UNV Kenya

VOLUNTEERING FOR CHANGE A newsletter of the United Nations

Volunteers Programme in Kenya| July 2012

INSIDE

:: UNV Calls for Volunteerism to Enhance Regional Integration :: UN Volunteer Organizes Kakuma Refugee Camp’s First Ever General Election :: IOM Project Benefits Fishermen In Lodwar :: 5 Questions With UNV Kenya’s HR Assistant

Cover Photo©UNV UN Volunteer Judy Mugo

talks to students at the United States International University in Nairobi during their

Career Fair.

UNV Kenya is a key player in local volunteerism

advocacy efforts through support to

establishing national

coordination mechanisms,

development of a national volunteer policy and direct

support to the responsible government

ministries as well as the volunteer

organizations network.

UNV Calls for Volunteerism to Enhance Regional Integration

The United Nations Volunteers programme has called for the scaling up of volunteer

effort to support regional integration in East Africa. Speaking at the Africa Conference

on Volunteer Action for Peace and Development held at the UN complex in Nairobi,

UNV Senior Manager for East Africa Tapiwa Kamuruko pointed out that volunteerism

could contribute greatly to enhancing regional exchanges and meeting common

development challenges.

Mr. Kamuruko observed that the high number of unemployed youth in the region

should be encouraged to take up voluntary service and supported in exchange

programmes to ensure they’re gainfully engaged and are exposed to relevant skills and

culture.

Speaking at the opening of the same event, UN Resident Coordinator & UNDP

Resident Representative Aeneas Chuma pointed out that the UN system, led by UNV,

has continued to support volunteerism, and called for stakeholders to continue doing so.

He also noted the UN Country Team’s continued support to the process of developing a

national volunteer policy for Kenya through the Ministry of Gender, Children & Social

Development.

The conference, held from 2nd

to 4th

July, brought together about 400 young people

from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi as well as Nigeria, Korea,

Canada and others. It also involved several volunteer involving organizations, both

local and international as well as senior representatives from the private sector and

government.

Over the two days, UNV encouraged discussion around the outcomes of IYV+10, the

UN General Assembly Resolution 66/67 of 2011 and the call from the UN Secretary

General to establish a Global Youth Volunteering modality. The conference ended with

a resolution for the establishment of an East Africa Peace & Service Corps that will be a

platform for galvanizing youth volunteer action in the region.

Continued on Page 2

Photo © UNV UNV’s Senior Portfolio Manager for East Africa Tapiwa

Kamuruko (left) presents a copy of the State of the World’s Volunteering Report to Kenya’s Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, EGH, MP, during the Africa Conference on Volunteer Action for Peace and Development.

Tomoko Yasunaga is an International

UN Volunteer assigned to UNHCR. She was posted to Kakuma Refugee

Camp in 2010 as a Peace-building Officer, and has

shown remarkable initiative and

success in those two years…

UN Volunteer Organizes Kakuma Refugee Camp’s First Ever General Election

Kakuma Refugee Camp located in Turkana West District near the border with South Sudan that hosts around

99,000 refugees from 13 countries, mainly from Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo, Sudan, Burundi, has

experienced the first general election of the entire camp since its establishment in 1992 on 30th

June 2012.

Tomoko Yasunaga, an International UN Volunteer assigned as Peace Building Officer of UNHCR sub-office

Kakuma, organized this election mobilizing around 600 refugee volunteers and 250 Kenyan and international

staff of all aid agencies which are based in Kakuma together with around 100 refugee and Kenyan security

personnel. Refugee volunteers, Kenyan and international staff were working as electoral committees and

presiding officers at 91 polling stations and tens of thousands refugees who are above 18 years old voted for their

leaders and many of them experienced the election for the first time in their life.

The long journey started in 2010, a few months after she arrived in Kakuma. As a Peace Building Officer,

Tomoko was assigned to promote the peaceful co-existence among refugees and began to realize there was a gap

in the existing leadership structure, since it was based on nationality, tribe and clans, thus aggravating tribalism

and clan-based divisions. As a result, it brought about a situation in which mutual cooperation between

communities was weak and often ineffective, especially in terms of the sharing of limited resources. There were

also challenges in conveying information between leaders and community members as the number of refugees in

each community was disproportional. What is more, issues relating to the provision of services and issues

affecting persons living with disabilities, gender, children, and particular groups were not well represented by the

structure.

Tomoko together with her counterparts in NGOs, government and senior UNHCR staff started discussing ideas

around restructuring the leadership to one based on constituencies made up of blocks and zones and camps, for

enhancing effective service delivery, information sharing and mutual cooperation among refugees. Despite the

agreement and full consensus of all agencies, the concept had been completely rejected by refugee leaders who

had been sitting in their position for long time and their community members who were influenced by them. The

distrust between different ethnic groups due to their historical background was also a great obstacle for their

acceptance. However, she and her colleagues undauntedly tried to convince the refugee community members,

and gradually the aim of the new leadership structure became to be infiltrated to the refugee population and

finally accepted by all communities.

