As much as they may sometimes be overlooked and sometimes dismissed as too young, the youth usually have great ideas with them. Ideas that can be built into solutions for just about every pressing problem in society. All they usually need is encouragement and support from the right partners and these young men and women will shine more than we could ever imagine. Given a chance, they can, and are taking part in taking part in changing our nation.
Currently as the world grapples with COVID-19 for example, the youth were presented with the competition Fursa vs Virus. A competition or Fursathon in which they were to develop solutions to issues that have been brought about by the pandemic. The competitors were working around 6 hard hit areas – food security, education, business and economy, environment and energy, Government, and social welfare.
In these days when social distancing is still in effect, the youth were enabled to submit their solutions by use of the internet, and also to receive mentorship and training, and other types of support. They also received some financial support. All this was thanks to a collaboration between public and private sectors which included Kenya Pipeline Corporation Royal Media Services and Huawei Technologies Kenya.
Huawei Technologies were particularly instrumental in covering internet costs for the entire Fursa vs Virus challenge, as well as providing 47 tablets and 3 laptops for the winners. With affordability of devices being one of the major hinderances in innovation among our youth, these will go a long way in empowering the youth. Other partners in this competition which ICT CS Mucheru says Government will continue working together with were the Mastercard Foundation, the UN, and KCB.
The unveiling of the winners was aptly on the International Youth Day on August 12th and the celebrations were presided over by President Kenyatta, National Youth Council, Kenya Pipeline and Huawei Technologies.
The winning ideas in this competition which were put through a through vetting process were quite interesting and included Expan USSC, Nkata Charcoal, Njiraini food and the ultimate Fursa vs Virus winner which was Plant Signal. This is a free online interactive smartphone app that gives farmers real time diagnosis of pests or diseases that affect their crops.
“Today we will celebrate the winners of the Fursa versus Virus Challenge. This is an initiative by the National Youth Council to facilitate and promote innovative responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Government is committed to support the youth technically and with opportunities to access the supply chain in various infrastructure projects through the AGPO program which allocates 30% of its budget to youth, gender and persons with disabilities.
Huawei Kenya has also been quite supportive in the competition and in digital inclusion as a whole by facilitating outreach through the DigiTruck mobile training classrooms, a classroom on wheels initiative that reaches rural youth even in the remotest parts of the country. Huawei has also provided online training, data bundles and various prizes and technical support for the Fursathon winners.
Congratulations to the winners!
