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UNV Kenya Joins Nairobi County to mark

the International Youth Day

UNV Kenya Launches an E-leave system.

UNV Kenya August 2013 Newsletter.

prove leave .

Just by pushing a button

from their desktops ,

See page 3

For a long time UNV

Field unit has had chal-

lenges in managing and

approving leave requests

from UNVs. The process

was very cumbersome es-

pecially for UNVs in the

field and far from Nairobi.

Many at times supervisors

were away from offices to

physically sign and ap-

Business Name

VOLUNTEERING FOR

CHANGE.

August 2013 Newsletter.

UNV Kenya

In this issue:

UNV Kenya Joins

Nairobi County to

mark the Internation-

al Youth Day.

UNV Kenya Unveils

an E-leave system.

Promoting Volun-

teerism together in

Africa.

Volunteering from

the desk a focus

on Victor Nyam-

bok

VOLUNTEERING FOR CHANGE: A NEWSLETTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMMME IN KENYA

Photo@ Nairobi county deputy governor ,county women representative and the Director General UNON.

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Twelfth of August every year,

marks the International Youth Day ,

UNV Kenya joined the rest of Ken-

yans in commemorating this day .

Through out the week before ,youths

had gathered in Nairobi for a work-

shop aimed at bringing forth the

challenges facing them in Kenya.

This empowerment programme was

wholesomely coordinated by our

UNV in UNEP – Gladwel Wambui

in black above.

The programme climaxed on the

eleventh of August ,an eve to Inter-

national Youth Day when all youth

in the workshop plus other youth and

guests from Nairobi were invited to

the first ever Youth Carnival in

Kenya. The activity was officially

kicked off and graced by non other

than the Deputy Governor for Nairo-

bi county Mr. Jonathan Mueke who

was the chief Guest. Among other

guests included Ambassador; Sahle-

Work Zewde, Director-General,

UNON,Dr. Manu Chandaria , former

Nairobi city mayors , Nathan Kahara

and Joe Akech.

The event attracted attention of approxi-

mately five thousand people most of

whom were youth, for the event was

majorly meant for them.

Various activities ranging from youth

showcasing their talents in gymnastics,

art ,skating and dancing took center

stage.

In there speeches the Guests kept on

appreciating the role of a positive youth

in the development of Kenya. While

winding up the activity ,the deputy gov-

ernor said,

“ I wish to take this opportunity to

acknowledge the sponsors of this event

From page 1. UNV Kenya August 2013 Newsletter.

VOLUNTEERING FOR CHANGE: A NEWSLETTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMMME IN KENYA

with special appreciation to the

role of youth as volunteers in sup-

porting a good city through the

good initiative dubbed ‘I am a City

Changer’ We continue to and wel-

come such initiatives plus partner-

ships to encourage youth partici-

pation in the county’s development

programs.”

Among other sponsors UNV con-

tributed to facilitating and support-

ing logistics for youth from

Krogocho slums who exhibited,

performed their skits and art on

the day. To follow a brief of the

event please click on this link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=sIkjkrz7oM8

As the event proceeded UNDP and

UNV tents attracted most of the

Photo @ National UNV –UNEP ; Gladwel Kahara in black above guiding her team of volunteers during the first ever street carnival in Kenya.

3

UNV Kenya August 2013 Newsletter

Above a Photo @ UNV Judy Mugo guiding Pauline Ngega UNV-UNDP SPAU Unit through the e-leave process,. Below is a window of the web page..

VOLUNTEERING FOR CHANGE: A NEWSLETTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMMME IN KENYA

“The UNV E-Leave system is a Web-

based Employee Self-Service system

that simplifies and automates the

whole process of leave management. It

empowers UNV’s to self-manage leave

applications and leave approval any-

time, anywhere in the World. It saves

administrative cost ,time plus elimi-

nating paper-based forms. It also im-

proves UNV’s' satisfaction, productiv-

ity and performance.

I am very gratified that I could use my

skills to develop cum Implement this

new system for the UNV office ,to

make it a more efficient and a

‘GREEN’ sensitive organization”

Abdulrasul Mohamedbhai—National

UNV UNDP - ICT Associate.

Continued from page 1,……….. tablets, and phones UNVs can easily get their leave approvals in a minute. While launch-ing the E-leave system on the 1st August 2013, the UNDP Country Director Maria-Threase Keating said that the

tool will provide all UN Volunteers in Kenya with the opportunity to manage and moni-tor their leave online, this will include leave re-quests ; annual, sick, uncertified and maternity clearance and ap-provals by supervi-sors.

