#5775 : Victor's Crown

Dear Reader,

God has been good to us to bring us to a moment like 

May you be found good in this coming year!

‪#‎ShanaTova‬
#5775

IPD 2014: Quest for Sustainable Peace

This Sunday marked the International Day of Peace. The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by Resolution 36/67 of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. This year’s theme is “Rights of Peoples to Peace” in line with resolution 37/11 of the UNGA.

We live in a world whose population stands over 7.1 billion, where 1.2 billion youth aged 15-25 years live primarily in developing countries and make up 40% of the worlds’ unemployed. Resource and climate based conflict is on the increase. There is need to consider how we can have sustainable peace, even as we enter the final phase in the development of Sustainable Development Goals.

According to KNBS, individuals aged below 35 years constitute about 80 per cent of the population, while the youth aged 15-35 years account for about 37 per cent of the population. In addition, employment and unemployment are unevenly distributed across age groups, with the youth having particularly higher rates of unemployment. As an example, unemployment among the youths aged 20-24 was about 24 per cent relative to an overall unemployment of 12.7 per cent in 2005/06 (KNBS, 2008).It has been noted that unemployed youth are six times more likely to engage in acts of aggression. This gives us cause for alarm. A recent World Bank study reveals that in the next 15 years, the global economy needs to create 600 million new jobs to keep up with the world’s demanding population growth.  Failure to address the youth employment could therefore cripple a country’s economic growth and exacerbate chronic employment and poverty.

Kenya is going through crises it never forecasted when drawing up the Kenya Vision 2030. In projecting an increase in bed capacities in the tourism sector, we did not foresee the specter that terrorism would become. Prof Odingo has insisted for quite some time that we did not factor in the effects of climate change when making projections for the agricultural sector. Some of these issues have been addressed in the Second Medium Term Plan, but the youth beg for more to guarantee peace and sustainable development.

In terms of youth development, the Commonwealth Youth Development Index (YDI) ranks Kenya as the 137^th  out of 170 countries, with a score of 0.417 (zero being the lowest and one being the highest). The Index measures the status of 15-29 olds, with countries ranked according to five key domains: Education (0.733); Health and Well-being (0.375); Employment (0.250); Civil Participation (0.191) and Political Participation (0.292). We may have a good score in education, but there are sectors that need urgent attention and interventions (beyond tokenism) that is, if we want to guarantee peace in the coming generation.

Apart from introducing education for global citizenship into the curriculum, it is important to ensure that we also begin to skill youth in agriculture, in addition to the entrepreneurship programmes that are in place. It is no secret that the average age of the Kenyan farmer is sixty years. With curriculum review underway, we need to consider how we can return agriculture as a taught and examinable subject.  We must discover new ways of teaching my generation how to make our arid and semi arid areas blossom. Ours is a skilling problem, not a resource one.

Finally, to ensure a stable macro-economic environment, we must do our best as a nation to steer clear of divisive politics and indeed practice the philosophy of, “love thy neighbor, as thy self” and not, “do what thou wilt”,  as is the case. As those alive today, we must all remember that this Kenya does not belong to us, we have borrowed it from our children. We must do all we can to ensure that we leave them a country better than the one we found.

Kenya has been and will always remain an island of peace. No matter what storms she may go through, the waters will never swallow her. However, it is up to us to make sure we build strong structures to guarantee continuity after the fact, structures and systems that will stand the test of time.

Go The Distance

Dear Reader,



Its been a while!



Just wanted to tell you that I remember you

And all the struggles you are going through.



I wish to encourage you,

Fight the good fight of faith.

You are becoming who you were called to be.



My friend, go the distance.

A hero's welcome awaits.



This is my dedication to you.

Cheers,

G.S.