During the year, Africa’s Voices relentlessly pursued its mission of placing the voices of citizens at the centre of decision making and development. The effects of COVID-19 and climate change were however unrelenting in Kenya, Somalia and other countries where we have worked. The result was that our programmes portfolio reduced during 2022 and so did our income.
Despite these difficulties, Africa’s Voices still managed to create platforms of engagements between citizens and decision makers in Kenya and Somalia where interactive radio programmes allowed for citizen voices to be heard on a range of topics such as the elections in Kenya and Somalia, citizen priorities for development in Kenya and Somalia, the fight against corruption in Kenya, advancing a soft approach to countering violent extremism in Somalia and the vetting of aspirants to county-level elective positions in Kenya. In addition, we continued our partnership to challenge norms that inhibit transition of girls and women from education to livelihood pathways within the refugee and host communities in Northern Kenya.
In the reporting period 21,298 citizens sent 110,053 SMSs in 108 interactive radio shows aired on 19 radio stations in both Kenya and Somalia. We are grateful to citizens who engaged with us and entrusted their views with us. We can assure them that their views were heard by the relevant decision-makers and went a long way in shaping decisions and perspectives affecting them. We are equally grateful to the partners who continue to believe in the transformative approach that Africa’s Voices champions and its impact in making their decisions truly people-centred. There is still a long way to go in the realisation of a truly citizen-driven decision-making process but at least we are firmly on that path.
Our staff have been passionate, diligent and committed in working towards achieving the organisation’s objectives in an otherwise difficult environment. We are grateful for their focus and contribution to a successful year. Our trustees have been there to offer strategic advice and cheer us on. We are full of gratitude for their contribution.
This report summarises our work during the year 2022. We welcome you to travel back and walk the journey with us throughout the year and purpose to partner with us in the coming years to place citizens at the heart of decision-making and Africa’s transformation.
With best wishes,
Samuel Kimeu,
Executive Director.
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info@africasvoices.org
@africas_voices
