A

LOCAL LEVEL INSTITUTIONS LOCAL LEVEL ORGANIZING FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN KENYA

Report Prepared for

The Government of Kenya and the World Bank

by

Gertrude Kopiyo

and

John T. Mukui

November 2001

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................................. ii ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................................................................... iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... iv INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 

1.1  BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY ........................................................................ 1 1.2  OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................................. 2 1.3  TERMS OF REFERENCE .......................................................................................................................... 2 1.4  STUDY METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................ 3 1.5  TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS .................................................................................................................. 3 

TYPES AND CATEGORIES OF LOCAL LEVEL INSTITUTIONS .......................................................................... 5 2.1  COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN A HISTORICAL CONTEXT ....................................................... 5 2.2  TYPES OF LLIs IDENTIFIED IN THE BURKINA FASO STUDY ......................................................... 5 2.3  CLASSIFICATION OF ORGANIZATIONS INTERVIEWED ................................................................ 6 2.4  FUNCTIONAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS ................................ 8 2.5  BROAD ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN BY LOCAL INSTITUTIONS ................................................. 11 2.6  SIMILARITIES AMONG LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS ......................................................................... 13 2.7  ORGANIZATIONS PREFERRED BY DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES ................................................ 14 

STRUCTURE OF SELECTED ORGANIZATIONS ................................................................................................. 16 3.1  SAMPLE OF KENYAN LOCAL LEVEL INSTITUTIONS .................................................................... 16 3.2  A SAMPLE OF KEY STRUCTURES ....................................................................................................... 18 3.3  DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT PLANNING ............................................................................................. 23 3.4  LOCAL AUTHORITIES ........................................................................................................................... 24 3.5  INTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS ................................................................................ 25 3.6  PARTICIPATORY MONITORING AND EVALUATION ................................................................... 25 

EMERGING ISSUES .................................................................................................................................................. 27 4.1  CHALLENGES LLIs FACE ...................................................................................................................... 27 4.2  REGION-SPECIFIC ISSUES .................................................................................................................... 30 4.3  GENDER PERSPECTIVES ...................................................................................................................... 31 4.4  PEOPLE’S VIEWS ON THE PRSP ......................................................................................................... 33 

PARTICIPATORY INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS IN THREE VILLAGES .......................................................... 35 5.1  PURPOSE OF THE INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 35 5.2  METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE ................................................................................................. 35 5.3  ULOMA VILLAGE, SIAYA DISTRICT .................................................................................................. 36 5.4  WARUGARA VILLAGE, MURANG’A DISTRICT ............................................................................... 37 5.5  IGUHU LOCATION, KAKAMEGA DISTRICT .................................................................................... 38 5.6  LESSONS LEARNT .................................................................................................................................. 40 

ANNEX 1: TERMS OF REFERENCE ....................................................................................................................... 42 ANNEX 2: INSTITUTIONS AND PERSONS INTERVIEWED .............................................................................. 43 ANNEX 3: INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY THE RESEARCH TEAM............................................................... 45 

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following report is a product of inputs from many people of various walks of life and a cross-section of institutions and organizations. The consultant team is grateful to the Government of Kenya (Central Bureau of Statistics) and the World Bank, custodian and sponsor of the study, respectively. We are grateful to the different institutions and organizations including bilateral donors, NGOs (both northern and local), CBOs, private sector, and federations and networks, whose names appear in the abbreviation list. These development stakeholders availed time and shared strategies, lessons, experiences, insights, initiatives and even their frustrations in their attempt to make a stab at poverty in Kenya. We value the opportunity, the interaction and unbiased dialogue by the three communities visited for participatory institutional analysis (see Chapter 5). We thank the many individuals who in one way or another made this study possible. We thank the stakeholders who mobilized people and their affiliated grassroots institutions for focused group discussions. We thank coordinators of the NGO Council Networks in the North Rift, Western, and Coast Regions, and the sector Network (Pamfork). We also thank bilateral donors and Northern NGOs for providing access to their projects at the grassroots, namely, the Aga Khan Foundation, DfID, GTZ, World Neighbours, ACTIONAID-Kenya, AMREF, CARE-Kenya, Oxfam, SNV and the World Bank. In the private sector, we thank Iyego and Kiawanduma coffee cooperative societies, the “We Can Do It” in Nairobi, and Futures Group.

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ABBREVIATIONS ADT Akukuranut Development Trust (Teso) AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AMREF African Medical & Research Foundation ASAL Arid and Semi-Arid Lands CAS Country Assistance Strategy CBHW Community Based Health Workers CBK Coffee Board of Kenya CBO Community Based Organization CBS Central Bureau of Statistics CDD Community Driven Development CIA Community Initiative Account CSO Civil Society Organization DC District Commissioner DDC District Development Committee DDO District Development Officer DEB District Education Board DfId (British) Department for International Development DFRD District Focus for Rural Development DICECE District Centre for Early Childhood Education DO District Officer DSO District Social Officer ECD Early Childhood Development ESW (World Bank’s) Economic and Sector Work FPAK Family Planning Association of Kenya GOK Government of Kenya GSI Gender Sensitive Initiatives GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Technical Cooperation) HAPAC HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care HIV Human Immuno-deficiency Virus ILISHE Ilimu Sheria (legal awareness) KCDF Kenya Community Development Foundation KCPE Kenya Certificate of Primary Education KCS Kituo Cha Sheria KDDP Kilifi District Development Programme KEFEADO Kenya Female Advisory Organization KPCU Kenya Planters Cooperative Union KRSP Kwale Rural Support Programme LLI Local Level Institution LYCODEP Likoni Youth Counselling and Development Programme M&E Monitoring & Evaluation MTEF Medium Term Expenditure Framework NGO Nongovernmental Organization PAMFORK Participatory Methodologies Forum for Kenya PAMNUP Partnership Approaches to Meeting the Needs of the Urban Poor PEC Poverty Eradication Commission PIP Public Investment Program PM&E Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper PTA Parents and Teachers Association RPU Rural Planning Unit SARDEP Semi Arid Rural Development Programme

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The research sought to take stock and increase knowledge of existing local level institutions (LLIs) and the role they play in local development and accountability. The outcome of this study will be used as a basis for a more in-depth study whose objectives would be to map out LLIs for building of internal capacities for scaling-up, involve LLIs in creating accountability and transparency initiatives, and use LLI mapping to guide pro-poor investment for community-driven development. Another part of the study sought to review external and internal materials concerning participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E), interview development stakeholders on initiatives taken, and interact with applications of PM&E at the local level. The two studies were conducted jointly considering that PM&E is a function of implementation. It was however agreed that two separate reports would be produced. This report is the LLI volume of the report. The team used a top-down approach and interviewed the government, bilateral and multilateral donors, international and local NGOs and finally grassroots CBOs and projects. The grassroots CBOs and projects were mostly linked to external resources and were therefore basically initiatives of outsiders. Although the grassroots institutions interviewed tended to have other primary activities independent of the donor program, the process of selection did not cover any groups without a link to external agencies. The team employed tools and instruments to extract information using key informant interviews and focused group discussions. After presentation of the draft report to different stakeholders, it was observed that the methodology and process used had influenced the outcome. The consultants went back to the field to undertake detailed participatory institutional analysis in three rural villages, namely, Uloma village in Siaya district, Warugara village in Murang’a district, and Iguhu village in Kakamega district (see Chapter 5). Despite the depth of investigation in the three case studies, the main conclusions did not significantly differ from those derived earlier. The study covered all the eight provinces and explored the historical context of community development in Kenya dating back to colonial days. Contrasting with the Burkina Faso study, the team was not immediately able to establish specific equivalents between the categories in the Burkina Faso study with the Kenyan context. The Kenyan study classified development stakeholders as follows: GOK/bilateral, international NGOs, NGO Council Networks (national and local NGOs), CBOs, academic institutions, and private sector. Interviews were conducted along the vertical relationships of the selected institutions right from headquarters offices in Nairobi to the grassroots. The study showed that LLIs can be found in every part of Kenya, although there is a tendency for a proliferation of some categories in some geographical areas. Notably, Central Province had fewer externally linked LLIs than any other region visited due to virtual absence of NGOs in the area. Broadly LLIs were found to be involved in various activities including capacity building, pooling local resources, improving economic viability of members, providing credit, developing value systems, building social capital, linking civil society to external resources, networking, conducting research, documenting, and disseminating information. It was observed that most LLIs had strong community participation, and participatory planning and monitoring was more evident in LLIs which had applied participatory planning and awareness-raising through the use of PRAs. The more successful LLIs tended to be beneficiaries of outside

