 Why 254, imagine? It's good to have the people that are in the community who say they want to change the world. So start cleaning your doorstep so that is good enough. So today we are talking about youth in action and with me my guest today is Evelyn Karijo. I am Kamau Mwangi, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and keep this conversation going. If you have any suggestions, opinion or questions, please do go to these pages and talk to us. So youth in action, what are you doing to make a difference? What are you doing to get involved? What have you stopped complaining about how tough the life is or how bad the government is or how unfair life is and you have chosen to be proactive and get involved? That's the conversation we are having today. And so now I'm going to give it to Leziki Band to entertain us to their first item, believe you me, today we've got a, it's their first time on the show and they are so psyched to give you their very best. So Leziki Band, let's go. Oh baby, nakitu keshon tafani kiwa Ahadi anguni si chesa haumani me toh kanawe Ah baby, kona mo katisina, leo si nakitu keshon tafani kiwa Nani kibari kiwa ahadi anguni si chesa haumani me toh kanawe All you baby, all you baby, all you baby Baby baby, one for me Oh baby baby baby baby baby baby Oh baby baby baby baby baby baby baby Mamu si haribiki haibiya shaada atu Naswezin shi bisha na paka Aki bisha wanda fanda keshon tafani kiwa I am the one for me, katisina, leo si nakitu keshon tafani kiwa Ahadi anguni si chesa haumani me toh kanawe Wow, that's Leziki Band. Ye marekia kuhirit, it was so good. Actually, I'm really enjoying myself here. Leziki Band performing their first song right there. And who has the mic? Let me see, who has the mic? No, you go ahead, go ahead, speak from there. What's the name of that song, the title? This song is called Baby Baby. Baby Baby. Ah, okay, okay. And you wrote the cover yourselves? Yeah, we redid the cover. You redid the cover yourselves? That's pretty good, man. So, Mulyan Zalini? We have been on for about an year now. One year now? Yeah, one year. Why Leziki? Leziki means legendary music. Actually, there is a long story behind the name. Okay, okay. Yeah, legendary music, so we just shortened the name. Leziki. Well, probably one of these days you'll come and tell me about that long story behind it. We will, sure. Absolutely. All right, thank you so much. I'll be hearing from you again, isn't it? All right, great. Now, we're back with Evelyn Caridjo. And as I said, now she sent me a profile here and I want just to read it out here because what you know, the guest that I bring for you. So, Evelyn Caridjo is the project director at Y Act Youth in Action at AMREF Health Africa. She holds a master's degree in international public health from the University of USIU. No, United States, oh yeah, United States? University of Liverpool. Oh, University of Liverpool, my goodness. And international public health and global executive MBA in health and leadership and management. That is from? USAU. USAU, USAU Africa. Okay. And the leadership and, okay, sorry, passionate about young women leadership and is currently the youngest person holding a position of senior management at AMREF Africa. Welcome to the show. Thank you, Dominic. First of all, congratulations for being the youngest person at senior management at AMREF. Thank you. And it's such an honor to be here just to share my leadership journey, to share about what I do, of course, with young people and especially to inspire young women leaders. So I'm really happy and excited to be here. It's an honor. It's a pleasure to have you. I mean, it's a humbling moment to meet, you know, there is this show in one of the channels called Miss President and so it is good to see young people like you who are, you know, they're stepping up and saying, you know, we've got this. So now, first of all, you became a senior manager at AMREF to the age of 31. You still look 25, by the way. Thank you. I think that as a compliment. Now, how long did you, were you there before you got into senior management? So what's interesting about my journey is that I've worked for AMREF close to eight years now, actually started before completed my undergraduate studies at Kenyatta University. I was doing my degree in public health and so I started off as an intern and I think my story is all about changing the narrative of young people in leadership and just showing young people that you can actually grow and rise through the career path from a lower level and that we need to be patient about it. So yes, I started as an intern. I worked in four different departments over a span of close to six to seven years and then of course I became a manager at a very young age at 28 and then at 31, the opportunity for the youth advocacy project came in and I think for me that was my highlight. You in fact became, you entered into management at 28 and then you rose the management ladder again at 31. Yes. Wow, that's amazing. So what's all about why act? Wow, why act youth in action? The initiative that I lead is one of the fastest growing networks of youth led organizations and youth advocates in Kenya. So our purpose is to ensure that young people are meaningfully engaged in decision making and in policy making. So we are providing young people with skills, with a voice able to amplify of course their voice on issues that affect them across gender equality and across sexual and productive health and rights. So one of the unique aspects we have come up with right now at Y Act is all about meaningful youth engagement and I think that's what the discussion is about today that as young people we need to be