Our Peace Promotion Fellows in Kenya attended their virtual graduation ceremony in June 2020. U.S. Ambassador Kyle McCarter, Director of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center Michael Taylor, and Deputy Director of the State Department’s Digital Outreach Team Daniel Schuman were in attendance and offered a expressions of congratulations and encouragement.

We are proud of every one of our Fellows in the Somali Voices Project, working with the Somali populations in Nairobi, Garissa, and Wajir counties to find solutions to the problems facing youth with the ultimate goal of building resilience to violent extremist messaging and recruitment.

The project trained and mentored participants to create youth-focused content which was disseminated via social media, an online hub, and radio. Click on the images below to see them full-sized; learn more about their creative initiatives in some of the most challenging regions of the country.

The Fellows made effective use of social media to reach their target audiences and focused their projects on different areas that interest and affect youth, from drug awareness campaigns to finding economic opportunities, from self-esteem and positive self-image webinars to holding online discussions on current events and promoting positive, peaceful narratives about conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

Congratulations to Bashir Dagane Haji, Amina Ibrahim Yarow, Fatuma Ahmed Osman, Fatuma Kune Mohammed, Ahmed Ibrahim, Zeitun Mohamed Aden, Mohamud Abi Musa, Abdi Kithiye Dahiye, Saddam Hussein Yussuf, Aisha Mohamed Adan, Bishara Dahir Bashir, Hanan Abdisamed, Abdiqafar Gababa Ahmed, Mohamed Hassan Gure, Azmi, Abdulwahid, Umulkatum Hussein, Abdirahman Mehmood, and Shukria Hussein! 

We know you will go on to do great things!