 If you could change one thing about your local community, what would it be? Would you plant more trees, invent a water pump that makes safe drinking water more affordable? Found an organization that raises money to send girls to school. When Kendi, Evie and Nosa Garak asked themselves that question, they decided to found Vote or Quench, a nonpartisan organization that uses social media campaigns to encourage young people in Nigeria to register to vote and to participate in the political process. Today we're happy to welcome Kendi and Nosa to our studio to discuss their efforts to change the status quo one Facebook fan at a time. Thank you so much for joining us, you guys. Thank you very much, Christina. Kendi and Nosa, many people want to know how you've accomplished so much at such a young age. Could you tell us a little bit about Vote or Quench and also what inspired you to start this organization? Sure. So in 2011, we were on the dawn, it was the dawn of the election and we were observing what was going on with, at the time, the Green Revolution and then there were some other youth groups on ground that started protesting because at the time there was a whole snafu where we weren't able to find our president or there was no reports released about where our president was and we realized how unseriously the Nigerian population was taken by its government and there were a series of protests that broke out and we in the diaspora were saying what could we possibly do to actually make something happen because we were tired of being frustrated with the government and not actually taking any action. So Kendi and I and a couple of other friends around the world got together and decided that we should start something where we encourage people to vote because that's really the idea of taking the power back into the hands of the people where we're able to select our leaders. And just to add on to that, on a more personal level, we had a lot of internal discussions as to what we could do to of course impact change and make things better and also look into our own demographic and see how we can be more effective in impacting change essentially. And so Nosa and I decided that this would be a great soundboard to relay that message to people that are the fellow Nigerian youth that are in Nigeria and also outside of Nigeria to be able to be taking part in the political process and stake their claim. At the time there were numbers floating around that said 70% of the population was under the age of 30 and that is a huge part of the electorate and we realized those people were not voting and there was a chance to actually impact the elections in a large way if we're able to get people within that age demographic out to come out and vote and so that's where the idea of voter quench was birthed. Wonderful. As I'm sure you can tell, it's often hard to create change. It takes a lot of ingenuity, work and perseverance. We have a great online audience today with young people joining from Namibia, Cambodia and many other countries around the world to learn how you turned an idea into real-world action. With that in mind, I'd like to take our first live question from the audience. This question is, can you tell us more about the campaigns associated with voter quench? How did the youth debate get started? One of the first campaigns we did was if-niger votes and that campaign was basically a Twitter, Facebook, Black Bear Messenger campaign where we were getting people to update their statuses with things that could change in the country if Nigerians came out and voted and so we incorporated the help from celebrities around Nigeria who are impactful and also celebrities that were big in the U.S. and mainstream to just tweet things out like 50% of Nigeria will have clean water if Nigeria goes out and vote and so that prompted people to start getting creative. It was right before registration so it was an effort to raise awareness about the need for us to register and the impacts that the votes could have. The next campaign we did was the What About Us movement which spurred the debates where we were saying, all right, we have these presidential candidates but we don't know what their platforms are and they're certainly not speaking to the youth and so the idea behind it was to get a campaign created where people started voicing the questions that they had. What are you going to do for me as a youth living in Nigeria? And that led to the creation of the presidential debate where we had three candidates come and crowdsourced questions from the youth and we were able to livestream it to young Nigerians around the world. Wow. Yeah. And in addition to that we were able to form a great coalition with some other youth organizations on ground. Enough is enough, stand up, Niger and sleeves up. So we formed this coalition and we also had a lot of other organizations who helped the efforts and so all of us collectively, I mean this was a joint effort to get people of course excited about the idea of having a conversation with our leaders or potential leaders at the time at least. So and we were very happy to be part of that, as part of history essentially. It was the first ever youth debate that we actually, those done in Nigeria, those youth focused. So and we were very glad to have had all of again the great support and everything, everyone who would basically help us through that whole process. It was definitely a difficult process but we got it done and that's the power to youth. Wow. Most of this was done from the diaspora? It was done, I moved back to Nigeria. Kendi was helping us from the diaspora, people were helping us in France. So it was, because there's Nigerians all over the world, you can't escape us. So we were able to partner with all these different people around the world who were just trying to see what they could do especially because they weren't in the country and couldn't vote. But at home there were all these groups that had formed that were tired of the same rhetoric of, you know, give us your vote without any kind of ideas behind it. And we said let's join forces as opposed to having all these fragmented efforts. And what we were able to do was increase our reach and touch a lot more Nigerians than we would have just as our own group. Wonderful. Thank you. We're also joined today by a group from Ghana that is similar to voter quench. Ghana decides. A representative from Ghana decides wants to know what strategies did voter quench adopt to ensure that they reach youth who had no access to social media. Great question. Yeah. One of the things that we had, at the time there were two million Nigerians on Facebook within the country. But there's a million other people, more than that, who don't have access to computers. So we made sure to use SMS as there's a large text penetration. People who had SMS could participate in the campaigns and