In March 2022, the Association of Animation Artistes Kenya (A3K) was among the 10 associations out of 70+ applicants selected to undergo an intensive leadership training with the Panga Sanaa Fellowship Program.
The Panga Sanaa Fellowship program was hosted at Sarakasi Trust, Nairobi. It was a program co-developed by Masson Associates in partnership with industry experts, around social innovation, organizational development, and policy advocacy. The program was supported by GIZ (the German Development Cooperation), Kenya office in collaboration with the Goethe Institute with the aim of creating action-oriented leaders of creative sector associations in Kenya while strengthening the leadership and membership capacities of participating associations.
In this first cohort of the Panga Sanaa Building Stronger Associations Fellowship, Our association the Association of Animation Artistes Kenya was represented by the vice-chair, Naftally Muriuki, secretary, Emily Nyabere, and treasurer, Dennis Mbuthia. This was a nine months program with four months of intensive training followed by five months of implementation based on the training.
Besides training in governance and leadership, the pangaa sanaa initiative has assisted A3K together with other fellow associations to create policy documents and engage experts, government, and other stakeholders in policy advocacy discussions. One such forum was a two-day dialogue platform held at Baraza Media Lab on the 6th and 7th of July 2022.
For the association office, the panga sanaa program has been a huge value addition and we are grateful for having had the opportunity to be part of the first cohort. We hope that over time, members of the association and the animation community will feel the impact that the program has had on our leadership as we forge forward to creating a stronger association.
Fellow creative associations that we have had the opportunity to work with under the Panga Sanaa Fellowship program include; Africa Grassroots Media Alliance (AGMA), Photography Association of Kenya (PAK), The Art Society of Kenya (TASK), Kenya National Visual Artists Association (KNVAA), Entertainment & Art Journalist Association of Kenya (EAJAK), Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP), Kenya Musicians and Performers Association (KEMPA), The Association of Visual Artists and Collectives (AVAC), and Filmmakers in Kenya Association (FIKA). The program came to an end in October 2022 with a commissioning of all the partcipants to go back to there respective Association and Implement the various initiatives that they had covered over the duration of the program.
