OUR PROGRAMS

1. Conflict Prevention and Resolution

This programme is aimed at strengthening conflict prevention, peace-building and social cohesion both at the national and community levels. The programme works closely with relevant stakeholders such as the NCIC, national and county governments, learning institutions, religious organizations and the civil society to create awareness on the importance of peaceful coexistence among communities, among other peace building activities. It promotes a peaceful resolution to conflicts to prevent political and ethnic violence.

Under this programme, IRPN is implementing a project dubbed ‘Beyond Tribe Campaign.’ In this project, Inter-Regional Peace Network and partners such as the national government, county governments, and other likeminded organizations within and outside the country. It is designed to using the strongest societal problem-solving strategies such as education, workshops and advocacy, sensitization and awareness campaign programmes to reach out, mobilize, re-orientate and build the capacity of youth in and out of schools on the ethics and rudiments of peace, mindfulness, good leadership and non-violence, emphasizing on the need for them to be fully involved in the entire process of actualization of this goal.  The programe aims at ending the cycle of violence witnessed in several areas during elections.

2. Capacity Building and Empowerment

In building stronger and safer communities we offer training to youth and women organizations, and community-based organizations to strengthen their capacity to achieve their goals and objectives. We also partner with other like-minded organizations, national and county governments through community based projects.

As part of our initiative to address the root causes of violence which are mainly being contributed to by hopeless and frustrations among youth and women due to the rising rates unemployment, we work with various communities and partners to provide capacity building and empowerment programs. For instance, we are currently with other stakeholders running a program targeting motorcycle riders commonly known as “bodaboda” operators in Kenya. The program has mainly 3 component namely: Road Safety, Life skills training and savings.

3. Poverty Alleviation

Unemployment is one of the biggest challenges facing most nations. More than 80% of the unemployed people in Kenya are below 35 years. Every year, thousands of graduates are released to the job market. However, the growth in the demand for labour has been slower than the growth in the supply of labour in the market. Unemployed graduates are frustrated at the inability to secure jobs. The high rate of unemployment among Kenyan youth is a ticking time bomb. It leaves the 4 youths vulnerable and easy targets for recruitment by violent extremist groups and other groups or individuals who use them to perpetuate violence.

Under this program, IRPN partners with financial institutions and other stakeholders to provide financial and entrepreneurial training to the youth in institutions of learning and youth groups across the country. It enlightens them on the available business opportunities such as agribusiness, 30% procurement for youth and women, among other opportunities. In learning institutions, the program nurtures students to shift from job seekers to job creators as a way of addressing youth unemployment.

4. Drug and Alcohol Addiction Mitigation

Drug and alcohol abuse is one of the problems facing the nation especially the youth. Incidences of drug and alcohol abuse among the youth has been on the increase in the last few years. This problem has worsened in secondary schools with several students being arrested in the last. This program creates awareness among the youth on the negative effects of drug and alcohol abuse in learning institutions and across the nation.

5. Policy and Governance

While elections in themselves are only one element of democracy, they create the basis for democratic governance by ensuring that leaders have credible and accepted mandates to govern. When people have the opportunity to participate freely in public life and to choose their leaders through a free and open process, they are less likely to feel a need to resort to violence to resolve their differences or to make their voices heard.

In this program, IRPN works with the democratic and accountability development stakeholders namely the community leaders, CSOs and other partners to advocate for the rights of citizens and to raise resources and awareness to address their basic needs of civic education, service delivery, and political awareness. In pursuit of this mission, IRPN shall be guided by and work to promote and protect these core principles of constitutionalism, rule of law; frugal public management, economic empowerment, equity and justice at all times.

The overall objective of this program is to create enabling environment for the community to demand for service delivery through agreeable media which educate the community and make the elected leaders, networks and other stakeholders such as the media accountable to the grass root community.

6. Countering Violent Extremism

Radicalization among the youth is posing a major threat to global peace. The youth, especially in schools and colleges have become easy targets for terror groups like Al Shabaab, ISIS and Al Qaeda among others whose aim is to destabilize world peace through their terrorist activities that have resulted in the loss of innocent lives and property. On 21st September 2013, Westgate mall in Nairobi was attacked by terrorists, and the casualties were overwhelming. The following year, in 2014 on 23rd November, the Al-Shabaab group massacred 28 people in a Nairobi-bound bus, 26 of the casualties were teachers. The worst courted on 3rd April 2015 when armed militants attacked Garissa University and killed 147 people, over 140 were university students. The attack was executed by people among them students who had undergone radicalization.

Currently, teachers have deserted schools in regions that are perceived to be sympathetic to terrorist groups. According to the recent report from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) published in the local media, they alerted President Uhuru Kenyatta that the terror group has added Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western to its traditional Coastal and Northern Kenya regions as new “fertile grounds for recruitment”. The overall objective of the project is to improve awareness, mobilize and educate school-aged youth on the negative effects of radicalization and the resulting acts of violent extremism in Kenya and how it affects the quality of education at the institutions of learning, among other economic and social impacts.

The project further cultivates a sense of patriotism among our young people in various institutions across all levels. Engaging students directly will make them understand how violent extremism has become very costly to our nation and more so to the young generation on who the future of Kenya depends. The project also equips the students with knowledge that will transform them to be the first protectors of both their lives and the lives of other Kenyans.