Reshaping Youth and Social Media Narrative on Elections in Kenya

There seems to be a troubling sound in the Kenyan atmosphere – drums of war beating at a distance. The rumbles have grown disturbingly louder now that Kenya is about to undertake general elections in year 2022. For peace loving Kenyans, the noise emanating from various quarters, and especially through social media has been unnerving. I have personally watched video clips, read tweets, and perused blogs from across the divide that are totally reckless in tone and inciting in content. Kenyan youth have an affinity for violence. Many of them result in violence to express their dissatisfaction with certain things in life and in society. This factor makes many of them easy prey for politicians to exploit. Politicians played a big part in planning the dreadful Post-Election Violence in 2007 and 2008. However, the youth carried out violence with gruesome consequences. They killed, maimed, raped, abused, displaced other people and destroyed property worth a lot. The violence also disrupted the political, economic, and social order in the country. During election campaigns, youth become easy puppets for politicians more than ever. They receive cash handouts and bribes in return for blind loyalty to the politicians. The politicians use them as dummies to do bidding on their behalf. The youth sell their votes, their respect, and any dignity they have left to the politicians. They worship the politicians who are their ethnic demigods. Yet, euphoria is what cements the relationship between the Kenyan youth and the politicians. It is what makes the politicians easy to herd them to do their dirty bidding. The youth, in a state of euphoria, are in a trance. They cannot see, hear, or think clearly. Their common sense in such a state kicks the bucket. The politicians programme them into retrogression and brainwash them to hate the truth. The politicians instruct the youth to hold those whom they think alike (herd mentality) in high esteem and to hate those who think differently.
Proposed project dubbed as ‘Reshaping Youth and Social Media Narrative on Elections in Kenya’ aims at using social media platform as a tool and an enabler of peace and a positive connector to drive peace building messages and implant religious peace precepts among Kenyan youth during electioneering period. Our quest aims at leveraging social-media tools driven by resourceful pacifists utilizing knowledge on religious peace messages as a vehicle to amplify peaceful voices while shaping the youthful public and peaceful elections narrative, including countering fake news and threat narratives, addressing potential trigger points such as rumour management. These religious peace messages crafted in youth friendlier languages and disseminated in form of texts, video materials, banners, voice messages, audio clips, blogs, tweets, talks, stickers, emojis, photos, cartoons, and other forms of messaging to communicate with youth constituencies. Proposed action uses an instant messaging to counter misinformation, disinformation and inflammatory discourse offering new peace building interventions modeled around religious principles. Our action is an informative project collaborating with local churches, mosques, temples, and other worship places as platforms for youth inclusion campaigns to continue raising awareness about peaceful elections in Kenya. Proposed project utilizes religious precepts to build and promote social equality; social justice; non-violence; character building; and role of youth with peaceful elections. Disseminated religious precepts transcend religious boundaries, are greatly desired in any given society and are universal teachings. Proposed project creates new spaces for youthful public to connect, coordinate and mobilize around peace, including as a vehicle for collective coping, augmenting peaceful elections dialogue activities, engaging young people in dialogue who may not ordinarily participate in offline activities and strengthening peace processes.
Proposed project overall objective is to utilize peace building interventions modeled around religious principles to neutralize social media inflammatory discourse peddled by Kenyan youth during electioneering period while amplifying peaceful voices to shape the youthful public and peaceful elections narrative, including countering fake news and threat narratives, addressing potential trigger points such as rumour management. Proposed project outputs include a) 1000000 Kenyan youths reached and implanted with religious peace precepts during electioneering period; b) 30 youthful pacifists/peace advocates engaged and their capacity built on crafting religious peace messages in form of texts, video materials, banners, voice messages, audio clips, blogs, tweets, talks, stickers, emojis, photos, cartoons, and other forms of messaging to communicate with youth constituencies; c) a manifold of tailored religious peace messages in form of texts, video materials, banners, voice messages, audio clips, blogs, tweets, talks, stickers, emojis, photos, cartoons, and other forms of messaging disseminated in a youth friendlier language on an instant messaging platform to counter misinformation, disinformation and inflammatory discourse; d) leverage social-media tools driven by resourceful pacifists utilizing knowledge on religious peace messages as a vehicle to amplify peaceful voices while shaping the youthful public and peaceful elections narrative, including countering fake news and threat narratives, addressing potential trigger points such as rumour management; e) 5000 local churches, mosques, temples, and other worship places engaged as platforms for youth inclusion campaigns collaborations to continue raising awareness about peaceful elections in Kenya; promote social equality and social justice; non-violence; and role of youth with peaceful elections; f) new digital spaces created for millions youthful public to connect, coordinate and mobilize around peace.
