KENYA: Young People Partner to Promote Gender Equality, Says IYCS Coordinator

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA

Following a recent international exchange program between young people in Kenya and from Ludwig Wolker organization in Germany, International Young Catholic Students (IYCS) coordinator for the Africa region narrated that their collaboration aimed to promote gender equality and empower girls.

The IYCS is a faith-based action movement that creates platforms for youth in 34 African countries to critically examine and act on contemporary issues to build a just world and promote evangelization among the young people.

“The international exchange program between youths from Kenya and Germany was convened to help the young people contribute towards vision 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly focusing on Gender Equality,” the IYCS coordinator for the Africa region Mr. Benson Tafara Makusha shared with AMECEA online in an interview Tuesday, May 10.

According to Makusha, the International program focused on SDG number five after the realization that “the 17 SDGs are connected and when women and girls are left out, they may not contribute and participate towards the achievement of other goals hence the need for gender equality.”

“These goals are interconnected and once we don’t have women playing their part, this will then affect other SDGs hence the need to uplift the position of women and girls in the society,” Mr. Makusha who has been in the IYCS leadership team since 2020 said adding that when women and girls are empowered their contribution will be realized in other SDGs too.

During the two weeks exchange program that brought together 14 youths with each of the two countries having seven participants as representatives, the young people visited various organizations dealing with SDG No. 5 in Kenya including among others; Boxgirl Kenya, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) which fight against gender-based violence in marginalized communities through boxing and sports and empower girls on how to defend themselves. Amani ya Juu which has a training program for refugee women from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and other countries and empowers them economically. Africa Youth Trust who work with women in slums who have been abused and survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV).

According to Mr. Makusha, after the experience of this first exchange program, the young people will come up with 16 digital stories to share more about Gender equality and empowerment of women and girls and the stories will later be profiled during the 16-days of activism against GBV which is anticipated to take place in November 2022.

The IYCS coordinator for the Africa region advised that young people need to be taught about the SDGs to help them know agenda 2030 so that young people can develop “holistically and be formed socially, economically, spirituality and politically to understand the situation in the society.”