Passport to change

Jetsetting is not normally, sadly, part of my role in Changemakers but last week I was privileged to go to Kenya, to a project we are running in Malindi, on the coast North of Mombasa. Mena, one of my colleagues, is leading an exchange programme; before Christmas we had a group of young Kenyan people in Birmingham for three months, working with us on community projects. I found Kenya fascinating. In 2007 the country had a disputed general election and violence followed, much of which was caused by young people. The government’s response was that their new constitution must reflect the issues that were being raised and they have enshrined young people firmly within that constitution as a way of re-enfranchising them. 30% of all jobs in the whole economy have to go to people under 35, at any level. Within the new constitution they have a new “county” system of local government, similar to our local authority areas, and two councillors in each council have to be young people. I spoke NGOs, senior officials and business leaders and there was no question in anybody’s mind that this needed to happen and that young people needed to be fully integrated into leadership and decision making. So maybe that’s the answer. If only we could have riots in the UK. Oh, hang on….