they were also able to send in the questions for the debate. We were able to have the debate aired on terrestrial TV where, you know, it's local channels that everyone had access to but a big part of it was using radio. Where, you know, these people don't need to have a computer or a TV but the radio's in their car and a lot of people what you see carrying radio's around and in order to also reach the youth who were in the Hausa speaking part of Nigeria we partnered with BBC World Service in order to get the message out to those people as well. And so the thing is, you know, leading up, well, we had a series of social media campaigns leading up to the actual debate and the IFNIGIA votes was primarily social media based so where we were trying to get people on Twitter, Facebook, Blackberry Messenger to, of course, come up with this hypothetical idea of if you had a chance to vote, what would you, you know, what would you envision as the new Nigeria or, you know, how would you feel or, you know, people were again very creative and so the idea also was to really start to, I mean, we kind of had the idea of potentially doing a debate brewing and so when we did, you know, eventually do the debate, you know, of course that was our opportunity to make sure we're reaching the youth on ground, of course, and giving them the opportunity to see change happen and of course, you know, like Nosa said, through the televised debate we're able to reach about 20 million homes which is where, you know, this rough estimate and then of course, you know, through the radio broadcast we're able to get people tuned in to watch us, of course, question our potential leaders on what they would do if they were given the opportunity, what they would do to earn our votes and so that was a very, I think it was, of course, like I said, was one of the newer things that we've ever experienced in our country. That's great. Definitely you guys are very innovative. Thank you, Christina. Tomasz from Poland asks, can you tell me how did the population at your home feel about diaspora groups coming with ideas like voter quench? I ask because some places like Poland have a big population overseas but I do not think such an outside group could be as influential. So how did you make it work? Actually, well, I'll just start this one off. Essentially it was very important for us to make sure, of course, coming out as a diaspora group, Nigerians in the diaspora, you know, we have a plethora of Nigerians who live outside. I mean, estimated 15 plus million or so who live outside of Nigeria so we still are a relevant part of that population, of course and we wanted to be a part of the 2011 elections but at the point when we were told that we couldn't vote from where we were spread out around the world, which was not really by choice. I mean, most of the reasons why a lot of Nigerians are outside of Nigeria is because of the current state of affairs in the country and it's bad. So people go out and seek other opportunities outside because they want to be able to, you know, of course live better lives. And so I guess, you know, the idea of us coming, you know, to do this was to, you know, make sure we were, you know, we had the opportunity to get everyone excited, you know, to vote and, you know, yeah, so I guess, can you help me out? Sorry, I kind of blanked out there. It wasn't an exclusive effort. It wasn't something where we came in and said, oh, we're from the diaspora, we have all the ideas, listen to us, but we actually made a conscious effort to reach out to groups who were at home and who had come up with their own campaigns and were already engaged with young Nigerians from people who have been left the country or whatever. It was about saying how can we come together because at the end of the day we have the same end goal. So what can we do together to achieve this goal? So I think that helped with acceptance and, you know, obviously there were, you know, it was a balancing act, kind of merging the two groups together or the two different divides from diaspora and non-diaspora, but it worked out. Yeah, and just so, going back, I'm sorry, I kind of apologize to everyone watching. It is early here, but essentially the partnerships on ground, that was very important for us. So establishing those right partnerships to make sure that we were able to collaborate, knowing that we couldn't, of course, have the opportunity to vote was one of the things that we, you know, we really, really worked hard to do and, you know, we, again, were able to work with some great organizations who we formed this coalition with to do our social media campaigns, of course, they end up to debate and everything we were able to accomplish following up to the 2011 elections. Wonderful. Tomas has another question. He asks, have you made an influence on the political parties to create an outreach for youth? As far as the debate went, that was a big impact because usually there wasn't even really participation in the debate, but the realization that the youth was a large part of the electorate, that was the first, the starting point in saying, all right, you know, this is, we realize these voices are important. What can we do to actually cater to them? But post-debate, the leading party now, the PDP, they actually have come up with a number of youth initiatives where they're appeasing to the youth. Have they worked? I'm not going to say they have, but there is an effort to reach out to the youth because now at least there's the recognition of how big of a group this is and how much they actually need to start taking actions to cater to the youth. Yeah. Ghana Decide asks, were there attempts to associate vote or quench with any political party and how did you deal with it? From the start, we said we were nonpartisan. We have no interest in being part of a political party. We have no interest in being the trumpet of a political party. I think that it's very important that you have a neutral ground where people are able to say whatever they want about a political party and not mince words if a political party is not doing anything to change the country. It was something we went and decided to do going in. It was never an option when people came to us and said, do you want to be part of this? We were approached by political parties. Not really. The thing is, one of our firm stand, the firm stand we took as far as when we started this whole movement was to, of course, ensure that we're also practicing democracy as it should be and being, of course, neutral. So we already knew that that was something else immovable. We weren't going to compromise whatsoever. How many major political parties are there in Nigeria, do you know? A lot more than the US two-party system. Well, now there are two big parties which are the PDP and ACN. ACN is probably the strongest opposition. And then you have the acronyms