given the opportunity to be on decision making tables, not just because we are young it should then be atoken. We need to be given these positions because we are knowledgeable because we have the capacity and the capability to contribute effectively to decision making and to policy making. So why act creates that platform for young people to be able to amplify their voice and to get themselves on platforms of decision making and I think I'll be talking a bit about that because what we are trying to change at this point is to get policy makers and decision makers to view young people as resources. As resources not just a liability or people just to tell what you do. And what inspired us of course is the fact that if you look at Africa, the population of young people is quite high. The Africa is the youngest population across the globe. If we look at Kenya right now over 70% of the population is below 35 years. It's a huge population. Exactly. So the potential to just reap the economic benefits if at all as a country we invest is young people is at its greatest right now. So it's really important for policy makers and decision makers to agree and to acknowledge that investing in young people is a smart investment. So basically if I'm getting you so why act gets basically encourages young people to get into the public arena. Exactly. And we provide them with skills so as to be able to carry out advocacy effectively so as to be able to get themselves on decision making tables. So let's say we have a band like Leziki right? And they want to advocate for the space of music and art. So they come to why act. Exactly. So the good thing with what we offer is that the skills can cut across a range of topics or arts. So even Leziki band, I know that they're doing quite a lot. It's not to advocate on an issue. It's all about identifying what problem are you trying to address. So if they're using art for example, they need to first identify the problem and the issue that they want to address in policy and decision making. Then they need to do their research well. They need to package their message well. They need to know that policy makers and decision makers are people who sometimes are busy. So you just need to be able to pitch in a very effective way. So we give young people the skills to be able to do this and to be able to get their messages across to policy makers in an effective way. That's great work that you do right there. So your work now is to make sure that these voices get heard. Exactly. So you prepare the young people so that their voices can get heard. And so if I just can add a bit about that, the other unique thing that we are doing is ensuring that young people see this as a two-way process. We don't want young people to just be given these positions and opportunities without getting ready. So what we encourage young people to do is also be prepared, be educated. I ever told you are invited to a meeting whether it's a public participation forum or just any board meeting. Show up on time. Dress the parts. Be prepared, be educated. Have your facts with you. Make sure you have your evidence well packaged. So we want this to be a two-way process where policy makers engage young people, but also we young people are taking an proactive step. Educated approach here. Exactly. In ensuring that we are heard and that our voices and views are taken into consideration. So it requires a deliberate and very decisive process and step by young people. So we should then just sit back and wait and complain and hope that these positions are going to come our way. We eventually come to us. We go to work our way there. Exactly. So as young people we need to be proactive. We need to take up that challenge. Someone thinking about Amref they might only think the only thing you deal about is health and all that. So it's interesting to realize that Amref has a branch that talks about advocacy, talks about good governance, talks about even personal grooming in terms of an interview now. In this context I don't know if you saw there was a comment on Facebook when I posted about you coming here about comprehensive sexual education. There are people who are for it and there are groups that are against it. And when some people knew that I was inviting you they were like, okay why are you inviting this person and they are part of those pushing for comprehensive sexual education? What's your take? So I think when discussing a topic like comprehensive sexuality education it's important to understand the context within which it is discussed. And of course the challenges and problems that are underlying this whole discussion and what exactly we want to address. So one thing you need to understand is that right now in Kenya when you look at the young people we are most affected by most SRI child issues. If you look at reports by NACC right now the new infections of HIV I think over 50% are among adolescents aged 15 to 24. These are things that people don't talk about. When you look at issues of teenage pregnancy I think which was a big thing and was declared a national disaster. Just a few months ago about one in every three girls gets pregnant before they get to the age of 18. So without understanding this context and without looking at what is the underlying problem and not the underlying issue here it's hard for people to understand why even advocates talk about CSC. So one thing we need to know when you look at the whole issue of teenage pregnancy we need to understand if you look at reports even by the National Gender and Equality Commission a lot of this happens within the context of gender based violence. Most girls who get pregnant before they are 