The Growth of Hope

The are no such a thrilling thing in life than to have your own Child; Child whom you have curried His/Her Pregnancy for Nine months, A child whom you have personally given life to, the one that bear your name, character and the Hope of the future.

The #YouthBaton #AdoptaTree Exercise in school was a sustainable approach to Tree Planting and Growing.

Each Students and the Youth who adopted the 800 tress during that week have taken great Care of them. The trees Will grow; They water them, the weed them, they Look after them, they have fenced them. 

Some student & Youths are still calling still calling upon the #YouthBaton Team to Give them more Trees to Adopt.

In the next Six Months the tree shall have grown, the Youth and student shall have seen their effort Grow in their very Own Eyes. The Trees Will Grow for this is the Growth of Hope.

By +Joshua Ochieng' 

Greening Public Institutions "Adopt a Tree Week"

Today the ‪#‎YouthBaton‬ Kisumu core team went out to meet different stakeholders in regards to the forthcoming activity which is the Greening of Public Institutions. The core team visited the Member of County Assembly, Kondele Ward office (we could not get him in a photo), the Chief Officer, Ministry of Environment Kisumu County and Kanyamedha Youth Group. The Chief Officer Dr. Loice Mildred Akinyi Omoro has promised to support the process by giving us 300 tree seedlings and has promised to attend the tree planting exercises at the community. The MCA, Kondele Ward Mr. Gabriel Ochieng has equally promised to support the process. Kanyamedha Youth Group that deals in tree nursery has promised 50 seedlings towards the exercise and have planned to attend the activity. The Ministry of Environment Kisumu County has promised to join the course and reach out to the other six Sub-Counties with the tree planting exercise targeting the youths. We are moving forward. The fight against climate change is still present. ‪#‎YBAfforestation

‬We believe that the most appropriate and sustainable solution is to support and encourage school, churches, mosques and administration centres is to establish their own tree planting initiatives with a view to achieving improved tree cover in numerous slum areas Owing to the fact that most institutions have land around their areas where planting trees can take place, #YouthBaton will strive to encourage planting trees in these areas by reaching out and creating awareness. 

The Major advantage of working with schools in terms of tree planting is that they are permanent institutions with adequate land, labor (especially students), and management capacity from principals and teachers. Tree planting is also a practical way of introducing and integrating Environmental Education in schools. Churches and mosques have been mobilized and will be trained fairly quickly, with minimal logistical/administrative cost implications. Other value adding activities here is the administrative centers, since they will legitimize the process. 

The Exercise is scheduled to Commence on the 9th-11th September. in Kibera and Kisumu Simulteniousely. 

The Implementation of the "Adopt a Tree Week" will be Implemented by Amazon Theatrix, Pamoja Youth Foundation, Langata Youth Network and Tujue Katiba Initiative Under Umande Trust Nairobi and Kisumu.

#YouthBaton Sanitation in Schools

"Child welfare ought really to cover all sorts of topics, such as better water and Sanitation, good roads, and clean streets and public parks and playgrounds."

 Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Focusing our attention on much more than any other thing than Sanitation, Means we mising the greatest and the most important thing in the course of a child’s upbringing. Walk in our Local schools in the people settlements reveals that there is a deep seated sanitation need; the need that may not require just writing and posting on blogs and social media handles; a need that requires immediate mitigation.

Where a Man’s treasure are, is where His heart is; Children are our treasures hence that is where Our hearts are; on the 27^th May, 2015 to 29^th May, 2015 the #YouthBaton Team will be headed to 6 schools identified in Kibera to spread the #YBSanitation Campaign Gospel.

Within the schools, the Team intends to erect Liter Bins, Train the Pupils on the Basic of Sanitation, personal Hygiene and to do a demonstration on Waste Disposal. You might be tempted to ask how was the schools identified? When the #YouthBaton conducted a three days of Sanitation situation in Primary schools in Kibera, Obunga, Manyatta, and Nyalenda, the Team saw the following as the best criterions to use when attending to the Sanitation situations during the Campaigns: The Sanitation Situation, The Schools Uniqueness, the Impact its will have after the Campaign on the Schools, the schools acceptability of the board and the existing Sanitation projects or Initiatives within the School or the surrounding Community.

Child welfare ought really to cover all sorts of topics, such as better water and Sanitation, good roads, and clean streets and public parks and playgrounds. #YouthBaton seeks to better the situation in schools within this three Days.

#YouthBaton #Clean Energy- Baton on The Road.

Background Information

Since November, 2014 the #YouthBaton Project has focused its efforts on the #YBCleanEnergy Theme both in Kenya, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Mali. For Kenya (Kibera and Kisumu),  emphasis has been placed on the Effective Campaign Steps and Strategies that is: Mapping of Current Situation, Identification of Problem and Formulation of Goals, Change Mapping, Stakeholder Analysis and Target Audience, Setting Objective for the entire Campaign, Building Campaign Strategy, Setting Communication Strategy, Drawing and Disseminating Massages,  Planning Activities and Drawing Timelines, Budgeting, Identifying Communication Vehicles, Implementation of Campaigns and Campaign Evaluation and Exit.