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financial facilitators. Ideas originating with local persons blossomed when external financing came in. The idea of federating mainly originated from outsiders. The work of LLIs is usually limited in geographical and functional scope because of limited resources. Indigenous groups promoting local values tended to be ethnically homogenous. Every LLI interviewed addresses an aspect of PRSP. The organizations preferred by different communities depended on felt needs and included government line ministries, the provincial administration at the local level, homogenous groups such as women groups, CBOs addressing specific issues, religious organizations, and NGOs. The study considered the internal structure that defines priorities, implementation processes, accountability, and sanctions against laxity or fraud. The internal structures depended on the functions of the organization, its vertical and horizontal linkages, and the nature of its legal registration. Many structures were found ranging from very simple to extremely complex. Disparities had a lot to do with whether or not the LLI is linked to external funding, and whether it had gone through PRA capacity building. It was evident that some of the prerequisites to realizing transparent, accountable and effective management committees are trust (of members on their leaders), training (especially of committees) and empowerment (of members). These processes bring in elements of participation, and monitoring and evaluation through different activities such as regular meetings. The challenges facing LLIs included balancing between identities, sustainability, expansion and replication, effects of HIV/AIDS, and internal governance. Other issues were region-specific, with each region affected by specific and unique issues. Gender issues affecting both men and women were women representation, impact of HIV/AIDS, cultural practices, and equity. PRSP was analyzed from the perspectives of level of participation in PRSP consultations, feedback, and what PRSP is understood to mean at the local level. The consultants conducted a supplementary study on participatory institutional analysis in three villages. The study revealed existence of institutions which revolve around issues of identity, spiritual matters, morality from religious and traditional perspectives, rites of passage, sector development, protocol and governance, gender issues, and power relations. The vertical and horizontal relationships of the grassroots institutions were also explored. The study established that scaling up or drawing down would bear on the village elder, the church, women groups and lineage societies because these are the four most important institutions at the village level. The villagers recognize the work of NGOs where they exist.

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION The study was commissioned by the World Bank at the request of the Government of Kenya (GOK). The short-term objective of the study was to “take stock and increase knowledge of existing local level institutions and the roles that they play in local development and accountability”. Based on the outcome of this study, the World Bank intends to commission a more in-depth study as a long term initiative whose objectives will be: • Map LLIs so that internal organization and capacity can be built upon and scaled-up • Involve LLIs in creating accountability and transparency for PRSP initiatives • Use LLI mapping to guide pro-poor investment for community-driven development (CDD).

1.1 BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY The background and rationale of the study in Kenya is set against a backdrop of similar undertakings elsewhere which have convinced the World Bank that internally driven development is key to long-term success. It becomes increasingly evident when recognized that focus on LLIs is necessary for this success to take root, but that they have often been a blind spot for governments and international development agencies. Local level institutions are referred to as those institutions existing below local government, often linking several small communities together. These LLIs are largely made up of a membership of local residents, in which people participate for a range of reasons. The World Bank and GOK interest in LLIs derives from the belief that because they are important in their own right as leaders in local life and development, they are also important for effective and accountable national efforts to reduce poverty and enhance equitable development. A recent World Bank’s Economic and Sector Work (ESW) report on Local Level Institutions and Poverty Reduction1 found strong and extraordinary evidence of certain categories of high-performing LLIs to reduce poverty and internally manage development efforts in an accountable and transparent manner. The report explains that, where such LLIs exist, these patterns of LLIs are reducing poverty even without assistance despite their severe resource constraints. From the structure of these high-performing local organizations, it is anticipated that they could exist in a number of African countries. These organizations, it seems, share the characteristic of depending more on internal participation rather than on any one country’s cultural assets. Kenya could be one of these countries. Given these positive outcomes, the Kenya Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and Country Assistance Strategy (PRSP/CAS) team wished to initiate similar LLI assessments so that the PRSP and CAS could move successfully towards supporting Kenya’s LLIs and communities to meet the challenges of poverty reduction and enhanced growth. Initially, the World Bank had designed two separate studies, one on LLIs and the other on Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation (PM&E). Since PM&E is a function of implementation, the consultant team, in consultation with the World Bank and GOK, agreed that these two studies be conducted as one, but with two separate reports.

1 Paula Donnelly-Roark, Karim Ouedraogo, and Xiao Ye, “Can Local Institutions Reduce Poverty? Rural Decentralization in Burkina Faso”, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 2677, September 2001. See also, Mamadou Dia, Africa’s Management in the 1990s and Beyond: Reconciling Indigenous and Transplanted Institutions, Directions in development publications, World Bank, 1996.

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Given this change in the approach and process, it was further agreed that the Terms of Reference (TOR) would be flexible enough to allow for maximum space to access ample information from which to draw practical lessons. The approach in the field was therefore slightly different from what initially appeared in the TOR. The consultant team traveled together and conducted most of the interviews and other interactions together. There was also more regional scope covered than originally intended. This volume of the study contains the report on Local Level Institutions (LLIs). The Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation Report is in a separate volume.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The purpose of this action research is to understand the nature of local level institutions in different areas of Kenya, their development over time, their activities, and the nature of their membership. Given that the time for the study was too short to develop a detailed understanding of the organizations, the current initiative was designed to at least say more about what the LLIs are, what they do, and how they operate. Based on the Burkina Faso experience, the Kenyan study was expected to include the following categories and types of institutions: village level governance; accepted methods of community resource mobilization; social and mutual aid societies; security arrangements; asset management; conflict resolution councils; management committees for infrastructure and sector services; legal adjudication committees; production cooperatives; tontines and saving federations; religious associations; and lineage societies, among others. The consultant team was expected to establish locally legitimate rules within specific geographical and cultural spaces as well as determine which other institutions the LLIs have interactions with within the institutional systems. The consultant team was to conduct participatory action-research assessments in villages across Kenya to capture the widest diversity and variation possible. Results of these village initiatives, along with interviews from each of the districts, would be used to better understand the nature and diversity of existing local level institutions. Particular attention would be paid to the role of these LLIs in development activities, which ones local people prefer and why, how they contribute to traditional local accountability, and whether/how they have been able to translate these local actions and responsibilities upwards. This first phase of the study would focus on the qualitative aspects of LLIs. If this first stock-taking reveals vibrant and differentiated LLIs, the study will be followed up at a later date with a second study that will expand the number of villages, and also administer a quantitative household study in the same villages where the qualitative and participatory assessments took place. The full-scale study is expected to identify high performing categories of local level institutions.

1.3 TERMS OF REFERENCE Select diverse provinces/districts of Kenya for participatory action research. Within these provinces/districts, select communities for participatory action work. Selection of regions should be based upon achieving the widest diversity possible. Selection of communities in each district should be based on identifying one that is perceived by district officials to be internally well-organized and a second that is less so. Interview either Province or District agencies before going to communities. Select two communities in the District for further participatory action work. Undertake two-day participatory analysis with each community.

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Investigators will review results in terms of the following: • Types and categories of LLIs; • Organizations preferred by different groups in the community; • Organizational structures of the LLI and their geographical spread; • Preferred accountability mechanisms; • Internal investment structures; • Internal structures for defining priorities and strategies Investigators will analyze review in terms of the following: • Identify key structures and/or mechanisms that contribute to accountability, priorities, and actions

carried through; and • Indicate similarities and differences among communities and regions on the points identified above.

1.4 STUDY METHODOLOGY The consultant team forwarded an interpretation of the TOR to the World Bank. Discussions were held with the World Bank and the Kenya government in an effort to reach a common understanding of the TOR. A teleconference between World Bank (Washington) and the consultants was held to obtain views on interpretation of the TOR and experiences and lessons learnt from the Burkina Faso study and other relevant studies. The study considered geographical spread and diversity of Kenya, and the PRSP sectors and thematic areas. The consultant team first interviewed national, provincial, and district agencies and then followed a thread from the Central government, donors and NGOs. Information from these agencies guided the team to the grassroots level partners or beneficiaries they support. The process therefore allowed a clear understanding of the vertical and horizontal linkages. The vertical and horizontal linkages formed part of the structures of the primary LLIs. Rather than selecting 8 communities in 4 provinces/districts as per the TOR, the consultant team conducted over 50 interviews and covered all the eight provinces. The expanded scope was also designed to provide sufficient information on participatory monitoring and evaluation undertaken by the LLIs and the organizations they relate with. In the case of Wajir in North Eastern province, the consultant team undertook in-depth interviews with Oxfam in Nairobi.

1.5 TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS • Literature review The consultant team amassed literature especially from the institutions visited. Most of the literature covered background documents of the different organizations, strategic plans, administrative structures, newsletters and other project documents. The team also read and reviewed other publications and research studies on development especially on community-based development and the self-help movement in Kenya and elsewhere. • Meetings among consultants The consultant team initially spent a great deal of time together discussing what the study entailed and planning the modalities of work. Out of the meetings, the team was able to draw the following observations:

Because PM&E is an essential element of governance within LLIs, the possibility of lumping together the

two studies was deemed practical.

