Assessing the Role of the Youth and Religious Peacebuilding in Fostering Peace in Kenya

For many years, the youth have been excluded from peacebuilding which led to increased crime, terrorism and suicide, thus influencing the 'global youth in peacebuilding' agenda. In Kenya, the Government has tried to intervene but has not succeeded because of the identity crisis. Moreover. Kenya is a secular state which has a significant history with religion, which formed its tribal personalities, historical characteristics and has a growing population of religious adherents. However, religious peacebuilding has not been involved as a long term strategy for peace. Therefore, this study assesses the role of the youth and religious peacebuilding in fostering peace efforts in Kenya. It focuses on the following objectives: to understand the issues affecting the youth in peacebuilding efforts in Kenya. to identify the current trends on the role of youth and religion in peacebuilding, to analyze the significance of religious peacebuilding in fostering peace efforts among the youth in Kenya and to examine the challenges of incorporating the role of religious peacebuilding and the youth in the peace efforts in Kenya. The research involved both Christian and Muslim youth of Nairobi. It also used a descriptive design, mixed method research and analyzed the data through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The researcher also ensured that reliability, validity and ethical considerations are met. The findings show that the youth are informally engaging in religious peacebuilding but are affected by stereotypes, marginalization and lack of support for effective collaborations through their efforts for peace.