By James Kinegwa

Kenya Forum‘s correspondent, Winnie Kabintie, is the recipient of the Youth of the Year, Media Advocate, in the Top 35 Under 35 Awards by the Youth Agenda in partnership with the state department of Youth Affairs in the Ministry of ICT.

The inaugural Top 35 Under 35 Award is an annual initiative that seeks to recognize individuals under 35 years championing youth agenda and impacting their communities.

Ms Kabintie was recognized for her exemplary work in empowering the youth in Media and Information Literacy through digital media platforms such as the  #VoiceItWithWinnieKabintie YouTube channel, which has given youth a platform to have meaningful dialogues with the aim of empowering Millenials particularly, to be active citizens.

The platform covers a wide variety of issues such as youth entrepreneurship, life skills, leadership, and personal development.

She is also the Founder of the JustApad Initiative, which empowers women and girls in Street Families and in slums on Menstrual Health Management (MHM). The Initiative also runs a mentorship program targeting teenagers in the slums.

The 2020 edition attracted 1000 submissions comprising youth across the 47 counties, who were later shortlisted to 130 nominees.  The nominees were later vetted by judges, drawn from different sectors of the economy.

The Top 35 winners were announced today during the national celebrations of the International Youth Day.

President Uhuru Kenyatta congratulated the young leaders and called on the youth to take up the opportunities that the government has already created for them. These include the KYEOP program and the Young Africa Works project, which the government is undertaking in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation.