Empowering Tomorrow: Cultivating Agency and Problem-Solving in Kenyan Youth

Editor's Note: This is likely going to be a series of articles on psychosocial aspects of adolescent development that I hope to keep working on and refining.

Let's start this article off by saying no, we're not talking about that cool, corporate Agency your friend or relative works at with the office bar and a parking lot filled with envy-inducing European models. This is about human agency which has several definitions but I define it as 'an individual's capacity to determine and make meaningful, purposeful and conscious actions'. Actions that are based on the assessment of one's environs, their present circumstances and the choices available to them.

Now, for many people in the professional world for which LinkedIn is a hub, the concept of agency appears quite obvious and intuitive. This is the world of go-getters, people whose daily actions are deliberate and targeted toward achieving lofty goals. These are people who are on journeys toward self-actualization and empowerment, some are even life coaches to these overachievers. Many of them near perfect examples of people who have taken absolute agency in their lives.

However, agency isn't nearly as intuitive nor obvious as we may all think and neither are choices and opportunities. There are scores of communities whose circumstances are more focused on survival and making ends meet rather than pursuing economic expansion and that's simply as a result of their environment. These environments are where their mental models (to be explained below) are developed over time. One of Shamiri Institute's partners The Agency Fund (TAF), has a great white paper on agency that touches on mental models which they define as "beliefs,?concepts,?constructs,?schemas,?etc.?that?help?us?make sense?of the?world?and predict?the?consequences?of?our?actions". The key takeaway from their white paper in regard to mental models is that they can be very hard to update if there exists no alternative reference point with which to compare and contrast with existing ones. And this explains why we end up with those of us who are privileged with having agency, glibly referring to these communities as being afflicted with "poverty mindsets". As the white paper says "Agency does not emerge in a vacuum".

And this is where my passion for our work at Shamiri resides. Many youth in Kenya grow up in structurally disadvantaged environments which have a substantial effect on their mental models and, as TAF's white paper states, this can erode the sense of hope and control in one's life.

Shamiri's mental health program is designed to equip adolescents with valuable skills such as growth mindsets, gratitude, problem-solving, and value affirmations. The focus is on targeting an adolescent child's core beliefs about themselves. Something that children don't just intuitively learn by themselves. Again, agency does not emerge from a vacuum and Shamiri fundamentally understands this. To further reinforce the importance of our work, last year the Regional Education Learning Initiative (Reli) published a study revealing that Kenyan adolescent students are having trouble with problem-solving skills. We at Shamiri seek to do our part in helping bridge this gap for our kids because we fundamentally understand that we are hurtling fast into an era of the 21st century that will demand a lot from these youth in terms of competence, confidence, and competitiveness.

As we prepare for a global shift in how work is performed and productivity is evaluated, the importance of our mission becomes even more apparent. By helping adolescents develop a deep sense of agency and self-efficacy, we are not just preparing them for jobs or careers; we are preparing them to be proactive contributors to society, capable of making meaningful decisions that lead to a fulfilling life.