For three weeks, our hub in Nairobi’s Industrial Area became more than a registration point. It became a space where young people came together to engage, learn, connect, and take ownership of their future.
From April 7th to 30th 2026, Baraza Media Lab hosted a Voter Registration Drive at our hub in partnership with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), bringing voter registration services directly into a space built around creativity and community. What we witnessed over those three weeks when civic engagement feels accessible and welcoming, people show up.
And they truly did.
Why this drive, and why now
Kenya’s young people are not civically disengaged. The evidence is everywhere. The 2022 General Election recorded lower-than-expected youth voter registration, a statistic often cited as proof of youth apathy. But that reading misses the fuller picture.
Between 2024 and 2025, Kenya witnessed widespread, youth-led protests in response to the Finance Bill. Young people organised, mobilised, and spoke loudly and clearly about governance. On digital platforms, particularly X, they debated policy, built accountability networks, and moved entire political conversations. This is not the behaviour of a generation that doesn’t care.
What the data actually reveals is a disconnect between young people and formal democratic processes. That gap is precisely what this drive was designed to close. Over the course of the drive, we successfully supported the registration of more than 700 new voters. Seven hundred people making the decision to participate in shaping the future of the country.
The voter registration drive was part of Civic Canvas, Baraza Media Lab’s multi-year initiative to strengthen civic participation among young people in Kenya through the intersection of art, digital media, and civic education. Civic Canvas is grounded in a clear conviction: civic participation in Kenya is evolving, but civic infrastructure has not kept pace. Our work is about building that infrastructure so that young people who are already engaged in public life can find their way into formal democratic processes too.
Each day carried its own energy. Registration desks stayed busy, conversations flowed across the hub, music filled the space, and familiar faces kept returning with friends. Alongside the registration process, civic education sessions and conversations led by facilitators and guests, including Willy Oeba, Willis Raburu, Ademba Allans, DJ Soxxy, and Thee Alfa House, created room for honest conversations around participation, responsibility, and the power of the vote.
This blend was not accidental. One of the core insights behind Civic Canvas is that creatives have become key civic actors in Kenya. They shape narratives, mobilise audiences, and translate complex political questions into formats that feel accessible and real. Bringing that creative energy into a voter registration drive was intentional. When civic participation meets culture, it stops feeling like a duty and starts feeling like belonging. How naturally it blended civic engagement with culture and community made the experience especially meaningful as music, dance, storytelling, and connection transformed the exercise into something people genuinely wanted to be part of.
Beyond voter registration itself, the drive also created meaningful visibility for the hub and the creators within our community. New audiences discovered the space, collaborations sparked organically, and the hub continued to grow as a trusted gathering place for young people, creatives, and important public conversations.
Most importantly, these three weeks reminded us what community-centered programming can achieve. When people feel welcomed, informed, and included, participation becomes natural.
While 700+ new registrations are a milestone worth celebrating, the real success was the atmosphere created around it. One filled with curiosity, connection, learning, and action. Civic Canvas is built on the belief that we need to move beyond one-off awareness events toward sustained platforms and engagement systems. This drive was one moment in a longer effort. The infrastructure we’re building, the relationships, the trust, the creative ecosystem, is what makes moments like this possible, and what ensures they don’t stop here.
To everyone who registered, attended, volunteered, partnered with us, or simply showed up, thank you for being part of it.
This is what community in motion looks like.