Forum Syd - Wajibu Wetu 2015-2018

The programme has during the activity period achieved a wide range of results below is a small selection. The programme objective was to strengthen demand for democratic culture, human rights and gender equality through the media and CSOs in Kenya. Through the programme's partners, this objective was to be achieved through influencing of public policies and legislation, dialogues between right holders and duty bearers, awareness raising and reporting on cases of abuse of power and human rights and finally the agitation for women’s representation in leadership processes. For example, The Nest Collective intensely lobbied against the passing of the Film, Stage Plays and Publications (Draft) Bill 2016. The bill presented one of the most dangerous attacks on freedom of expression with serious implications on film, publishing, advertising, theatre, games, artistic creativity and online expression. Article 33 of the Constitution of Kenya enshrines freedom of expression and ensures that Kenyans have the right to seek, receive and impart information including freedom of artistic creativity. The Nest Collective, along with other film and art sector stakeholders, attended a public meeting called by the board on 12th October 2016 to engage the sector on the draft bill. From the plenary submissions of creative sector associations and practitioners, there was unanimity on the potential harmful effects of the bill: a clear breach of constitutional guarantees to freedoms of expression and association, as well as constraints on freedom of the media and the right to privacy. The draft bill was seen to criminalize filmmaking, increase the costs of doing business and introduce new bureaucratic hurdles and constraints. This strong sector response opened public discussion on the proposals and created an opportunity for stakeholders’ engagement with the process. As a result, on the 18th of December 2016, the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Arts and the Executive Office of the President convened a meeting of creative sector umbrella organizations and associations, and subsequently oversaw the formation of a sectoral team to engage with the state to resolve the issues raised around the proposed bill. The committee submitted its report and the finalized film draft policy (2017) to the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Art on the 9th of June 2017, and its recommendations are currently under consideration. Another significant result from the programme is the development of the first county countering violent extremism strategy (CVE) in the country by Kwale County in 2017 through the efforts by Msambweni Human Rights Watch and the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya. The impact and cost of insecurity resulting from violent extremism is enormous and is a risk to Kenya’s development agenda. The radicalisation and violent extremist phenomena are disproportionately impacting youth and women from marginalised areas. This strategy aims at building the resilience of at-risk communities against extremist narratives that can lead to violent extremism within the county. A rights-based approach means giving people greater opportunities to participate in shaping the decisions that impact on their human rights. It also means increasing the ability of those with responsibility for fulfilling rights to recognise and respect human rights. The relationship between rights-holder and duty-bearer is a crucial part of the human rights-based approach. The programme sought to do this by stimulating dialogues between the duty bearers and the right holders. Youth form much of the population in Kenya and their involvement in the shaping of the development agenda is key. It is key to note that the programme supported dialogues between them and various state actors with regards to governance processes. This took place in Mombasa, Kisumu, West Pokot and Turkana counties. An example is Turkana County, youth participated in the vetting of the gubernatorial candidates during their gubernatorial debates ahead of the 2017 general election questioning them mostly on their development priorities for youth and women. The youth also questioned the incumbent governor to explain why fishery projects had not worked despite over Kes. 40 million allocated for the project. The partners working in the creative industries like PAWA 254, The Godown and The Nest Collective also engaged in dialogues with different duty bearers. The Godown through its project aimed to improve the quality of urban living and urban spaces, using people-centred, participatory methodologies and approaches. Of note is the physical development of public space. This component of the project successfully included officers from Nairobi City County and other important collaborating partners such as the UN-Habitat and tertiary institutions. Beyond the partnership between the architects, the design process successfully used a multi-sectoral approach through workshops that included various relevant sectoral actors – big corporations, city planners, UN-Habitat, students of architecture and urban planning. The results of this process are that beneficiaries are beginning to see how they can have ‘ownership’ in the project; their buy-in in it is also increasing, making it also easier for The GoDown to invite them to support the fundraising campaign for the newly designed development. Furthermore, the participatory, multi-stakeholder approach has received goodwill from the Nairobi City County duty bearers and generated interest from scholars and urbanists in Africa and beyond. Another example is the inclusion of women in traditional leadership forums in highly patriarchal societies, this was one of the results of the programme in Isiolo County through the work of Isiolo County Gender Watch. Women had been looked at as a gender that cannot lead or participate in any decision making. The work of Isiolo County Gender Watch addressed this marginalisation through their advocacy efforts. A result of this was the nomination of the first female senator from Isiolo County and the addition of women to the Njuri Ncheke council of elders for that particular county. The use of innovative advocacy mechanisms in addition to the traditional advocacy methods was a hallmark of this programme. The utilisation of social media, satire, animation, short films, poetry and