escape. And then we had the other party, CPC, that was another strong opposition party. And then there's a number of smaller parties that some of them are just there to be there. They don't really win anything, but they're there. Putting out ideas. But yeah, there's a lot is the answer to that question. Okay. Our viewing party at US Embassy Wendock asks about any political challenges you have faced in Nigeria and can you speak to them? I mean, getting taken seriously was one of the big parts that we found. Actually trying to work with government organizations to get the word out, to actually work with them because they have a national debate where, you know, they have their own setup and we are trying to work with them in that area and like trying to use their platform to enlarge our reach. But, you know, there was resistance with it. And, you know, it's not, I wouldn't say that everyone within the government does want that change. So as a party, or not as a party, but as a group coming in wanting to shake things up, you're obviously going to face political challenges. How did you guys get them to agree to come to your debates, your youth debates? Well, it was actually, it was by and large, you know, the people who actually got involved in the social media campaigns. I mean, we drove, I mean, we knew that they were coming into the 2011 elections. A lot of these candidates were going to be utilizing social media to try to inspire the youth to, of course, vote for them. And so, you know, it was really by and large again, you know, the efforts of the youth, they all participated. You know, the energy was there, they called them out. They said, look, we want you at the debate. We want to hear what you have to say. And so, I mean, I think that really helped in terms of, of course, letting them know as well that, I mean, because we, you know, we try to make them accountable for the words that they said coming into the election. They said, the youth is important. They made, they made it very clear. They said, we're going to reach out to the youth. We're going to focus on youth issues. So we said, okay, fine. So let's, let's hear it. Let's hear what you have to say. Let's question you. And so that's one of the reasons why we, the whole debate what about us was actually all driven from start to finish by the youth. We called out the candidates. We voted for the ones we wanted to see. And then we saw them and they answered our questions. So. We also had a lot of support from media. Sahara reporters for one is a huge one. And they are a citizen journalism magazine and or not magazine, but online site. And they have a really large reach. I think they have about six million hits a day. And they were big supporters of the movement because they're, they're one that they don't mince words. So they, you know, actually call out, you know, scandals that happen that people wouldn't usually talk about. And so they were really supportive of the movement, along with two, three, four next and, you know, all these different guys that are able to reach out to the people. And so there was there when we did the biggest challenge we faced going in was actually getting people to participate because like Kendi said, a lot of them wanted to use social media, a lot Barack Obama and, you know, reach out to the youth in that way. But it became one way street of communication. And what they don't realize is, no, wait, we can actually talk to you. And so it was that encouragement of saying, paste on their walls, let them know what you want. Let them know that you want to hear them speak. And we actually had Nuhra Rabadu was a big one who, after like the what about us one day concentrated effort asking what about us says, I understand you guys want to hear from, from me. So I will be a part of this debate. Wonderful. That was, that was very huge. Yeah, that's inspiring. Ghana decide asks or states one of the biggest debates in Ghana is can social media make a difference in elections in Ghana and more widely in Africa? What do you think? Well, I mean, you know, I think the whole social media revolution, of course, it's still very, you know, still very new. And I think it's something that I don't know what the numbers are as far as the Ghanians on social media. But, you know, I think it's impactful. I think what needs to happen is, and Nusa and I are very huge proponents of this, is a good mix of using some of the social media as well as non-social media mix so that you're getting, of course, you know, all of the right publications that are, you know, located in your home base country, you know, broadcasting the information that you, of course, you're trying to relay, whether it's about the debate you're organizing community rallies for, you know, anything that's politically related. So my point is, you know, social media is a very great tool. Of course, it's a free tool. And a lot of people, the youth, especially in Africa, they use it. And, you know, we've seen a lot of great things come out of, you know, the effectiveness of social media. And I want to just say, I mean, it's, there's a lot, there's definitely a lot involved with that. And it's still, you know, there's still a lot, you know, I think there's, you know, there's still a lot of opportunities to mold, to mold what the ideal model would be for, you know, most African countries to go with. I think the biggest bit about social media is part of, is organizing. It's actually saying, all right, let's meet here at this time. Look at who's doing what on social media, connect with people. We met a lot of people via Twitter, via Facebook, who we never met in person. But it's about using it as an organizing tool, as opposed to saying, I'm just going to post messages on Facebook and that's going to change society. That's not going to happen. It's saying, these are tools you use to connect with people, to get your message out, to actually build the message, create the message, to hear what people's gripes are, using it to connect with people. Not everyone's on social media. The penetration for broadband in Africa is like 4%. That's not a lot. The cell phone penetration, however, is huge. In a very short period of time, we're going to see a lot of people who have access to smartphones. I think that social media is going to help with building up these revolutions, if you want, that affect the African continent in a different way. We're not saying that social media is the be-all and end-all, but what it is, is a very powerful tool that helps you get your message out, beyond people who would be usually in your circle of influence, towards traditional media, because we have a lot of people like BBC, Have Your Say Africa, is constantly following different people. That helped us get our message out beyond Nigeria to larger networks, larger media networks, and these are the types of things that you can accomplish with