The Kenyan Teams have so far followed though with the Effective Campaign Steps and Strategies, and still intends to work on the last Step; Evaluation and Exit of the Campaign; #YBCleanEnergy Exit Strategy have been intended for the Streets of Kibera and Kisumu in a event dabbed “Pass the Baton @ Street Interact”; Street Interact has proven over time to be a most effective Campaigning tool in various project and political campaigns; during street interacts, the public is directly engaged and feedback is on the spot, target in terms of Numbers is projected to be overwhelming and the Campaign massage is driven home easily home.

Umande Trust in Partnership with Langata Youth Network, Pamoja Youth Foundation, Tujue Katiba Initiative and Amazon Theatrix has planned to reach the general public in Kibera and Kisumu with the message “Refocusing Our Energy; Secure a Life”

Objective:

1. Creating awareness on Clean energy Options in the Community
2. To finalize the #YBCleanEnergy Campaign; Campaign Exit.

Time, Venue and Date

The proposed time for the event will be on the 21^st Feb, 2015 form 9am. The event will be held at the following venues: Soweto Resource Centre, Undugu Gate, Mashimoni Sq. Junction, Mashimoni Bridge, T-Junction Makina, Toy Market, Bombolulu, 42Market and Kianda Corner for Nairobi and for Kisumu the Venues shall be decided by the Amazon Theatrix.

Targets:

The event targets the involvement of the general Public; estimated to be 150 people per Interaction Venue; for Nairobi, the estimates are 1350people & for Kisumu 3 venues 450people attending and taking the message home; totaling Up to 1, 800people.

 Proposed activities

The following are the proposed activities of the Day:

1. Giving out of the #YBCleanEnergy stickers to the public 
2. Theatre Group performance of #YBCleanEnergy skit, songs and Poem.
3.  Introduction of Umande Trust #YBCleanEnergy options.
4.  Public Involvement (Calling of at least two people from the Public) to share CleanEnergy options in their houses or community

Event Description

On the 21^st Feb, 2015 the #YouthBaton team and the Theater Group will be assembling at Umande Trust premises in Nairobi and Kisumu at 8am to commence the #YBCleanEnergy Exits Campaign.

For the Nairobi Team and theatre Group, they will commence their event’s journey to Soweto Resource Centre as described in the Route Map; at the venue, the #YouthBaton Team will stretch out the banner, the Theatre Group will start with Dancing and skit.

The function of the Theatre Group will be to: Pull, Inform and entertain the crowd on that particular day. The MC of the Day will be a member of the Theatre Group, while taking on stage of every Interactive section.

For the purposes of the social media documentation, two of the #YouthBaton Team members will be responsible for taking photos and short videos. The Photos taken will posted on the #YouthBaton social media accounts e.g. Facebook, and Instagram. One member will be Postings on twitter. You Tube Short Videos are expected for every stop over hence their posting will be done after the event has occurred and when subtitle have been included.

The MC will be moderating between the crowd, the Theatre Group and the baton Team. During the event, #YouthBaton team will be responsible for sharing on the Batons concept from the project description, project activities under the clean energy and the objectives for today’s event. From the every crowd, two people shall be invited by the MC to share their CleanEnergy thoughts and propositions.

For every stop over; for Kisumu and Nairobi, the team is expected spend 30mins hence by 13:00hrs, it’s expected that the team shall have a lunch break and by 14:00hrs the teams will resume the event.

At the end all the persons involved will re assemble at the Umande Premises for a short Exit and Evaluation meeting.

 

Responsibilities for the Nairobi Team

No	Activity	TimeLine	Responsible Person
1	Overall Coordinator of the Day	21st Feb, 2015	Dalton Odhiambo
2	Instagram Photography & Posting	21st Feb, 2015	Daniel Orogo
3	Facebook Photography & Posting	21st Feb, 2015	Osewe Ramogi
4	All social media’s Like’s, Comments, and Sharing	21st Feb, 2015	All(Theatre Group and the Baton Team)
5	Welfare	21st Feb, 2015	Joshua Sepipe
6	Short Videos for YouTube	21st Feb, 2015	Joshua Sepipe and Rehema Maluki
7	Twitting on the Event	21st Feb, 2015	Joshua Ochieng’
8	Pulling, Informing and Entertainment the Crowd	21st Feb, 2015	KIDYOT
9	Narrative and Evaluation Reports	23RD Feb, 2015	Joshua Ochieng’

Responsibilities for the Kisumu Team

No	Activity	TimeLine	Responsible Person
1	Overall Coordinator of the Day	21st Feb, 2015	Steven Okwany
2	Instagram Photography & Posting	21st Feb, 2015	Koga
3	Facebook Photography & Posting	21st Feb, 2015	Omollo S. Kennedy
4	All social media’s Like’s, Comments, and Sharing	21st Feb, 2015	All(Theatre Group and the Baton Team)
5	Welfare Short Videos for YouTube	21st Feb, 2015	Lillian Tivana
6	Twitting on the Event	21st Feb, 2015	Koga
7	Pulling, Informing and Entertainment the Crowd	21st Feb, 2015	Amazon Theatrix
8	Narrative and Evaluation Reports	23RD Feb, 2015	Steve Okwany