Our Impact in Mombasa
We aim for relevant and strategic impact at scale. Working closely with young people in identifying the needs of their communities and the challenges they face, we ensure that the solutions we support them in developing are targeted and sustainable.
It Takes a Village
A series of video campaigns highlight the need for a whole of community response to protect vulnerable young people.
Three youth-led projects in Mombasa aimed to tackle attitudes that lead to young people joining gangs in coastal Kenya. Together, these online campaigns tell a story that explores how the community as a whole is responsible for the prevention of gang recruitment. In total, the 10 videos reached more than 250,000 young people across coastal Kenya, and the lessons learned have fed directly into this year’s programming.
Enabling our Ambassadors as Changemakers and as Coaches
We have been helping our young activists in Mombasa to go further in supporting their communities and other upcoming leaders.
Five teams have successfully applied for continue funding through our Ambassador Grants. Teams in Mombasa and Kwale have built on their initial projects by introducing new deliverables and scaling into new areas.
One Ambassador Team, #WhatIf, took their online video project into the classroom by building a short curriculum through which facilitators and teachers could use their videos as an educational tool to discuss violent gangs with students. Another Ambassador, a successful young rapper in Mombasa, is working with other aspiring rappers to help them use their music as a force for social change and peace.
Ambassadors have another opportunity to support young people in their community by acting as a coach for new Young Cities project teams. 5 coaches from Mombasa and Kwale have been trained and matched with a group based on their experience, skills and networks to offer mentorship and support.
They leveraged these capacities to help groups develop their own skills in communication, networking, creative writing and socially-conscious rap. Although each coach was responsible for a particular group, they collaborated to ensure each group benefits all they had to offer.
