Winnie is the Regional Organizer for East Africa of the 100 Million campaign, a call to action for a world where all young people are free, safe, and educated. Based in Nairobi, she is also the Vice-Chairperson, Democracy, and Participation, Commonwealth Students Association. The CSA promotes student voice and participation in policy and decision making in Education.  A bold leader, Winnie has a background in criminal justice and considers herself “a global citizen with a wide prism of life”. Winnie’s incubator project, Justice for Every Child Kenya, is a youth-led campaign to demand that the government makes clear its commitments [...]

Damaris is a Project Officer at Kesho Kenya, an organisation whose mission is to advance access to education and employment for young, vulnerable people living along the coast of Kenya through a long term holistic approach. She has been a project officer for Students Acting for Honest, Integrity and Equality. She is an active volunteer in the community, supporting hospitals, schools, and elderly and child care institutions.  Damaris’ incubator project is called Uadilifu Jangani, which is translated as “Integrity in Pandemics”. The aim of this project is to empower grassroots communities to act and demand integrity through specially-formed Integrity Watch [...]

Anne is a trained journalist and a certified digital consultant who supports changemakers to improve their advocacy skills. She is passionate about youth inclusion in governance, political and accountability processes, human rights, peace building, conflict management, countering violent extremism and building online movements. She is the founder of Uzalendo Afrika Initiative, an organization that seeks to nurture transformational leaders through history, African values and constitutionalism. Anne Rose’s incubator project seeks to support a citizen audit of the supplementary, COVID-19 budget from her county of Mombasa, to ensure the transparent expenditure of all emergency funding for the pandemic.

Shamim is committed to youth engagement and raising awareness around the SDGs. A co-founder of the Center for Development and Peace (CDP) - a youth and women-led  organization that is passionate about progressive development - she champions healthcare, peace and security, good governance and youth engagement.  Shamim’s incubator project seeks to improve access to information and consistent feedback from the government. She is focusing in particular on budget information related to public health issues. Shamim also wants to motivate the county government of Mombasa to provide simple, periodic reviews of its activities to ensure accessibility for all communities.

Brian is a young CSO leader who is passionate about community mobilization. He has been an election observer in Kenya and a Local Coordinator for Africa Students for Liberty (SFL) where he helped pioneer several student groups in many local universities to promote ideas around freedom. He is currently serving as a board member of the Kenyan Youth Senate and running its grassroots network activities in Kericho. Brian’s incubator project is intended to mobilize citizens through the creation of Community Working Groups to encourage more responsive governance. In particular, the working groups will monitor and promote essential health and social [...]

​​Stephen Okwany is a proactive Queer Artivist from Kisumu, Kenya. He is passionate about advancing equality and non-discrimination by deconstructing internalized and structural homophobia and anti-gender practices orchestrated by illiberal populists and their far-right movements. Kenya is still one of the African countries that uphold the archaic colonial Penal Code that discriminates against consensual same-sex relationships, resulting in the deliberate exclusion of LGBTQ+ community members from participatory processes that inform the country’s agenda. His vision is a world that is appreciative and cognizant of Queer lived realities, and which affirms LGBTQ+ community members in their true authentic selves. Inclusion and [...]

Mary lives in Nandi County, Kenya. She is pursuing a Social Work and Community Development diploma at Ollessoss Technical Training Institute. She is a community volunteer, focusing on working with youth, women, and people living with disabilities.   “In my community, most youths are not actively engaged in budget-making. This is due to several factors; lack of awareness, lack of resources, inadequate access to information, lack of funding, lack of capacity building, and technical barriers like skills and knowledge.” Her initiative focuses on civic engagement, involving high school students in the neighborhood in the budget-making process. This allows them to learn [...]

Joseph is a youth leader and local activist in Kisumu County, Kenya. He graduated with a Bachelor of Sociology in IT from Maseno University class of 2015 and is currently applying to join a Masters of Governance and Ethics at Mount Kenya University.   He began his advocacy working with youth living in the slums of Manyatta and Nyalenda and was one of the founders of the youth-led organization ‘Leaders for Leaders.’ This program actively involved young people advocating for good governance through social accountability monitoring and public participation. His idea in 2023 is to build on what he has learned thus [...]