Forum Syd - Wajibu Wetu 2018-2021

The program came to an end by 30 June 2022. During the last 6months of the program, ForumCiv focused on grant closeout and final report review and assessment from partners and activites under Outcome area 4 and Outcome area 5 where ForumCiv played a key role in implementation. Some other results achieved in 2021 and the final half year of 2022 are: 1. Human Rights 25 partner projects were aligned towards right holders demanding respect for human rights and young women, men, and communities resisting extremist ideologies. Some of the results under this area are: Result area 1.1 Right holders demand respect for human rights Sitarusha Mawe Tena CBO, through their project in Kisumu improved the capacity of 15 Human Right Defenders (HRDs) in Kondele, Kisumu through training and capacity development initiatives. This empowered the HRDs to identify and report human rights violations. Through their hotline number that has promoted a seamless referral pathway, they have seen 630 cases being recorded, 97 being addressed and closed, while 507 cases are still being resolved. In Kuria East, the Wajibika! project by CSO Network supported the women traders at the Wangirabose Market to successfully lobby for street lighting to curb rising insecurity cases that often target vulnerable women. As a result, this demand was followed up, budgeted for, and implemented. The market is now well lit, and the women can engage in their activities with less fear, enhancing their safety and their socioeconomic contributions. Creative Spills is notable in its demand for respect for human rights. The intervention has enabled poets to establish a social media presence and create a body of work that addresses promoting democracy and gender rights reflected in blog posts, social media interactions, and performances. Through the cohort members curated works, the poets featured various human rights issues, including gender violence, youth unemployment, education, lack of access to essential services, police brutality, and extrajudicial killings. Result Area 1.2 Young women, men, and communities resist extremist ideologies HAKI Africa contributed to the establishment of the Sub County peace committees that constitute the community, police officers, and county and national government institutions in Mombasa Counties. These structures have empowered the community to resist the appeal of violent extremism. The collaborations between the national government, the county, and the security teams have improved the way young people are being handled. Youth have been reformed, surrendered, and are being reintegrated into the community. They have also been able to access funds to start small businesses. An initiative worth noting is the governments formulation of a Resilience and PVE policy 2020 that aims at assessing the institutions and implementing the framework in Mombasa County. Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) utilized a faithbased approach to countering the religious narratives that are the main contributors to extremism and radicalization. This increased the capacity of the community in Mombasa to identify early warning indicators and promote more collaboration between duty bearers and the communities. The project built the capacity of imams, religious leaders, secondary school teachers, and young women on radicalization and violent extremism. The interfaith dialogues, pastoral programs in schools, football tournaments, community dialogues with community leaders, and dialogues with duty bearers and other stakeholders were crucial in CVE. CIPK also established some structures within the community to prevent and report extremism, including peace clubs in schools and one information desk where community members would get information and report any cases of extremism within the communities. 2. Democratic Culture 16 partner projects focused on Right holders demanding accountability on public service delivery and also demanding for an enabling environment for public participation at county and national government levels. Some of the results under this result area are: Result Area 2.1 Right holders demand accountability on public service delivery at county and national government levels In Tulatula village, Elnuur Ward, Wajir County, the community, has through the Inclusive and Accountable Governance in Service Delivery Project by ASDEF, successfully lobbied the County Government to pipe water into their villages from a borehole drilled approximately 90 kilometers away. Additionally, water kiosks with livestock watering points were established by the county. African Uncensored trained and mentored twelve graduate trainees who produced investigative reports on various issues such as corruption, gender based violence, mental health, and ethnic clashes as part of the Investigate 101 initiative. Two trainee journalists - Maurice Oniango and Cynthia Gichiri were among Africa Uncensored journalists who were feted at The Annual Journalism Excellence Awards (AJEA) 2021. Investigative journalism is an essential component of democracy and free speech protection. The investigative pieces demonstrated the medias ability to bring attention to human rights violations, hold people and organisations accountable, and expose corruption. On the same note, Buni Medias popular political satire show, the XYZ show, continues the discourse on politics, corruption, and government. The XYZ Show has been instrumental in raising political awareness and civic debate. According to a Buni Media in-house survey, up to 43.6 percent of respondents say the show has a major impact on their ideas and actions on social and political topics. Result area 2.2 Right holders demand duty bearer responsiveness in targeted counties for enabling environment for public participation at county and national government levels in Kilifi and Mombasa County, through Kwacha Africa project, the community groups organized themselves to analyze the budget estimates document 2020/2021 and subsequently developed memorandums on the budget processes. These memorandums were then submitted to the County officials during the public participation budget forums. The strengthened relationship between the youth, communities and the duty bearers resulted in easy sharing of vital information on County processes. It made it easier for the youth to engage and conduct followups, particularly on budget issues. Kilifi citizens have been further boosted by the passing of the Kilifi Citizen Participation and Civic Education Act 2019, which opens space and gives more voice to the regions citizens on matters concerning their County. From the development clinics, the youth have benefitted from resources and opportunities like the Youth National Government Training Programs (KYEOP) while others have applied for loans from the Mbegu (Seed) fund in Kilifi County. Further, the project has helped to develop young groups that have pushed for better health, security, and infrastructure service delivery. All the groups have also received financing or other support from the County government. Aside from group development and strengthening, the project strengthened the Activist's Youth Network by including new groups into the network. This network has been essential in youth lobbying and advocacy throughout the region, resulting in reforms at the county level such as the Kilifi County public participation bill, which was enacted in 2020, and the formulation of youth policies in both counties. 