Based on the concept, the camp constitution was drafted by the refugee representatives of each nationality and

passed by the government that manages the camp, all agencies and the refugee leaders, and electoral committees

were formed in each constituency, a total of 91 blocks.

Since the election was the first experience for most of refugees, the members of electoral committees had to

undergo training in democracy and the concept of fair and free elections. Despite the initial strong rejection,

around 600 refugee volunteers became to be keen on serving for improvement of their communities.

However, although the process finally seemed to be on the right track, there were still numerous challenges that

needed to be overcome such as the voters’ registration, mobilization of Kenyan staff, logistics, security measures,

absence of female candidates due to cultural reasons, civic educations especially for illiterate populations and etc.

Tomoko and her team overcame each challenge one by one and, the general election was finally conducted two

years after the start of the project. Almost 1,000 staff including refugees, Kenyans and internationals, regardless

of their positions, united to work hard and make this exercise a big success. Despite the concerns of security risks

and chaos, the election in 91 constituencies went peacefully, and refugees congratulated the winners as the

election results were announced and success of the first election of the entire camp.

However, this was not the goal of the journey. Tomoko and her colleagues are still working on ensuring that the

new system promotes the fair and effective distribution of services and information, and mutual support, and

eventually enhance peaceful co-existence among refugees. She strongly wishes that refugees who came from war-

torn countries to learn how to live in peace by overcoming tribalism and build democratic society, and eventually

rebuild peaceful societies in their own countries in the future.

Photo©UNHCR UN Volunteer Tomoko Yasunaga (in blue cap) poses with elated refugees at the Kakuma Refugee Camp on the sidelines of the camp’s first ever General Election

www.onlinevolunteering.org

IOM is implementing livelihood and

peace building programs in North

Eastern Kenya, focusing on the

pastoralist communities living there.

International UN Volunteer Mujahid

Hussein has recently joined the IOM

office in Nairobi as an

Emergency/Post Crisis officer, helping

in implementation of different project

activities.

The construction of a fish mart for

local fishermen in Lodwar is one of

the IOM initiatives of livelihoods

diversification for the pastoralist

community in Turkana.

This initiative targeted the drought affected communities rely only livestock to have alternative sources of

income and make them resilient to drought. The center is benefiting over 300 small traders including women on a

daily basis, providing a facility where they can sell fish at good prices. The mart has storing, freezing and

marketing facility for the small traders those were initially sell fish at road side. The mart has provided business

opportunity to fish traders as well local people. The center is self-sustained by the traders and local government.

Photo©IOM Fishmart in Lodwar benefits fishermen/women and the local community, giving them alternative livelihoods to pastoralism.

UN Volunteer Judy Mugo serves in the UNV Kenya office as the HR

Assistant. Dealing with recruitment

of national volunteers,

Judy is likely the first face the UN Volunteers meet when they begin

their assignment….

When & why did you become a UN Volunteer?

I joined UNV in August 2010, so it’s just coming up to two years! One of the reasons for my joining the

programme was the belief that I could make a useful contribution to UNV, and by extension the communities the

volunteers serve, while at the same time add to my career experience, develop skills and learn new ones. Being a

UN Volunteer has been an experience I believe I will carry along in future even after my assignment is over!

You deal with UN Volunteers on a daily basis. How is that like and do you have any challenges?

The UN Volunteers we work with are some of the most committed, hardworking and passionate group of people.

I enjoy working with them, seeing them settle well in their various assignments and grow through it. To be honest

though, like any HR position, mine is not without its challenges. I think the main one is figuring out how to

sustain a very supportive environment for the volunteers, especially with regard to challenges they face in their

assignments – ranging from workspace, equipment, communication and so on. Keeping them motivated can be a

big challenge at times!

Tell us about one outstanding experience you’ve had so far as a UN Volunteer.

I recently attended a Career Fair at the United States International University (USIU) as part of the UNV team. It

was exciting answering questions from the enthusiastic students, most of them prospective volunteers, on how

they could join UNV as well as my own experiences. The interaction for me was very memorable!

If you could change one thing about your assignment, what would it be?

I think I would like to see volunteers have at least a week-long orientation on volunteerism before taking up their

assignment so that they understand well the expectation of their host organizations and UNV where their

volunteering assignment is concerned. That would mean I need to do more at the beginning, but it would save us a

lot of unmet expectations in the course of the volunteer assignments.

Any advice you’d like to give to potential volunteers out there?

It is important to be realistic when deciding to take up a volunteering assignment. Many people want to be a UN

Volunteer because they think it ‘pays’ well – they end up getting very frustrated, because UN Volunteers are not

paid a salary. So if your motivation is money, volunteering is not for you, whether it’s in the UN or elsewhere.

But it does give you excellent opportunities for learning and growth while making a real difference in people’s

lives, and that’s where your motivation needs to come from!

Photo©UNV UN Volunteer Judy Mugo talks to Rwandan student Nsengimana Juvenal at the United States International University in Nairobi during their Career Fair.

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