communities to identify problems, learn leadership and civic skills, collaborate and implement practical solutions. My spark therefore became a commitment to action: turning youth frustration into purpose, ideas into projects, and individual voices into collective community action.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We have continue to encourage more youth to join our project through community meetings, awareness sessions, peer-to-peer discussions, social media and direct outreach. So far, we have engaged approximately 50 community members, including women, youth, vulnerable households, community leaders and volunteers. About 30 have participated directly in project activities, 15 have volunteered their time or skills, and 10 have helped mobilize other community members and households. Participants have shared their experiences, identified community needs, raised awareness about the problem, supported vulnerable households, and contributed local knowledge and practical solutions. Their involvement has increased community participation and strengthened local ownership of the project. In the future, we plan to expand engagement to at least 100 people and establish a network of 10 community champions who will mobilize others, share information and promote community-led action. We will use peer education, community dialogues, local events and social media to reach wider audiences. We will measure progress through the number of people reached, participants attending activities, volunteers recruited, households mobilized, referrals made, and people taking leadership roles. Our goal is to build a growing network of empowered changemakers who can sustain action beyond the project period.
How many people are on your team?
15
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
The impact I hope to create is a Kisii county community where young people see themselves as active, responsible citizens that are problem-solvers rather than mere spectators. As the project is still at the emerging stage, I have engaged young people and community contacts through conversations about substance abuse, school dropout, unemployment, harmful peer influence and civic disengagement. Their experiences and ideas have helped shape the initiative. In the first year, we aim to directly reach 100 young people, establish 10 Youth Changemaker Teams, engage 10 schools, faith-based youth groups and community networks, recruit 20 mentors, and mobilize 300+ volunteers, reaching at least 1,000 community members indirectly. We will measure impact through a baseline and endline assessment. We aim for a 30% improvement in civic knowledge and leadership confidence, at least 70% of participants taking part in community action, and 60% assuming leadership or volunteering roles after training. Each team will implement and document one practical community solution. For me, success will be seeing a young person move from saying, “Someone should do something,” to saying, “We have a problem, and we can work together to solve it.” I believe youth ownership, mentorship and practical action will create lasting change.
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Idea (We’re hoping to get started in the future)
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
Kisii Youth Civic Changemakers Lab is a youth-led, nonpartisan initiative that transforms young people’s energy into positive community action by equipping teenagers and youth with civic knowledge, leadership skills, mentorship and collaborative networks to identify local challenges, co-create practical solutions, work across faith and community groups, and lead sustainable projects that strengthen responsible citizenship and inclusive community development in Kisii County.
Project title
Kisii Youth Civic Changemakers Lab (KYCCL) “From Youth Energy to Active Community Action”
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
In my Kisii County community, I have seen how quickly a young person’s hopes can be affected by the challenges around them. One experience that stayed with me was seeing a young person with ambition and potential gradually lose direction because of negative peer influence, substance use and lack of meaningful opportunities. What affected me most was knowing that, with the right mentorship, support and positive environment, that same energy could have been directed toward education, skills, leadership and community service. I am also concerned about early pregnancies and marriages, school dropout, petty crime, unemployment and poverty, as well as young people being manipulated or recruited by political actors to participate in violence during periods of political tension. These challenges can interrupt education, weaken families, create insecurity and limit young people’s future opportunities. This matters to me because I do not want young people in Kisii to be defined by the problems they face. I want them to recognize their own potential and become part of the solution. Through challenge, young people from schools, churches, faith-based groups and communities will gain mentorship, civic knowledge and leadership skills while designing practical responses to local challenges thus need to transform frustration into purpose, vulnerability into resolutions.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
Peer Education
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next year, I will turn the Kisii Youth Civic Changemakers Lab from an emerging idea into a tested and sustainable youth-led model. Months 1–3 – Launch: Use the jumpstarting grant to conduct community listening, establish a baseline, finalize safeguarding systems and recruit 100 young people. We will train participants in civic leadership, teamwork and project design, establish 10 Youth Changemaker Teams and engage 20 mentors. Months 4–6 – Act: Provide small resources for each team to test a locally identified solution. We will document activities, measure results, gather community feedback and train 20 peer leaders. Months 7–9 – Grow: Build partnerships with more schools, faith-based youth groups and community organizations. Successful approaches will be improved and replicated, mobilizing 300+ volunteers and reaching 1,000+ community members. Months 10–12 – Sustain: Conduct an endline assessment, document lessons, hold a Youth Changemakers Showcase and establish a 100+ member network. We will use evidence from the pilot to attract partners and future funding. The grant will provide the critical seed support for training, community engagement, mentorship, safeguarding, monitoring and youth-led action projects helping us test what works, demonstrate measurable results and prepare the initiative for expansion across Kisii County.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
The Kisii Youth Civic Changemakers Lab introduces a locally adapted approach that connects youth civic leadership, interfaith collaboration and practical community action in one continuous model. While youth training, faith-based activities and community projects may exist separately, our innovation is bringing them together so young people identify problems, design solutions and lead action themselves. The model is built around Learn–Lead–Act–Reflect–Improve. Instead of young people only attending workshops, every team will apply what they learn to a real Kisii community challenge, test a solution, collect feedback and improve it. This creates a practical learning-to-action pathway. A distinctive feature is the Interfaith Youth Changemaker Circle, bringing together young people from different religious youth groups to work on shared community priorities. In a context where young people can sometimes be separated by social, religious or political differences, the project creates a safe, nonpartisan space for cooperation, dialogue and community service. We will also use a peer-to-peer multiplier system: 20 trained peer leaders will each mobilize at least five additional young people, helping the model grow from within the community. Technology will strengthen this local network through WhatsApp-based peer learning, coordination and sharing of solutions. By Year One, we aim to establish 10 Changemaker Teams, test 10 youth-designed solutions, create 5 interfaith/community collaborations, train 20 peer leaders and mobilize 300+ volunteers. What makes the model locally new is its deliberate combination of Kisii youth voices, faith-community networks, civic learning and measurable youth-led action in one sustainable ecosystem.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
In Kisii County, I am concerned about the challenges facing young people, including drug and substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and early motherhood, petty crime, unemployment, harmful peer pressure, and the risk of young people being manipulated into political violence during periods of political tension. Kisii’s own County Integrated Development Plan reports a teenage pregnancy prevalence of 14.2% and identifies inadequate youth involvement in public participation and civic education as a challenge. These challenges matter to me because I see young people as one of Kisii’s greatest assets. When their energy is not guided toward education, skills, service and constructive civic participation, communities can lose enormous potential. I want to help create safer spaces where young people from schools, churches, youth groups and local communities can build confidence, develop leadership skills and work together on practical solutions. Our initiative will re-engineer youth energy toward positive action through mentorship, civic learning, interfaith collaboration, community service, environmental action and youth-led projects. It will nurture responsible and peaceful citizens who can contribute to stronger families, safer communities and sustainable development. The initiative aligns with Kisii County’s development priorities on social development, governance, youth participation and sustainable environmental conservation, while contributing to the SDGs, particularly SDGs 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 16 and 17.
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Our 15-member youth team shares leadership through roles in project coordination, finance, safeguarding, communications, partnerships, training, monitoring, civic participation, school engagement, environmental action and community mobilization. Each member leads their area, contributes ideas, mobilizes peers and participates in decisions, ensuring collaborative, inclusive and youth-driven implementation.
