YLabs believes in no design for youth without youth, and all of our projects engage and train young leaders. On International Youth Day 2021, we’d like you to meet five inspirational young leaders who are leading change in their communities with and for young people. These inspiring activists, creatives, and researchers are advocating for the needs and rights of LGBTQ youth in Kenya, reaching rural youth with family planning services in Pakistan, and scaling a digital platform in Rwanda to help youth access contraception.

Abdulwahid (Don) Hassan

KENYA

I was appointed to run the organization [Amkeni Malindi] when I finished school. I had never anticipated being a leader by that time, though I was always enthusiastic; but being one of the queer people and a young LGBTQ-identifying person, I wanted to see so many changes for people my age. By the time I was appointed I had so many fears and so many things I wanted to change. I had a friend who tested positive [for HIV] and that pushed me to become an activist and change the lives of other queer people to access health services without being judged for who they are, and owning such a space and knowing that this is for us. We are blessed as an organization to have a drop-in center that is providing health services free of charge for all LGBTQ people. 

You have around 2,000 LGBTQ around your country who are depending on you to bring them activities to empower them, to bring them resources so that they can be better people. This work is not easy, it has its downs sometimes. At the end of the day, a week would not pass by without you receiving information that one LGBTQ person has been violated, has been outcasted, has been beaten because of who she or he presented to be. When people come to you they expect you to have solutions. They expect you to be experienced like a 50-year-old director in Nairobi who has penetrated in all those spaces, so whenever those incidents happen they know where to start. The anxiety and panic came to me because all of these people were looking at me. The best thing that came out of it is that I grew out of all of those things. The best thing is that I have been so empowered - from when I started when I was so fearful that I wouldn’t even make it past one year, and now here I am down the line. It has been a journey. 

It has been a heavy journey, I can tell you for a fact. For those entire sleepless nights on emails, going back on the ground, doing another prototype, the best thing that came to me for and for the organization [from working on youth-centered design] is that you need to include the people you are working with from the beginning to the end, otherwise it will never work. The best thing is that I am seeing young LGBTQ leaders occupying spaces, which for me is the happiest thing because until this year I was the youngest director within the country’s whole entire LGBTQ movement. It was also the scariest moment whenever you go to a space and you see senior people looking at you like “Wait, are you their leader?” Generation after generation it has been seen that [people’s] needs tend to change. The needs for different age brackets are different. We sit at a table and I’m like “Yo this is not my space. Where are my colleagues? My peers are on social media so I need to be there.” The needs for young LGBTQ people are different; they need opportunities, they want to get empowered. 

I am giving myself the prediction that it’s not going to be an easy journey, we might get it in two years, we might get it in the next 20 years, but the fight still continues. I am intending to fight and make sure that we get a seat and reclaim our spaces.

Alice Uwera

RWANDA

I am a design intern at YLabs in Rwanda working on CyberRwanda, a digital self-care platform that supports young people to access family planning and reproductive health information and products. Young people can access the platform in schools and youth centers across Rwanda.

I easily understand the youth that we work with because I am one of them. I was born in a rural area and it is my thing to talk to people and understand them. I can relate to the challenges and struggles they are facing. It is easy for me to think of “How can we get around the challenges that we are facing in terms of designing solutions to those challenges?”

In my second month at YLabs, I got to visit the implementation sites to do tech support because we had tablets and hotspots for students to use to access the Cyber Rwanda application. I went alone and I felt responsible for this. I got to see how people were excited for Cyber Rwanda and I was glad that they would tell me their problems and I was able to solve them. I was proud of myself and I was proud that I was there at the moment.

My mom is a community health worker and they do a lot of work helping people who can’t reach the hospital easily. People go to health workers to provide accessible health services for people my age. Sometimes they would even tell me they are pregnant and they would envy me not being pregnant. I would ask them why they couldn’t use condoms and they would say it didn’t come up. They know it exists but no one told them to use it and told them it was okay. It was taboo and they ended up in trouble. I wanted to tell my fellow age mates that it’s okay to use a condom.

In another organization I used to work with, they used to tell me that I'm too young and too inexperienced to do anything big, so everything that I did had to be supervised and approved and it seemed like they didn’t trust me. When I got to YLabs, I was really glad because I now had the space to think for myself and express my thoughts and ideas. I don't think they are small ideas, they are big ideas and they can have an impact on my fellow youth. I would say to those who think that youth are too young to do anything big: Diversity is something everyone should embrace. There is a saying in Rwanda: "Umutwe umwe wifasha gusara." It literally means that the only thing one head can do on its own is going crazy. We [youth] are our own experts in our life experiences and the challenges that we are facing. I think it's important to keep ideas from both elders and young people and if they [elders] can see that, then we can work together to embrace this era that we are all sharing.

Michael "Kysh" Roberts

KENYA

I started out as a dancer way back when I was seven years old. All of my friends went to college but I knew at least something I can do is dance. So pretty much that gave way to me being an artist. I started singing, then fashion, then I wanted to start something for young designers from my area. That’s how I ended up starting Kisumu Fashion Week. It’s a whole week of fashion bringing together designers from all over Kenya and East Africa. 

I remember I just really wanted to do fashion and guys in my town said “What are you trying to do?” because there wasn’t really any fashion and I was just 19 years old. In my town, we have never done a fashion event and I remember when I was starting to develop this idea [Kisumu Fashion Week] people thought I was too young and did not know what I was talking about. It has been a challenge with my age but as I grew one thing I liked was consistency. I didn’t let my age stop me. 

