Joseph Lekuton, a member of parliament in Kenya, starts with the story of his remarkable education, then offers a parable of how Africa can grow. His message of hope has never been more relevant.
In Kenya, a smartphone app called iCow tracks the health of cattle for thousands of farmers, at times doubling productivity. In this talk, Sarah Cairns-Smith discusses how a range of mobile apps are transforming local economies in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In this talk-performance hybrid, drummer, percussionist and TED Fellow Kasiva Mutua shares how she's breaking the taboo against female drummers in Kenya -- and her mission to teach the significance and importance of the drum to young boys, women and girls. "Women can be custodians of culture, too," Mutua says.
Charity Wayua put her skills as a cancer researcher to use on an unlikely patient: the government of her native Kenya. She shares how she helped her government drastically improve its process for opening up new businesses, a crucial part of economic health and growth, leading to new investments and a World Bank recognition as a top reformer.
The African continent holds more water than much of the world -- yet most people can't access the rich reserves just below their feet. Kala Fleming and her team in Kenya are creating a system-level solution: "digital aquifers." By putting sensors in wells, monitoring the data from the cloud and opening up business opportunity around it, they're ...
Kakenya Ntaiya turned her dream of getting an education into a movement to empower vulnerable girls and bring an end to harmful traditional practices in Kenya. Meet two students at the Kakenya Center for Excellence, a school where girls can live and study safely -- and uplift their community along the way. "When you empower a girl, you transform...
Corruption is a constant threat in Kenya, says social entrepreneur Wanjira Mathai -- and to stop it there (or anywhere else), we need to intervene early. Following the legacy of her mother, political activist and Nobel Prize recipient Wangari Maathai, Mathai shares three strategies to uproot a culture of corruption by teaching children and young...
Peter Ouko spent 18 years in Kamiti Prison in Kenya, sometimes locked up in a cell with 13 other grown men for 23 and a half hours a day. In a moving talk, he tells the story of how he was freed -- and his current mission with the African Prisons Project: to set up the first law school behind bars and empower people in prison to drive positive c...
In the savannahs of Kenya, two female northern white rhinos, Nájin and Fatu, munch contentedly on grass. They are the last two known northern white rhinos left on Earth. Their species is functionally extinct— without a male, they can't reproduce. And yet, there's still hope to revive the northern white rhino. How can that be? Jan Stejskal dives ...
Photographer Boniface Mwangi wanted to protest against corruption in his home country of Kenya. So he made a plan: He and some friends would stand up and heckle during a public mass meeting. But when the moment came ... he stood alone. What happened next, he says, showed him who he truly was. As he says, "There are two most powerful days in your...
In 2011, Teresa Njoroge was convicted of a financial crime she didn't commit -- the result of a long string of false accusations, increasing bribe attempts and the corrupt justice system in her home in Kenya. Once incarcerated, she discovered that most of the women and girls locked up with her were also victims of the same broken system, caught ...
Sauti Sol blends warm resonant pop with traditional Kenyan influences. Their mélange of energetic rhythms has promoted the group to become one of Africa’s most celebrated.
Ory Okolloh maintains the blog Mzalendo, providing an unprecedented look at the doings of Kenya's parliament -- information once unavailable to Kenyan citizens.
Nabila Alibhai leads inCOMMONS, a new cultural production lab focused on invigorating public spaces and inspiring collective responsibility for our cultural and environmental heritage.
Some lucky animals are naturally endowed with bioluminescence, or the ability to create light. The firefly, the anglerfish, and a few more surprising creatures use this ability in many ways, including survival, hunting, and mating. Leslie Kenna investigates this magical glow - and our quest to replicate it. [Directed by Cinematic Sweden, narrate...
In 2013, international migrants sent $413 billion home to families and friends -- a huge sum compared to the $135 billion sent in foreign aid the same year. Yet the promise of this money, known as remittances, is stifled by a big problem that no one seems to be worried about.
Economist Dilip Ratha discusses the issue in today's TED Talk (The hi...
About this event: TEDxYouth@Parklands is an independently organized youth TEDx event targeting young change makers (13-35) in Kenya cutting across all fields. The full-day event will feature speakers across multiple fields in Kenya. We are dedicated to giving a platform to revolutionary youth to share their ideas on the specific issues and themes related to the 2...
Event details: Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya · May 4, 2018
Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya is the founder and president of Kakenya's Dream, an international nonprofit organization leveraging education to empower girls, end harmful traditional practices and transform communities in rural Kenya.