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The diverse functions covering the economic, social and political aspects would dictate the selection of LLIs to ensure that the study is issue-inclusive e.g. the market, state and civil society institutions.

It was important that PRSP sectors and thematic areas do not drop out. That the study addresses the issue of how the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the

entire budgetary process coordinate the “bottoms”. The study should be sensitive to both rural and urban issues and the prevailing disparities and

contradictions of the Kenyan nation state. In PM&E, the team discussed the need to understand the layers and flow of authority and resources

within the layers. • Personal one-to-one and open-ended dialogues

Most of the interviews were dialogues on the nature of the organizations; roles and responsibilities of individuals; vertical and horizontal relationships; the vision, mission, objectives and activities of the organizations; issues of management and sustainability; and engaging with the PRSP.

• Focused group discussions Where necessary, the team held some focused group discussions to follow up on issues for elaboration and triangulation.

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CHAPTER 2

TYPES AND CATEGORIES OF LOCAL LEVEL INSTITUTIONS

2.1 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN A HISTORICAL CONTEXT According to Chitere (1994)2, community development work during the colonial period was carried out by the Social Welfare Organization which was started in 1946. In 1954, the Social Welfare Organization became one of the departments of the then newly created Ministry of Community Development. At the beginning, social welfare work was concentrated around social (community) centers or halls to uplift the economic and social wellbeing of communities through informal education, and social and recreational facilities. Community development assistants (CDA) managed the centers. Other activities included training leaders and craftsmen in various types of trades. The department also encouraged self-help work among African women which culminated in the formation of Maendeleo ya Wanawake organization in 1951. In Kenya, community development was one of the measures introduced to help reduce tension between Europeans and Africans. The tension arose from alienation of arable land for European settlement, agricultural policies that forbade Africans from growing cash crops or keeping improved breeds of livestock, introduction of identity card (kipande) that was used to restrict movement, and racial discrimination in all walks of life. As the acting Governor of Kenya in 1952 remarked:

“I am of the opinion that community development work can make a very substantial contribution not only toward the establishment of a fuller and better balanced way of life among the African people as a whole but also toward creation of a sound political opinion. This aspect is especially important at the present time when irresponsible leaders, both in Kenya and overseas are doing their utmost to foster discontent under the guise of nationalism with total disregard for truth and established fact. An energetic and realistic community development policy can counter this state of affairs and to this end (we) are now expanding the existing community development organization.”

2.2 TYPES OF LLIs IDENTIFIED IN THE BURKINA FASO STUDY In defining LLIs, the Burkina Faso study says, “contextually, LLIs surround and connect communities”. It continues: “local level institutions incorporate many different kinds of indigenous organizations and functions. These include: village level governance; accepted methods of community resource mobilization; social and mutual aid societies; security arrangements; asset management; conflict resolution councils; management committees for infrastructure and sector services; conflict and legal adjudication committees; livestock and agricultural production cooperatives; tontines and savings federations; religious associations; music societies; and lineage organizations, among others.” The Burkina Faso classification or typologies of LLIs include: • Value institutions: focus on activating and maintaining the stability of local governance, cultural, and

values of the society with emphasis on solidarity, equity and consensus; and include chieftaincy groups, religious oriented or mutual aid institutions active in rural life.

• Production institutions: provide the economic institutional linkage between the state and the community. For example, farmer organizations are the access gate to agricultural extension training and whatever material agricultural resources the state offers to producers.

2 Orieko Chitere (ed), Community Development: Its Conceptions and Practice with Emphasis on Africa, Gideon S. Were Press, 1994

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• Service-asset management institutions: include development committees to manage and maintain infrastructure assets (e.g. water wells, schools and health centers); and indigenous associations who collaboratively manage and utilize economic and natural resources (land, forest, water, livestock, wildlife, and some village-production activities).

While Burkina Faso LLIs seemed to neatly fit in the three major “typologies”, namely, value, production and service-asset management institutions, most of the Kenyan LLIs in the study had multiple functions and were therefore cutting across the three typologies.

2.3 CLASSIFICATION OF ORGANIZATIONS INTERVIEWED In the context of this study, the concept of LLIs is taken from the perspective of functions undertaken by various institutions at the grassroots level in the area of community development. LLIs in Kenya could be defined as community organizations that fall in two types: locally-based organizations and outside agencies whose branches are working in the community. These are by no means “typologies” in the same sense like those in the Burkina Faso study. Rather, these are based on functions and vertical relationships. The diversity of LLIs covered was based on sectors and thematic areas in the PRSP. To identify and reach local level institutions, it seemed practical to start “at the top” e.g. government departments, bilateral donor agencies, national and regional offices of NGOs, and headquarters of umbrella organizations. The study has classified LLIs according to their vertical relationships in implementation of community development activities. Broadly, the study came up with the following classifications: GOK/bilateral, international NGOs, NGO Council, Networks and National/Local NGOs, CBOs, academic institutions, and private sector local level institutions. Since the study covered all the 8 provinces, it is likely to have covered most types of LLIs found in the country and the organizations they relate with. Details of these institutions, their legal status, the year they were started, and geographical spread are provided in Table 1 below.

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Table 1: Classification of Organizations Interviewed

Classification Name of Institution Status Age Geographical Spread GOK/Bilateral and multilateral agencies

World Bank Multilateral initiative National CBS GOK Department National Rural Planning Unit GOK Department Nairobi Social Policy Unit GOK Department Nairobi DDO GOK district level National DSDO GOK district level National DC GOK district level National PAMNUP Bilateral Initiative 1996 Coast, Mombasa KDDP Bilateral Initiative 1994 Coast, Kilifi DistrictSARDEP Bilateral Initiative After

1998 North Rift, Keiyo

SARDEP Projects Emkong Water Project Midiliwo Zero Grazing Koikee Food Security Group Emkon Water Project AIC Cheptebo Rural Dev Project

Community Community members Women Group Community Church Project

Since 1982 1992 2000 1997 2000

Keiyo & Marakwet Iten Town Keiyo Lower Transect Keiyo Below Escarpment Keiyo in the Lowlands

ASAL GOK/World Bank/Bilateral Initiative

1982 Selected national

International NGOs and projects they support

ACTIONAID-Kenya Lycodep MCI Youth Fish Group

International NGO CBO

2000

Selected national Coast, Likoni

CBO Coast, Mtongwe CBO/Church project 1985 Nyanza, Kisumu District

CARE-Kenya and projects Homa Bay District Dak Achana

International NGO Selected National Project Early

1990s Nyanza, Homa Bay

CBO After 1996

Nyanza, Lambwe Valley

Oxfam Project Wajir Pastoral Project

International NGO Selected National Community Project 1984 Wajir

World Neighbors Akukuranut Umoja Women group

International NGO Community Trust Women group

1989

Selected national Western, Teso Adungosi market, Teso

Aga Khan Foundation KRSP

International NGO Selected National Community Project 1997 Coast, Kwale district

NGO Council, NGOs & Networks

NGO Council Council 1993 National Western region NGO Network NGO Network Varied Provincial cluster Pamfork Thematic network 1994 National/Nairobi Region Others Networks Varied Sectoral/Diverse GSI Central Management Committee, Oyugis

Community management 1993 Kasipul and Kabondo divisions

Kituo Cha Sheria NGO 1973 Selected National Ilishe Trust 1993 Coast, Mombasa KCDF Trust 1996 Selected National

CBO Yatta South Women Group CBO 1986 Katangi, Machakos Mwana Mwende Child Development Trust

NGO/CBO 1997 Machakos

Kikopey PRA group CBO 1992 Gilgil sub-location, Nakuru district

Pwani PRA Community CBO 1990 Njoro division, Nakuru district

Catholic Diocese of Nakuru CBO 1985 Kericho and Nakuru dioceses

Amani Christian Community Development Project

CBO 1986 Nyanza, Kasipul and Kabondo Divisions

Academic Institution Egerton University Academic, participatory methodologies

1990 Selected National

Private Sector Futures Group International private Nyanza Province FPAK Local private 1960 Selected national WE CAN DO IT Nairobi neighborhood