One thing I like about what I am doing now is that they actually easily link to each other. Fashion easily connects with music and the work I am doing with YLabs is always making sure youth are given the opportunity and power to make their own decisions. Youth love the arts, they love to be creative. Working at that junction, I can use my power in creative skills to actually also speak some extra languages to youth, in terms of how they can make better health choices. If you go to them [youth] and talk about health issues, sometimes they get bored and the fact that I had the opportunity to talk to them about health issues through the project YLabs was doing but more in a creative way, in a music setting, in a fashion setting it really sits well with them and they actually listen. I am grateful for that opportunity.

My local community is so passionate in terms of their talent, and they are so driven. Everywhere I look there is just talent, talent, talent. You see young people practicing football every day after school, some kids dancing, and they speak so passionately about it. This is something that encourages me each and every time; I can’t do a lot but the little things I can try to do as much as possible. I always try to push them and link them to existing resources to help them and nurture their talent. I would just show up and give them a little bit of power because they needed it. They’re so young and whenever I look at them I think of myself and I remember at the end of the day we all just want someone to stop and say “Hey, you’re doing a good job.”

My biggest hope for our generation is to have a generation that speaks up and who believes their voices are what is needed to push forward. People are so powerful in their own voices.

Happy Tahirih

RWANDA

In 2017 I met a team from YLabs who were doing some assessment in Rwanda to find out what the youth are looking for and I was among the first they spoke to. I was maybe 18 then and being from Rwanda it’s very surprising to see anyone interested in the youth. People just assume you are being dramatic and this is the age you do crazy stuff. I kind of got introduced to research that way because I was like “Why are you guys asking us all these questions? What’s going to happen?” That’s where I started being interested in doing research.

One reason I found such a connection with what YLabs was doing is because my religion tells me that adolescence is when we have to start listening to people because that’s when they have the drive, they want to produce change, they are very eager to do things and be seen, and that’s when you have to start educating them, giving them the right knowledge, and giving them the tools that they need. 

I think the only negative of [doing this work and being young] is that you become way too aware. Eighteen-year-olds are not invited to the table in this culture, so me coming to people to say “did you know condoms are misunderstood, or people think when you use contraceptives it’s only for married women?” ; people are like, “You are only 18, these are not things you should be stressed about.” It’s also embedded in your own beliefs; you feel very insecure in those spaces and you’re like “I don’t have enough experience.” On the good side, I was very lucky. Part of me had a lot of learning because there is a lot of misinformation that I was exposed to. Being in a group where you can ask questions is a safe space. Talking to other youth and seeing how this information is passed on, who is passing this on was kind of mind-blowing and it really inspired me to do research. 

When I applied for the International Conference for Family Planning I spoke about the story of my friend who got pregnant and couldn't go back to school and was kicked out of her family. These are stories that everyone knows. We’ve kind of normalized the situation by saying “Oh yeah, that’s what happens.” But what are we doing about this? This person’s education is completely ruined and they will probably feel ashamed to go back into society. Family planning makes sense, it’s one of those things that you hear about where you’re like “Absolutely, there’s no way I am going to jump this. This is very important, so we talk about it.”

In my studies now, we talk a lot about shaking tables and starting conversations. The person starting this conversation always goes through a lot, but it’s worth it at the end of the day. It’s definitely a challenge but we should overcome it every day. I keep having this conversation with people my age about small changes like calling out sexual harassment at your workplace, calling out a racist joke, calling out a pay gap. I think people in my generation need to understand that small change is change. Your contribution matters and the whole world is literally counting on you to make the right decisions, I mean no pressure. You have got to look out for your community and you have got to enjoy your journey and do things that make you happy and inspire you but you know, drive the change. That’s my goal for my whole generation.

Hina Shehzadi

PAKISTAN (CURRENTLY IN CANADA)

I am a former Youth Designer who worked with YLabs in Pakistan. Personally, now living and working in Canada, when I look back I feel so proud that I had this opportunity to work in the very remote areas of Pakistan. It was a very great experience getting to know women and how they are living in small villages with zero services. I still remember one day we went to a small district health facility and we were talking with the lady health provider and I noticed the burnt black walls. I asked her if they had a fire and she said “Oh no, that was the delivery from last night. We don’t have electricity in this health facility so if we have an emergency at night time we have to burn candles.” I had never heard of women giving birth in candlelight. Getting to know these kinds of experiences of women and their challenges to accessing health services was really eye-opening for me. That’s what keeps me motivated to work in this field.

The challenge I see is that Pakistan has one of the biggest populations of young people; about 64% of our population is under 30, but the thing is that they don’t have proper guidance. Right now, I am living in Canada and I see young people here have access to so many things. Like with technology, with the lockdown and when schools get closed all the students got laptops or iPads from their schools so they can access their online classes, but nothing like that happened in Pakistan. So young people [in Pakistan] struggled a lot during COVID, they did not have access to computers to attend online classes, they did not have access to the internet, and if they had access to the internet there was no electricity. That is what my siblings, cousins, and neighbors experienced and I saw how hard it was for them. It’s hard for young people because they don’t have support from the government or from society either. I feel like the young people in Pakistan are just on their own in finding their way and doing their best. It really inspires me that they are on their own but still, a lot of them are working so hard to make their lives better or find some opportunities to improve in their fields. They have talent, they have the spark for doing something but at the same time, they have very limited opportunities and resources.

Inspired by these stories? If you’re a young leader committed to improving young people’s health and economic opportunity, consider applying to our 2022 Youth Leadership Cohort!