In this new Season, Founder and Host Diana Sifuna joins Arnav Kapur in a Kenyan expat conversation while exploring 3 things: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The LIVE conversation happened physically at Lava Latte Food Café in Nairobi, Kenya and virtually on Diversity With Diana Podcast YouTube Channel.

Arnav hosts The Development Dilemma podcast which began from conversations that started in 2017 in Kenya with his Kenyan colleagues and friends about their experiences working in international organizations. They all did similar work but had very different experiences and opportunities, which ultimately damaged the potential for social impact in the work. The podcast arose out of this frustration with the hope of starting more conversations to break this divide. An avid cyclist, Arnav grew up in Canada and the UK and has had the privilege of spending the last 4 years in Kenya, learning about another culture and practicing Kiswahili.

About the Development Dilemma Podcast: 

The Development Dilemma Podcast features honest and empathetic conversations to address the elephant in the room: the world of international development is run by two actors, expats & locals, who don't seem to talk.  Through conversations between expats and locals, we tackle the common development dilemmas (e.g. hiring & pay, skills transfers, role of aid) and how we can work towards more democratic, collaborative and ultimately, impactful work.

This DWD Podcast will feature host Diana Sifuna (She/her) and guest Martha Mwatha (She/her) is a lawyer, socialist feminist, an abolitionist, Human Rights Defender, and writer. She is also a rape victim/survivor, an ungovernable woman who prides herself in living life boldly, fearlessly, and authentically. Borrowing from the power of Mama Asante Waa, the bravery of Wangari Mathai and audacity of Stella Nyanzi as well as other powerful black women she presents as a decolonized and liberated Black, African Woman in all her fullness.

Martha believes in being an accomplice to the oppressed standing firmly on the words of Assata Shakur ‘It is the obligation of every person who claims to oppose oppression to resist the oppressor by every means at his or her disposal. Not to engage in physical resistance, armed resistance to oppression, is to serve the interests of the oppressor; no more, no less. There are no exceptions to the rule, no easy out...’ Diana seeks to understand the evolution of feminism and it’s socio-economic and political implication on the path to equality of men and women.

Join Diana and Martha on YouTube LIVE on Wednesday the 9th of December 2021 from 8:00pm (GMT+3) as they explore the dangers of totalizing narratives and hope to give recommendations to our viewers won what they can do regularly to advance gender equality as a human right.

Additional Information:

She is also a founding member and organizer/mobilizer at Feminists Conversations Kenya (@FeministConvoKe) which organizes around feminism and Social Justice in a bid to end patriarchal domination. (Check them out every Thursday for a tweet chat and Twitter space where we do political education around these issues) As a believer of co creating our feminist realities through creating safe spaces for women and gender minorities Martha advocates for Gender Justice through throwing herself fully into advocacy work. She insists that standing in solidarity with the most marginalized people calls for more than just theory, that we must also put our money where our mouth is and go into practice.

SOCIAL CONNECT

DWD Podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiversityWithDianaPodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diversitywithdianapodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DianaPodcast

Email: [email protected]

DWD Podcast Host

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DianaSifuna

Email: [email protected]

DWD Podcast Guest

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martha.mwatha

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marthamwatha/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/marthamwatha

PART TWO: This DWD Podcast will feature host Diana Sifuna and guest Letoya Johnstone, a transgender woman and advocate of the transgender community. Letoya Johnstone is a diploma holder in social work, a transgender peer educator, a trainer of trainees (ToT) trained by a branch of Kenyan Ministry of Health, NASCOP (National AIDS and STI Control Programme), a trained HIV/AIDS counselling psychologist and a community champion for the Transgender community. Letoya notes that transgender persons are not intersex, and she will engage Diana in understanding the gender norms and the importance of inclusion of transgender persons in the healthcare system, public spaces, and in the census.

Join Diana and Letoya on YouTube LIVE on Tuesday the 30th of November 2021 from 8:00pm (GMT+3). Email us any questions you may have in advance as I engage Letoya in the understanding and support of gender diversity and transgender inclusion in equitable distribution of public service s and equality as a human rights aspect.

Additional Information:

Letoya Johnstone is the first person in Africa to be named Transgender Fashion Icon by BBC world because of her sharp eye for fashion and including the minorities and the Marginalized communities in the fashion scenes. Before Letoya Johnstone's tireless efforts, there were no models living with disability or LGBTQ+ included in the fashion industry, modelling and runway shows.

SOCIAL CONNECT

DWD Podcast

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiversityWithDianaPodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diversitywithdianapodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DiversityDiana

Email: [email protected]

DWD Podcast Host

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DianaSifuna

Email: [email protected]

DWD Podcast Guest

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008713864022

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letoya_johnstone/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LetoyaJohnstone

Email: [email protected]

PART ONE: This DWD Podcast will feature host Diana Sifuna and guest Letoya Johnstone, a transgender woman and advocate of the transgender community. Letoya Johnstone is a diploma holder in social work, a transgender peer educator, a trainer of trainees (ToT) trained by a branch of Kenyan Ministry of Health, NASCOP (National AIDS and STI Control Programme), a trained HIV/AIDS counselling psychologist and a community champion for the Transgender community. Letoya notes that transgender persons are not intersex, and she will engage Diana in understanding the gender norms and the importance of inclusion of transgender persons in the healthcare system, public spaces, and in the census.

Join Diana and Letoya on YouTube LIVE on Tuesday the 30th of November 2021 from 8:00pm (GMT+3). Email us any questions you may have in advance as I engage Letoya in the understanding and support of gender diversity and transgender inclusion in equitable distribution of public service s and equality as a human rights aspect.

Additional Information:

Letoya Johnstone is the first person in Africa to be named Transgender Fashion Icon by BBC world because of her sharp eye for fashion and including the minorities and the Marginalized communities in the fashion scenes. Before Letoya Johnstone's tireless efforts, there were no models living with disability or LGBTQ+ included in the fashion industry, modelling and runway shows.

SOCIAL CONNECT

DWD Podcast

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiversityWithDianaPodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diversitywithdianapodcast/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DiversityDiana

Email: [email protected]

DWD Podcast Host

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DianaSifuna

Email: [email protected]

DWD Podcast Guest

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008713864022

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letoya_johnstone/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LetoyaJohnstone

Email: [email protected]

This week’s YouTube LIVE episode of Diversity With Diana Podcast will feature host Diana Sifuna and guest Dr. Simon Kigondu, a medical doctor specializing as an Obstetrician/Gynaecologist and is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Dr. Kigondu is a health advocate and the CEO of Excella Health Care, an obstetrics and gynecology's practice based at KMA Centre in Upper Hill, Nairobi. He currently serves as the Secretary-General of the Kenya Medical Association and a council member of Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists’ Union. In addition to this, he serves as a board director at Amnesty International Kenya.

Diana engages Dr, Kigondu in understanding the merit of inclusion in Kenya’s health care system and policy. Do all persons in Kenya of all diverse backgrounds have similar access to health care services without discrimination? We discuss this and more.

 #Diversity #Inclusion #HealthPolicy #Kenya #DiversityWithDiana 

Email: [email protected]

This week, host Diana Sifuna is joined in Studio by Wanjiku Kihika who is the Founder and Executive Director of Tribeless Youth as well a governance and arts advocate. We focus our discussion on Saba Saba, it's meaning and our collective duty as watchdogs that ensure that compliance with the constitution is upheld. Engage with us as we seek to explore alternative leadership options in our democracy.

Tribeless Youth initiative was established with the purpose of promoting peaceful coexistence among the youth in Kenya devoid of negative ethnicity or tribal lenses.  

Additional Info:  

Wanjiku is an undergraduate Public Relations student and concurrently pursuing a certificate in Gender and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Studies. She completed the transformational leadership training by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and another program on Place Based Leadership for Prevention of Urban Violence from University of Sunderland in partnership with the Danish Institute. Her impeccable track record has received recognition. She was first runners  up in the Diversity and Inclusion Awards (DIAR)  organized by the Daima Trust in Partnership with National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) as well as the Integrity Award by Kenya Civil Society Network. She is both a TedX (2019) and an Acumen fellow.  

#PowerToThePeople #SabaSabaMarchForOurLives #DiversityWithDianaPodcast #InclusiveDiversityBenefitsUsAll  

Email: [email protected]

This week’s podcast discusses the role of effective communication in Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) matters. Host Diana Sifuna is joined by Guest Evelyn Odhiambo in the conversation regarding crucial information dissemination among youths on Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR).

Evelyn Odhiambo is the youth Coordinator at Reproductive Health Network Kenya (RHNK), a network of trained health care providers, who are passionate about ensuring provision of quality comprehensive reproductive health information and services. She is also a trained communications professional, with a diploma in public relations from the Cooperative University of Kenya. She is a final year student at the University of Nairobi pursuing a BA degree in Journalism and media studies.

