In Kenya like most African countries, youth rarely have the opportunity to play a substantive role in decision making in their communities or determining the priorities of their government and policies that affect them despite their capacity and desire to do so. The youth in Sub-Saharan Africa constitute 75% of the population and therefore their needs and inclusion should be at the center stage but this is not the case. Their marginalization and exclusion is a complex issue that has both cultural and sociopolitical drivers. Culturally, youth should be “seen and not heard,” elders, and in many cases elite elders, are responsible for the decision-making within their communities and within government structures are often times unwilling to cede political space to young people. There is a lack of confidence in the leadership abilities of youth, and they are perceived as inexperienced, despite empirical evidence from previous studies and programs suggesting that youth can in fact play meaningful roles if given the chance.
Youth Bridge Kenya is driven by a mission of strengthening youth participation and inclusion in community development and governance leveraging on social capital by intentionally cultivating connections to promote access of information, civic awareness, inclusive community programs, partnerships, and leadership development. The concept of social capital is about the importance and value of our social networks in a community hence building bridges within and without the community. In a heterogeneous and diverse society like Kenya, higher social capital is tantamount to a stronger sense of trust between the citizens and their leaders, higher civic engagement, more involvement in community and more bridges connecting different political persuasions, economic strata, gender, religions and other matrices of humanity
Consequently, Youth Bridge Kenya uses advocacy in addressing the need to increase the social capital of a community, grow its value and the individuals in it, for a cohesive, safe, developed and prosperous community with responsive and progressive leadership.
Conversely, through her flagship program, the Notable National Youth Leaders Caucus, Youth Bridge Kenya has been leading advocacy efforts for the youth across Kenya by developing their capacity to take charge of the affairs in their own counties and country through information sharing, capacity building, leadership training, knowledge generation and dissemination as well as facilitating platforms for them to engage in governance and development processes.