The Coast Chapter of the social justice movement came into existence as a result of continued human rights violations at the Coast whose rate was rising fast with the Coast being predominantly muslim hence profiled as a ground for terrorists,extremism and high rate of Gender Based Violence in some areas that saw counties like Kilifi making headlines for having the highest rate of teen pregnancies. The Chapter comprises of 12 social justice centres with some still under mentorship to enable alignment with the structures and practices of the social justice movement. The centres have different thematic areas of focus however the quest for Social Justice by reflecting on human rights violation, advocating for Gender Equality & equity, Peace and Security cut across.The centres act as community watch dogs working closely with the local leaders, community health volunteers, Child protection Volunteers and justice actors in order to uphold human rights,monitor service delivery and hold respective persons accountable in accordance with the constitution of Kenya 2010.

Composition of the centres.

The centres are open community spaces comprising of community members who have volunteered to jointly bring change in their surroundings and change the narrative of the areas they call home eg Kisauni in Mombasa that has been for long known as a hot spot for criminal gangs and drug users, having a centre there has seen reformists join our struggle and use their stories to reform more youth. The members in the social justice centres document cases, assist and guide survivors and victims of Gender Based violence, enforced disappearances, historical land injustices (which is the most common at the Coast) and other atrocities.

Strategy of engagement.

As Social Justice centres, we hold regular community forums and Focused Group Discussions to create awareness in our communities on matters of human rights, access to justice, prevention and countering violent extremism and address matters arising through these forums.These forums have played a big role in allowing us clearly understand the gaps within our systems and the challenges faced by community members at large even those beyond our reach. Additionally we use theatrical performances and graffiti as tools of advocacy to get the attention of community members especially youth that are less interested in speeches keeping in mind that humans are visual beings.

Despite operations being limited due to little or no resources most times, we continue to organise and educate our communities especially guiding our youth in order to reduce losing them to the gun we have created an environment for our youth to nurture their talents instead of engaging in crime, Additionally we are empowering our women who for long had been caged due to cultural norms, through our Women in Social Justice Centres committee, we are engaging women and creating a pool of women that are able to speak up against Gender Based Violence, empowered enough to take up income generating activities for financial growth and courageous enough to engage and take up positions in the civic space as opposed to the norm that women belonged in the kitchen. In our journey of empowering women and making it a practical reality, we have produced the first ever female chapter convener of the Social Justice Movement.We hope to inspire more women to step up.

Our Vision is to achieve a Coastal region with empowered community members especially women, responsible youth and a working justice system.

Follow us on twitter @SJCcoastchapter

Coast Chapter Steering committee

Convener – Peally Salim Swaleh

Secretary – Ruweda Mohamed

Finance – Marlvine Okeng’o

Member – Joto Nyae

Member – Salome Hogla

Coast Chapter Committee Heads

GBV – Anne Otum

Wellness – Isabel Mati

Article 43- Daniel Ngahu

Women in Social Justice Centres- Lilian Wamoi Karuga