it. During the if-nysha-votes campaign, what were some of the most interesting responses you guys saw on Twitter? Wow. Perhaps the most significant and then the funniest. I imagine you probably had a wide range of. There's a lot of funny stuff. That's one thing I will say about Nigerians are really funny and very creative. I mean, there are some people who are claiming if Nigeria votes, I'm going to get married. There are just so many different. There are funny ones, of course, they're really good, of course, inspiring ones as well. Nothing that I can take over my head. I remember there was one that said if Nigeria votes, if Nigeria votes cold stone, creamier will come to Nigeria. The funny thing is cold stone is coming to Nigeria. So it was little things like that. People poking fun at each other and that kind of stuff. But it became something that was really personal to people where they said things like if Nigeria votes, more people have access to healthcare, more people have access to good roads, more people have access to education. And those were the inspiring ones that made us feel warm and fuzzy inside. But then there were also the funnier ones that it was all in good fun, but the message was well received. And I also think the idea, that was part of the energy that we were trying to, of course, ignite from people to be able to have the opportunity to look at the hypothetical view of if Nigeria votes, what do you see as a potential new Nigeria. And so a lot of people definitely participated and it was a great feedback from that. You mentioned that social media is very powerful. We have a question on that point from APMR, a Romanian press agency. APMR notes that having access to internet and being young may not be enough to influence policymakers. But what if in the near future policymakers win by using these tools, youth and social media in their own interest? Is there a risk of corrupting these tools? Absolutely. I mean, there's people now who use youth and social media for their own agendas. But that's why it's important to have platforms that are nonpartisan who are able to speak the truth. I mean, there's always going to be two sides of a coin. We can't say, obviously people are going to use it for good and people are going to use it for evil. People are going to use it to incite violence. People use youth right now to incite violence during elections to kind of disrupt things. People are using youth now. But it's important that there is the good which in the situation where you're able to say, listen, let's think with our heads. These are the facts. These are the things you should think about. These are what these policies are doing to you. And these are how these policies will affect you. It's important that we realize what we're doing is spreading information. Because at the end of the day, that's the key. And the more we can educate youth on how these policies affect them and how these politicians are affecting them, then it's going to be less likely that you can use them to incite violence. Have you guys teamed up with other similar organizations? I know you mentioned you've teamed up with others. You sort of started by joining with other organizations like Voter Quench in Nigeria. But can you speak to your connections on a global audience with other similar organizations? Yeah, I'm thinking about that. Yeah, I mean... I mean, we worked a little bit with, you know, loose partnerships. But we didn't do anything on a bigger scale. We worked a bit with Digital Democracy, which is in the U.S. We worked... I mean, we had a lot of support from Google Africa, which was, you know, really important. And they were a huge part of the elections as a whole from, you know, allowing people to kind of tweet in violence at different polling stations and actually letting people know where these polling units were. Yeah. I'm trying to think about other ones. I'm trying to add on. I mean, I think you're right, actually, because what happened was when we realized because we did come in with the idea to, of course, we had these loose partnerships and we had access to a lot of international organizations potentially that we could work with. But, you know, when we realized that, you know, as the diasporas, we wouldn't be able to vote in the 2011 elections. Our focus then became, you know, forming those, you know, partnerships with the groups on ground. So that's where we then shifted our focus. However, you know, moving forward, we're hoping that we can now look into those partnerships, again, on a more global scale to see how we can potentially get the diasporas spread around the world to have an opportunity to have their voice heard. And then next elections are in 2015. It's a little early, but do you guys have any campaigns in the works, do you think? Any other hashlips? Well, right now we don't have any hashtags that we've come up with. We're talking about it. But we're focusing on actually getting the diaspora vote in 2015. As of right now, Nigerians have a right to vote in the diaspora. But there's no, the machinery isn't there. And the process isn't there and hasn't been thought out. So that's one of our big goals for 2015 is to be able to at least have a testing ground for it. That's fascinating. I didn't know the diaspora could vote. One. Yes. Quabina from Ghana asks, what has been the biggest challenge for voter quench? Funding. So anyone out there with money? No. But that, you know, it's kind of using the little resources we have to get the word out. But it's been, again, social media is free. So that's been great. But again, it is kind of having, being taken seriously as a young organization as, you know, not rooted in anything but faith and a motivation to see the country change. Yeah. You know, obviously there's, you know, it's dealing with people. There's, there's always the thought where people say, nothing's really going to change. It's a huge country. Democracy has been around since 1999. There's rigging and all the stuff. So it's actually getting people to believe in what is voter quench or what the youth have the power to do. But I think that while there were, there's always naysayers and there are still naysayers, we've been able to move past that and being, yeah, we know we're young and we know that, you know, you might not take us seriously and we know that this is, seems like a ridiculous dream. But even being able to pull off an elect, a debate. Yeah. And being able to see so many young people come out to vote and register to vote and, and stay at the polling stations and watch and make sure people, that their votes are counted. That in itself is something that's huge for Nigeria because before in the 2007 elections it was only 23 million people who came out to vote out of 76 million people, like possible electorate. And in this case there was actually 50 million people that came out to vote. So say that