By Scott Bellows

On October 1, USIU-Africa formally launched the new Kura Yako, Sauti Yako! project designed to foster robust youth-led and youth-managed civic and voter education, dynamically encourage youth participation in the Kenyan electoral process, solidify and strengthen youth resilience against external shocks, and provide contextual understanding of the deep value of their democratic vote.

Funded through a grant from the United States Embassy in Nairobi, the project combines both in-person and virtual outreach with design thinking empowering bottom-up research, gamification, content creation, and training for Kenyan youth aged between 17 and 30 in Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, Eldoret, Kisumu, Machakos, and Kitui. The project includes a business, civic education, sociology, and psychology research component across the seven counties. A diverse team of faculty, students, alumni, and staff will work on the project housed in the Incubation and Innovation Center of the School of Graduate Studies, Research, and Extension.