UNV Kenya
VOLUNTEERING FOR CHANGE A newsletter of the United Nations
Volunteers Programme in Kenya| July 2012
INSIDE
:: UNV Calls for Volunteerism to Enhance Regional Integration :: UN Volunteer Organizes Kakuma Refugee Camp’s First Ever General Election :: IOM Project Benefits Fishermen In Lodwar :: 5 Questions With UNV Kenya’s HR Assistant
Cover Photo©UNV UN Volunteer Judy Mugo
talks to students at the United States International University in Nairobi during their
Career Fair.
UNV Kenya is a key player in local volunteerism
advocacy efforts through support to
establishing national
coordination mechanisms,
development of a national volunteer policy and direct
support to the responsible government
ministries as well as the volunteer
organizations network.
UNV Calls for Volunteerism to Enhance Regional Integration
The United Nations Volunteers programme has called for the scaling up of volunteer
effort to support regional integration in East Africa. Speaking at the Africa Conference
on Volunteer Action for Peace and Development held at the UN complex in Nairobi,
UNV Senior Manager for East Africa Tapiwa Kamuruko pointed out that volunteerism
could contribute greatly to enhancing regional exchanges and meeting common
development challenges.
Mr. Kamuruko observed that the high number of unemployed youth in the region
should be encouraged to take up voluntary service and supported in exchange
programmes to ensure they’re gainfully engaged and are exposed to relevant skills and
culture.
Speaking at the opening of the same event, UN Resident Coordinator & UNDP
Resident Representative Aeneas Chuma pointed out that the UN system, led by UNV,
has continued to support volunteerism, and called for stakeholders to continue doing so.
He also noted the UN Country Team’s continued support to the process of developing a
national volunteer policy for Kenya through the Ministry of Gender, Children & Social
Development.
The conference, held from 2nd
to 4th
July, brought together about 400 young people
from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi as well as Nigeria, Korea,
Canada and others. It also involved several volunteer involving organizations, both
local and international as well as senior representatives from the private sector and
government.
Over the two days, UNV encouraged discussion around the outcomes of IYV+10, the
UN General Assembly Resolution 66/67 of 2011 and the call from the UN Secretary
General to establish a Global Youth Volunteering modality. The conference ended with
a resolution for the establishment of an East Africa Peace & Service Corps that will be a
platform for galvanizing youth volunteer action in the region.
Continued on Page 2
Photo © UNV UNV’s Senior Portfolio Manager for East Africa Tapiwa
Kamuruko (left) presents a copy of the State of the World’s Volunteering Report to Kenya’s Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, EGH, MP, during the Africa Conference on Volunteer Action for Peace and Development.
Tomoko Yasunaga is an International
UN Volunteer assigned to UNHCR. She was posted to Kakuma Refugee
Camp in 2010 as a Peace-building Officer, and has
shown remarkable initiative and
success in those two years…
UN Volunteer Organizes Kakuma Refugee Camp’s First Ever General Election
Kakuma Refugee Camp located in Turkana West District near the border with South Sudan that hosts around
99,000 refugees from 13 countries, mainly from Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo, Sudan, Burundi, has
experienced the first general election of the entire camp since its establishment in 1992 on 30th
June 2012.
Tomoko Yasunaga, an International UN Volunteer assigned as Peace Building Officer of UNHCR sub-office
Kakuma, organized this election mobilizing around 600 refugee volunteers and 250 Kenyan and international
staff of all aid agencies which are based in Kakuma together with around 100 refugee and Kenyan security
personnel. Refugee volunteers, Kenyan and international staff were working as electoral committees and
presiding officers at 91 polling stations and tens of thousands refugees who are above 18 years old voted for their
leaders and many of them experienced the election for the first time in their life.
The long journey started in 2010, a few months after she arrived in Kakuma. As a Peace Building Officer,
Tomoko was assigned to promote the peaceful co-existence among refugees and began to realize there was a gap
in the existing leadership structure, since it was based on nationality, tribe and clans, thus aggravating tribalism
and clan-based divisions. As a result, it brought about a situation in which mutual cooperation between
communities was weak and often ineffective, especially in terms of the sharing of limited resources. There were
also challenges in conveying information between leaders and community members as the number of refugees in
each community was disproportional. What is more, issues relating to the provision of services and issues
affecting persons living with disabilities, gender, children, and particular groups were not well represented by the
structure.
Tomoko together with her counterparts in NGOs, government and senior UNHCR staff started discussing ideas
around restructuring the leadership to one based on constituencies made up of blocks and zones and camps, for
enhancing effective service delivery, information sharing and mutual cooperation among refugees. Despite the
agreement and full consensus of all agencies, the concept had been completely rejected by refugee leaders who
had been sitting in their position for long time and their community members who were influenced by them. The
distrust between different ethnic groups due to their historical background was also a great obstacle for their
acceptance. However, she and her colleagues undauntedly tried to convince the refugee community members,
and gradually the aim of the new leadership structure became to be infiltrated to the refugee population and
finally accepted by all communities.
Based on the concept, the camp constitution was drafted by the refugee representatives of each nationality and
passed by the government that manages the camp, all agencies and the refugee leaders, and electoral committees
were formed in each constituency, a total of 91 blocks.
