We are a grassroots movement that brings youth to the forefront of bottom-up social change by nurturing a deeper sense of citizenship and responsibility for their communities and by equipping them with the skills to be civically engaged. SAYDS intends to build an ecosystem that coordinates a wide range of partners who provide a wide range of knowledge, skills and resources required to advocate for change in our communities.
If you want to go fast, go alone,
but if you want to go far, go together
SAYDS Fellowship
This is a 9-month fellowship that equips young people from different parts of Kenya with knowledge that enables them to critically look at the social issues in their communities and design lasting solutions.
SAYDS Community Association
This is the semi-autonomous arm of SAYDS that is fully run by youth who complete the SAYDS fellowship. SCA is responsible for project implementation and advocating for the inclusion of youth in different spheres.
Diaspora for African Youth
This program establishes a link between the diaspora and Africa’s youth and serves as a platform for them to actively engage in designing solutions for complex social problems. Diaspora participate by mentoring the youth, serving as subject matter experts on projects or donating to the organization.
Policy & Advocacy
This program equips youth with knowledge on policy-making, its importance in solving complex and systemic problems, and their role in this system. The systems thinking approach to policy-making ensures that the complex nature of the problems at hand is taken into consideration in solution design.
Mentorship & Coaching
The SAYDS Mentorship program connects people who are highly adept in their profession, have specific skills and knowledge with young SAYDS fellows who need guidance in their projects.
Non-profit Partnerships
We have designed highly valuable toolkits that we are currently using to equip people in the nonprofit sector with the skills to effectively analyze the complex social problems they are tackling, and to design holistic solutions. These partnerships create avenues through which fellows can put their systems thinking knowledge to work and collaborate with relevant stakeholders in social change projects.