Episode 4: How Hope Raisers Uses Digital Storytelling to Build Community Climate Resilience in Nairobi, Kenya

In this episode, I discuss a bit about community climate change adaptation and the importance of incorporating the youth voice in decision-making with Daniel Onyango, the founder of The Hope Raisers Initiative. The Hope Raisers Initiative uses arts, culture, and sports to amplify the youth voice in the neighbourhood of Korogocho in Nairobi, Kenya. Through the organization, community members get opportunities to creatively transform public spaces in their neighbourhood whether that is through music, murals, or matatus (i.e. buses).

In this episode, you'll learn about:

How their Future Yetu (Our Future) program is breaking down barriers between the public and public policymakers
How digital storytelling can be used as an important tool in addressing climate change
How Hope Raisers leveraged local transportation to gather community insights
Why Daniel thinks integrating youth in city-building and climate adaptation initiatives is important
and much more!

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Guest: Daniel Onyango

Daniels is the founder of Hope Raisers Initiative a community youth-led organization, where he has continued to support collaborative, development and art projects highlighting the importance of arts and cultural expression as a tool to inspire change, with the overall objective to strengthen and encourage youth involvement in their community. He has great experience working with marginalized youths and children in my community and I in knowledge on a strategic level. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and sociology from the University of Nairobi.

Connect with Hope Raisers Initiative

Timestamps

05:28 | Introduction to the Hope Raisers Initiative?
06:15 | How did this project get started?
07:39 | Why arts and culture are such important tools in creating strong communities?
09:58 | About the Future Yetu project and what inspired them to start it?
15:00 | Why the youth voice is important to include in climate adaptation work and city building in general?
17:43 | What kind of digital storytelling mediums did the community end up producing during the program?
21:35 | What were some of the key insights that were shared by the community?
24:19 | Can you explain more about the Matatu Exhibition and how you came up with the idea?
29:00 | What is the Carbon Pocket Park and what are some other prototypes that the community is hoping to produce next?
33:41 | A background about the part of the Korogocho Climate Change Association and how they'll be involved in moving this project forward
35:46 | What's next for the Hope Raisers Initiative?
38:31 | How can people get involved with the organization?

Show Notes

Want to learn more? Check out this episode's references!

C40 (n.d.) Why cities? Ending climate change begins in the city. C40. Retrieved from https://www.c40.org/ending-climate-change-begins-in-the-city

Dahir, A. L. (2018, December 21). Africa’s fastest-growing cities are the most vulnerable to climate change globally. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/12/africa-s-fastest-growing-cities-are-the-most-vulnerable-to-climate-change-globally

De Sherbinin, A., Schiller, A., & Pulsipher, A. (2007). The vulnerability of global cities to climate hazards. Environment & Urbanization, 19(1), 39–64. doi: 10.1177/0956247807076725

Global Designing Cities Initiative. (n.d.). Case Study 3: Streets of Korogocho; Nairobi, Kenya. Global Designing Cities Initiative. Retrieved from https://globaldesigningcities.org/publication/global-street-design-guide/streets/streets-informal-areas/recommendations/case-study-3-streets-of-korogocho-nairobi-kenya/

Harvey, C. (2019, November 21). Urban heat islands mean warming will be worse in cities. Scientific American. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/urban-heat-islands-mean-warming-will-be-worse-in-cities/#:~:text=It%20found%20that%20local%20warming,expected%20from%20human%2Dcaused%20climate

Kaplan, S. (2020, June 29). Climate change is also a racial justice problem. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2020/06/29/climate-change-racism/

Kariba, F. (2020, July 30). The burgeoning Africa youth population: Potential or challenge? Cities Alliance. Retrieved from https://www.citiesalliance.org/newsroom/news/cities-alliance-news/%C2%A0burgeoning-africa-youth-population-potential-or-challenge%C2%A0

Okonjo-Iweala, Ngozi. (2020, January 8). Africa can play a leading role in the fight against climate change. Brookings. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/africa-can-play-a-leading-role-in-the-fight-against-climate-change/

United Nations. (n.d.). Cities and climate change. United Nations Environment Programme. Retrieved from https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/resource-efficiency/what-we-do/cities/cities-and-climate-change#:~:text=At%20the%20same%20time%2C%20cities,being%20among%20the%20largest%20contributors.

Utley, G. (1999, October 12). World's wealthiest 16 percent uses 80 percent of natural resources. CNN. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/US/9910/12/population.cosumption/

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