18 are actually defiled they are abused. Let me interrupt. I understand I'm trying to see the logic of those people who are against CSC. I understand your logic I see where you're starting from and it's very valid. I'm seeing on the other side you have people who are saying ok sexual education is good but why do you have to teach a 7 year old that touching himself in a pleasurable way is sexual education? So the thing about sexual education it has to be age appropriate and I'm sure the respective ministries whether it's the Ministry of Education and Health made that to formalize this curriculum it has to be very age appropriate I like the discussion that's coming up on social media you know on Facebook when you see discourse around a certain issue it means it's important and it means that it affects people it's bad if you know topic like CSC is introduced and no one says anything about it so I don't understand the perspectives that people bring to the table it's important to have all stakeholders to just get to understand what is it that we are trying to address what are the gaps because maybe there are gaps what are the gaps that we want to address so just having everyone on the table to give their views I think for Minsky No it's ok it was a passing comment that I noticed and I thought of bringing it up but that's not part why we are here today but either way now many people, many people are stuck with the idea that you can only get promoted when you know people what is the one thing that made you unique you talk about when you want to be an organization and be valuable you have to be indispensable that's how you have to commit to excellence in delivery of service what is your thing that made you unique and stand out it's an interesting question because for me it's not just about one thing it was a series of actions deliberate actions and steps that I took from an early age and just when I started off my career as an intern and yes I've had all that narrative about you need to know people to get your way up for young women like me it's even worse people say for young women to get up you need to slip your way up which is really bad so the stigma just that negative perception about especially young women in leadership is something we need to strongly talk about because it is not true I know many young people who've honestly worked their way up so for me nambuwan and what I always tell young people yes you need to work you need to be able to take on the extra mile even without additional pay so whether you're a volunteer whether you're at a lower level as you're starting off career you need to be able to and agree to take on extra work that's how you learn that's how you gain experience that's how you build your track record that's how you build your profile nambatu you always need mentors and people support you to give you the opportunity to actually show that you're able to perform as a leader for me the defining moment was when I got the scholarship to undertake the executive MBA at USIU because that's when I learnt all about team leadership that's when I learnt about myself as a person this was all about self awareness what are my strengths what are my weaknesses how do I manage teams how do I understand what strengths and weaknesses everyone brings to the table how do I align that so that we're able to achieve the objective mission and which is one thing that you think you observing leadership today you think from your experience from what you've learnt and experience is the one thing or two things that are lacking leadership I'm not talking about politics I'm talking about across the board across the board when I look at what is lacking the key thing yeah I'll combine it it's integrity and dark of humility okay and especially for us young people when I look at the issue of humility most times we get caught up in status, in power in money we forget about serving others so it's all about being able and accepting to go into the twenties working with people even at a lower level so for example in my office if my assistant for example would I agree to take calls for her the whole day I agree to do something that not sure it's done by the exactly so it's all about being able to serve being humble in opposition of course the issue of integrity I know as young people we've gotten a lot of stones thrown away on issues of integrity which is not good I think even had the president the other day saying he doesn't trust young people yeah exactly which didn't go down well with some of us a good majority we've defied the odds in terms of leadership and we've really exemplified leadership so the issue of integrity I agree it's key and humility exactly awesome before you go take a break and take it back to Leziki I have this question for you there are people who would say that the reason women are not going up there is because of patriarchy you hear that term so often I get exhausted hearing it now but there are women on the side who say well it's a man's world so sometimes they are their own enemy what's your take on this what's your take on this do you think that women are taking the chance to fight back and to take their chances or do they want to be given on a silver plata what is it there was this talk of let's actually put a third of this law the gender rule and someone was asking look why can't women vote for that they are already more than a good number of voters so in this regard being in a still let's say a very man's world in senior management in most organizations what is your take on this it's a complicated question it is and the issue of patriarchy is quite an unfortunate issue we can't bury our heads in the sand and deny the fact that when you look at our society women are always not given the same opportunities as men so when you look even at education the fact that we are saying that young women over 30% get married by the time they are 30 years it starts at that age where the opportunities of that young girl to get their education to fulfill their life's potential is cut off so that's why we say unless we address those issues it's important to still keep giving young women and even women in general an opportunity to lead when we are able to address those issues and make sure that women have equal opportunities as men in terms of education in terms of I have to ask you some many questions you said about 30 years and I was like ok look how a woman's biological clock the fertility level starts going down at the age of 30 I have to talk about these things now how does that have to be blamed on men now I'm not blaming it on patriarchy it's patriarchy exactly so it's about how our society is how we are cultured so people have to start looking at this issue from a very early age if young girls and boys are being given the same opportunity we wouldn't be talking about two thirds I agree to that it would be a very fair answer we need to level equality of opportunities but if the outcomes are different we cannot blame anyone ok we'll talk about that we're going to take a break right now and we'll come back talking to Evelin Karidjo project director why act Amref Health Services Africa and I'm going to give it back to Leziki Band to give us another set of amazing performance enjoy nipi mo yo ma baby nipi mo yo ma baby angu nita lenga vipenzi babilia nili enzi oh for you nita pigeha so daily inga wa maisha makali oh for you nita pigeha so daily atu jikimu maisha ni oh for you nita lenga vipenzi nita lenga vipenzi baby for you ma pezinia wa wiliya for two it's true I never want another way to see you I never leave me long day oh baby ku jana mi tunde polen polen cheze hardy dani kanyage kwa migumisi na pati pati na pete kwa kidole ni to mimi daddy oh na na na na baby na nara kwa sana kwa ko janjasina na mo yo una tan tan tan tan oh na na na na baby sukuje kwa ticha niku funze kutoka ampakaza na kambala benzi situa kaza baby for you nita lenga vipenzi familiar ya nili enzi oh for you nita pigeha so daily inga wa maisha makali oh for you nita pigeha so daily atu jikimu maisha ni oh for you nita lenga vipenzi nita lenga vipenzi Leziki Band Welcome back What's up Beautiful music right there by Leziki Band Welcome to the Pataksha They are still here Don't go away They'll still be performing once again one or two songs as they go and they'll be coming through the month of February We have agreed on that I have not told them but we have agreed So we're back with Evelin Karidzo the project director at Y Act and we are speaking about leadership as we conclude and remember if you want to ask a question you can text us I mean you can go to social media handles at Y254 at Twitter, Instagram or Facebook and comment on the conversation ask your opinion or suggestion so welcome back We were speaking about leadership and the thing I want you to do is what is your challenge leadership what's your leadership challenge basically to young people who might look at you and say ok I would like to do what you did what are the similar what are some of the pointers that you could give me so that I can be able to someone viewing you out there You have to be prepared to work three times harder than anyone else just to prove yourself because there's all this negative perception just around our society that young people can't make decisions or that we do not have the experience or the knowledge so you need to be able to work three times harder in terms of studying in terms of just ensuring that you understand your area of leadership being assertive, being decisive so that's one of the challenges you have to overcome I keep talking about the issue of humility because one thing even as a young leader one has to know how to work with mentors and with other adult leaders you can just be proud and assume that ok now I'm on the seat I can do whatever I want one has to be ready to work with other people even older people in most of the projects that I've managed older people other than this project were actually in action we are working with a team of young people but before that it was just everyone across the age spectrum so just being able to work with people of all ages and also agreeing to listen and to be taught even if you're in leadership position that's one of the things we as young people need to consider there's a challenge of course as a young woman I mean the challenges are there we have to prove that we got our leadership positions by merits and it's a sad reality that we have to go around all this negative perception it's something that I really want to keep talking about just to inspire other young women that you need to be confident exactly about yourself you don't need to prove to anybody what you have I think the challenges of being a young woman leader are very different from being a young gentleman exactly so back to the patriarchy come on now you are here what do you mean how different is it it's all different and especially as a young person and I'll talk from my own experience because these are things that I'm writing about so I'll soon be launching my journal on that absolutely that was great congratulations on that I'm looking forward I'll quote you in my journal this issue of patriarchy we need to talk about especially as a young woman leader when you get to the top if you're not married that's another issue so you're not seen as mature no not that that