people are waking up and saying the responsibility is not in the hands of the government. It's in the hands of the people. And that is a critical step towards democracy that makes our life easier as voter quench. And I mean, you know, in addition to the funding, of course, I mean, you know, the challenge we also, I mean, it's, these challenges, of course, we anticipated and we decided that we wanted to still go ahead and fight these challenges because, again, like Noso was saying, one of the reasons why we started this organization was to, of course, inspire people. And we also did see, you know, there were a lot of four thinking Nigerians that needed a platform. And so, you know, just like Noso and I wanted to see a new Nigeria to see change, wanted to impact, you know, policy and do things, you know, start to mainstream youth issues in the constitution. And so we had all these discussions and we knew that there was an appetite for change. And, you know, so that's, those are the people that we think of, especially when, you know, we face these challenges and we say, you know, we have these, you know, we have a strong group, we have a strong optimistic group of people we should focus on staying the positive lane and hopefully achieving our goals as we, as we create them. And it's one little step at a time. We don't, we're not trying to, you know, put everything out there and say we're going to change Nigeria tomorrow or we're going to, you know, make everyone believe that we are going to give in to despair. What were you guys feeling when you started the organization? Were you nervous? Anger. I'm kidding. Uncertainty. I think. There was a lot of uncertainties. I mean, it's just, I mean, I think it was just like any other, just like any other initiative that, you know, people started, I mean, it was pretty unprecedented as far as what we were trying to accomplish. At first, I mean, we really knew that, you know, once we knew that we couldn't do it then, you know, shifting base and looking to form those partnerships again. I mean, it was one of those things that every, every, every step we took, we, we really were just going with our will. Our will was what? Did you ever think you'd be as big as you are now? I don't even think, I don't think we're that big. We're very small. We're not, we're not a big, we're not a big organization. We, you know, we are, we were very content with, again, just the idea of getting an opportunity to, of course, talk about what we're trying to do and really put the youth, of course, the youth issues in front of the world to, to also for them to know that Nigerians are alert, we're aware. We want to make change happen in our country. And so I, we're not, you know, we're not that big. We're very, we're very, you know, we're small, but of course we want to, we want to also hopefully inspire people to even do bigger things. I mean, that's really the truth. Our, our whole goal is to work on why it's important to have a voice, why they should be, you know, hopefully feel inspired by this little group that did something that was, again, unprecedented, but we still have a lot I feel to accomplish. We haven't done any, you know, in my opinion, I feel like we still have a lot to do, a lot to do. I mean, you know, Nigeria is a beast, a different, different beast. And the political system there is, you know, it has so many levels of complexities that we were just like, not really sure what we want to do. I mean, we know what we want to do. We're not really sure how it's going to happen. Like I just moved back to Nigeria and we were just like, alright, so let's see what happens. And it was just taking it a step at a time and just walking in faith and saying we know our heart is in the right place. We know we want to see Nigeria get better. Like we don't really have much to gain from it. I mean, obviously we have a lot to gain, but personally we don't have much to gain. But we know that this is something that we are obliged to do because we have the knowledge of what democracy is in other countries. And we have experienced what it is to be free. And we have experienced what it is to have access to public education and public services that governments are supposed to create. And the idea that because you win the Ovarian lottery and you're born into a situation where you're able to have access to all these things just because of who the parents are, but then the next person, you know, there's a 50-50 chance, you know. And so the saying that, you know, knowing that we're in the position to play a part in leveling the playing field and giving opportunities or at least helping and creating those opportunities for other people, it was knowing that there was no way we could sit back and just watch, you know. I mean, we could have sat comfortably and said, okay, we're just going to stay in the states and that's going to be it. But knowing that we're in that position, it just didn't feel right to not do anything. Yeah. We have another question coming in. This one is, a literacy is a challenge in many parts of the world. One of our participants in Namibia asks, how do you involve people in voting who cannot read or write? One of the radio stations, like we said, radio is a big thing because that probably has the largest audience. But one of the radio stations in Nigeria is called Wazubia FM, which speaks in broken English, which is, you know, it's kind of local and everyone has access to it. So, you know, it wasn't, it was said in a way and things were written in a way where we were able to reach local people who may not have, you know, know how to read or know how to write. And that was saying, this is a form, you know, getting that form of education to them in that way. And one thing that, you know, the government did do right was putting in the logos of the party, symbols of the parties and not just writing out the names of the people so that people could actually recognize it and so there was an effort to actually get people to know what the logos were. So, there's a lot of challenges, obviously, and letting people know that it is important for us to increase our literacy rate is one of the things that comes up when we're talking about the debates and what candidates are actually going to do. So, you know, it's being able to reach people on platforms that they already are on and speaking to them in a language that they understand. We have another question from Ghana Decides. They ask, how do you rate the effectiveness of the project and what advice would you give to Ghana Decides and other similar projects? I mean, I'll rate the projects that we did. I'll be because, I would say we were successful because and only because we set out to do something and we did it. And I think, you know, I think, again, the idea of stepping into an uncertain terrain, you know, you really have to, of course, you know, have a strong team and stay positive and set those goals as little as they are. I mean, you know, and have them build towards the bigger goal, whatever that may be. So, I guess, you know, my suggestion would be, you know, just stay the course and it's really just as simple as that. And I mean, I also think there are a lot of, you know, the complexities that come with, of course, having to do such big campaigns of that nature. What kept us together was the fact that we had a very, very strong team. And so, you know, if I would give one piece of advice, is to make sure, of course, you have a very, very strong positive team of people that are, of course, you know, looking to do this, you know, to have the same goals and in fact, to change them. Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right. Yeah, yeah. I think that's a big, a big part of it. Also, perseverance. Perseverance, yeah. Because it's not easy. It's an uphill climb and there's going to be a lot of people who don't want you to succeed as some, as you know, an organization coming in trying to shake things up in the political scene. And, you know, there's going to be obstacles that are created. So, it's really filling things out and not getting discouraged and just kind of figuring out how you can be adaptable and work with the climate that's created, which is one that is really uncertain and you know, little loopholes come up that say, okay, now you guys can't do this, but just keep pushing and know that you can do it. You know, we can't, I'm not too well versed on what the political climate in Ghana is like, but you just have to be sure to adapt it to fit that and talk to the people in a way that resonates with them. One thing we did do was use, we were able to reach out to a lot of influencers. That's artists and musicians to reach out to people and I know Ghana is a great music scene so if you can find some people to do the azonto and... Yeah, that's actually, yeah, that's actually, that's something that I mean... A azonto dance? Exactly. That could help. Yeah, it's just to add on to that. I mean, it's one of those things where, like Nosa said, you have to kind of adapt to whatever you know your target demographic likes or you feel that they're going to pay attention to when relaying your message, whatever that may be. And of course, having access to influencers helps a ton. So, you know, because they, of course, you know, will drive people to, you know, of course, you know, get the job done as well. And, you know, we were very fortunate, of course, when we did our social media campaigns, combined with all of the, one of the big factors also where the influencers we had on board with the idea, they really helped us a ton in spreading the message of voter quench. In terms of mainstream media, how do you think your story was covered and received? And there's, I mean, you mentioned Sahara reporters and BBC, were you picked up by many other organizations? Yes, go ahead, go ahead. Well, we had, we were fortunate to have, you know, the, I think the BBC had a blurb about it. And we had some, some of the more, the bigger ones escaped me, but we did a couple of interviews with Voice of America, a radio interview, and some of the more internet-based guys. We had a bit of a tough time getting it to the CNNs of the world and, you know, the large organizations. And one of the things that we realized is that there is a lack of diversity in the media coverage of Nigeria, because at the time, or Africa in general, because at the time there was the civil war happening in Ivory Coast and there was the Arab Spring. So we found it hard for, you know, the storyline of youth civil society, as important as it was to us, was not really covered widely because of all these other stories. And, you know, there was, they were related because, you know, we're talking about the Arab Spring that was helped, the flames were fanned by social media. But it was tough getting international media to cover the stories. It was smaller ones that thought it was an important story. And that's one thing that we realized where we need to build up our own media because of the difficulty in convincing a mainstream organization that these are stories that are important enough, even though we realized we were inspired by stories that came out of Kenya in their 2009 election that came out of Iran with the Green Revolution, as I mentioned earlier. And we believe that these are stories that somebody in Ghana could see and say, all right, hey, maybe I'll get in contact with these people because my election's coming up. At the time, it was about 10 different countries were going into their presidential elections, 2011. 2012 was also a huge year. So if you have these stories coming out, you have people who are able to say, all right, let me try to contact someone and see how I can learn from their organization. And so that was our one thing with mainstream media or Western media and getting coverage because some people or powers that be didn't think it was something that was worth covering. And you mentioned civil society and how you're helping promote it and promoting democratic elections. What type of changes do you think will come from promoting civil society through these means? Why is it important in Nigeria? One of the things we were actually talking about this earlier, there's been a lot of stuff happening from the fuel subsidy issues occupied in Nigeria, now Boko Haram. And so because people were engaged in the political campaigns of that year, they were hearing what these people said they were going to do for them and went out and voted based on what these people said they were going to do for them. And now we're saying, all right, well, you guys haven't actually done those things. And so it's the idea of creating a cycle where people now take responsibility for the choices they've made and the people they voted for. I'm not going to say that people are going, at least you're able to create your own personal progress report where you say, all right, this guy voted for it, didn't really do stuff. So I can vote him out the next time. And so it's creating that awareness where people understand the power they have. And so what we're hoping eventually happens is that politicians don't come with an empty platform or one that lacks substance, but rather one that is actually truthful and they actually try to make these changes that they promise and people understand that they're not powerless and it's not just any Joe Schmoe who's going to come up and say, I want to run for office because I have to. But rather it's the good ideas that are going to win and in seeing that there is an active political or at least you know population that is engaged in the political process, more people who are of quality will come out and actually run for office the next time. We have another question coming in from our online audience. Henry