How zKe works

The zKe Discussion Process

Young Kenyans decide what the country should talk about. zKe listens in youth barazas and online, turns the top issues into national conversations, and takes the results to the people who make decisions.

WhoYoung Kenyans, online and offline

WhereBarazas, radio, TV, social media, WhatsApp and pol.is

SinceOctober 2024

See the four steps See all conversations

Why zKe

Youth set the agenda

zKe is a space for sustained and meaningful national engagement by and for Kenya’s youth. It offers online and offline spaces where young people can take part in policy debates, follow what government does, and link these discussions to action.

Most public debates hand young people an agenda that someone else has set. zKe works the other way round. It starts by asking young people which issues matter most to them, and only those issues become national conversations. When a bill that affects youth opens for public participation, zKe also opens a conversation on it, so young people can have their say before the deadline.

counties where zKe has held youth barazas: Nairobi, Mombasa, Kitui, Nakuru, Homa Bay, Isiolo, Kisumu and Turkana

700+

young people answered the first zKe questions in October 2024

1,400+

took part in the first four national conversations

memoranda sent to government from the results

The process

Four steps, from a question to action

Every zKe conversation follows the same four steps. The diagram shows the full flow.

The zKe Discussion Process: host youth barazas, share videos on social media, invite views on the WhatsApp bot, review them with Talk to the City, find the top topics, hold barazas on each topic, open the conversation on pol.is, analyse the results, send memoranda to government and inform the public — The full zKe Discussion Process, from the first youth baraza to sharing the results

1. Ask: what should we talk about?

zKe starts offline, with a youth baraza (a town hall of about 30 young people) in each county. Participants name the issues that affect them most.

Videos from the barazas are shared on social media, and young people everywhere add their views through the zKe WhatsApp bot. Talk to the City reviews every audio and text contribution, and the top topics in each county are compared. Topics raised in several counties go national.

In the first round, in October 2024, zKe opened with “Have you been asked for a bribe recently?” and then asked “What other issues faced by the youth deserve a nationwide discussion?”

2. Talk: what should be done?

Each top topic becomes a national conversation on pol.is, with one clear question. Young people write short statements with their ideas and vote agree, disagree or pass on the ideas of others.

Barazas on each topic, radio and TV shows, X Spaces, TikTok and the WhatsApp bot bring more people in. A conversation stays open for weeks: the longer it runs, the more ideas surface from people with different backgrounds.

3. Find common ground

pol.is groups people who vote in similar ways. That shows what young people agree on across groups and where their views split.

zKe then analyses every contribution, from pol.is and from the barazas, and compiles clear findings.

4. Act: take the results forward

Findings become memoranda and recommendations for government. zKe sent a memorandum on the Public Participation Bill to the Attorney General’s office, and one on the Youth Bill 2024 to the State Department for Youth Affairs and Creative Economy. Both acknowledged receipt.

The results also go back to young people, as a story on this site and on zKe’s social media, so everyone who took part can see what came of it.

How pol.is works

On pol.is, people write short statements in answer to the question and vote agree, disagree or pass on statements written by others. pol.is then groups people who vote in similar ways, so we can see both what most people agree on and where opinions divide.

A statement with high “group-informed consensus” is one that people agree on even when they disagree on other things. A divisive statement has strong support in one group and strong opposition in another.

Where it happens

Online and offline, wherever young people are

zKe meets young people where they already are, then brings their views into tools built for deliberation.

Youth barazas

Town halls of about 30 young people in each county, where every round of conversations starts.

Radio, TV and X Spaces

Shows and live discussions that explain each issue or bill and invite young people to take part.

TikTok and social media

Videos from the barazas and explainers on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X. TikTok is where zKe reaches the most young people.

WhatsApp bot

Chat with Zikke, the zKe WhatsApp bot, to share your views and hear what other young people are saying.

Talk to the City

An open-source AI tool that turns large amounts of public input into clear themes while keeping individual voices.

pol.is

An open-source platform for large conversations: write your ideas, vote on other people’s, and see where people agree.

Remesh

An AI platform for live conversations at scale. zKe used it to consult 115 members of the Kenya Young Parliamentarians Association from 40 counties.

Young people at the zKe youth baraza in Nairobi — The zKe youth baraza in Nairobi, October 2025

Beyond the conversation

Talk, Track, Transform

The Discussion Process is the Talk part of zKe. Track and Transform follow the results through.

Talk

Youth-led, issue-based conversations in county youth assemblies, on TV and radio, in X Spaces and TikTok Live sessions, and on pol.is and Remesh.

Track

Following up to make sure your contributions are heard: tracking bills under public participation, monitoring implementation and keeping you in the loop.

Transform

Connecting your insights with parliamentary processes, government ministries and the judiciary, so your concerns become part of real legislative and policy change.

Questions

Good to know

zKe is by and for Kenya’s youth, so every young Kenyan is welcome. Join a youth baraza when zKe comes to your county, follow zKe on social media, chat with the WhatsApp bot, or go straight to the open conversation on pol.is.

Deliberation takes time. On pol.is there are no likes or comment counts, and it can take more than two weeks for 500 young people to join. The longer a conversation runs, the more people from different backgrounds take part, and ideas that seemed minor at first can rise to the top.

Every conversation’s results are published on this site, with what young people agreed on and where their views split. zKe turns them into memoranda and recommendations for the government offices responsible.

Yes. The Talk step is flexible. In its first phase zKe opened conversations on three bills (the Public Participation Bill, the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill and the Youth Bill 2024) and explained each bill online so young people knew what was being proposed.

Add your voice

Chat with Zikke, the zKe WhatsApp bot, to share your views and hear what other young people are saying across the country.

Chat on WhatsApp All conversations

The process at work

Recent conversations

October 30, 2026