associations 1998 Nairobi, private households

Coffee Cooperatives: -Kiawanduma -Iyego

Production, processing and marketing coffee

1998 1959

Murang’a District Gitugi Kangema

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2.4 FUNCTIONAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS Among the institutions interviewed (with the exception of government extension), only a few were established before 1990. This may be explained by the fact that, in 1990, Parliament passed the NGO Act. This was a culmination of concerted efforts by civil society to establish an umbrella organization to facilitate the functioning of NGOs and other civil society organizations (CSOs). The period after 1990 saw an explosion in activities of civil society and establishment of more CSOs. Registered CSOs increased from 100 organizations in 1993, 425 in 1995, 1,344 by end of 1999, and are currently close to 2,000. The Department of Social Services continues to register women’s groups and welfare (self-help) groups. It is estimated that there are currently over 100,000 primary women’s groups across the country. These local level organizations have continued to create their own structures according to their needs and activities. The National Council of NGOs, which is a national network of NGOs, boasts a structure with an executive committee elected by the General Assembly, a regulatory committee, a Board of Trustees and a secretariat. Because of the diversity of its membership, the members of the Council cannot have a common organizational structure. Each of the members therefore operates within its own structure as long as it observes the NGOs regulations and those of the NGO Coordination Board (under the Office of the President). Women groups and other welfare groups are regulated under the rules of the Government’s Department of Social Services; societies are registered under the Societies Act (cap 108); cooperatives come under the Cooperatives Societies Act; and trusts come under Trustees (Perpetual Succession) Act. The groups registered under the Department of Social Services are not legal entities and cannot therefore sue or be sued. LLIs can be found in every part of Kenya even though there is a tendency for proliferation of some categories in some geographical areas. Central province had fewer LLIs than any other region visited. The character of the LLIs in Central Province also tends to address marketing of agricultural produce and economic empowerment of farmers, while in other provinces, especially Western and Nyanza, they tend to address more of basic survival. LLIs in North-Eastern province revolve around livestock and livestock marketing, while those in Coast province tend to deal with advocacy and rights issues (especially more secure land tenure). Those in Rift Valley seemed to deal more with developmental issues from the perspective of moving from basic survival to sustainable livelihoods. Table 2 below shows the LLIs in relation to their vertical and horizontal affiliations covering their functions/activities, who started them, why they were started, their beneficiaries, and the PRSP sector or thematic area they address.

Table 2: Functional and Geographical Spread of the Local Institutions Local Level Institution/Vertical relationships

Activities Who Started & Why Beneficiary PRSP Sector/ Thematic Area

Sub-location DDC Planning priorities GOK to address community issues

Community members Multi-sectoral

PAMNUP -Capacity building -Sector management

DfID to meet needs of urban poor

Urban poor in Mombasa -HRD -Structures for sustainability

GTZ at the local level Bilateral support to GOK for capacity building in decentralized planning

GOK & GTZ to contribute to participatory poverty eradication by promoting district level development planning

Communities in Kilifi, Trans Mara, Samburu, Marsabit, Mwingi, Lamu

Multi-sectoral according to local needs

VDC /KDDP Capacity building using PRA/PID for the community and service providers

-GTZ/GOK for water and sanitation -Addressing other issues as well

Communities in Kilifi, Multi-sectoral

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SARDEP at the local level

-Donor to community -Capacity building -Planning implementation, M&E -Project management

GOK and Netherlands Government to enhance community participation

People of Keiyo -Water -HRD -Governance -Environmental management

SARDEP Projects -Planning & implementation -Monitoring & evaluation

SARDEP and community to implement community projects for improved livelihoods

People of Keiyo -Water -HRD -Agriculture -Environmental management

ACTIONAID-Kenya at the local level

-Resource mobilization -Advocacy on policy, and basic rights -Networking -Mobilization and federation

ACTIONAID for poverty reduction

Selected poor communities in Kenya

Multi-sectoral

ACTIONAID Projects -Advocacy on land, access to resources (including tourism, fishing, titanium) -Project management -Capacity building for skill and enterprise building -Health management

Community, youth: Claim their rights Improve health of

children Improve community

living standards Reduce youth

unemployment Improve morals

-Children, women and other community members in Likoni and Mtongwe -Youth in Kisumu (Fish groups)

Multi-sectoral: HRD Health Policy HIV/AIDS

CARE-Kenya at the local level

Using PRA in: -Agriculture (extension farming methods, adaptive research for seeds and weeds) -Water and Sanitation (safe drinking water, toilets, and clean homes) -Health

CARE-Kenya to improve community health and agricultural skills

Community in Suba, Rachuonyo, Homa Bay

Multi-sectoral in: -Agriculture -Water -Health -HRD -HIV/AIDS

CARE-Kenya Projects -Capacity building for Village Health Promoters -Promoting safe drinking water -Participatory adaptive research in agriculture

CARE-Kenya to build capacities for management of community health, and new farming techniques

Suba, Lambwe Valley Multi-sectoral: -Water -Health -HIV/AIDS issues -Agriculture

Oxfam at the local level -Livelihoods -Urban densities (education) -National policy -Advocacy -Relief

In pastoral areas, Oxfam intervened to prove that “there is hope beyond the tarmac”

Communities in Eastern and Greater Horn of Africa

Multi-sectoral: -Agriculture -Education -Water -Livestock and livestock marketing

Oxfam Project Wajir -Pastoralism as a way of life using PRA -Formation of local institutions -Federation into district structures -Coalescing around priorities e.g. in animal health, water, education

Oxfam & Wajir Pastoral Development Programme to address pastoralism as a way of life: -Capacity building -Advocacy -Livestock production -Livestock marketing -Occasional food relief

Communities in Wajir Multi-sectoral: -Agriculture (livestock, livestock marketing) -Education -Governance -Physical infrastructure (water)

Akukuranut Capacity building in agriculture and income generating activities and skills

Community member to coordinate women groups for food security

Community members in Teso

Multi-sectoral: -Agriculture -Commerce (marketing) -HRD

KRSP -Capacity building using PRAs -Establish village level institutions for livelihoods.

AKF to promote participation to support a livelihoods programme

Communities in Samburu and Kinango divisions of Kwale district

Multi-sectoral: -Governance -HRD -Physical infrastructure (water) -Agriculture (savings & credit, farming methods)

NGO Council Membership forum for NGOs.

Member organizations to harmonize strategies for civil society organizations, and build capacity of members for poverty reduction and civil rights

-Kenyan community -NGOs

Multi-sectoral: in all thematic areas

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NGO Regional Networks

Coordinate, facilitate, regulate and monitor NGO activities in its region

NGO Council to facilitate: -Access of NGO activities to civil society and other development actors -To improve dialogue among the NGOs

Civil society organizations within the region, and the communities they work with.

Multi-sectoral: thematic areas relevant to the region

NGO Thematic Networks (e.g. Pamfork and the Kenya Human Rights Commission)

Coordinate thematic activities of member NGOs e.g. promotion of the use of participatory methodologies

NGO Council to improve the quality of services of its members e.g. on participatory methodologies, human rights, gender, disability, pastoralism, and rights of the child.

Relevant community members and institutions.

Multi-sectoral according to the relevant theme

GSI Central Management Committee, Oyugis

Oversee community activities in: -capacity building for sustainable agriculture -women empowerment for effective participation in public life and decision-making

GSI and the communities for people-centred development for poverty reduction

Communities in Kasipul and Kabondo divisions as one entity

Multi-sectoral: -Agriculture -Health -HIV/AIDS -Infrastructure (water , roads) -Education

Amani Christian Community Development Project, Oyugis

-Internal sustainability (conference facilities) -Capacity building -Technical training/skills in agriculture, livestock -HIV/AIDS (widows, orphans) Youth programmes -Nursery school

Elizabeth Feilden (missionary) to alleviate poverty through training of farmers in sustainable agriculture

Communities around Oyugis in South Nyanza

Multi-sectoral: -Agriculture -Environment -Health -HIV/AIDS -HRD -Other income generation

Kituo cha Sheria (KCS) Capacity building in: -Advocacy for governance & economic issues -Legal advisory services for the poor

Individuals within the legal profession to fill the need for legal services and advice to the poor

The poor, mainly as disadvantaged groups, who require legal services/advocacy

Rights issues: -Governance -Economic rights (access to land) -Personal rights where denied based on, say, religion, ethnicity

Ilishe Capacity building in: -Raising awareness on economic and other rights -advocacy skills

38 community groups, with support of individuals from KCS, for advocacy on land and other rights issues

-Members of the 38 groups, mainly women and youth groups in Mombasa. -Advocacy e.g. on land rights -Also covers parts of Kilifi, Kwale, and Malindi

Multi-sectoral: -Gender -Human rights e.g. inheritance -Governance -Land

KCDF -Mobilize, manage and allocate financial resources to partner institutions -Build capacities and structures for good governance of partner institutions -Build assets through endowments -promoting the centrality of social capital in local institutions

-By Ford Foundation, Aga Khan Foundations, and individuals who had worked with NGOs to mobilize assets and make grants at community level

Qualifying institutions within the country

Multi-sectoral (depending on activities of the partner institution)

Yatta South Women Group

-Produce and market Akamba baskets -Capacity building of community members to meet basic needs

A Danish volunteer to federate 31 women groups to capture export markets for baskets

Members of the 31 women groups in Yatta South and their families

Commerce: export earnings through production and marketing of handicrafts

Mwana Mwende Child Development Trust

-Counseling teenage mothers -Training CHWs -Economic empowerment of teenage mothers

Margaret Kabiru and Anne Njenga to counsel teenagers and improve their quality of life

Youth especially teenage mothers in the project catchment in Machakos

Multi-sectoral: -Child-rights -Small scale businesses -Pre-school education -Health -HIV/AIDS

Egerton University PRA Department

-Capacity building and training in PRA techniques -Practical application of PRA methodologies in communities -Publishing case studies and methodologies

Academic staff of the university

-Training in Kenya, Uganda, UK and US -Practical application of methodologies in selected areas in Kenya

Multi-sectoral: -HRD -Governance -Agriculture -Gender -Environmental conservation

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Pwani PRA community -Integrated community-based activities covering water, agriculture, health, education, security, youth and women development, and tourism and wildlife

Egerton University PRA department and the community as a result of the PRA exercise

Pwani location, Njoro division

Multi-sectoral

Kikopey PRA Group -Water -Health -Wildlife menace -Education -Security -Transportation

Egerton University PRA department and the community as a result of the PRA exercise

Nagumu, Kamathatha, Ngu-Nyumu and Murera zones of Gilgil sub-location, Nakuru district

Multi-sectoral

Catholic Diocese of Nakuru

-Capacity building in agriculture, agricultural extension -Mobilize resources and savings for a community revolving fund -Cushion small farmers from effects of market liberalization

Catholic Dioceses of Nakuru and Kericho to facilitate sustainable agriculture in the two dioceses

Farmers in the 7 zones of the two dioceses: Naivasha, Molo, Nakuru, Baringo, Koibatek, Kericho, and Bomet

Multi-sectoral: -Agriculture -Commerce (savings and credit, etc)

FPAK -Reproductive health Two Kenyan doctors on reproductive health and planned parenthood

Selected areas in the country through regional coordinating offices

-Health and health policy

WE CAN DO IT (Nairobi neighborhood associations)

Mobilize sustained support for delivery of services from the City Council, and advocacy for consumer rights of the city residents

A city resident who solicited views and support of like-minded residents

All the people who live and/or work in Nairobi

Multi-sectoral: focusing on governance (management of city resources, delivery of services, the participation of the residents in city management, security)

Kiawanduma Coffee Cooperative Society

Coffee production and processing at the local level -Transportation and handling relations with processing and marketing institutions -Advocacy for more control of the marketing by small-scale farmers

The coffee farmers in the area because of perceived mismanagement by the district-wide cooperative and the national-level processing and marketing institutions

Coffee farmers in the area

Agriculture, as cash crop (foreign exchange earner)

Iyego Coffee Cooperative Society

Coffee production and processing at the local level -Transportation and handling relations with processing and marketing institutions -Advocacy for more control of the marketing by small-scale farmers

The coffee farmers in the area because of perceived mismanagement by the district-wide cooperative and the national-level processing and marketing institutions

Farmers of 12 coffee factories in Kangema

Agriculture, as cash crop (foreign exchange earner)

2.5 BROAD ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN BY LOCAL INSTITUTIONS The majority of the LLIs tend to start with one activity to address a certain felt need. With time, organizations begin to branch off into or get involved in other activities because of needs of members or demand from other quarters. Sometimes, the demand may be external to the LLI e.g. a donor may require a community-wide program so that the institution can qualify for funding. Broadly, LLIs are involved in different activities although they rarely abandon their core activities. The functions of LLIs fall in the following major categories: Capacity building This includes training lower level institutions, individuals and communities in areas of management, and different types of skills that contributes to improving various dimensions of their livelihoods. Awareness-creation is a form of capacity building to bring to the attention of specific individuals and groups about, say, the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS. Empowerment is intended to raise the level of consciousness of a particular group or the general public on pertinent common issues. Advocacy is intended to bring issues concerning a community or groups to the attention of relevant authorities who may or may not be the cause of the community concern. Some LLIs train and undertake advocacy work especially in those areas where

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people are ignorant of their rights, are held hostage to retrogressive laws or cultural practices, or may not afford costs of litigation or other direct or indirect costs of redress. These may include land rights, human rights, rights of children, women, the disabled, or whole communities such as the pastoral and some cash-crop farming communities. Source of resources for community development In most communities, there are many women groups which have merry-go-rounds as one of the strategies of resource mobilization and grassroots mutual support. The Kenyan concept of “harambee” for individual and community activities could also fall under this category. More recently, the concept of community foundations has begun to take root in Kenya, for perpetual benefit of either an identified area/group or for Kenya in general. During times of crisis (e.g. prolonged drought, floods, and displacement of people occasioned by hostile political activities), LLIs often come in handy to provide “first-aid” to the crisis by providing relief food and other basic services. Improving economic viability of their members For some institutions, the main focus is on developing sustainable livelihoods for their members at the household level. Even in cases where primary groups are members of a bigger institution handling a wider agenda (e.g. land rights at the Coast), they exist as independent entities focusing mainly on economic viability of their individual members. Provision of credit The service is provided mostly to those individuals or groups who are unable to meet credit conditions of mainstream banking e.g. women groups and youth groups. Such LLIs may also provide training, and monitor progress and impact of such credit. Development of value systems This includes governance in the use of public resources and setting of standards for management of community resources. Ideally, a government should be able to deliver public services without need for oversight role by the beneficiaries. But with corruption and erosion of values, other local level institutions have been put in place to police themselves, the government, and other development agents in their area. The NGO community has a regulatory committee while other organizations have set up complex structures in an attempt to establish and uphold good governance. Building Social Capital This mainly involves training of committee members of organizations at the local level to be accountable, transparent, and allow participation of members in their activities. This also involves sustained democratic processes of regenerating leaders of community activities, and empowering beneficiaries to demand good governance. The building of social capital is becoming increasingly central to the work of LLIs and a precondition for receiving development aid. The building of social capital is key to sustainable development as it emphasizes the need for accountability and regeneration of accountable leadership. If and when this concept is accepted as the way Kenyans do business, donors and other international agencies will have local organizations as alternative administrators of development funds. Currently, such funds are channeled through private consultancy firms due to credibility gap of local institutions, and traditional approaches among donors that focuses on projects rather than building capacities of local institutions. Linking civil society to external resources The external sources include religious organizations, international NGOs, bilateral agencies, individuals, and the corporate sector.

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Networking, collaboration, creating linkages The NGO Council, its networks and thematic groups provide an important element of networking and collaboration, while lower local level institutions engage in exchange visits for learning and exchange of ideas. Research, documentation, publishing, dissemination of information These include academic institutions although documentation and exchange of experiences was rather weak among the NGOs. Information generated by Government was reported as not reaching a wide range of users. In addition, development literature in Kenya seems to come from outside, although the information was generated or extracted from communities in Kenya.

2.6 SIMILARITIES AMONG LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS The study established that the following similarities existed among local organizations in different communities and regions: Use of PRAs Most cases which involve strong community participation and participatory monitoring and evaluation seem to have succeeded because the organization or local level institution had undergone a PRA process for participatory planning and awareness-raising. At the Coast, village development committees in the KDDP initiative had undergone Participatory Integrated Development (PID) process while KRSP had gone through PRA processes. In the Rift Valley, Egerton University used PRA in Pwani and Gilgil principally to raise awareness on the need for organizing the target communities among locally generated needs. SARDEP used similar approaches using child nutrition for social mapping to bring mothers of malnourished children together under the Koikee Women Group. GSI Central Management Committee was an outcome of the Participatory Evaluation Process (PEP), while CARE-Kenya conducted PRAs before Dak Achana Water Project was formed. Link To “Outside” Financial Facilitator Most successful LLIs were dependent on outsider financiers. Such financiers may initially have come in to support the original idea, which would otherwise have either died or metamorphosed in a different way. Akukuranut received financial support from World Neighbors and other donors before it became a trust. LLIs in Keiyo in the North Rift depend heavily on SARDEP. Financial support for KDDP village development committees comes from GTZ, while activities of those under KRSP owe their continued existence to the Aga Khan Foundation. Idea May Originate With Local Person, Financing Usually External Where successful LLIs received external financial support, there was tendency to overshadow the local person(s) who originated the idea, or to tag on a general community-development aspect to a member-based institution. Akukuranut is a classic example of an idea originated by a local person but later on attracted external financial support. A few organizations were reported as having tagged along general community development activities that were not generated through needs assessment of members e.g. Yatta South Women Group (water and other community-wide activities) and Ilishe (early childhood development project). Federating Seems To Be “Foreign” Even Though It Strengthens There were fewer “indigenous” LLIs that had federated compared to those started by someone “external” to the community. The 31 women groups that form Yatta South Women Group came together when a Danish woman volunteer noticed the potential for a federation. Koikee Women Group was brought together by SARDEP, while advocacy groups for land at the Coast were brought together as an outcome of Ilishe initiatives.

