STRENGTHENING CIVIC SOCIETY VOICES IN POLICY-MAKING

AMKENI WAKENYA CIVIL SOCIETY DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE FACILITY

“Strengthening Civic Space for Realization of Sustainable Development Goals-SDGs in Kenya”

Kenya Community Support Centre (KECOSCE) in Partnership with the UNDP and the Kingdom of Netherlands is implementing the “Strengthening Civic Society Voices in Policy-Making through the Promotion of Inclusive Platforms for Public Participation in Kilifi County- Kenya” project. This is a 3 years’ program 2022-2024 that contributes to the realization of SDG 16 which promotes peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, with a focus on access to justice, citizen participation, and adoption of non-discriminatory laws.  KECOSCE is implementing the project in Kilifi County.

Theory of Change: This project is hinged on the theory of change that “If the public and women, youth, and special interest groups are sensitized on Kilifi County Public Participation and Civic Education Act of 2020 and Kilifi County Public Participation, and Civic Education Policy 2021, If the capacity of both state and non-state actors, is strengthened to effectively engage in public participation and mutual accountability mechanisms, then Social conflicts will be averted, delivery and enjoyment of services shall be enhanced.  Because there will be an enhanced process legitimacy, thereby increasing accountability and democratic governance in Kilifi county based on the whole of society approaches and leaving no one behind.

The project has the following Specific Objectives

1. To Strengthen the capacity of state and non-state actors to take active roles in public participation and advocacy effectively
2. To support the development of effective strategies and platforms for public participation, social auditing, and communication Support socio-accountability audits.
3. To Support institutional capacity improvement for KECOSCE to respond to contemporary governance issues effectively

The proposed project consists of three strands corresponding to the three project objectives.

• The first one focuses on awareness raising, building partnerships, and strengthening existing networks of community organizations.
• The second strand focuses on strengthening the capacity of development efforts of county structures in facilitating establishment of structures for public participation, and policy dialogues as well as establishment of local information centres in partnership with the county government of Kilifi. This will be achieved by delivering targeted practitioner training, policy roundtables, advocacy, and supporting local community structures for engagements.
• The third phase focuses on supporting and empowering relevant local civil society partners, internal organizational improvement for KECOSCE, and the County Government of Kilifi to be able to effectively sustain program outcomes and replicating and up-scaling good practices with other counties and beyond.

Background to the project

The Constitution of Kenya (CoK 2010)4 recognizes Public Participation under Article 10 as one of the National Values and Principles of Governance. Further, constitutional provisions on public participation are clearly spelled out in Articles 69 (1) (d), 118, 174, 184, 196, 201 (a), 221 (5), and 232 (1) (d) among others. The Constitution makes citizen participation a central part of Kenya’s governance system. Article 174(c) provides that the object of devolution is to: “enhance the participation of people in the exercise of the powers of the State and in making decisions affecting them.”. Direct participation in the policy-making, law-making, and implementation of development programmes is an essential part of modern democracy. Major legal and policy steps have been made since 2010 to provide mechanisms for public participation.

Kilifi County, one of the counties that enacted its Public Participation and Civic Education Act of 2020. This was after many years of lobbying and advocacy by nonstate actors imploring on the county to provide for public participation. Although the county did enact the law, its benefits are yet to be enjoyed by its citizenry. Majority of the county population are still unaware about the enactment of the Act and rely on their political leaders to interpret the county decision making processes for them. The county has made further strides especially in formulating a draft County Citizen Participation and Civic Education Policy, and has established a unit for Public Participation under the Department of Public service and Devolution. The department is yet to start implementing the policy and public participation has been limited. The Ministry of Devolution and Planning, together with the Council of Governors have developed county public participation guidelines, an indicator of high-level support for increased public participation in governance

The foregoing notwithstanding, the County still has inadequate feedback mechanisms after public participation with crucial documents like budgets not accessible to the public and CSOs. Public participation in the county is practiced in a skewed manner where only the ‘politically correct’ are invited to such meetings which are only carried out at the sub-county level and not cascaded at the wards and villages. Notices are published in the newspapers- therefore, most of the public isn’t aware and doesn’t have access to the information and deadlines, with the County government website remaining dormant, thus limiting public access to information. These have deprived the public of the ability to engage with trust at every stage as well as efficient service delivery leading to further marginalization and poverty, especially to minority and special interest groups in the count

Key Partners

1. General communities: The project will directly involve 1500 people, with 700 men and 800 women, with up to 50% youth.
2. The County Governments (County Executive and County Assembly).
3. Civil Society Organizations, Faith-based organizations, Youth organizations, women-led organizations, Disability Persons organizations (DPOs), and minority action groups in the county,
4. Media and Community radio fan clubs in the County Number of Final beneficiaries