Since the election was the first experience for most of refugees, the members of electoral committees had to
undergo training in democracy and the concept of fair and free elections. Despite the initial strong rejection,
around 600 refugee volunteers became to be keen on serving for improvement of their communities.
However, although the process finally seemed to be on the right track, there were still numerous challenges that
needed to be overcome such as the voters’ registration, mobilization of Kenyan staff, logistics, security measures,
absence of female candidates due to cultural reasons, civic educations especially for illiterate populations and etc.
Tomoko and her team overcame each challenge one by one and, the general election was finally conducted two
years after the start of the project. Almost 1,000 staff including refugees, Kenyans and internationals, regardless
of their positions, united to work hard and make this exercise a big success. Despite the concerns of security risks
and chaos, the election in 91 constituencies went peacefully, and refugees congratulated the winners as the
election results were announced and success of the first election of the entire camp.
However, this was not the goal of the journey. Tomoko and her colleagues are still working on ensuring that the
new system promotes the fair and effective distribution of services and information, and mutual support, and
eventually enhance peaceful co-existence among refugees. She strongly wishes that refugees who came from war-
torn countries to learn how to live in peace by overcoming tribalism and build democratic society, and eventually
rebuild peaceful societies in their own countries in the future.
Photo©UNHCR UN Volunteer Tomoko Yasunaga (in blue cap) poses with elated refugees at the Kakuma Refugee Camp on the sidelines of the camp’s first ever General Election
www.onlinevolunteering.org
IOM is implementing livelihood and
peace building programs in North
Eastern Kenya, focusing on the
pastoralist communities living there.
International UN Volunteer Mujahid
Hussein has recently joined the IOM
office in Nairobi as an
Emergency/Post Crisis officer, helping
in implementation of different project
activities.
The construction of a fish mart for
local fishermen in Lodwar is one of
the IOM initiatives of livelihoods
diversification for the pastoralist
community in Turkana.
This initiative targeted the drought affected communities rely only livestock to have alternative sources of
income and make them resilient to drought. The center is benefiting over 300 small traders including women on a
daily basis, providing a facility where they can sell fish at good prices. The mart has storing, freezing and
marketing facility for the small traders those were initially sell fish at road side. The mart has provided business
opportunity to fish traders as well local people. The center is self-sustained by the traders and local government.
Photo©IOM Fishmart in Lodwar benefits fishermen/women and the local community, giving them alternative livelihoods to pastoralism.
UN Volunteer Judy Mugo serves in the UNV Kenya office as the HR
Assistant. Dealing with recruitment
of national volunteers,
Judy is likely the first face the UN Volunteers meet when they begin
their assignment….
When & why did you become a UN Volunteer?
I joined UNV in August 2010, so it’s just coming up to two years! One of the reasons for my joining the
programme was the belief that I could make a useful contribution to UNV, and by extension the communities the
volunteers serve, while at the same time add to my career experience, develop skills and learn new ones. Being a
UN Volunteer has been an experience I believe I will carry along in future even after my assignment is over!
You deal with UN Volunteers on a daily basis. How is that like and do you have any challenges?
The UN Volunteers we work with are some of the most committed, hardworking and passionate group of people.
I enjoy working with them, seeing them settle well in their various assignments and grow through it. To be honest
though, like any HR position, mine is not without its challenges. I think the main one is figuring out how to
sustain a very supportive environment for the volunteers, especially with regard to challenges they face in their
assignments – ranging from workspace, equipment, communication and so on. Keeping them motivated can be a
big challenge at times!
Tell us about one outstanding experience you’ve had so far as a UN Volunteer.
I recently attended a Career Fair at the United States International University (USIU) as part of the UNV team. It
was exciting answering questions from the enthusiastic students, most of them prospective volunteers, on how
they could join UNV as well as my own experiences. The interaction for me was very memorable!
If you could change one thing about your assignment, what would it be?
I think I would like to see volunteers have at least a week-long orientation on volunteerism before taking up their
assignment so that they understand well the expectation of their host organizations and UNV where their
volunteering assignment is concerned. That would mean I need to do more at the beginning, but it would save us a
lot of unmet expectations in the course of the volunteer assignments.
Any advice you’d like to give to potential volunteers out there?
It is important to be realistic when deciding to take up a volunteering assignment. Many people want to be a UN
Volunteer because they think it ‘pays’ well – they end up getting very frustrated, because UN Volunteers are not
paid a salary. So if your motivation is money, volunteering is not for you, whether it’s in the UN or elsewhere.
But it does give you excellent opportunities for learning and growth while making a real difference in people’s
lives, and that’s where your motivation needs to come from!
Photo©UNV UN Volunteer Judy Mugo talks to Rwandan student Nsengimana Juvenal at the United States International University in Nairobi during their Career Fair.
For more information on this Newsletter, the UNV programme or to submit stories of your volunteering, contact the UNV Communications Officer in
Kenya George Oloo on [email protected] or [email protected] or call us on +254 20 762 5540
www.ke.undp.org/un-volunteers UNVKenya @unvkenya
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