NAIROBI, KENYA

Welcome to the Nairobi hub

This is a youth leadership initiative designed to empower young people with the tools, virtues and systems thinking needed to transform communities. Through mentorship, peer engagement, debates, storytelling and community barazas, Fellows practise ethical leadership and address systemic challenges in Nairobi and beyond.

CULTIVATING SYSTEMS-LITERATE YOUTH LEADERS GROUNDED IN VIRTUE, DIALOGUE AND ACTION

The Nairobi Hub is for young people passionate about justice, community action and systemic change. No prior academic background in systems thinking is required — just curiosity, commitment and a desire to learn with others.

WHAT WE OFFER

A comprehensive fellowship combining systems literacy, virtuous citizenship and narrative practice.

Peer engagement and mentorship with facilitators and community leaders.

Experiential learning opportunities through debates, art, storytelling and community barazas.

A supportive network of changemakers connected to The 50 Percent global community.

PROGRAMME THEMES

Systems thinking
Develop foundational skills in mapping, leverage points, feedback loops and systems analysis.

Virtuous citizenship
Ground leadership in core civic virtues such as prudence, justice, empathy, solidarity and responsibility.

Advocacy through narrative
Use debate, storytelling and creative expression to shift narratives and drive change.

Community barazas
Lead and facilitate inclusive dialogues that strengthen civic engagement and accountability.

Youth-led, community-driven: Understanding how to collectively fix our waste management systems

by 50 Percent | May 4, 2026

Fellows from The 50 Percent Nairobi hub spent time in Kawangware engaging residents in a community baraza to understand how waste management systems function from the ground up. What emerged was a system with multiple moving parts; each functioning yet rarely in...

Systems thinking as civic practice: Insights from the Nairobi hub workshop

by The 50 Percent | Jan 22, 2026

Nairobi hub fellows at the Systems thinking workshop On 4 December 2025, the 50 Percent ‘Nairobi youth hub’ convened its first systems-thinking workshop, marking a deliberate step toward strengthening fellows’ analytical capacity and grounding their civic engagement...