Background

Kericho County Youth Bunge Network which is a youth-driven initiative with systemized structures from the county level to the village level comprising of 1000 Village youth Bunges (parliament) mandated to rally youth together to achieve greater voice for the youth in the national reform agenda, to create new livelihood opportunities, to increase public awareness of youth priorities and to promote their effective participation in governance will spearhead peace building initiatives.  This will have a positive impact in the society in the county by ensuring that the electioneering period and the entire transition period will be peaceful.

Indeed, in 2007/2008 Kenya’s general elections Sondu market was marred by devastating post-election violence in which the youth, the elderly, the women from all the tribes in cosmopolitan Sondu market were widely believed to have played a negative role as perpetrators. At the same time, it is a fact that the youth also became victims and to a greater extent suffered like the rest of the population as a result of gun wounds from the perceived police brutality. As a consequence of these happenings, many innocent young girls and women were raped, many young men were beaten up or killed either by the perceived rivals, schools were closed and enormous economic opportunities were lost; in a nut shell therefore the youth were heavily and negatively affected by the post-election violence.

Based on this argument the youth Bunge presidents and youth group Bunge members did send an appeal to all the contestants for various political seats in the coming elections, party leaders, supporters and the general public to conduct themselves with restraint and maintain order and peace during the March 4, General election, the Bunge leaders further opined that this coming General Elections will be a defining moment for the entire nation and residents of cosmopolitan Sonduin unison did call on all Kenyans ingeneral and residents of Sondu in particular to come out in large numbers and at the march 4 Elections to help elect leaders who will bring about the desired political, social and economic transformation based on the promise of the new constitution

As an organization that come into being to institute post-election recovery plan and as wellas championed ethnic dialogue and reconciliation after the post-election violence of 2007/8 and after the passage of the constitution, Bunge presidents from sondu calls on all residents from Sondu residents to uphold tolerance among the different ethnic groups in Sondu market to usher in a functional and an all-inclusive society, it is only through tolerance, peace dialogue and ethnic harmony that the youth in Kenya can elect credible, responsive and transformative leaders who will run a truly functional and economically viable Sondu market that we can all be proud of.

Subsequently, Youth awareness of their role and their active participation in peace building activities is very critical if the society is to remain stable and peaceful. This argument is anchored on the following reasons as captioned out during the recent peace outreach activities:

5. The youth formsover 50% of Kenya’s current population hence for effective change and meaningful transformation to be achieved, their involvement and participation becomes more relevant.
5. Youth are the main beneficiaries of a peaceful transition and the subsequent successful reform process in the country because they are young and therefore have a huge stake currently and in the coming years.
5. The youth are the group that politicians often take advantage of in instigating and perpetrating violence related activities, as witnessed in 2007/2008 post-election violence.

 

The Objective

The specific objectives of the project and its implementation include the following:

• Discuss ways to strengthen youth voices in advocating for peaceful coexistence, conflict management and mitigation among all the communities in the county.
• Increase advocacy efforts in support of peaceful and democratic election in the region generally.
• Challenge youth to be actively involved and actually participate in preaching peace in the region.

PEACE OUTREACH ACTIVITY

This was a major activity during the month involving the training of the youth Bunge Presidents at the constituency level. In most of the peace outreach activity the target of 93 participants as indicated in the attendance list vowed to preach peace in their neighborhood.

(A section of the participants & the project coordinator(in black T-shirt) during peace outreach activity at cosmopolitan Sondu market)

Some of the major issues discussed during Sondu peace outreachactivity by the Bunge leaders include the following:

• Peace building in the society
• Causes of conflicts in the society
• Conflict management and resolution
• Early warning systems and conflict mitigation
• National cohesion and Integration
• The role of youth in creating, supporting and sustaining peace in the society

(Area Chief Mr. Solomon Tumand Sondu Bunge president leader Sammy Achoka during Sondu  peace outreach activity)

During valuable facilitation by the facilitators, training on conflict mitigation and management helped participants understand how distorted information, lack of information, stereotypes and blowing up small issues can ignite violence in Sondu.

 

The training as witnessed in the previous peace outreach activity centered on enabling the youth to:

• Understand the issues relevant to peace building and peaceful coexistence among the communities in the region.
• Identify issues of concern in their communities and linking them with advocacy for peace in the region.
• Identify practical ways for youth to address issues at community level
• Package the peace message in creative and attractive ways to sensitize their peers on the need for advocating for and sustaining peaceful relations among all the communities in the region.
• Understand the role of youth in peace building and advocacy.

 

(A section of the participants who turn up for the peace outreach activity at Sondu market pose for a snap shot after making their resolutions on peace)

Resolutions of the constituency Peace Trainings

During all the forums, the youth participating came up with resolutions aimed at boosting and improving peaceful relations among all the communities resident in the area. Upon insightful and in-depth discussions the youth resolved to:

5. Be advocates and ambassadors of peace in the society before, during and after the elections in the region to ensure that all the communities coexist peacefully at all times.
5. Not to allow politicians to influence them to breach peace or perpetrate violence but rather to make their own decisions.
5. Participate in peace building activities including peace barazas organized at the community as well as working with other stakeholders in fostering peaceful relations in the region.
5. To disseminate information regarding signs of conflicts and to prevent the violence in the region to the youth network in the entire constituency.
6. Get involved in the community policies that will promote peace in the region.
5. Have confidence in the public institutions including the Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to conduct credible elections, accept the polling results and ready to maintain peace in case of a runoff.

ACHIEVEMENTS

During the trainings and commissioning of the Youth Bunge Network at the constituency level we were able to reach out to the grassroots members who are major stakeholders in our current project. This means that the information imparted on them will create a positive impact on the ground where relevant programs rarely focus on yet they are very critical in terms of establishing and sustaining peaceful relations among the communities in the region.

Activities planned for coming period/month

• Performance review and evaluation.
• Grand Peace march at Moi gardens Kericho grounds
• Peace marches/caravans

CONCLUSION

The peace outreach at Sondu was successful in terms of implementation of the project activities.The youth were receptive of the message of peace advocacy at Sondu based on the comments they made and their contributions during the peace march.

Ultimately, the participation of all the youth and other stakeholders in the society including the youth within Sondu and its environs is vital for creating a peaceful, integrated and cohesive society