asks, can you give examples or ideas of other ways to bring youth together on a strong platform for peace, progress and unity for the world? I mean, if you look at one thing we've seen or one thing we know at least in the U.S. is that there's organizations in universities like there's Nigerian Students' Associations all over the country and it's really about finding a cause that is unifying and saying in whatever small way however you think you can affect change and then seeking out people who are similarly joined or in those causes and contacting them reaching out to them saying, hey, this is what we're doing. Do you guys want to get in on it? Do you guys want to work together? And, you know, I don't think there's an example we can, you know, make to point to at least for such a really broad question. Yeah. And I think part of it too is it's quite subjective. Like, you know, of course it depends on people's research and what they are inclined to of course what they consider as a unified, peaceful platform. And so, you know, that's such a, it's a very subjective I guess question or answer rather because I think it really will depend on, you know, the individual and, you know, the group involved and whatever they're stances on certain issues if it's peace, unity around the world, I mean, or issues in, you know, policies in Africa. I mean, there are a lot of different things, again, that go into that. So I think it's very, it's quite subjective, but I would say people should of course, you know, do your research and if it's their organizations that you see fit, you know, what you believe in, your personal convictions and how you view, how you view issues and then do it. Absolutely. We have another question. This one's from APMR again. And they state, we would like to know if there are possibilities to expand your initiative to neighboring countries. And what are your thoughts? That's a long term initiative. Yeah. Nigeria's, there's 160 million people living in Nigeria. So that's a huge, you know, that's a huge area to tackle on its own. And I think we have a long way to go Can people reach out to us and can we support their initiative? Absolutely. But, and that's one of the visions we had when we were doing Blue Sky, I think we were like, and then we could reach out to Kenya and Mozambique, like there's, because the problems that afflict Nigeria are very similar in other African states, there is a lot of room for, to replicate the efforts of voter quench. Yeah. Are we the ones to do it? I don't think so, because it would be like us coming up for an organization coming in and saying, all right, now we have the solutions. I think it's up to people to say, how can we change what's going on in our country and reaching out to us and saying how can we support and we would absolutely connect people, whoever they need to be connected with and, you know, give them any kind of advice that they need to, to gain advice from, because democracy spreading in the African continent is only going to pressure every single country to get it together and to actually provide a truer form of democracy than what they actually do provide now. And, I mean, the thing is, one of the big, the big goals that we, we wanted to, again, do with voter quench or achieve a voter quench was to start those conversations, of course, beyond Nigeria and hopefully we can, you know, continue to collaborate with other countries that are seeking the same success as far as what we were able to accomplish in the 2011 elections and just have those, those, you know, those conversations. I mean, we're already seeing a lot of the successes with the youth movements and the youth being part of the political process and other parts of Africa. And so, the idea is just to keep making sure that we continue those conversations and, you know, open it up to the world so that everyone knows that Africa is, Africa is aware and the youth, as we've shown, are ready to take action. We have another question from Tomas. He asks, now that voter quench is a group, how do you keep the group moving forward? How do you establish the practical workspace and how do you deal with all of the knick-knacks or daily processes of non-government operations? I must say, it's tough. I mean, we try as much as possible to, you know, one of the things that keeps us, again, and, you know, apologies for being, you know, being a dead horse, but it's one of those things where we really look to ourselves and, you know, again, we remember the people that, you know, we brought into this whole movement and the four thinking Nigerians that want to see change and, of course, we also want to see change as well. I mean, the challenges that face us are, you know, a fair way from that, of course, because at that point, you know, if you let yourself, you know, give in to despair, it's only going to be defeat and demise. So, one of the things we try to do is to keep our optimism level high. You know, we try to, of course, continue to include, you know, the groups that, of course, are mimicking our views and ideas and just try to keep growing that population of the four thinkers and, you know, and deal with the day-to-day issues that we face. I mean, it's, like Nosa said earlier, I mean, the issues we come across are different. We have to be creative. Every day when we have a new issue come up, we have to always think on our feet and take action, you know, and that's what we do and it's, I can't really point to anything that would be sort of a model, sort of daily process that people should take to, you know, keep an organization running like ours, but, you know, one thing we can say is that, you know, it does take, you know, the will of a team and, you know, of a country. When we're talking about operational knick-knacks, we actually don't have a workspace. We've, most of us haven't even been in the same room together. That's true. We don't have to worry about office politics if there would ever be that, but I think what keeps us going is the goal and understanding that it's a goal bigger than ourselves and bigger than what we all want individually and with that in mind, it helps with making it more of a fun project for us and kind of using it. It's something that forces us to think and to think on our feet and to be adaptable and nimble. So, the operational stuff, you know, doesn't really get too much in the way. It's just something we have to do and, you know, we move on. Move on. What's one of the coolest things that's come out of your campaigns? I saw a video of Nika. Nika. Nika, the celebrity. She did a video where she tried to actually go and vote. And there's been a lot of other things similar right on your website that's loaded with videos. Yeah. I think one of the things that we, like, I'm from a film background and Kendi's really into film and we thought there was such an importance in using film to get the