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Scope Is Usually Limited To Local Area Most LLIs are limited in their geographical scope and mostly serve the interests of the local area. The spatial scope of a truly indigenous LLI seemed to depend on the localized concept of space that defines neighbors. In the four districts that constitute the Kamba country, their concept of space allows a person residing 30 kms away to be considered a neighbor, while the corresponding distance in the Kikuyu country may be as low as 3 km. Such an LLI must address local issues that may not apply to other people beyond their “boundaries”. Apart from Ilishe which is expanding its geographical scope, most of the LLIs remained fairly local e.g. Pwani and Gilgil in the Rift Valley, and Amani in Nyanza are preoccupied with local development and advocacy issues close to home. The scope could also be limited by homogeneity of needs e.g. coffee farmers in a defined geographical area or social affiliation among members of Fish Groups in Kisumu most of who belong to one religious faith. Type of Membership Generally, indigenous groups promoting local values tended to be ethnically homogenous. These values include rites of passage e.g. circumcision, marriage and funerals, while issue-based groups (e.g. land rights, coffee marketing) tended to draw membership from the catchments area. For example, within slums in Nairobi, funeral groups will be ethnic-based while local groups dealing with water and sanitation will follow specified geographical boundaries. Old Knowledge Is Respected In some communities, “old” knowledge and practice especially in conflict resolution, mitigation, and dispensing of justice is respected and may even transcend written laws. In Wajir, traditional methods of conflict resolution are often used to rectify social anomalies and individual or group actions against community interests. LLIs Address Aspects/Sectors of PRSP The LLIs address aspects of the PRSP sectors and thematic areas. In most cases, an LLI will have a core thematic area (activity) but may bring on board other activities as long as they do not undermine the core activity. In some instances, primary groups belonging to the same secondary organization may have different core functions e.g. the groups that constitute the membership of Ilishe. Some have long experiences in their core activities, which are independent of changing national and international development paradigms.

2.7 ORGANIZATIONS PREFERRED BY DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES At the community level, i.e. district level and below, the main local level institutions covered by the study include indigenous and fairly homogeneous groups, CBOs, NGOs (both local and branches of external NGOs), Government departments, and Government extension staff. The local level institution preferred by a particular community is one that serves their specific needs. In the Kenya case, different regions might have different needs depending on geographical characteristics, resources available locally, ethnic modes of production, and social and political distance from the corridors of power (especially for groups dealing with advocacy). The study established that local level institutions preferred by most groups in the community include: Government Line Ministries Line ministry extension staffs are relevant because they meet the practical, common needs of the community e.g. agricultural extension staff and water technicians. Unfortunately, extension officers in some sectors have been retrenched. Some LLIs often seek the private services of former government extension staff. The Provincial Administration Kenya has a hierarchically nested administrative structure, from province, district, division, location, to sub-location. The provincial administration is organized along this administrative structure. They provide security and social harmony through a common identity at the local level (e.g. sub-location in the case of a

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sub-chief). They exist under a specific enabling legislation (The Chiefs Authority Act, cap 128 of the Laws of Kenya), are the link between the communities and the central Government, and are the vehicle through which the government derives and exercises authority at the local level. Community members in most places complained of their high handedness, abuse of office, and inability to handle issues that are not directly related with administration and regulation (e.g. development issues at the local level). The provincial administration was also said to serve the government of the day instead of serving the community. Communities with different political ideologies from that of the government tended to have poorer relations with the provincial administration. Homogeneous groups Women groups and other private interest groups (e.g. coffee farmers) were said to be pillars of development in the community as they support and sustain the economic viability of families, and operate as social infrastructure for serving other needs of the community. Women groups for example mobilize resources to address development issues starting from the household to the district level. Where women groups tended to be popular with the local people, such groups gained a visibility which sometimes drew the attraction of outsiders like donors and international NGOs, which in turn used them as vehicles of implementation of activities of the external development agencies. Although politicians and the provincial administration are among the people who applaud the contribution of women groups, they also attempt to manipulate them for personal or political gain (e.g. during parliamentary and civic elections). Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) CBOs are preferred by their immediate beneficiaries. Other people in the community may not even have heard about them. They are often limited in their spatial scope of operation, benefit a limited number of people, and may only serve a particular sex or age group e.g. distribution and use of condoms for male youth. Religious organizations These are community organizations started and/or managed by religious organizations and often address both the material and spiritual needs of the people. Most of them go beyond their faith in targeting the community members to work with. Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) NGOs are preferred by all those who benefit from them. The Government prefers them only if they do not engage in issues of political reform such as human rights and demands for good governance, land issues, and insecurity. To most politicians, NGOs should not exist. In a recent contribution to the constitutional review process a minister expressed what some high level politicians think about NGOs: “If there is one bad thing which we have done in Kenya, it is to promote these artificial bodies called NGOs, which serve as business enterprises for some people” (Daily Nation, July 21, 2001). At the same forum, another minister described NGOs as being driven by financial interests. Contributing to the same debate, a senior politician said, “NGOs should not meddle with the country’s constitutional review process”. In some districts, government leadership did not trust NGOs. Some officials of the provincial administration described NGOs as not transparent, hiding something, too limited in their scope, dealing only in things they like best (e.g. credit), not being community-based, and even exploiting wananchi (the common public). Yet NGOs are quite beloved in crisis. With the same breath that castigates NGOs, the government will call on NGOs to provide relief, to build a school or a hospital, to deal with floods and drought, or to assist in enlightenment and counseling on HIV/AIDS.

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CHAPTER 3

STRUCTURE OF SELECTED ORGANIZATIONS

3.1 SAMPLE OF KENYAN LOCAL LEVEL INSTITUTIONS The internal structure that defines priorities, implementation process, accountability, and sanctions against laxity or fraud depends on the functions of the organization, its vertical and horizontal linkages, and the nature of its legal registration. There were many types of structures that manage community assets which were not visited but are started under relevant laws e.g. school and health center management committees to manage education institutions and cost recovery in the health centers, respectively. Primary Groups At the grassroots level, there are many indigenous primary groups e.g. women groups performing independent activities for the benefit of their members. The activities are for mutual support of members or what is generally described as the moral economy of the peasant. An existing primary group rarely changed its core function even after it gets involved with activities of an external development agent (e.g. NGO or government). The activities included merry-go-round (cash or in-kind) and assisting each other in times of distress (burial, cultivation) or celebrations (marriage, circumcision). Even where primary groups of individual members are brought together under an external project, they initiate activities independent of those they conduct at the project level. This is mainly done to ensure economic viability of the households of the individual members. The involvement of external development agents may improve or blur their vision but they rarely lose sight of their primary objective. Examples include unaffiliated women groups; Nairobi neighborhood associations; the 31 women groups which form Yatta South Women Group; the groups which form Ilishe; Lycodep groups; women groups in Wajir town under the pastoral associations; groups under Dak Achana CARE-Kenya project; Emkong Water Project; Kiawanduma Coffee Cooperative; Amani (Oyugis); Pwani and Gilgil PRA communities; Umoja Women Group under Akukuranut; and project management committees under SARDEP that federate to form transect area committees. In most of the organizations visited, the membership consisted of groups rather than individual members of primary groups. The primary groups had their own independent activities. For example, the groups in Likoni under Lycodep had activities independent of their umbrella organizations. This was also true of primary groups under Akukuranut and Ilishe. The activities of primary groups may be different from those of the umbrella organization e.g. groups of pre-school teachers and community health workers under the umbrella of the Mwana Mwende Child Development Trust have their own economic activities totally unrelated to early childhood education and child nutrition and health. Most of the primary groups are registered with the Department of Social Services. The registration certificate does not accord it legal status, and cannot therefore sue or be sued. Most of the activities and relationships between members are therefore based on trust. The primary group may have a bank account, although maintenance of bank accounts was described as expensive due to high minimum savings bank balances and prohibitive bank charges. Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) Most of the community-based organizations and community-level federations receive some form of external link regardless of whether the original idea was home grown. The CBOs were a form of social infrastructure started by external agents to manage community activities at the local level. The external support may be in the form of capacity building, project funds on the basis of community proposals, and creation of social

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capital at the local level. Leaders of primary groups normally elect the leadership of such CBO through a delegates system. A notable exception was the central management committee (CMC) under GSI where the leaders are elected directly by community members. Village Development Committees (VDC) includes project initiatives of KDDP, KRSP, and CARE-Kenya. VDCs are an outcome of a process of community empowerment through some form of participatory methodology (PRA) normally introduced by outside agents. After helping the community to organize around a number of development themes, the community is assisted to organize itself into structures that can plan, implement and control community projects. Resources for project implementation are often in the form of grants brought in by the outside agent to the committee periodically. Within the village, there are many other development initiatives and other village level institutions and primary groups. Members of these primary groups may be members of the VDC. VDCs under KRSP and CARE had federated to sub-location and location levels. Examples of community-based organizations and federations include: • Transect area committees under SARDEP which manage projects within their jurisdiction e.g. Emkong

Water Project, Midiliwo Zero Grazing Project and Koikee Food Security • Village, sub-location and location development committees under Dak Achana project • Pastoralist associations in Wajir • Akukuranut Development Trust that oversees the activities of primary groups e.g. Umoja Women Group • Mwana Mwende Child Development Trust • Ilishe • Amani Christian Development Project in Oyugis • Catholic Diocese of Nakuru • Projects of Egerton University PRA department located in Pwani and Gilgil • Private sector organizations e.g. We Can Do It • Lycodep • FPAK which consists of regional volunteers from the division, district to national level with elections

through the delegates system • GSI Central Management Committee • Iyego Coffee Cooperative (comprising of 12 coffee factories) • Yatta South Women Group A community level federation is an amalgam of groups that address similar issues and come together to draw on numerical superiority. For example, in YSWG or Iyego Coffee Cooperative, members got together largely to enjoy economies of scale, while Ilishe and Lycodep pooled their strength as a lobby group. Community-level federations tend to draw strength from the degree of participation of their constituent groups. For example, groups under Ilishe need to participate in Ilishe activities, while factories under Iyego cooperative and groups under YSWG need to produce for the market if the federations are to remain viable. The geographical scope of the CBO can be at the village level. However, several village development committees can federate to sub-location, and perhaps to location level. At the location level, the federation could have some links with the location development committee headed by the chief. The CBO could be registered under the Department of Social Services (and would therefore not be a legal person), under the Societies Act (cap 108 of the Laws of Kenya), or as a trust under The Trustees (Perpetual Succession) Act (cap 164 of the Laws of Kenya). In a few instances, CBOs were registered as NGOs. The nature of the registration certificate depended on the perceived functions of the organization (e.g. Ilishe), while others are chosen for convenience. For example, some choose to register with the Department of Social Services due to the strict vetting process the government undertakes in registration of societies under the Societies Act (under which registration of political parties also fall). In most CBOs, priorities are defined by the members through the trust of the leaders they elect in the annual general meeting. In the case of those registered as trusts, the law requires that there should be a board of

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trustees. Such a board normally consists of both members of the primary groups (to focus on the vision), and professionals from diverse fields (to provide technical advice). The extent to which the communities influence planning depends on the space the funding agency is ready to give. Some funding agencies may have conducted baseline surveys to determine people’s priorities, and work within the general framework under which they accessed funds. Other agencies may only be in capacity building and building of social capital within well-defined sectoral interventions. However, community-based planning is beginning to take root, and most external agents (including NGOs) are giving communities a free hand in determining priorities, and in implementation and monitoring of activities at the community level. Community Development Foundations The consultant team interviewed only one community foundation, namely, the Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF). KCDF is a grant-making organization that builds assets through building endowment funds for use in building local governance structures. It undertakes comprehensive capacity assessments on institutional, financial, and governance structures and helps to put these structures in place e.g. development of management boards, participatory monitoring and evaluation, financial management, and project design. Capacity building involves social capital in the sense of creating the culture of an organization that mainstreams good governance in its routine operations. This includes evolution of policy, accountability in the use of resources at their disposal, transition mechanisms for the leadership of an organization, gender balance in terms of men and women (and the quality of that gender balance), and modulating the softest and the loudest voices in an organization. KCDF promotes what it calls “behind the well”: the way it was decided and built, the discussions that went on during the construction, and whether or not it represents a growing indigenous capacity and ability to get what the community needs from government and other agencies. Although bilateral and multilateral donors are not convinced that there are local organizations that can undertake building of social capital, KCDF is emerging as a potential role model as custodian of people’s resources. Donors continue to rely on expensive private consulting firms as financial management agencies (FMA) for administering community funds.

3.2 A SAMPLE OF KEY STRUCTURES Most of the local organizations have a structure that defines the way they work and function, how they relate to their membership and other stakeholders, how they maintain responsibility and accountability, and how they manage and resolve conflict. After considering and studying the different types of structures the different LLIs have, it was evident that these structures were as varied as their activities, functions, and vertical and horizontal linkages. The consultant team was not able to establish strong prototypes. Rather within the variations, the consultant team chose to describe a selection of structures from among the different categories of LLIs. The selection does not necessary imply representation within the category as the selection was based more on category, geographical spread, activities, and level of relationship within the hierarchy of LLIs (national to grassroots).

Classification Name Region/Province GOK/bilateral KDDP: village development committee Coast International NGO & projects Oxfam: Wajir pastoral project North Eastern NGO Council National Council of NGOs National NGO Akukuranut, Umoja women group Western CBO CARE-Kenya Dak Achana Nyanza Private sector - Kiawanduma & Iyego

- We Can Do It - Central - Nairobi

GOK/civil society at grassroots District to village Level National

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Kilifi District Development Program (KDDP) KDDP was started in 1994 as a multi-sectoral, district-based rural development program supported by the Governments of Kenya and Germany. The program focuses on building capacities of communities and service providers in Kilifi district with the aim of contributing to poverty reduction and testing a model of district level planning that involves active participation of beneficiaries over the entire project cycle. The basis of development support is the village as a traditional community. The villagers organize themselves into village development committees (VDC) which federate to work with government structures. The composition of elected members is gender and age inclusive to ensure equity. Currently, the program is working with 100 communities. At the apex, the organizational structure has as Programme Support Unit (PSU). The PSU is attached to the Office of the District Water Officer (Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources) and is overseen by a Joint Monitoring Committee with representatives from the national level (ministry). The German contribution to the program is managed by GFA, a German-based consulting company subcontracted by GTZ. Components of the programme include commerce and industry, health, education, natural resource management, community development, infrastructure, and district planning. Implementing agencies include: trade, industry, and applied technology; ministry of health and district health management team; formal education, and adult education; agriculture, livestock, veterinary, fisheries, and forestry; social service, councils, and NGOs; water and roads; and district development committee/district executive committee, and the district development office. The implementing agencies support projects generated by community level institutions under the village development committees. Community-based development activities include those initiatives agreed on by the whole community in the community action plan (CAP). The community may request for resources provided the community has (a) formed a village development committee (VDC); (b) the VDC has received sufficient training on participatory development planning; (c) opened a bank account and collected/accumulated its own cash contribution of minimum 10% of total cash costs; and (d) is willing to provide all labor, locally available materials and transport for implementing the planned CAP projects. The Wajir Pastoral Development Programme The structures that manage the Wajir Pastoral project at the district level include district development committee (DDC), district executive committee (DEC), pastoral steering committee (PSC), and district pastoral association (DPA). The PSC is chaired by the DDO with Nomadic Primary Health Care Programme (NPHC) coordinator as its secretary. The PSC is a district level stakeholders’ forum on pastoral issues and a sub-committee of the DDC. Its members are drawn from veterinary, health, agriculture, water, social services; and coordinators from Oxfam, Arid Lands Management Project (ALMP) and NPHC. The DEC coordinates the work of district departmental heads, while the DDC coordinates all development activities in the district. The DPA is a federal representative body of all the pastoral associations (PAs) in the district, and comprises of elected officials of member PAs. The DPA is a sub-committee of the DDC and participates in meetings of all key committees of the DDC. The DPA members hold office for three years. The DDC is a government structure and a supreme district-planning organ chaired by the District Commissioner. Its membership includes the DC as chair, the DDO, district departmental heads, district accountant, representatives of local authorities, parastatals operating in the district, members of parliament,

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and co-opted heads of NGOs and religious groups. The DDC works through and with a number of sub-committees of stakeholders. The DEC is chaired by the DDC and is the chief technical committee of the DDC. It is composed of all governmental heads in the district and works through sector-specific technical arms. The Oxfam field office coordinator attends all key pastoral meetings organized by the DDC and relevant committees at district level. At the location level, there are 21 PAs which are representative bodies of all the base level user-organizations within the location. They are led by an elected management committee of 6 PA officials plus another 6 elected at an AGM of PA members. The management committee is responsible for the management of the association between general meetings, while sector-specific sub-committees address specific sector issues e.g. water, health, and education. At sub-location and community levels are the various communities and their membership associations which include water users, veterinary drug users, women groups and parents teachers associations (PTA). They are the constitutionally founded base level representative organizations of pastoral communities registered with the Department of Social Services. A committee elected by association members (who range from about 100 to 1,000) runs each association. National Council of Nongovernmental Organizations The NGO Council was established under Section 23 of the NGO Coordination Act (1990) as a collective forum for all the voluntary agencies registered under the Act. The mission of the NGO Council states that, “The NGO Council exists to prepare, strengthen and promote voluntary action in pursuit of a more just and equitable society”. It further states that “it exists to provide overall leadership to the NGO sector by championing the values of probity, transparency, accountability, justice and good governance; enhancing the self regulation of its members; and by assisting NGOs to realize their potential in providing services that improve the socioeconomic status of Kenyan society in a sustainable, just and equitable manner”. The Council’s strategic objectives include (a) promoting good governance in the NGO sector, (b) enhancing membership support and capacity building, (c) promoting policy interests by NGOs at national, regional and international levels, (d) promoting gender equity progressiveness in the NGO sector, and (e) enhancing the institutional capacity of the Council. To facilitate its functions, the Council has structures operating at two levels, namely, policy and decision making (executive committee, regulatory committee, board of trustees) and secretariat: The supreme organ of the Council is the membership of NGOs which congregates at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Among the business of the AGM are election of members to the Executive Committee, the Regulatory Committee, the Board of Trustees, and Sub-Committees. The Executive Committee consists of 15 members. According to the Council’s Rules and Regulations, members of the Executive Committee must come from the NGO sector and can serve for only up to two consecutive terms. Officials for the post of Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Vice-Treasurer and the Chairs of the sub-committees of the Executive Committee are elected from the 15 members of the Executive Committee. The Chief Executive Committee is responsible for directing all programme activities of the Council and other matters as articulated by the General Assembly. In reality, members of the Executive Committee are full time employees of member NGOs. The chairperson of the Executive Committee is also the chair of the Regulatory Committee. One of the members of the regulatory committee has to be a qualified lawyer, with at least ten years’ experience as an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, and appointed by the Law Society of Kenya. The Regulatory Committee promotes and maintains adherence to the NGO Code of Conduct and Rules and Regulations. It is also charged with the responsibility of reviewing the Code periodically and proposing amendments to the General

