Our Journey of: Voices Action
Finding the African Voice
Starting as a youth desk under the Interfairh Action for Peace in Africa (IFAPA), our foundation was laid during the defining era of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Starting as Champions with African Monitor, our primary mandate was to listen. Through the Voice Africa’s Future consultations and Citizen Generated Data (CGD) hearings (like those we conducted in Bwaise, a Kampala City Slum and in Rural Namanyonyi in Mbale District), we documented the unfiltered aspirations of over 77,000 young Africans. We realized that youth didn’t just want aid; they wanted Dignity (Ekitiibwa) and a system that respected their hard work. This phase was the initial practice of Civic Responsibility (Bulungibwansi)—giving our time and voice to the public good.
Leading The Global Call
With the data in hand, we moved to the global stage. As Co-Chair of the Global Youth Action Team for the Action/2015 Campaign, we helped lead the movement that successfully mobilized world leaders and citizens to adopt the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This pivotal role showcased Proactive Leadership (Obukulembeze): anticipating the future and driving the agenda with Integrity (Obwesimbu) at the highest levels of global governance. It was here we learned that our moral foundation, instilled through our work with Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa (IFAPA), was essential to ethical leadership.
The Pivot to Building
We realized that winning the policy battle was only half the fight. The ambitious goals we helped establish required a local vehicle to translate policy into prosperity. If the global system couldn’t move fast enough, we had to build the solution ourselves.
Step Up Youth Initiative was born. We evolved from asking for change to creating it. We established the Obuntu Model Community Farm and the Komuka Skills Hub to operationalize our purpose: restoring Dignity (Ekitiibwa) and forging Economic Sovereignty (Okweyimirizaawo) for marginalized youth and women.