New Beginnings Gathering was successfully held in Kisumu, Kenya from Dec 4th to Dec 7th, 2019. The gathering was host by Beijing International Exchange Association Sustainable Development Committee (BJ-SDC), Promotion Association for the Global Youth Innovation Leaders Community (PILC) and Aurora Borealis Foundation, and was organized by Tong Tao Institute and Green Team Initiative. Over 60 guests from China, UK, Sweden, Denmark, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Indonesia attended the meeting, including representative from UN-Habitat, government officials from several counties in Kenya, Chinese Association leaders in East Africa, representatives of local NGOs and local young entrepreneurship leaders.
Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, Governor of Kisumu County presented at the lunch meeting on Dec. 5th. Mr. Nyong’o expressed his appreciation to the hosts for helding the event in Kisumu and showed his warmest welcome to all the attendees. During the lunch meeting, Mr. Nyong’o also conducted discussion with the hosts on potential cooperation in the areas of education, culture and economy.
Group Discussion
Alice Wang, Honorary Director of BJ-SDC and General-Secretary of PILC expressed her sincere gratitute to Mr. Nyong’o (3rd on the left)
During the meeting, several representatives from different countries analyzed and discussed social, environmental and economic challenges their countries had been encountering in recent years. Peter Hesseldahl, Journalists and Column Writer from Denmark said that sustainable development could only be achieved on the coorinated development of society, environment, and ecomony, and neglect of any of the three elements would lead to a bad development mode. Lydia Munika, young entrepreneurs from Kenya, told us her own story about how a land used to raise a family of 7 people could now barely feed 3 people, reflecting great challenges climate change brought to local agriculture and the lives of farmers.
Peter Hesseldahl Reflected on Sustainable Development
Lydia Munika, young entrepreneurs from Kenya, shared challenges to the society of Kenya
Together with several county government representatives, Kodek Migiro Omwancha, Acting CEO of Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) in Kenya attended the meeting. Lake Region Economic Bloc is a regional cooperation organization jointly established by 14 counties around Lake Victoria in Kenya. Its aim is to leverage economies of scale and shared resources in order to grow the economy of the region and improve livelihoods of the people. Representatives from the county governments briefly introduced their advantages in resources and development plans, and also explained the key areas where they hope to reach more cooperation with China.
Kodek Migiro Omwancha, Acting CEO of Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) Introduced Local Economic Situation
In addition, a training event of the 6th China College Students’ "Internet +" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (the “Internet Plus” Competition) in African region was held at Lake Hub Incubator in Kisumu in the afternoon of Dec. 5th. Zhu Lei, Executive Vice Chair of BJ-SDC and Executive Co-Chair of PILC, together with judges of the international track of the “Internet Plus” Competition, representatives of the silver award winners and local government officials presented at the event. They gave comprehensive introduction about the history, scale and international influence of the past five “Internet Plus” Competitions, and exchanged views with and provided on-site guidance to more than 70 guests as well as young innovators and entrepreneurs from the Lakes region, laying a foundation for the next “Internet Plus” Competition in Africa.
Zhu Lei, Executive Vice Chair of BJ-SDC and Executive Co-Chair of PILC introduced the “Internet Plus” Competition
Ahmed Ablulakeem Temitope, Nigerian Competitor and Silver Award Winner of the 5th “Internet Plus” Competition Shared His Experience
On Dec. 6th, participants visited local communities including St. Williams Learning Centre, local ecological farm and eco-tourism project. During the visit to the St. Williams School, participants shared stationery and gifts sponsored by Shenzhen Institute of Building Research(IBR) with the school children and teachers; during the visit to the ecological farm, new development thoughts for local fishing, dairy and bee-keeping were discussed; local residents also prepared amazing cultural performance to all the guests at the end of the trip.
Visiting the St. Williams Learning Centre
Visiting a Local Ecological Farm
Cultural Performance
Facing the complex and changing global challenges, participants actively put forward action plans for regional improvement. Christopher Chuang, Honorary Chairman of BJ-SDC and Co-founder of Aurora Borealis Foundation introduced “Hanwang 7+1” Practice, which is one of the major achievement of Hanwang Forum and a systematic solution, aiming to integrate government, civil orgnizations, agriculture, health care, energy, information technology, eco-communities that place culture at its core. Participants responsed positively to “Hanwang 7+1” Practice and believed that it would bring new thoughts to regional development.
Christopher Chuang, Honorary Chairman of BJ-SDC and Co-founder of Aurora Borealis Foundation introduced “Hanwang 7+1” Model
The three-day event achieved fruitful result with in-depth discussion and communication among the attendees. David Marenya, Chairman of Tourism Association in Siaya County expressed his willingness to visit Hua Tao Eco-community in China to continue his learning about “Hanwang 7+1” Practice, and hoped to cooperate with Chinese team on the developement of local eco-tourism project. With the suggestion of BJ-SDC, LREB also planned to set up office in China as the window to enhance cooperatio with China in various areas. Representative of Urban Economy and Finance Branch, UN-Habitat advocated to establish a foundation to promote global youth entrepreneurship and initiated Urban Changemaker Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. Some of the attendees also worked together to launch donation to help support local children to continue their education and improve facilities for the school.
Lei Guo, Representative of Urban Economy and Finance Branch, UN-Habitat, initiated Urban Changemaker Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition
Group Photo
During the event, Musicians from Kenya and China presented an unforgettable concert for all the guests, creating an audio-visual feast with the collision of mysterious oriental music and the wild African melodies.
The Concert
The event also received highly recognition from East Africa Chinese Chamber of Commerce , Kenya Overseas Chinese Association, Tanzania China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification, Rwanda Overseas Chinese Association, etc. After the event, Chinese participants were warmly welcome by leaders of Chinese associations in East Africa and attended dinner party. Han Jun, East Africa Chinese Chamber of Commerce and East Africa China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification; Yang Rong, Interregional Adviser of UN-Habitat and Li Shengjiang, Director of Africa Regional Bureau, Xinhua News Agency also attended the dinner.
Group Photo