Organization Summary

PAWA Initiative is a youth-led nonprofit 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. PAWA is largely referred to as PAWA 254: the acronym “PAWA” is Swahili slang for “power,” while “254” is Kenya’s international telephone code.

Over the last five years, the youth-led organization has cut a niche as a bold ‘artivism’ organization that creatively integrates art and activism to promote active civic participation, livelihoods and employment development for Kenyan youth. PAWA leverages the power of arts to strengthen understanding and exploration of emerging issues in Kenya and increase youth involvement in positive development processes.

PAWA ‘s vision is to facilitate a bold, innovative and thriving art and media landscape to create social change in Kenya and exists to provide space and avenues where artists can learn and develop skills that could expose them to more opportunities for enhanced outputs, while promoting social change.

Our work is organized around two thematic areas;
● Arts and media: Entails developing the capacity of emerging artists and facilitating the integration of this artistic expression for livelihoods development. The provision of a state-of-the-art co- working space consisting of creative suites for artists and professional equipment such as cameras, lighting, and other production equipment, skills transfer, networking and partnership opportunities.
● Civic Engagement and Social Accountability: We use art as a form of civic engagement through dance, poetry, graffiti, theatre, music, film and photography to spark civic participation through focusing attention on emerging social concerns in the country and in the process prompt action. The arts are leveraged to spark civic participation through focusing attention on emerging social concerns in the country and in the process prompt communities to action. Further, through art and media PAWA brings forward unheard voices in public discourses and convenes groups of people with divergent views through provision of physical, psychological, experiential and intellectual spaces conducive to reflection and discussion.

Background
PAWA 254 is implementing a Livelihoods Advocacy project under the Jenga Hustle project. Jenga Hustle aims at enhancing employment opportunities for young people through advocating for the implementation of laws, Government policies and programmes aimed at enhancing and providing employment and self-enhancement opportunities for youth. The project also builds capacities of youth groups and networks on matters policy, skills enhancement and organizing.

The Government of Kenya has since the era of the NARC Government put in place measures to address the issue of youth unemployment via various programmes and policies most notably the Youth Enterprise Development Fund in 2007, the Uwezo Fund in 2014 and the MSME’s Act of 2012 under the Jubilee Government. In 2013 the Government of Kenya set up a presidential taskforce to review the work of parastatals as one way of enhancing Government efficiency and effectiveness. One of the recommendations of the taskforce on parastatal reforms was the merger of the affirmative action funds that included the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, the Uwezo Fund, and the Women Enterprise Fund. As a result of the recommendation, the Government decided to set up the Biashara Kenya Fund which ideally was to be the new authority charged with the responsibility of disbursing funds to affirmative action groups as identified by the constitution. However, following an advisory by the Kenya Law Reform Commission that found the Government owned Entities Bill 2014 that was to be the mother law to anchor the
Biashara Kenya Fund to be unconstitutional, the fate of the Biashara Kenya Fund was sealed. This further compounded the confusion on the state of the affirmative action funds for youth in Kenya. In light of the above PAWA 254 via the Jenga Hustle project wishes to commission a research that aims at developing a status report on the affirmative action funds in Kenya.

Objectives of the Consultancy
I. Carry out research and develop a status report on the state of Youth Affirmative Action Funds in Kenya.

Scope of Work and Key Deliverables
 Analyze the advisory by the Kenya Law Reform Commission on the Government Owned Entities Bill 2014 and its implications on the proposed Biashara Kenya Fund.
 Analyze the current operational situation of the affirmative action funds i.e. Youth Enterprise Development Fund, Uwezo Fund and the Women Enterprise Fund and determine whether or not they are able to fulfill their current mandate to the youth.
 From the analysis of the Kenya Law Reform Commission advisory and current status of the affirmative action funds, draw possible scenarios through which PAWA 254 and other Youth Stakeholders can employ to lobby Government to FastTrack a return to full operations of the funds to ensure youth gains are not lost.

Skills and Experience
 Degree in Political Science, International Relations, Law or any other relevant Social Science degree.
 Excellent grasp of governance and policy issues with a bias towards Youth Development and empowerment in Kenya.
 Excellent research and analytical skills
 Excellent knowledge and understanding of the Kenya Constitution and the legal landscape in Kenya.
 Ability to interpret complex information and break the same into simple information/illustrations that ca be understood by a wide audience.

Duration of the Assignment
The consultancy is expected to take a maximum of 7 calendar days upon selection of the successful consultant. This includes presentation of the first draft and the final draft.

Expression of Interest Requirements
1. A proposal to PAWA Initiative interpreting the terms of reference and elaborating the consultancy methodology and approaches that will facilitate successful completion of the assignment. This should include a budget/quotation for undertaking the assignment.
2. A sample (soft copy or hard copies if available) of at least two similar works conducted complete with references
3. Professional profile of the consultant(s) to undertake the proposed assignment Supervisory and Quality Assurance
PAWA’s Programs Manager will supervise the Consultancy.

Confidentiality
All deliberation relating to the consultancy, including all information collected from various meetings/documents shall be kept confidential and shall not be divulged to any third party either verbally, in writing or in any other form. The successful consultant shall be required to sign a confidentiality agreement with regards to this work.

Logistics and Procedures
The consultancy will be inclusive of all expenses accrued in the process of the consultancy. If the consultant requires office space from where to work, the same can be arranged with PAWA to allocate space at the PAWA office. The consultancy and project location are Nairobi County.

Application
Consultants who meet the requirements for this assignment should submit their Expression of Interest of NOT MORE THAN 7 PAGES including the CV’s as ONE PDF/Word document on or before the 5th November to finance@pawa254.org copying michael@pawa254.org. If you do not hear from us by 7th November 2021 March, consider your EOI unsuccessful.