Kenyan Youth Scenarios (KEYS)

In 2010 and 2011, several hundred Kenyan youth leaders and activists took part in a series of weeklong workshops designed to help them envision how young people could shape the country 20 years in the future.

Participants in the Kenyan Youth Scenarios (KEYS) workshops discussed challenges related to democracy, including elections, resource distribution, and citizen participation. The public interest scenario workshops were held across the country and followed by a final national workshop in Nairobi, where they developed more detailed narratives about what the country might look like in 2031. 

The Ford Program initiative will examine how KEYS affected the long-term personal and public trajectories of the 300 original workshop participants, who came from diverse geographic, ethnic, tribal, religious, and political backgrounds. Through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, the study will look at their educational and career choices, social networks, work habits and problem-solving strategies, public involvement, and views about Kenya’s future. The results will also help evaluate the effectiveness of the foresight techniques used in the workshops on public deliberation.

Partners: Katindi Sivi-Njonjo, lead consultant, Long View Consult, Nairobi; Nancy Muigei, government and development expert, DFID, Nairobi; and Tessa Finlev, research director, Peace and Development Lab, Institute for the Future, Palo Alto.