investigative journalism was significant in the achievement of results within the programme. Non-traditional actors such as The Nest Collective, Africa Uncensored, Dandora Hip Hop City, Kwacha Africa, Buni Media, Creatives Garage and Creative Spills utilized these innovative modalities to create awareness, inform and expose human rights and accountability issues. Africa Uncensored’s work is notable via their investigative series that highlighted corruption and human rights violations. One series named the Kanjo Kingdom resulted in the sacking of corrupt individuals within the Nairobi City’s inspectorate and a vastly improved appreciation for the perils faced by informal street vendors in Kenya including reparations for the victims of the corrupt staff at the county council. Wajir Community Radio enlightened the pastoralists community by exposing issues of extrajudicial killings conducted by the military in Wajir East and forced disappearances carried out by the police were also highlighted. Women were also empowered to take part in political processes as a result by debunking women in leadership myths and promoting a fairer image of women aspirants as illustrated by the work of Wajir Community Radio and Kalya FM who utilised community radio as a platform for awareness creation. The efforts of Akira Chix are also worth mentioning, through their work in training computer programming skills to young girls they have transformed their lives as a result of the training. In terms of gender equality, the programme managed to support several women to vie for leadership positions in government. 47 women candidates targeted in the programme vied for various seats in the 2017 elections, 2 for senatorial positions, 6 as members of parliament, 3 for women representatives, 34 for the post of MCA. Out of them, 1 was elected as a senator in Isiolo county, 5 elected MCAs, 2 nominated as MCAs. While this may seem insignificant in relation to the number of women voted in, the result, in essence, is the fact that the women actually vied for these positions in a male-dominated field. The programme has also seen an increased number of women non-political leadership positions at the grassroots leadership spaces and thus demystified the fact that there is more offer in leadership that is provided for in the political leadership spaces only. In Nyeri and Meru Counties, women that contested and captured the seats and those that were nominated at the MCA level have formed a structured women MCA caucus with governance structures and accountability mechanism. This has seen them develop and launch the caucus and a strategic plan in Nyeri and it was clear that Meru County was preparing to do their caucus launch and a strategic plan unveiling reportedly by mid-December 2018. Further, the programme has triggered an impetus amongst the trained women to advocate for rights issues within their households and communities, which should be encouraged and sustained. As a women leadership advocacy project, basic pathways have been laid that should be enhanced by follow up interventions. Nyeri Sauti Ya Mama a registered organization which was formed in Nyeri after the 2017 elections has stood out as a prime example of the impact of this project – it is comprised of women from all sub-counties of Nyeri County and has made a mark as a champion for women’s leadership rights but also fights for inclusion of children and persons with disabilities. The Self Help Groups (SHGs) and caucuses associated with the trained women were also experiencing renewal through registration, improved book-keeping as well as membership recruitments. While tangible alliances and networks had not started to naturally form by the end of the project, the external evaluation observed that what existed among the SHGs and trained women was commendable for a project of such short time-frame. Capacity development was a commendable achievement of the programme. Partners had onsite coaching on financial management, project management, results harvesting and quality assurance. The capacity of all the 29 partners was strengthened through onsite training, coaching and support, which included budgeting, record keeping, cost-effectiveness, reporting, auditing; and project management. This led to an overall improvement in an organisational capacity not only in areas of grant compliance but also in the strengthening of internal organisational systems. The joint democracy and human rights festivals in 2016 and 2018 gathered practitioners and key stakeholders in Kenya to share experiences, knowledge, lessons and explore best practices in pursuit of gender equality, democratic culture and human rights. Participants ranged from grassroots to national CSOs, faith-based organisations, private sector, cultural art and media actors as well as a good representation of state actors ranging from Cabinet Secretaries to permanent secretaries to political actors. The 2018 festival saw the participation of over 1000 persons in two days of interactive engagement and learnings. Bi-annual CEO forums targeting the various leaders of organisations within the Wajibu Wetu Programme have enhanced the capacities of the current leaders to be more creative and effective moulding the next generation of leaders through co-learning, exchanges and mentorships. The programme also catalysed the collaborations amongst the CSOs in thematic areas such as women mentorship, advocacy to name a few. The Nation Leadership Forum in July 2017, a platform to spotlight issues affecting Kenyans by provoking national discussions, shaping opinions and policy directions critical to the development and economic growth of Kenya. Wajibu Wetu partners CREAW, The NEST, Akili Dada and select partners from the Diakonia basket engaged in a series of national conversations focusing on elections management and preparedness; economies of elections, the role of actors in attaining peaceful and credible elections, and voters’ civic responsibilities. The Forums broadcasted live on NTV to an audience of about 10 million according to Geopoll as well as seeing over 47 million engagements on social media.

The programme's overall development objective is improved democratic culture, accountability and gender equality in Kenya, while the specific objective of the contribution is is strengthened demand for democratic culture, human rights and gender equality through the media and CSOs.