Students in learning institutions today continue to face many challenges that affect their social well-being on campus and their moral values and principles. One of the threats that they face on a daily basis is being radicalized and recruited into violent extremist groups that continue to target learning institutions as a recruitment hub of vulnerable and innocent youth. As a result, statistics show worrying numbers of youth in learning institutions being involved in terrorist-related activities.

To help address this spectacle, the Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa (PROCMURA) is working closely with learning institutions and has initiated programmes to promote and enhance tolerance among the youth and impart in them knowledge and skills to curb these challenges. PROCMURA believes that a lack of tolerance and understanding of the religious other leads to intolerance and divisions along religious lines, thus increasing the vulnerability of one’s being lured into extremist groups. It is, therefore, crucial that key stakeholders in our societies, such as learning institutions where the youth spend several years in their formative and development stages, begin to put in place key strategies and mechanisms to shape and mentor the youth.

The PROCMURA Chapters under the youth programmatic focus of PROCMURA are geared towards enhancing interfaith relations among the youth in learning institutions and have been established in partnership and collaboration with learning institutions. The Chapters provide structured platforms that, among other things, promote religious tolerance and peaceful co-existence among students on campus. They also assist in raising awareness and empowering students on the need to promote religious tolerance and cooperation, fight against radicalization and violent extremism, among other issues, and promote inter-faith dialogue. In light of the Youth and Religious Tolerance programme, PROCMURA has continued to reach out to learning institutions across the region.

On Thursday, 13th April 2023, the Youth Coordinator, Rev. Winny Metto, represented the organization in a consultative meeting with the Kenya Methodist University to prepare for the establishment of yet another PROCMURA Chapter in the institution of higher learning. The meeting brought together important university officers, including the Dean of Students, Mr. Jeff Kubai; the Chaplain, Rev. Joseph Obwanda; the Counsellor, Rev. Gregory Kivanguli and the Students' Affairs Assistant, Mr. Abraham Too. The stakeholders who are mainly tasked with the responsibility of handling students on campus noted the relevance and importance of the Chapters not to underscore that the university had significant numbers of both Christian and Muslim students on their campuses depending on the geographical location. They deliberated on the mechanism and various strategies on how the Chapters will work within the Methodist University and its different campuses across Kenya.

PROCMURA recognizes the vital role that learning institutions play within a developed and peaceful society; therefore, partnering and collaborating with them enables it to work towards attaining SDG 16: Peace Justice and strong institutions and therefore partnering with them is fundamental to its work, particularly in working with youth.