SAMPLE - PROJECT INTRODUCTION, PROBLEM STATEMENT & JUSTIFICATION

Problem statement & justification

More than one-third of Kenya’s population of over 40 million people is the youth (aged between 18-35 years) and a large number of them are out of school, abuse drugs, lack employable skills and earning opportunities. Unemployment makes them particularly vulnerable targets for recruitment into groups engaged in harmful and destructive activities, including violent extremism. Further, frustration due to lack of employment, education and opportunities for political participation and governance has created conducive conditions for recruiters to target the youth for radicalization into violent extremism. Recruitment activities by terrorist sympathizers often use monetary inducements to lure vulnerable youth to violent extremism by joining local gangs and fighting units.

Radicalization also relies on perceived historical injustices such as land grievances in the coast region and linking it to poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and political marginalization. For example, allegations state that the Mpeketoni terror attack of 2014 was carried out in an area believed to be predominantly inhabited by non-coastal communities. Most of the terrorist attacks in the country have been carried out by local youth radicalized and recruited by the ‘Al Shabaab’ terrorist organization. Further, in the past; the radical Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) declared that the coast region was not part of the republic of Kenya by using their “Pwani Si Kenya”slogan.

Although the threat of violent extremism has been associated with religious indoctrination, the real drivers include poverty, poor governance and the lack of opportunities for youth to escape the poverty cycle and achieve economic empowerment. They lack established sources of livelihoods and this makes them vulnerable to either radicalization or other manipulation leading to violent extremism.

Talented people, including the youth are found in every village and place. People with talents and special skills tend to establish a livelihood quite easily given that they produce creative products and services that people need at the local level. Over the years, there have been limited efforts to fully develop the creative industry to a level of being able to support our artists and artisans to fully engage and exploit their potential to attain financial freedom and contribute to the local and national economy in a significant way. Following this observation, this project is an initiative that seeks to support the youth to work towards attaining financial freedom by developing their creative skills, market linkages and helping them to be good, productive and responsible citizens of this country. The project seeks to use art as a carrier of the messages of change to attain peace, social change, wealth, stability and to liberate youth from the adverse effects of poverty. To a great extent, the project anticipates playing a significant role in reducing violent extremism as more and more youth are engaged in economic activities by using their gifted hands, voice, the written word and other talents. We also recognize that, the creative population in every society is extremely courageous, bold and very powerful in shaping public opinion as well as influencing social change.

Historically, the written word, music and visual arts have been used to influence faith and create solidarity as in the bible, the Quran and other religious books. Karl Marx inspired communism through his book ‘Das Kapital’ and the American founding fathers were inspired by the bible to develop an inclusive constitution and declaring the supremacy of God.  Further, President Obama’s Cairo speech helped the world to see the USA as a friendly nation once more, and reversing negative attitude on a global scale. South African music helped to sustain local and global support leading to the release of Nelson Mandela and attaining national freedom. In Kenya, Joseph Kamaru’skikuyu song ‘Mwalimu ni wooka muno’ successfully lobbied the government to reduce taxes in 1970s. “Unbwogable”, a song by a group called Gidigidi majimaji helped to push political excitement, momentum and euphoria leading to the birth of devolution and the new constitution in Kenya. Our national Anthem (which originated from the coast) is both a prayer and declaration of patriotism, national identity and so is the national flag, a symbol which is essentially a visual artwork.

The time for economic freedom for creative youth in the coast region is now.There has been no better time, our time has come! Our organization has over the years successfully used drama, theatre and poetry to drive positive change and to fight against HIV & AIDS, poor governance and to motivate youth and communities to develop resilience against political manipulation. By drawing from our experience working with creative youth, we have developed our capacity over time and we are very excited to undertake this project. 

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