Volunteers may use their access and passwords to login via this webpage: http://km.undp.sk/lm .

UNV Field Unit appreciates Abdulrasul Mohamedbhai , UNV UNDP ICT Associate who worked closely and tire-lessly with Judy Mugo to trouble shoot the systems to en-sure its activation and efficiency.

“We thank the UNV Programme Officer in helping stream-line the business process here in the UNV office and UNDP top management for all the support accorded to us.”

Judy Mugo ;National UNV - Human Resources

Associate.

“I tell you I am now relieved after the launch of this sys-

tem, at one time I had to wait three days for my leave to

be approved by my supervisor. My supervisor is ever

away which makes the leave application process compli-

cated and time wasting. I don't know what my fellow

UNVs have gone through ,but I am sure it has been

tedious. In as much as we embrace this technology I

think we will need to find time and resources for all

UNVs to be properly inducted through the online

leave application process.

Harisson Morowa; National UNV Peace Monitor in

Tana river

“The system is a unique product for UN Vol-

unteers in Kenya. It is aimed at increasing

flexibility of UNV applications for leave and

efficiency of leave monitoring. I also express

my sincere gratitude to colleagues from the

UNV Field Unit, UNDP Regional Bureau in

Bratislava and Mr. Sayed Farhad Toghian,

former international UNV under UNDP ICT

Unit for their volunteer contribution to design

and arrangement of the system.”

Maria –Threase Keating.

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Dmitry Frischin, participated in the

first UNV Regional Capacity Devel-

opment Workshop, held on 19 – 23

August, 2013 in Johannesburg, South

Africa, this workshop was organized

by UNV Bonn for Programme Offic-

ers from Anglophone countries of

Africa.

The workshop was aimed at strategic

discussions on UNVs positioning in

the region which included observing

new programmatic approaches and

resource mobilization opportunities,

existing challenges and future per-

spectives in UNV management .

Particular attention was paid to inte-

gration of volunteerism into pro-

gramme planning processes and

working with civil society, where the

UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Res-

ident Representative in Lesotho, Ms.

Karla Hershey, UNV Programme Of-

ficer in Rwanda, Mr. Ivan Dielens,

and UNV Programme Officer in Le-

sotho, Mr. Cooper Mykers, shared

“When mobilizing UN Volunteers, we

also need to ensure their secure

conditions of service and proper

acknowledgement at duty stations

through regular communications with

volunteer teams and answering their

needs in professional development”

Ms.Maria-Threase Keatting.

Contry Director UNDP Kenya.

“We need to work further for

improving the UNV security system and

efficient communications channels

between the center and the field to

ensure appropriate living conditions for

our UN Volunteers,”

Ms. Rachael Quast

VOLUNTEERING FOR CHANGE: A NEWSLETTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMMME IN KENYA

their exciting stories on efficient

integration of volunteerism into

UNDAF and facilitating civil socie-

ty inclusion into development agen-

da.

Ms. Karla Hershey mentioned need

for fruitful cooperation with aca-

demia on expansion of volunteer

capacities and creation of additional

employment opportunities for

youth. This experience may be im-

plemented by Kenya, where the cre-

ation of new employment opportu-

nities for youth through volunteer-

ism, is among the priorities.

The climax of the workshop was the

live video conference with Mr.

Richard Dictus, UNV-Executive

Coordinator. He gave highlights on

renewing the UNV Capacity Build-

ing and Learning Strategy. He indi-

cated that UN Youth Volunteer mo-

dality could be launched soon .

Continued on Page 6….

The UNDP Country Director, Ms.

Maria-Threase Keating, and UNV

Programme Officer in Kenya, Mr.

UNV Kenya Joins Stakeholders in Promoting Volunteerism together in Africa

Photo@ all participants in the South Africa Workshop.

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When I formally seized the position

of UNV Communications Specialist -

UNDP at the Ministry of Planning,

National Development and Vision

2030 now Devolution and Planning,

my thought - being a communications

practitioner - was how I would go

about my duties profiling development

projects, take photos and interact di-

rectly with communities.

Soon enough I came to learn that the

Ministry in its mandate did not directly

manage projects on ground, it was

more focused on leadership and coor-

dination in planning, policy formula-

tion and tracking results on economic

development among other functions.

I had previously worked in govern-

ment in a different capacity so the ini-

tial misgiving about the working cul-

ture and attitude most people have did

not bother me. I had taken time to re-

search and even come up with pro-

posals on enhancing communications

and information needs for the ministry.

