UNV Kenya

VOLUNTEERING FOR CHANGE A newsletter of the United Nations

Volunteers Programme in Kenya| September 2012

INSIDE

:: UNV Supports Training for Students on Volunteering for Peace :: UN Volunteer Edwin Kilong Brokers Peace in Mt. Elgon :: Investing in Livelihoods – UN Volunteer Lizzy Otieno

Cover Photo ©UNV UN Volunteer Edwin

Kilong (left) welcomes Sirisia MP and

Minister for Trade Hon. Moses Wetangula

to the Bungoma County Peace Forum in

August 2012. With them is Assistant Lands

Minister and Bumula MP, Hon. Bifwoli

Wakoli.

Kenya faced a dark period of post-

election violence in 2007/2008. Several

initiatives to support peace and livelihoods

restoration were started in the wake of this period, many

of them involving UN Volunteers. In the run-up to the next

elections, sensitization on a

peaceful transition has taken on even greater meaning.

UNV Supports Students’ Volunteer Training

UNV teamed up this September with Uwezo Youth Trust to facilitate training of university

students in volunteerism as part of the Kura Kwa Amani project.

The brainchild of Kenyatta University student Kevin Kimani, Kura Kwa Amani (Swahili

for “A Peaceful Vote”) seeks to recruit hundreds of students from both public and private

universities to serve as volunteer peace ambassadors in their universities and communities.

Kevin points out that he was motivated by a desire to see students do something to prevent

a return to the post-election violence witnessed in 2007/2008:

“At the end of the day, we as students are the ones who are used to perpetuate violence,

and we are the ones who can make a change. This campaign and training is to help all of

us appreciate how volunteering for peace can make a real difference this time round,” says

Kevin, who is part of the management team at Uwezo Youth Trust.

To ensure that students got exposed to best practice, the Trust asked UNV to facilitate

training in basic principles of volunteerism as well as discussions on volunteering for

peace. The first training took place at Kenyatta University on September 14, facilitated by

UNV’s George Oloo. As part of the discussions with the students, UNV Peace Monitor

Jeremiah Mzee also got to share his experiences and the challenges faced in volunteering

for peace. About 200 students from various universities in Nairobi attended, many of them

citing a desire to make a meaningful volunteer contribution to peaceful elections.

The second leg of the training took place at Moi University in Eldoret, with about 100

students drawn from universities on the Western part of the country. The third and final

training took place in Mombasa at the end of September, with over 200 students involved,

representing 6 different campuses based in the coastal city.

At the end of the trainings, almost all the universities in the country had been covered,

either through their main centers or regional campuses.

Photo © Uwezo Youth Trust Students

from various universities in Nairobi

pose on the sidelines of training on

volunteerism at Kenyatta University.

UN Volunteer Rev. Edwin Kilong has served as a

Peace Monitor in Mt. Elgon region since

2009, helping to broker peace in

a region that was once a

conflict hot-spot…

UN Volunteer Edwin Kilong Brokers Peace In Mt. Elgon

Solving inter-clan conflicts, forestalling violence and insisting on harmonious living among traditionally at-war

communities is not everyone’s cup of tea. Not so for the Reverend Edwin Kilong, a UN Volunteer Peace Monitor

serving the Mt. Elgon region. Rev. Kilong joined UNV in the wake of the 2007/2008 post-election violence to help

in easing tensions in the volatile area, and has not looked back since, crisscrossing the region preaching peace.

Working with the district peace committee, Kilong has traversed the expansive region, being involved in peace

initiatives reconciling the Teso, Bukusu and Sabaot communities, as well as intervening in cross-border conflict

between Kenyans and Ugandans. Most of the conflict experienced in these areas stems from deep-seated issues that

have sometimes lasted generations, and Kilong finds particular inspiration in seeing these solved to ensure peaceful

co-existence.

His latest efforts have turned his attention towards Bungoma County, where trouble has recently flared between the

Sabaot and Bukusu communities. On the sidelines of a second reconciliation meeting in Bungoma town between

the two communities from Cheptais and Sirisia districts, Kilong explains the situation:

George gives his assessment of the student trainings:

“These sessions with students are illustrating two very important points for me…one is that young people are

passionate about not being bystanders anymore in meeting some of these societal challenges head-on, and two,

youth volunteerism is a real means to seeing meaningful impact in communities on pretty much any issue, and

particularly, peace and development.”

After the trainings, the students will organize activities and forums to help them share the message of peace with

their fellow students at both university and national level. This kind of initiative could very well be the means to

ensure community-wide participation in ensuring peaceful elections.

UNV’s participation in this initiative was informed by its mandate on youth volunteerism and the desire to

encourage and invest in student volunteerism activities. In November this year, the second annual Students

Symposium on Volunteerism will be held at the University of Nairobi, once again to encourage student volunteer

voices in meeting peace and development challenges.

