PAWA Initiative
PAWA Initiative is a Non-Profit established in Kenya in 2009. It is Kenya’s unique art and cultural collaborative hub that houses, fosters and catalyzes creative and community-driven projects for social change. The acronym “PAWA” is Swahili corruption for “power” while”254” is Kenya’s international telephone code.
Our Work
1. Human Rights
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status for the reason that they are human. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination.
PAWA is interested in the advancement and safeguarding of Human Rights in Kenya primarily because respect for human rights lays the foundation for good governance-what PAWA seek to achieve for Kenya and the region. To further this noble aim, PAWA partners primarily with artistes and other partners to advocate for the advancement of human rights while at the same time mobilizing support to push back repressive laws and hold Government to account for violations of treaties, laws and statutes relating to Human Rights in Kenya.
PAWA continually uses artivism and its mobilization strength to rally citizens around human rights issues and make their voices heard. Read More
Governance refers to systems, processes and mechanisms through which the state utilizes state power to govern and/or rule its citizens and maintain law and order.
Poor Governance is at the heart of all the issues PAWA seeks to change. At PAWA we believe in universal suffrage and the inherent right for all citizens to good governance which equates to; affordable housing, access to food, good infrastructure, livelihood development, quality education and a responsive Government.
A key reason for poor governance is the subversion of democracy meaning citizens lose the right to choose the leaders they want. PAWA, via its programmes, strives to mainstream good governance at all levels of Government whilst exposing and shining focus on poor governance practices for both individual and state action. Read More
3. Artivism
Artivism which is coined from the words ‘active’ and ‘art’ refers to art designed to address social justice and governance challenges in society. Artivism is PAWA’s strategy through which PAWA hopes to transform the country and is at the core of PAWA’s advocacy work.
As an artiste organization invested in issues of social justice, PAWA works with artistes to continually develop and disseminate active art (music, spoken word, visual art etc) to conscientize the public and spark citizen engagement in governance via artivism.
PAWA, through its programmes like PAWA Cafes, Open Fridays and Literary Thursdays, seeks to popularize and entrench artivism as avenues through which the youth can use their skills to transform society. Read More
‘A nation without the youth is like a tree without its roots’ sang Reggae Icon Burney Wailer in reference to the youth demographic.
The youth constitute 70% of Kenya’s population and by virtue of their numbers, skills and talents they possess, youth development should ideally be central to Government and Private Sector development plans. Sadly the opposite is true, the youth are a neglected lot and still play catch up in decision making levels especially decisions relating to economic empowerment.
PAWA as one of the premier Youth Serving Organizations leverages the power of art to advocate for youth inclusion and participation in the quest for the development of programmes, plans and strategies for enhancing youth opportunities in education, skills and talent development, participation in governance processes and economic empowerment. Read More
Art for social changoment.M
Our Partners