you're intimidating that you should have prioritized family of working too hard and being a career person okay that's plain silly exactly but it's the reality and I think that's why for me I decided to write about these things not them because I realized even people who are educated like me actually have those negative perceptions but okay let me pause right there I know you're going to I'm actually going to say there is someone like another gentleman Larry actually Larry Mado he also was accused of so it's not just a woman thing okay now that you've given an example of Larry Mado oh you had seen that also right yes but a majority of these cases happen for us young women so it's something we need to overcome it's something we need to talk about you get flattered with more definitely exactly so we need to talk about these issues openly and just let people it's okay for your daughters for your sisters to be successful at a young age they don't need to wait till they're 40 to become a CEO it's okay to just succeed at whatever age it still finds us a thing we need to be inspiring young women I'm all for women by the way I'm very supportive of women I just don't want you to every challenge you have on the way has something to do with men that's what I have a problem with you understand unfortunately it's our society that's why I said if we start at the very initial stages of life and we give equal opportunities for young women and men I mean we will not be having these discussions in a few years to come we will hope so we are aiming for that anyway so I want to give you 30 seconds as we finish up on this conversation you can look at one of the cameras camera one camera one is right here and I want you to lay your leadership challenge what is it that you can tell young ladies the young people watching out there what is the thing that you can tell them about advice and encouragement and motivation go for it in terms of advice and encouragement be confident about who you are you need to step up your game you need to show up do not sit and wait for these opportunities to come you have to go the extra mile you still need to work with other people to mentor you and be patient about success success doesn't come all at once one has to be very patient humble and work extra hard perfect it has been a pleasure having you on the show thank you so much I hope when you release that you will come back to discuss with us congratulations once again we are kudos for getting into cinema management so young getting into places where many young people dream about encouraging young people to get there thank you so much ladies and gentlemen you have been speaking about the rules from the very first go we were speaking about the rules from the books 12 rules for life that have been speaking about so the first rule was don't be pathetic be a person who is able to step up and I think that is something that has been told to us by Evelyn you've got to be confident about yourself life is rough so have the courage to fight back and the second rule that I shared with you is about treating yourself kindly because you need to for you to be able to fight back you need to be fit you need to be healthy so you need to sleep enough take care of yourself if something goes wrong take time to process those emotions today on the third rule Jordan Peterson reminds us about quality friends someone said if you are the smartest person in a room it is time to move out you cannot have people you cannot have friends who never encourage you and challenge you in any way there is nothing you can look at some of your best friend and say this person encourages me to be better so you have to have friends who constantly push the best the potential out of you that is a good friend Jordan Peterson asks a very pointed question that person you call your friend can you recommend that person to your mother or as a son or a daughter can you recommend that person to your sister as a boyfriend or even just as a friend if you cannot then why keeping this person for yourself remember that old saying that goes show me who your friends are and I tell you who you are you cannot go telling your mother my friends smoke and do drugs but I don't I am so good it doesn't work that way so peer pressure eventually comes and gets to you so one of the things that this clinical psychologist reminds us is the people you surround yourself with are going to determine in a very big way how far you are going to go so surround yourself with people who want the best for you people you can share about something that is good that something good that has happened in your life and they can be genuinely happy have you ever told some of your best friend that something good has happened to you and you can see it in your eyes like the jealousy or the discomfort they are not capable of being there to be happy for you that is not a good friend at the same time when you mess up a good friend is willing to tell you hey that's not the best way to go and this has been the part talk show with me Dominic and I hope that you have learnt one thing or two from Eveline Carrigio the project director at Y Act Amref Health Africa and also you have picked something from my discussion with you on quality friends and quality life and I hope to see you next time on when as they catch the show again and may God bless you be exceptional, make a difference good night and I am going to give it back to Leziki Leziki band to close up the show with one or two songs let's go I see your me love with you you smell chai I am a girl like Bla I am a girl like Bla kajash baby see your me love with you you smell chai I am a girl like Bla I am a girl like Bla