I was lucky from the first day in office

for I got audience from the then Perma-

nent Secretary Dr. Edward Sambili. He

appreciated the role UN Volunteers had

played in building capacity within the

ministry ‘Our generation is not as IT

survey like your generation so we can-

not adapt to these technological chang-

es fast enough’ Dr. Sambili.

Previously accessing information from

government involved physically visit-

ing the office of a ministry and some-

times spending hours waiting to be

served.

The goodwill from the leadership ena-

bled the implementation of the commu-

nications strategy even though not to

entirety.

I helped in developing the first ministry

‘s communications strategy, setting up

of social media accounts, revamping the

website, developing the Kenya Vision

2030 Online Course among others.

The assumption that UN staffs are

‘more superior’ is still very real espe-

cially when working out of the UN sys-

tem. UNVs can use this perception as

an advantage to push for making a dif-

ference but it can also be a disad-

vantage.

My communications interventions con-

tributed greatly in the ministry being

ranked the best ‘first position’ in the

performance contacting evaluation 2011

-2012.

Victor Nyambok is currently serving at

UNDP Communications Unit as a Com-

munications Specialist.

Victor Nyambok ; Volunteering from the desk UNV Kenya August 2013 Newsletter.

Corner….

Edwin Dwane.

“Halo I have done bank-

ing and finance and cur-

rently concluding on my

master in business admin-

istration finance and pro-

ject management.

How can I possibly volun-

teer with UNV in a way

that I shall be of great

benefit to UNV Kenya ,to

the community at large as

well as grow as an individ-

ual career-wise?”

Yvonne Kwamboka

“Hallo, I am 25 years old

and a graduate from Cath-

olic University of Eastern

Africa. I would like to in-

quire on how to volunteer

and if there exists availa-

ble vacancies in your or-

ganization?

I look forward to hearing

from you.”

VOLUNTEERING FOR CHANGE: A NEWSLETTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMMME IN KENYA

6

VOLUNTEERING FOR CHANGE: A NEWSLETTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMMME IN KENYA

www.ke.undp.org/un-volunteers @ unvkenya UNVKenya

www.onlinevolunteering.org

the participants expressed their sincere gratitude to the workshop organizers and presentation team, among them were;

Mr. Richard Dictus -UNV Executive Coordinator, Ms. Karla Hershey - UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident

Representative in Lesotho, Ms. Maria-Threase Keating -UNDP Country Director in Kenya, Mr. Tapiwa Kamuruko

-UNV Bonn Senior Portfolio Manager, Mr. Robert Palmer -UNV Bonn Portfolio Manager, Mr. Kwabena Asante-

Ntiamoah -UNV Bonn Portfolio Manager, Ms. Amanda Mukwashi -UNV Bonn Chief of Volunteer Knowledge and

Innovation Section, Mr. Robert Toe -UNV Bonn Programme Specialist, Ms. Marlise Brenner -UNV Bonn Chief of

Volunteer Recruitment Resources Section, Ms. Nancy Barua -Programme Management Associate, Ms. Deborah Ro-

sador -Lead Facilitator, Ms. Petra Mirzadeh -UNV Bonn Portfolio Associate, Mr. Mandeep Tiwana -CIVUCUS,

Mr. Dennis Lane -Consultant, Mr. Ivan Dielens -UNV Programme Officer in Rwanda, Mr. Dmitry Frischin -UNV

Programme Officer in Kenya, Mr. Cooper Mykers -UNV Programme Officer in Lesotho and Ms. Rachael Quast -

UNV Programme Officer in South Sudan.

“It was a great opportunity to meet my colleagues, to discuss regional volunteer initiatives ,to network and share my

experience on volunteer management in Kenya . I am sure that such events will help us communicate our issues

hence enable us combine our efforts for efficient volunteer management and support to our UNV team and col-

leagues.”

Dmitry Frischin- Programme Officer; UNV Kenya.

Quote from Kenya UNVs .

Continued from page 4

“Being attached to the Ministry responsible for disaster risk reduction, coordination and response with other

partners in Kenya gives me a great opportunity to implement Disaster Risk Management strategies, policies and

action plans at national and county levels.”

Arnold Ambundo—National UNV Disaster Risk Reduction; Programme Officer

UNDP Kenya Country Office.

For more information on this Newsletter, the UNV programme or to submit stories of your

volunteer work, contact the UNV Communications Officer in Kenya Kelvin Keya on

kelvin.keya@undp.org or unvkenya@undp.org

or call us on +254 20 762 5540