Thanks to my collaborators (none of whom are on Bluesky): Samuel Othieno, Wanjiru Jackline, Oscar Luchivya, Linda Geno, Nicholas Ouma, Peter Ogutu, Belinda Otieno, Said Mudhafar, Evans Ouma, Grace Mwende Mwaniki, Leila Isaak, Stacey Mbula, Justin Goko, Edu & Allan Mwangi

Listening showed how youth assess elected political institutions through practical encounters: working computers, access to training, bursaries, job pathways, and whether public programs actually help them earn. Their political trust or mistrust informed by their everyday economic realities.

Instead of relying on traditional multiple-choice surveys, we used peer-to-peer listening and informal conversations. This helped us reach young people who are rarely asked about politics and who experience government through everyday struggles, not speeches or campaigns.

While migration to this new digital platform might hold the promise of doing things differently, what unfolds here is inevitably shaped by familiar group formation patterns that perpetuated persistent inequalities in knowledge production and distribution.

I’m especially grappling with starter packs and how they tend to create homogenous groups. What really stands out is how scholars and experts, particularly international peace and development communities, are carelessly reproducing the same old inequalities through the homogenous "packs" they form.