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Responding to COVID-19 The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic has posed a threat in the lives of children and youth in the communities we serve. As an organization, we support laid down government measures to curb the spread of the virus and will work with our networks to mitigate risks associated with the virus. In the coming weeks, we will organize online peace circles to check on the well being of vulnerable youth and provide necessary support. The peace circles will be integrated with inner peace interventions of the body, mind, heart and soul. We will also organize online psychotherapy support for groups of 8-12 people through Impart Change's psychologist. Security Management and Peace-related Workshops in Kurve Wustrow, Germany The Centre for Training and Networking in Nonviolent Action – KURVE Wustrow, has continued to train members of our leadership team on various courses that promote peaceful coexistence, tolerance, intercultural dialogue, conflict transformation and peace-building. We are delighted to partner with of an organization that shares our values and is working towards our vision of a violence free society. Some of the activities Impart Change will organize in 2020 is a Coffee and Chai (Tea) dialogue forum on anti-bias and social inclusion in the Kenya. We also look to forward to sending some of our staff or volunteers to a workshop on 'Do No Harm' in 2020 in Kurve Wustrow. Global Change Leaders Program, Canada We are delighted to be represented in the 2019 Global Change Leaders Program. A seven-week education program offered by Coady Institute’s International Centre for Women’s Leadership. This program enables women from developing countries to strengthen their leadership capacities in order to contribute to innovation and change in their organizations and communities. Program participants engage in learning grounded in real world experiences and focused on Coady’s core thematic areas. Through a shared learning environment with other emerging women leaders from around the world, participants are exposed to a range of experiences and the beginnings of a potentially lifelong network of support. Obama Foundation Africa Program The Obama Foundation Africa Leaders Program is a year-long program that provides 200 emerging African leaders with the skills they need to create change. The non-residential program offers leaders with a range of backgrounds, the opportunity to attend in-person and online seminars focused on values-based leadership development, skill-building for social change, hands-on service learning, and technical training. We are delighted to be part of the Obama Foundation Africa Program. Our director was honored to join the Obama Leaders Africa Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. Impart Change will play a key role in championing the foundation's values through a joint community program in 2020. We look forward to keeping you updated on our upcoming activities. Human Rights Advocacy Efforts In February 2019, our director was honored to be selected a Sakharov Fellow with the European Parliament. She traveled to Brussels in April where she was honored to meet the European Parliament President Antonio Tajani and Vice-President Heidi Hautala. She had the opportunity to learn how the EU defends and promotes human rights, and the mechanisms the EU provides to protect and support human rights defenders. Together with other selected Fellows, they discussed their human rights concerns with the staff of different European institutions: the Commission, the External Action Service and the Council of Ministers. She acquired insights into how European Parliament human rights urgency resolutions are proposed, discussed and approved. Impart Change is working on enhancing this opportunity by working on a partnership program with the EU delegation in Kenya. Fun-Peace Education Activities for our Children's Peace Hub We are delighted to offset creative and innovative activities for our 2019 Children's Peace Hub Program. Some of the fun-filled activities we have held include a 'Kung Fu Panda' Animation Series discussion on care, kindness and tolerance, a Child Friendly Conflict Tree Analysis tree session, a Coloring Sheet session to teach patience and commitment, and a holiday Promise Bookmark Creation session to encourage kindness, respect, hard-work and care for the environment during April Holidays. Consultative Forum for South Sudanese and Kenyan Youth Impart Change was delighted to host a consultative youth forum. The forum brought together 25 youth leaders and trailblazers. It sparked an enlightening dialogue that raised pertinent issues on youth development, human rights, peace and security in the region. The forum highlighted the role of South Sudanese and Kenyan youth in promoting peace, human rights and development in South Sudan and the Region. Championing youth leadership, rights and protection was also highlighted in the cases of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu Aka Bobi Wine, a Member of Parliament in Uganda and Peter Bior, a youth leader in South Sudan who were recently detained. Global Media and Literacy Week 2018 As a strong believer in the power of Media Information Literacy (MIL) to promote peace and security interventions, improve community health, enhance environmental conservation and promote sustainable cities, we are delighted to be part of the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy (MIL) International Organizing Committee (IOC) of the Global Media and Information Literacy Week 2018. The event is scheduled to take place in Lithuania and Latvia from 24th - 31st October 2018. As the event gets closer, we will mark it with one of our local partners. This year we are also working on integrating MIL in all areas of our programming by developing creative projects. We are excited about this prospect and look forward to sharing the good news soon. More information on Global MIL week 2018 can be found in the link below. Her Voice Fund We are delighted to receive financial support from Her Voice Fund to implement our project 'Connecting the dots: Improving HIV/TB youth response by supporting young women working on HIV to contribute to Kenya’s Policy Assessment on HIV/AIDS and Health'. As part of contribution to mitigating structural violence, our goal is to increase the number of young women knowledgeable about local and international policies on HIV/TB prevention, treatment, care and support where they will be better placed to align it with their work. We are also focused on inspiring more young women to play an active role in HIV/TB policy development process where they will have the opportunity to contribute in reviewing, monitoring and evaluation of policies of existing local policies. For more information on Her Voice Fund, please click the link below.
Solutions Summit in Uganda Impart Change was privileged to participate in a Solutions Summit implemented by the Institute for Research and Education Exchange Board (IREX) as an initiative of the Community Solutions Fellowship Program. The goal of the inaugural Solutions Summit was to bring together Community Solutions Program alumni, U.S. partners and experts to discuss and address community-level violence and how we can promote social cohesion in at risk communities. The Summit took place in Kampala, Uganda from May 13, 2018 to May 16, 2018. For more information about IREX, please click the link below. 7th Tana High Level Forum on Security in Africa - Bahir Dar, Ethiopia Impart Change founder and director, Ms. Vyonne Akoth was privileged to participate in the 7th Tana High Level Forum on Security in Africa. The high level forum provided a great opportunity for stakeholders and Vyonne to deliberate on how Africa can ‘Own and Finance’ its security. With a peace fund already put in place, forum participants agreed that it was much cheaper to work on violence prevention, rather than fund security which is a toll order for Africa's budgetary needs. Honored to participate in the forum, our director left the forum more informed, inspired and challenged to take a stronger stance in contributing to Africa’s security strategy from the bottom up. It was an honor for her to have a brief discussion with H.E. Graca Machel who was part of the Mediation team in Kenya’s 2007/2008 post elections violence, and delighted to engage in a fruitful conversation with Samia Nkrumah, whose father set a good precedent for leadership in Africa. For more information on the forum, please click the link below. |
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