3. Gender Equality 15 partner projects focussed on Right holders (women and men) preventing and responding to genderbased violence against women and men and Women engaging in economic and leadership processes and structures. Some of the results under this results area are: Result Area 3.1 Right Holders (women and men) prevent and respond to gender-based violence against women and men The Wangu Kanja Foundation offered comprehensive care and support services to 438 gender-based violence survivors from both Embakasi and Makadara constituencies in Nairobi. The support services included medical, psychological, and legal aid. Through their intervention, there was an increase in reporting of cases under their Sexual Violence Case Study Mobile Application pointing to an empowered community able to prevent, protect and respond to sexual and genderbased violence. In Isiolo County, it has been noted that the larger population of the Samburu community has now abandoned Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), with the transition now focused on a celebration of young women as they transition into puberty. These inhibitive cultural practices have been abandoned due to Isiolo Gender Watchs initiative that has lobbied elders within this community. Further, due to the work done by this partner and other stakeholders (CREAW, a WWP partner) in Isiolo, Isiolo County Gender Policy bill was enacted into law. The law empowers community activists to combat FGM, beading, and other practices by the community that leads to gender inequality. Result Area 3:2 Women engage in economic and leadership processes and structures The CodeHive project by AkiraChix recruited 100 young women from diverse communities in Kenya and East Africa. Out of these, 94 of the young women graduated from the program. As a result, 70 young women secured gainful employment within 60 days of graduation. The graduates earn KES 35,000/=, higher than 54% of Kenyas formally employed population. For the graduates in gainful employment, there is an increase in their income, which translates into improved households as most can support themselves and their families. The organisation This Ability, provided digital disability and advocacy training to 44 young women in Nairobi. These young women have since spontaneously organized themselves into a movement of cyber activists who use social media platforms such as Twitter to advocate for people with disabilities. They also challenge social norms and negative stereotypes about women with disabilities. The project has had a significant impact, as indicated by the over 13 young women who have successfully obtained meaningful jobs, as well as the 5 women who have won seed funds. Furthermore, the 44 young women have been taught as TOTs on mental health concerns and have been assigned to be mental health ambassadors. The project has also created interest in Kisumu, Mombasa, and Nairobis County Governments to form partnerships with them to increase employment opportunities for young women with disabilities. A Momerandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed with the county government of Mombasa utilizing the USSD platform *548# Hesabika campaign to map out data on persons with disability to craft empowerment programs for them. Result area 4 on Networking and Collaboration and 5. On Capacity Development were strategic result areas that were directly implemented by ForumCiv. Result area 4 offered platforms for networking and collaborations through the various events and forums that were organized in the life of the programme. The forums offered opportunities for right holders to meet and engage on issues that were affecting them and finding solutions to these problems. Duty bearers and other stakeholders were also part of these forums to get to understand the communities they were serving and offer solutions. One initiative under Result area 4 was Wezesha Dada, a concept developed towards the tail end of the WWP to support young women vying for different elective positions in the 2022 general elections. Organized in a way that is comfortable for engagement, thirty (30) young women were identified and were given an opportunity to engage, learn, and network. Due to this activity, the women became more resilient and were ready to face the elections process and any challenges that came with it. Under result area 5 the programme supported partners through capacity development initiatives. Partners received training both internally and externally through consultants, technical and equipment support and Rights Way Forward (RWFs) methodology to enable them to implement projects successfully. Through this, a couple of results were realized including grassroots organizations that had never received funding being funded by other donors, partnerships were built among partners leading to the formulation of policies and frameworks that continue to influence their work.

The Wajibu Wetu programme overall objective is to contribute to respect for and fulfilment of human rights, deepening democracy and realisation of gender equality in Kenya, while the programme objective aims at improved attitudes and behaviours of rights holders and duty bearers for upholding and defending human rights, democratic culture and gender equality in Kenya. To acheive this the programme has 5 outcome areas: Outcome area 1: Human Rights 1.1 Rights holders demand respect for human rights 1.2 Young women, men and communities resist extremist ideologies. Outcome area 2: Democratic Culture 2.1 Right holders demand accountability on public service delivery at county and national government levels. 2.2 Right holders demand duty bearers responsiveness in targeted counties for enabling environment for public participation at county and national government levels. Outcome area 3: Gender Equality 3.1 Right holders (women and men) prevent and respond to gender-based violence against women and men. 3.2 Women engage in economic and leadership processes and structures. Outcome area 4: Networking and collaboration for policy advocacy 4.1 Partners and relevant stakeholders elaborate common agenda on human rights, democratic culture and gender equality to effect policy change. Outcome area 5: Capacity Development 5.1 Implementing partners improve their organisational capacity and deepen their knowledge on human rights, democratic culture and gender equality for effective programming.