Nairobi, 12th May 2024
Nairobi City County Government in collaboration with Youth Voices for Peace, and in partnership with stakeholders including Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD-Kenya) and International Republican Institute (IRI), spearheaded a meeting on Civic Voices Project aimed at harnessing and consolidating young people’s efforts and voices in policy conversations and involvement in sustainable development at the county level.
This initiative which has been in the works for the last six months fostered civic engagement between the county government representatives and the citizens of Nairobi, augmenting the traditional participation channels by incorporating digital tools like the Civic Voices mobile phone App which was instrumental in achieving the training of government officials, engagement of Civic Voices Ambassadors from the 85 wards, and substantial contributions to public participation.
County Executive for Inclusivity Public Participation and Customer Service, Dr. Anastasia Nyalita, who officiated the meeting acknowledged that the session was a pivotal moment to update partners on the project’s progress, share plans for the next phase, and explore potential partnerships in the upcoming year.
Said Dr. Nyalita, “this forum provides an opportunity for young leaders to interact with a multi-discipline group of representatives from the county, national government, development partners, the private sector, civil society organizations, public institutions, and academia as they share experiences, innovations, and best practices in Kenya’s devolution journey, with particular focus on the uptake of the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals.”
The platform facilitated real-time interactions on various policies enhancing the governance processes, namely the Nairobi City County Proposed Establishment of Boroughs, the Nairobi County Public Participation Service Charter, The Year 1 Service Review – Department of Public Participation just to mention a few.
The forum also assessed the place of young people in the established processes and sought to foster further entry points to enhance involvement.
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