The Crucible was founded by a team of women: Jerotich Seii– a businesswomen, political activist and environmental justice advocate; Wanjeri Nderu– a lawyer and human rights defender; and Mkawasi Mcharo– a scholar and Instructor whose teaching, research and practice centres on the emergence of nations; identity and belonging; and performing arts. The founders first purposed to provide mentorship to young gen Zs in Kenya who were facing violent backlash for standing up against a system that did not work for them.
Care
The spirit of motherhood, mentorship, and social justice naturally led the founders to offer specialized training and scholarship towards raising a generation of well-informed youth. Knowledge fuels courage, courage fuels leadership. The Crucible Institute was born to fire up extraordinary minds. The founders were not going to let this young generation get disappeared into despondence and surrender. Their brave stand-up had gathered admiration across the globe. The Crucible also aims at connecting youth across the globe with similarly curious minds longing to shape better nations.
Mind
The idea that young people are powerful enough to take down a rogue government if they purposed to do so was immediately countered by the question of their mental and intellectual preparedness. Would they be ready to take the reigns of political power in a country that is already theirs to lead? The Crucible founders determined to give them the intellectual tools they would need to be ready. This scenario has been true across several African countries where the youth have been rising up against rogue regimes.
Space and Process
The Crucible founders set up to provide the space, guidance and partnerships needed for rigorous and competent intellectual inquiry as well as emotional welbeing, through non-traditional methods. These methods of learning break away from the classroom walls, credits and credentials approach. The Crucible takes advantage of digital spaces and the reality of global interconnectedness to provide lessons in understanding nation-building.
Besides firing up young minds to forge influential leaders, The Crucible also supports innovations from all ages across the world as long as they feed into the goal of raising a generation of young leaders who think differently.
The Crucible offers coursework that covers subjects for change makers, and provides space to use the arts as tools for public inquiry and civic participation.
