Voices from Nairobi: Defending Democracy in Africa’s Shrinking Civic Space
05/19/25 • 46 min
Welcome back to the Thank You Democracy Podcast! In the first episode of Season 2, we sat down with Mary Yvonne Ododah and Mumbiko King’ori in Nairobi, Kenya just prior to the GDC Africa Forum 2025. This episode covers how they first got involved in democracy work, the personal experiences that shaped them and the real pushback they face in shrinking civic spaces across Africa.
Mary Yvonne Ododa serves as a Board Member of our Coalition Partner, The Youth Cafe, is the Founder of Jarumi Ventures Africa, the Executive Director at Nuru Trust Network, a fellow from the Institute for Economic and Peace (IEP) and a One Young World Ambassador. Mary is also an published author and an active member of both the UN Women Regional Civil Society Advisory Group (RCSAG) for Eastern and Southern Africa and the UN CSO Coalition on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism.
Mumbiko King’ori is a passionate youth serving as the partnerships associate at The Youth Cafe, former youngest Presidential aspirant in Kenya, founding director of the Young Aspirants and Aspiring Leaders Network, a WYDE Youth Advisory board member with our Coalition Partner, European Partnership for Democracy where he initiated the commercialization of politics advocacy. He is also a Fellow with our Coalition Partner Kofi Annan Foundation and a volunteer consultant at the Kenya Inclusive Political Parties Technical Working Group with our Coalition Partner, Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
To learn more about Mary and Mumbiko’s journeys and perspectives, listen in to this episode. Be sure to tune in to the second part of this conversation in Episode 2 next week!
Welcome back to the Thank You Democracy Podcast! In the first episode of Season 2, we sat down with Mary Yvonne Ododah and Mumbiko King’ori in Nairobi, Kenya just prior to the GDC Africa Forum 2025. This episode covers how they first got involved in democracy work, the personal experiences that shaped them and the real pushback they face in shrinking civic spaces across Africa.
Mary Yvonne Ododa serves as a Board Member of our Coalition Partner, The Youth Cafe, is the Founder of Jarumi Ventures Africa, the Executive Director at Nuru Trust Network, a fellow from the Institute for Economic and Peace (IEP) and a One Young World Ambassador. Mary is also an published author and an active member of both the UN Women Regional Civil Society Advisory Group (RCSAG) for Eastern and Southern Africa and the UN CSO Coalition on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism.
Mumbiko King’ori is a passionate youth serving as the partnerships associate at The Youth Cafe, former youngest Presidential aspirant in Kenya, founding director of the Young Aspirants and Aspiring Leaders Network, a WYDE Youth Advisory board member with our Coalition Partner, European Partnership for Democracy where he initiated the commercialization of politics advocacy. He is also a Fellow with our Coalition Partner Kofi Annan Foundation and a volunteer consultant at the Kenya Inclusive Political Parties Technical Working Group with our Coalition Partner, Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
To learn more about Mary and Mumbiko’s journeys and perspectives, listen in to this episode. Be sure to tune in to the second part of this conversation in Episode 2 next week!
Previous Episode
The Process and Behind the Scenes of the Thank You Democracy Campaign and Podcast with Elisenda Balleste Buxo, Laura Flores, Nestor Baez and Nicki Kalfas
The final episode of this season of the Thank You Democracy Podcast comes to you from the key implementers of the #ThankYouDemocracy campaign: Elisenda Balleste, the Coordinator of the GDC, Laura Flores, the Outreach and Governance Officer at Club De Madrid, Nestor Baez, the Communications Officer at Club De Madrid, and Nicki Kalfas, Research Assistant at the GDC. They convened to share inside stories and comments about the process and development of this campaign. This episode covers why Club De Madrid wanted to join the campaign, how our expectations evolved along the way, why collaboration has been so vital, advice for new democracy advocates, ideas for new ways the campaign could evolve, and each of our favourite moments or aspects of the campaign.
To learn more about the behind-the-scenes of this campaign, share a laugh with us, and be inspired by the events of the past several months, tune in now!
Next Episode
Wisdom from the Frontlines: Hopes for Africa’s Democratic Future
In the second episode of Season 2 of the Thank You Democracy Podcast, we continued our conversation from last week with Mary Yvonne Ododah and Mumbiko King’ori. This episode covers what they think a stronger, more inclusive democracy could look like in Africa, what gives them hope, and what they want the next generation of democracy defenders to know.
Mary Yvonne Ododa serves as a Board Member of our Coalition Partner, The Youth Cafe, is the Founder of Jarumi Ventures Africa, the Executive Director at Nuru Trust Network, a fellow from the Institute for Economic and Peace (IEP) and a One Young World Ambassador. Mary is also an published author and an active member of both the UN Women Regional Civil Society Advisory Group (RCSAG) for Eastern and Southern Africa and the UN CSO Coalition on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism.
Mumbiko King’ori is a passionate youth serving as the partnerships associate at The Youth Cafe, former youngest Presidential aspirant in Kenya, founding director of the Young Aspirants and Aspiring Leaders Network, a WYDE Youth Advisory board member with our Coalition Partner, European Partnership for Democracy where he initiated the commercialization of politics advocacy. He is also a Fellow with our Coalition Partner Kofi Annan Foundation and a volunteer consultant at the Kenya Inclusive Political Parties Technical Working Group with our Coalition Partner, Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
To listen in to the second half of Mary and Mumbiko’s journeys and perspectives, tune in to this episode.
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