The Kenya chapter of the Youth Caucus for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS Youth Kenya)
is a grouping of youth and youth-serving organisations interested in the WSIS process and the related ICT for Development issues. Members of the caucus have been active in the WSIS process since 2002 and have taken part in regional, global and national fora on ICT policy and WSIS. Subscribe to the group mailinglist by sending the an email to wsisyouthkenya-subscribe@madeinkenya.org or visit project website can
be found on http://projects.takingitglobal.org/wsisyouthkenya
WSIS Youth Kenya works within the framework of WSIS Youth Africa and
WSIS Youth Global and is one of 8 caucuses in Africa conducting a Rural Youth National Information Society campaigns. This resulted in the Kenya Youth Declaration on Implementation of the National ICT Policy on 13th August 2005 as documented in the WSISYouthKenya campaign report.
Some of the our activities are listed below:
» "There is nothing for us without us," Wainaina Mungai was quoted saying at the WSIS in Geneva, adding that governments have not taken into account the needs of youth in develop ICT policies.
» World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Youth Global
As part of the ongoing relationship with WSISYouthKenya, the WSIS Youth
(Global) Caucus helped to raise funds for the Rural Youth National
Information Society Campaign 2005 in Kenya and other African countries.
The campaign is funded by the Technical Centre for Agriculture and
Rural Cooperation of the ACP-EU countries (CTA) based in the
Netherlands. Visit http://www.wsisyouth.org/ for details.
» Kenya Civil Society Caucus for World Summit on Information Society (Kenya-WSIS)
Civil society organisations came together in 2003 to advocate for
social justice issues at WSIS as well as greater participation by
Kenya. Through Kenya-WSIS - http://www.kenya-wsis.org - which was
hosted by ABANTU for Development, the caucus promoted debate and
increased participation at WSIS. The caucus members contributed to the
debate on the National ICT Policy and later joined a multistakehoder
network - KICTANet. Visit http://www.kenya-wsis.org/ for details.
» Youth @ Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet)
As part of the WSIS and ICT policy processes, MadeinKenya.org
has worked to ensure that youth are represented in deliberations of
forums such as KICTANet. KICTANet is a multistakeholder consultation
forum bringing together players from government, private sector and
civil society to make input into the National ICT policy and During the same period, WSISYouthKenya was represented in the National WSIS Action Taskforce (the government-led taskforce for WSIS hosted at CCK), and the Kenya ICT Policy Project discussion list i.e. KIPList - hosted by IDRC.
» Media coverage of youth and ICT in Kenya
WSISYouthKenya highlighted youth & ICT issues in the media such through newspapers articles – (e.g. Managing the Information Society) and radio coverage on Radio Waumini 88.5 FM. We also used publications such as (e.g. The African Internet: Impact, Winners, Losers ) to contribute to the global ICT4D debate and raise awareness on ICT issues among the youth.
» Youth @ National ICT Conferences ICT Conference
MadeinKenya.org has Mobilising youth to attend and participate in ICT workshops, seminars and conferences via the WSISYouthKenya e-discussion list. This ensured youth representation at several ICT policy consultations since 2003. The build-up of events led to a multistakeholder process in which youth position was represented. In an effort to finalise the National ICT Policy, the National ICT Stakeholders Conference was held at Sun N’ Sand Resort, Kikambala
between 13th and 15th June 2004. Under the theme “Harnessing ICTs for National Development”, delegates from across all sectors (government, private sector and civil society) discussed the final content of what will become the sector policy. For the first time ever, there was an
open atmosphere that allowed, among other contributions, input from the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), which is an outstanding multi
stakeholder process (MSP) for all stakeholders to input to the national ICT policy and projects. Members of WSIS Youth Kenya effectively represented youth and sustainable development issues at the conference.
» Youth Alliance for ICT and Development (YouthAID)
After successful WSIS-related campaign, WSISYouthKenya is evolving into the Youth Alliance for ICT and Development (YouthAID). Youth-AID's
vision is to facilitate the empowerment of youth through application of Information and Communication Technologies as outlined in the Kenya
Youth Declaration on Implementation of the National ICT Policy and the Plan of Action of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
To join Youth-AID, write to us via youth [at] madeinkenya . org
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