At RHNK, she supports the management of the Hotline Nena Na Binti digital space for SRH awareness creation and information dissemination to stakeholders. Ms. Odhiambo is also the contact person for the SheDecides Kenya movement and SRHR trainer (Trainer4Life) with Dance4Life Foundation where she has empowered more than 1000 young people on SRHR. She is serving as a youth representative at the African Free of New HIV infections (AfNHi ) Committee.

In the conversation with her, we ask: 

1. How do most young people perceive SRH? 

2. What is most crucial in SRH Education? 

3. How can we do better when communicating about SRHR to both girls and boys?

#ReproductiveHealth #SexualReproductiveHealth #Education #Communication

As one of the youngest ever female political party leaders of a Kenyan Political Party Ms. Wilkister Aduma speaks to Ms. Diana Sifuna about her experience in Politics and Leadership.

Professionally, Ms. Aduma is the founder of an initiative called Run For Office, whose main objective is to encourage and support young people to run for office and lead while challenging the stereotype that young people run for public offices to seek clout and can not necessarily lead. She has over six years experience in political party administration. She served as the Executive Director of Labour Party of Kenya, the youngest person to hold such a political office at the time. Notably, the Labour Party of Kenya was able to partner with the Danish Youth League on a gender mainstreaming in politics programme, piloted in two counties in the country. In the 2017 elections, she was the Secretariat Head for the Thirdway Alliance Kenya.

Wilkister Aduma studied commerce at the University of Nairobi and is a consultant at Enigma Company Ltd, a company focusing on management consultancy serving private sector, government and civil society. Her area of expertise in consultancy is Youth Development, Youth-responsive policy formulation and technical advice in the same area.

#GoodGovernance​​ #InclusiveDiversity​​ #PoliticalLeadership 

Email: [email protected]

This week's conversation welcomes Robert Omondi "RJ"a passionate educator who is also the most recent beneficiary of a scholarship from Duke University - Stanford School of Public Policy in Durham, North Carolina, USA. He is currently running a fundraising campaign to raise $50,000 to offset the cost of tuition and living expenses at Duke this Fall (August 2020). You can find out more about the campaign through this link https://bit.ly/rjduke to learn more about the drive.

As technology is rapidly changing the world around us, many people worry that technology will replace human intelligence. Some educators worry that there will be no students to teach anymore in the near future as technology might take over a lot of tasks and abilities that we have been teaching our students for decades. The thing is: Education will never disappear. It will just take up different forms.

Education has a direct impact on life expectancy and overall health. It's also a powerful agent of change that can lift generations out of poverty - educated parents are more likely to see the value of education for their children.

We listen to Robert as he shares his personal journey in education as well as his role as a young person in fostering education in Kenya.

#Education #Technology #EdTech #FutureofEducation #InclusiveDiversity #Inclusion #GoodGovernance

This week DWD Host Diana Sifuna is joined by Danielle Evans, the reigning Miss Brighton and Founder of the viral rugby campaign #TryMe​.

Danielle was born at 26 weeks, weighing a mere 0.835kg and suffered from chronic lung disease. She also experienced a number of learning difficulties in school. However, despite these challenges, Danielle continues to play rugby, continue learning and hopes to be example to many people, who are struggling.  Whereas men are more likely to engage in sport or physical activity to have fun (33%), to be with friends (23%) or to improve physical performance (26%), women are concerned with controlling their weight (26%), to improve their physical appearance (24%) or to counteract the effects of ageing (17%).

Additionally, Danielle graduated from Southampton Solent, achieving a First Class Honours degree in Fashion Photography. In February, she graduated from Brighton Business School after obtaining my Masters degree in Marketing (Digital Specialty).  Since then, Danielle has been nominated for the ‘Positive Role Model’ award from the National Diversity Awards Organisation. In 2019, Danielle founded the globally recognised campaign, #TryMe​, which aims to break stereotypes in women's rugby and sport, whilst also promoting body positivity, inclusion and diversity. This campaign has reached the global press and Danielle has held a number of talks and interviews at schools and rugby clubs up and down the UK.

In February of this year, Danielle was awarded the title of Miss Brighton, meaning she gets to represent the city at the prestigious pageant, Miss Great Britain. Danielle uses this title to continue her positive influence in and around the city. She volunteers and is an ambassador for a number of charities.

#InclusiveDiversity​​ #WomenInSports​ #IWD2021​​ #Rugby​ #BeautyQueen​​ #DWDPodcast​​ 

Email: [email protected]