Citizen TV journalist Agnes Oloo selected for continental fellowship program

Kenya's leading television network Citizen TV is once again on the map after one of its journalists, Agnes Lydia Oloo, was picked for the inaugural Omega Resilience Awards Africa (ORA-A) fellowship program.

The videographer and environment features reporter was one of only two Kenyans featured in the list of seven individuals in the whole of the African continent set to attend the program.

The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), in a statement published on Thursday, revealed that Oloo and her colleagues underwent a thorough application and vetting process in order to secure their slots in the cohort.

“The fellows passed through an extensive application and interview process to emerge as a cohort of exceptional individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievements, unique perspectives, and a strong commitment to addressing the issues embedded in the faulty global system that promotes the poly-crisis,” read the statement.

The program seek to identify visionary communicators, artists and public intellectuals who can help the society to imagine what it will take to respond to the global polycrisis and chart a path toward a more resilient future.

Oloo and her Kenyan counterpart John Mulingwa Nzau were the only citizens from the same country, with the others being drawn from five different nations.

They included Mozambique’s human rights and climate justice activist Dipti Bhatnagar, Ugandan farmer and climate campaigner Gerald Barekye, as well as Nigerian human rights activist Jennifer Uchendu.

Others on the list were; Saymore Ngonidzashe Kativu, a Zimbabwean entrepreneur, and Egypty’s gender justice activist Tatenda Jane Dzvarai.

Nzau is a Kenyan activist and passionate grassroots community organizer who hails from the Pumwani area in Nairobi. 

He is also the coordinator of the Nairobi river basin community committee and co-convener of the Kenyans For Tax Justice Social Movement (KTJ) with active involvement in campaigns against Violent Extremism (CVE) in his community.

The team is now expected to work together under the guidance of mentors by participating in seminars and workshops throughout the world.

Following their selection, the organisation’s leadership commended the team as they expressed great optimism underscoring their potential to impact the world positively through their problem-solving skills.

“We believe that our fellows have the potential to make significant contributions to the poly-crisis plaguing the world today seeing they come from diverse backgrounds and hold unique perspectives. This Fellowship is going to be an interesting journey, which must end with nothing but a positive impact," ORA-A Advisory board member Jay Naidoo said.

HOMEF Director Nnimmo Bassey added: "African youths have unique solutions to the polycrisis. It is our hope that the fellows will immerse themselves in movements for radical change, challenge current neoliberal imaginaries and lead a force for decolonizing our continent and building a just world based on solidarity.”