There is a rise in unprecedented political infractions, disturbances, and electoral violence in Kenya with the youth playing a significant role on social media platforms before, during and after elections in Kenya. Social media has an important and positive effect on electoral violence and there exists a relationship between social media and electoral violence in Kenya. Proposed project promotes productive engagement as an effective instrument of handling online political hatred among Kenyan youth. Expected outcomes include a) increased efforts to educate Kenya youth using social media and implant them with religious peace precepts during electioneering period; b) enhanced pacifists/peace advocates use social media channels to share religious peace messages information in a targeted fashion to help shape a positive narrative of the peace process and build allies among the social media users; c) social media inflammatory discourse, incitement to violence and manipulative public relations campaigns peddled by Kenyan youth neutralized during electioneering period; d) peaceful voices amplified to shape the youthful public and peaceful elections narrative, including countering fake news and threat narratives, addressing potential trigger points such as rumour management; e) manifold of religious peace messages crafted and disseminated in form of texts, video materials, banners, voice messages, audio clips, blogs, tweets, talks, stickers, emojis, photos, cartoons, and other forms of messaging to communicate with youth constituencies; f) Increased collaborations with places of worship enhanced to continue raising awareness about peaceful elections in Kenya; promote social equality and social justice; non-violence; and role of youth with peaceful elections; g) youthful public connect, coordinate and mobilize around peace on digital spaces.
Proposed project entails data collection transformation and analysis, enabling access to more and more granular information from different sources, providing new cyberspace avenues into peace dialogue, countering social media incitement, shaping peace narratives, and diversifying participation.
　　
At onset the project will conduct one social media analysis study in Kenya using dynamic tools for information gathering and analysis that are particularly useful in modelling new peace building interventions around religious principles. These dynamic tools include hashtag and keyword analysis, network analysis, user traffic analysis and the analysis of trends over time; stakeholder or social network analysis, which can identify connections among Kenyan youths in the electioneering political setting; and sentiment or perception analysis, which reveals the sensibilities of Kenya youths and societies affected by the electioneering euphoria. The social media analysis study will be undertaken by a consultant to develop a “dashboard” that provides an overview of the social media ecosystem in Kenya, and interpretation and explanation of results adapted to serve the needs of the project (e.g., the languages and dialects spoken, prevalent social and cultural norms, and the different levels of internet access and technical capacities of the actors using social media). The study findings as well used to create new digital spaces created for millions youthful public to connect, coordinate and mobilize around peace.
Thirty youthful pacifists/peace advocates will be engaged and their capacity built on crafting religious peace messages in form of texts, video materials, banners, voice messages, audio clips, blogs, tweets, talks, stickers, emojis, photos, cartoons, and other forms of messaging to communicate with youth constituencies; a manifold of tailored religious peace messages in form of texts, video materials, banners, voice messages, audio clips, blogs, tweets, talks, stickers, emojis, photos, cartoons, and other forms of messaging will be disseminated in a youth friendlier language on an instant messaging platform to counter misinformation, disinformation and inflammatory discourse. Engaged pacifists/peace advocates while leveraging on social-media tools and utilizing knowledge on religious peace messages will amplify peaceful voices.