Who we are
We are youth from four of Nairobi's largest informal settlements: Mukuru, Kibra, Huruma, and Mathare. We live among the majority of Nairobi's population who reside in urban slums and ghettos. Muungano's data suggests we constitute up to 87% of the population of these settlements. We know we're the majority. We know our voices matter. We are the face of Nairobi.
We are the face of Nairobi
The base of the pyramid: Unity is Power
To kick off the Impact Lab Kimani (the facilitator) had us form three lines to make a pyramid. The longest line was the base of the pyramid and the shortest line was the top. Kimani had a collection of taped up paper balls and he asked us which resources youth need to live healthy lives. He wrote our answers on the balls and placed them ahead of the top line of the pyramid.
He then handed a tape roll to those of us in the bottom line and told us to use it to try get the resources by hitting them. The catch? We were not allowed to move from our lines. Those of us at the base of the pyramid had to get past two lines of people to knock out the balls and we knew this would require collaboration, some trickery, and a whole lot of determination. When we managed, we were elated and celebrated our victory!!
Those of us in the middle of the pyramid found the process slightly easier as we only had a few people standing in our path. We didn't require such elaborate collaboration or tactics and didn't celebrate our win with as much enthusiasm. For the four of us at the top of the pyramid hitting the resource balls was easy (though we missed once!!). There were no obstacles in our way and we didn't have to think hard about how to get them or feel the need to celebrate securing them.
We reflected upon the exercise and agreed that youth from informal settlements can be considered to occupy the base of the pyramid of society. The resources we need to survive are hard to secure. To do so we need to come together, come up with strategies, and hustle. Those in the middle of the pyramid can support us, but more often than not they also block our efforts. We noted that those of us at the bottom of the pyramid weren't selective about the resources we tried to secure, we took what we could get. In contrast, those at the top were able to select the particular resource they wanted. Lastly, we noted that those at the bottom celebrate the hardest when they secure resources, as opposed to those at the top who take them for granted.
Presenting our data
In the two weeks since the Inception Meeting - where we learned the tools for data collection - we convened groups of youth in each of our settlements and supported them to complete a "Dream Picture" and "Photo Voice" exercise. For the "Dream Picture" we guided the youth - split into males and females - to draw pictures of the vision they have for youth in the next five years. We had large sheets of butcher paper and we encouraged all participants to draw freely to produce a collective vision. For the "Photo Voice" exercise we took photos of the challenges, barriers, and solutions for achieving that vision and used Focus Group Discussions to narrow down the photos and themes to the five most representative of the group's vision. We realized that through the data gathering we began to dismantle the normalization of many of the issues facing informal settlement youth and began to aspire to make change. At the Lab we brought together our dream pictures and photos and arranged these in settlement displays.
Revolving clinic
To share our settlement data we organized a revolving clinic. Representatives from each settlement team presented the "Dream Pictures" and the "Photo Voice" to the other settlement teams who were revolving around the room to each presentation. The observers were asked to write down the major themes they were noticing in each presentation on flash cards.
The transformation themes emerge
From the revolving clinic the key transformation themes emerged. We grouped the key themes together to get a consolidated picture of the transformation sought by youth in informal settlements. Two of our group decided the best way to represent our vision was to draw a Tree of Transformation.
The roots of our tree anchor transformation: these are peace, pride, equality, justice and hope. Through unity - the trunk of our tree - we can achieve the fruits of our tree: upgraded settlements; good economic livelihoods; safety and security; improved health and well-being; quality education; and empowered youth who will drive the change. From our Tree of Transformation we were ready to move on to developing our Theories of Change.
Why? Why? Why?
To figure out our pathways to change and where our interventions are required we undertook some serious critical thinking. We asked ourselves why we don't have the fruits of our tree and we dug deep by continuing to ask ourselves "Why?" as we uncovered each new barrier. We kept asking ourselves "Why?" until we got down to the roots of the problems. It is here at the root causes we must plan our interventions and the beginnings of our pathways to change.
The wisdom of proverbs
"There are no shortcuts to the top of the palm tree."
As youth we can draw upon the wisdom of our ancestors to guide us as we work for transformation. Much wisdom is contained in proverbs so we spent a session brainstorming the proverbs we know and learning others. We then split into groups to come up with the most appropriate for guiding us in our struggle. Each group selected three and shared these back with the full team.
"No person is born great. Great people become great when others are sleeping."
Time for solutions!
With the root barriers preventing us from achieving the fruits in our Tree of Transformation clear and the wisdom of proverbs guiding us, we set about coming up with solutions. While we worked in groups looking at one outcome each, it was clear many of our strategies and solutions were cross-cutting.
An emerging Theory of Transformation
Meeting Muungano
On the last day of the Lab we meet with the federation: Muungano wa Wanavijiji. We presented our Tree of Transformation and the process by which it was generated. The Muungano members told us how the federation started, why they joined, the skills they've learned since becoming members, and how they intend to support youth to pursue change and achieve the vision set out in their Tree of Transformation. We had the opportunity to ask them many questions and secured a commitment from the federation to support us with ongoing mentorship and guidance.
Next steps
We decided to take our Trees of Transformation back to the community to show them what we did with the data we collected. We wanted to do this in a creative way so we decided to arrange for the painting of murals in each of our settlements. We identified walls that would be seen by the maximum amount of people and identified local artists to interpret our tree in creative ways. The murals depict our Trees of Transformation and are sparking conversation, reflection and action in our communities - especially amongst the youth.
Our Theory of Transformation shows how we will achieve the vision depicted in our Trees of Transformation and will inform development of Muungano's Strategic Plan thereby mainstreaming youth programmes within the federation's agenda. We know we are part of Muungano and will be supported by its leaders to achieve our vision. In the week since the Lab we have already taken the lead and: organized youth to carry our community clean ups; extended mentorship to primary school children; participated in a training workshop on social accountability; been featured in news articles highlighting the role of youth in urban planning and upgrading; convened youth in Mathare to encourage them to be at the forefront of upgrading their settlement and to identify issues in need of immediate attention by the youth; and shared our process and progress with the SDI Secretariat. Our next step is to present our Theory of Transformation to Mastercard Foundation and other donors and foundations interested in supporting youth-led development in informal settlements.
Watch some highlights from the Impact Lab below. The video was produced by Muungano's Know Your City TV team
Credits:
KYC TV