message out. And Nika was awesome. Like, she was the earliest adapter of Voter Quen. She didn't even know what, spoke to her heart so, so easily. And she, we said, you know, the registration process isn't going to be easy. A lot of people are going to get discouraged. And if you saw her video, it was like her going and then being like, oh wait, no, you can't register today. And so, we thought it was really important to have her show her experience as someone that a lot of people looked up to and someone who, you know, had to and get her to record it. And we actually got, we were able to film another person going out to record their own experience. And so, it was kind of bringing the experience to life and sharing that with the diaspora as well as people at home. Yeah. And I mean, the thing is, one of, like, Nosa was saying, we have a very, we have similar interest in film and just any other creative outlet possible to of course, the youth that are, that of course have doubt. And one of the things that we, you know, we infuse this energy through a lot of the creative outlets we use with, whether it's blogs or whether it was film, you know, whether it's, you know, just little, you know, clever campaigns, like if Niger votes, things like that, of course, and coupled with all of the other celebrities that we had, you know, the movement. So, so, you know, that's, that was something that we definitely coming into starting, starting VotoQuench, that's one of the big things we said we were going to sort of harp on, is showing the the creative side to our people and what we're able to do with film and of course, depicting all of these things, the visual aid, that's obviously very helpful to see, to have people see and relate to the issues that we try to portray, whether it's through, you know, we had a very funny video that a young film director, his, you know, his name is Balaji Kekereko, he has a great organization, he started there in Nigeria, a film, a film company and he, you know, he volunteered and gave us this great video and I mean, it resonated so well with people and I mean, it was, just in general it was really just mocking, you know, your typical political person was funny and a lot of, you know, again, a lot of the apathetic youth could relate to that because they're like, that's the reason why we don't vote and so, it was really, you know, that way we were able to kind of get them somewhat excited of course, starting the conversations. First and foremost, starting those conversations. And you mentioned voter apathy, that's something that is an issue all around the world. Many countries address this with their youth voting campaigns beyond just your videos, what else do you guys address voter apathy? That was, that comes in from actually encouraging people to participate and like Kim, they were saying, giving people a platform. So we were able to get people who wouldn't usually do anything with voting but actually create stuff for us. So we have people sending in poems, writing blog posts for us like biology's video, filming something and being something that people shared and got people to start thinking and the constant message we said is, you can say nothing's going to happen but you can either sit back and watch nothing happen or do something and then say nothing happened although I did something. And so I think that we've kind, we've overcome it because a lot of people who were nacing at the beginning were like, wow, okay, you guys actually made this happen, you know. And I think a big part of voter apathy is that there is the idea that people have these great ideas that they want to make happen but then don't. And that's our biggest, that's a big point I was trying to make with perseverance and saying you are setting an example and you are trying to convince people to do something and it's saying, lead by example, make it happen, you go out and register to vote, let people know that you're waiting in the hot sun and waiting to go out and register to vote and show people that this is happening and show people and I think when people see others doing, they'll be forced to do it. I know a lot of people are like, oh yeah, I just went out to register because that's where everybody was hanging out that day. You know, and people went out to vote because that's where what everyone was doing and it became a thing where it's like, bring the next person along. Even if they don't believe, they'll become a believer and I think we convinced a lot of people and converted a lot of people. That's a pretty powerful message. We are coming to the end of our time now, but before we go, I have one final question for you guys. What do you hope to take away from your program? Well, we're hoping that people could see that when an idea is put forth and people take action, it's okay to stay optimistic and it's completely okay to just set yourself a goal that may seem lofty, but again, taking those little steps to make sure that you're doing all the right things and of course, making all the right partnerships or establishing the right partnerships to get to where you need to be and of course, the main goal is to help our country. Despite the fact that we're far away from our country now as members of the diaspora, it's important that we basically stake our claim regardless of where we are and VotoQuench was founded to help people, to educate people and to also be that platform to help people to have those conversations and start moving towards the possible goal of the diasprings being able to have a vote from wherever they are. I would say that you don't have to be anyone special to make change happen. I don't think anyone knew who we were, but we were annoying and pesky and forced people to listen to us and like I was saying before, as long as you lead the charge and you don't say I'm going to give up just because someone told me you're going to get a lot of door slammed in your face and people are not going to want to listen to you but the more they see you and the more people see you achieving goals that you set for yourself no matter how small, people will start to respect you and then those people are going to start coming to you and talking to you about being a part of whatever they're doing and you don't have to be a certain age, you don't have to be 50 years old to make stuff happen. You can be 15, you can be 5 years old and no matter what you do as long as you actually do it as long as you set a goal and accomplish it people will understand that you're serious and you know the sky is the limit. Breathe life and be extraordinary. Amen. Excellent message. Kendi and Nosa it's been a pleasure hosting you today and to the young people joining us online thank you for being here. I hope you'll keep in touch by following Connects on Twitter and attending future web chats. Most of all I hope you remember that your voice and your vote matter.