“Bungoma is an area we’re watching closely now. The issues here are many, ranging from suspected inter-

community warfare, blocked access to water, governance and land issues and so on…When conflict arose, the

Regional Commissioner held a meeting with the two communities separately, and several of these conflict points

were raised. Today, we’ve invited selected representatives of the two communities to trash out an agreement…”

Kilong explains that negotiations like this one can often take time, with a long but necessary process to ensure a

peaceful outcome. To start with, each side will have to agree on what the main sticking issues are and then start

solving them one by one. At the end of two days of intensive discussions, the teams will go back to their

communities and present their peace agreement at a public baraza.

Kilong is enthusiastic about the chances of this process succeeding, saying:

“The thing about the peace process is that you don’t need to rush it. But I’m sure they’ll agree…I won’t let them

go until they do, because this is important for their people. Sometimes, I have to insist and to help them see that

they can’t leave here without an agreement…”

He notes that the work he and the District Peace Committee does has yielded results time and again, enabling

them to not only intervene in conflict situations but also put in place early warning mechanisms to forestall

violence. Moreover, support from partners, community leaders and the communities play a big role in ensuring

success.

Despite having done this for several years, sometimes under very trying circumstances, Rev. Kilong shows no

signs of slowing down. His work often involves going beyond his call of duty, even beyond what he signed up as

a UN Volunteer, but he insists it’s well worth it:

“People have come to learn the importance of peace as a result of the work we are doing here with the District

Peace Committee. I want to do more, because there are many things we still need to address in this region. And I

thank God that the community has learnt to trust me to be an impartial broker for peace…so I hope to continue

using this to preach peace.”

And it does seem the good reverend will not rest until all guns are silent.

Photo ©UNV UN Volunteer Edwin Kilong (left) welcomes Sirisia MP and Minister for Trade Hon. Moses Wetangula to the Bungoma County Peace Forum in August

2012. With them is Assistant Lands Minister and Bumula MP, Hon. Bifwoli Wakoli.

www.onlinevolunteering.org

UN Volunteer Lizzy Otieno has

spent the last three years working on

restoring livelihoods in Uasin Gishu

County among communities

affected by the 2007/2008 Post-

election violence…

UN Volunteer Lizzy Otieno Contributes to Livelihoods in Uasin Gishu In 2009, UN Volunteer Lizzy Otieno was sent by UNDP to Eldoret in Uasin Gishu County to help set up a

District Business Solutions Center. Three years later, the Eldoret DBSC is one of the most successful in the

country, providing a model for the other centers and leading livelihoods restoration efforts in the wake of the

2007/2008 post-election violence.

Working with and supporting the Ministry of Trade, Lizzy has seen the center grow to a business solutions center,

providing business skills training for the community, paying special interest to young people and women, as well

as giving out low-interest revolving funds for individuals and groups to start businesses. The DBSC also serves as

an information center for the business community, with a cyber café for internet and typesetting services. Lizzy

points out that investing in business skills for young people has been a worthy gamble:

“These young people have very unique and innovative ideas for businesses and livelihoods and they’re taking the

initiative. It’s very encouraging to watch what they can do with the training and support we are able to give them

– from rearing red worms for making organic fertilizer, to making detergent and recycling garbage, they’re doing

it all…”

Wycliffe Wesonga, the center’s manager, was seconded there by the Ministry of Trade, and echoes these

sentiments:

“We’ve so far done trainings in 3 districts, benefitting up to 1,800 people. Out of these, more than 60% have gone

ahead to start their own businesses and are doing well. Now we’re building on this by investing in teaching them

packaging and marketing skills as well as linking them with financial institutions.”

Beyond the business center, Lizzy has also overseen the facilitation of restoration of livelihoods for those who

were affected by the post-election violence through different interventions. These have included provision of farm

inputs and livestock, restoration of a community dam, enabling access to markets, setting up greenhouses for

community groups and even setting up a modern milk cooling plant for a cooperative society in Eldoret East. 16

different groups have been supported since the project started.

Continued…

For more information on this Newsletter, the UNV programme or to submit stories of your volunteering, contact the UNV Communications Officer in

Kenya George Oloo on george.oloo@undp.org or unvkenya@undp.org or call us on +254 20 762 5540

www.ke.undp.org/un-volunteers UNVKenya @unvkenya

Special effort has also been made to ensure that women are represented in the interventions. Lizzy makes the point

that women can often contribute very significantly to adding value to the community’s economic output, hence the

particular effort. She says:

“We decided from the beginning to take deliberate steps to ensure that women are represented in the value chain.

So we have targeted women groups and ensured their participation and facilitation. And they have been extremely

successful. Now, on pretty much all our projects, we have a 50/50 balance.”

Lizzy points out that despite these successes, there’s still a lot more to do and she’s not stopping any time soon.

She believes that these interventions have made and will continue to make a significant impact not just in

restoring livelihoods, but hopefully contributing towards reducing the risk of violence among youth and

communities living in the County even as the country heads to elections in 2013.

Photo © UNV Mzee Kanyingi, one of the beneficiaries of the livelihoods recovery project in Eldoret East, with a cow he received as part of the programme.