A Week in Nairobi
Tuesday, 30 September 2014
Greetings from Nairobi, my home for the next week.
I’m in Nairobi for the Buntwani conference which will be held from 7-8 October 2014 at the Kenya School of Government. The event is co-hosted by my organisation, TechSoup Global, and the Open Institute, and will focus on “The potential of ICT in strengthening citizen engagement and participation” in Kenya.
Kenya, and Nairobi specifically, is widely recognised as a hub for technology innovation in Africa. In addition, Kenya enacted a new constitution in 2010 which devolves powers to the country’s 47 counties, with each county government responsible for delivering services such as health-care and pre-primary education for its citizens. The goal for this new devolved system of government is to improve service delivery and equity in public resource allocation.
The Buntwani conference will bring together leaders in government (both national and county), civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders in the devolution space in Kenya to discuss the potential role and contribution of ICT in strengthening citizen engagement and participation, and assess if national and county governments have adopted, or created, plans and policies in support of using ICT to enable citizens to be more involved in the various government decision-making processes.
We are also hosting a briefing session tomorrow morning for local media to raise awareness about the event.
Other than keeping busy with the final preparations for the event over the next few days, and hosting it next week, I hope there will also be time for some running and training for the Last Desert Race during my time in Nairobi.
Kenya is ultimately the home of Dennis Kimetto who broke the world record for the marathon over the past weekend when he won the Berlin Marathon in a time of 2:02:57.
This is an exceptional achievement and very inspirational for all runners, fast or slow, old or young.
The countdown to Antarctica continues…
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I’m excited about the race in Antarctica and the challenge of raising R250 000 for a Greenpeace Africa solar energy project, and encourage you to support my efforts and the work of Greenpeace Africa!
Please make a donation and encourage others to do the same.
“Together we can make a difference!”
Follow updates about my preparations for The Last Desert Race, and work with Greenpeace Africa, on Facebook and Twitter, my daily blog, and via Greenpeace Africa’s various online platforms.