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Assembly. The Committee defines and reviews the criteria for support by the Council of applications by its members regarding work permits, duties and tariffs. The Board of Trustees has five members elected out of a list of seven nominated by the Executive Committee. There are two Sub-committees of the Council: the Networking Sub-committee and the Finance and Administration Sub-committee. The Networking sub-committee is open to members drawn from outside the Executive Committee through a process of cooptation. As much as is possible, members of the Networking sub-committee include representatives from the Sectoral Networks. The sectoral networks include: Peace and Development Network (Peacenet), Legal and Human Rights Network, Participatory Methodologies Forum of Kenya (Pamfork), Kenya Aids NGOs Consortium (Kanco), Kenya Pastoralists Forum, Gender and Development Network, Kenya Alliance for the Advancement of Children’s Rights, Coalition on Violence Against Women (Covaw), Social and Development Network (Sodnet), Youth and Development Network, and Coalition Against Landmines. The Council is also working with NGOs in various provinces to form Regional Networks for effective coordination and monitoring of NGO activities at local level. The Council’s Secretariat is responsible for the ongoing work of the Council and for implementing programme initiatives decided on by the General Assembly. The Secretariat is headed by a Chief Executive Officer, working with a team of six professional staff and six support personnel. Akukuranut Development Trust (ADT) Akukuranut is an umbrella organization of groups (mostly women groups) whose objective is enhancement of food security at the family level. The organization traces its origins to the efforts of a young man from the area who was growing vegetables but volunteered himself to assist other vegetable farmers to improve crop husbandry. The groups increased over time to about 60 groups. The objective later expanded to encompass wider food security issues (and not only vegetable farming). Key challenges for ADT include male idleness, drunkenness, female illiteracy, and inferior position of women and the girl child. ADT described itself as “a credible, little organization”. Since ADT is a membership organization, the annual general meeting is the highest authority. The members delegate authority to the Board of Trustees (BOT). A chairperson elected by members of the Board heads the BOT. The BOT is answerable to all the members. The manager is an employee who heads the management unit and is answerable to the BOT and is also secretary to the BOT. There is a Finance and Administration unit headed by the Treasurer who reports to the BOT. The Accounts Clerk writes and maintains accounts and reports to the manager. The General Audit carries out internal auditing of ADT books of accounts, and the sub-unit reports to the Treasurer and the BOT. Each of the seven ADT’s programmes has a thematic sub-committee with specific responsibilities, namely, banking section (savings and credit), asset development, agriculture, health, marketing and publicity, training and mobilization, and special projects. They represent members, contribute ideas, and make recommendations to the BOT. There are 13 fully registered groups, and 64 associate member groups (for only savings and credit) which are not members of the trust. Umoja Women Group is a member of Akukuranut and has five members. The group started off with 13 members. Some have fallen off for different reasons, and one member died. The group has been involved in a variety of activities. These include bee keeping for every household in the group, and merry-go-round for utensils, pigs and cash. They are also involved in the “passing the gift” heifer project, in which a heifer is loaned to a member who passes it on to another member of the group after it gives a calf. If the cow dies of East Coast fever, the member is deemed careless and is required to repay the group.

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The structure of the group includes a chair-lady, a secretary and treasurer. The group meets once a month for their monthly merry-go-round. They leave some of the money contributed with the member in whose house the meeting takes place while the balance is put in a savings account. The group independently works with government extension officers. Nyanza Household Livelihood Security Program (Dak Achana) The project covers specific administrative locations in Lambwe (in Suba district), Nyarongi (Homa Bay), and Kasipul (Rachuonyo). The interventions are mainly in agriculture (extension, adaptive research, institutional capacity building) and water and sanitation (institutional capacity building, water and sanitation infrastructure, health and hygiene education). In the local dialect, “dak achana” means, “good, organized living”. The operations at the community level are in the hands of the communities and community resource persons e.g. village health promoters, adaptive research farmers, and pump caretakers. The community elects the leaders of a village management committee (VMC), and they in turn elect the executive officials. The VMCs in turn elect sub-location management committees, and sub-location management committees federate to form a location management committee. The location management committees are members of their respective location development committees chaired by administrative chiefs. The communities are in the process of using the same system to federate up to the district level. The project’s monitoring and evaluation process is participatory, and starts at the bottom climbing systematically along the federating process that defines the vertical organizational structure. The project cooperates with government structures and officials relevant to each level in the organizational structure. At the village, sub-location, location and division levels, the project has mainstreamed its activities with those of officials in public health, water, education (education officers, school inspectors), social services, agriculture (extension), elected leaders (councilors) and provincial administration (assistant chiefs, chiefs, division officers). At the district level, the project works with government officials of the same departments, and also includes the District Development Officer and the District Forest Officer. The district level government staffs coordinate their activities with those of lower level staff in such a way that the project activities are integrated in the government planning and implementation process. Kiawanduma and Iyego Coffee Cooperative Societies The coffee industry is run on a strict top-down approach with the farmers being at the lowest level. At the apex, the structure consists of the Coffee Board of Kenya, the parastatal responsible for grading and marketing of coffee after receiving it from the Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU). KPCU is responsible for processing coffee after it is received from the different farmers’ cooperatives from the different farms and parts of the country. The local coffee farmers form the membership of the local coffee cooperative society. The officials are elected from among its membership at factory level. The different cooperatives elect their members in the annual general meeting. The officials liaise with the Kenya Planters Cooperative Union on behalf of their members. Two scenarios in Murang’a represent examples of the structures governing the coffee industry: Kiawanduma Coffee Cooperative Society and Iyego Coffee Cooperative Society. Kiawanduma Coffee Cooperative Society represents only one coffee factory. The Annual General Meeting of the Society elects leaders to represent them both at the factory level as well as at the KPCU level. Iyego Coffee Cooperative Society is an amalgam of twelve factories each running its affairs independently with its member farmers. The 12 factories have elected 9 management committees. The cooperative liaises with KPCU and other higher organs in the coffee hierarchy on behalf of the 12 constituent factories.

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We Can Do It “We Can Do It” is an initiative toward new directions in the governance of the City of Nairobi with active participation of the residents through neighborhood associations. Primary and community organizations or federations in the rural areas are forms of neighborhood associations, but the ethnic and class differentiation in an urban setting complicates the concept of neighbor. The social distance between neighbors in a strictly spatial sense was reported as differing from town to town. For example, the experience of Kituo cha Sheria in informal settlements in Mombasa and Nairobi has shown that there is more social cohesion within neighborhoods in Mombasa compared with the more atomized Nairobi community. The structure that follows is a proposal developed by the Nairobi neighborhood associations under the umbrella of “We Can Do It” for a more efficient structure in the governance and provision of services to the city residents. The structure includes the different levels of operation with greater involvement of the residents. Level A consists of neighborhood associations which take into account streets, estates, courts in large estates, business/commercial concerns, among others, and all the persons and resident businesses therein. The association will be run on democratic ideals with popularly elected leadership taking charge for a specified period with performance-related periodic endorsements during the term of service. Each neighborhood will generate its own vision, mission and action plans for implementation of local programs and projects. Issues for inclusion would include development and maintenance of internal physical infrastructure, solid waste management, internal security, development issues including land use, management and control of public utility land within the neighborhood, approval of business licenses including kiosks, and social welfare and youth development. Level B will consist of groupings of a number of neighborhood associations on a logical geographical or administrative basis. The running of business at this level will rest upon a committee elected by individual neighborhood associations. The main responsibilities at this level are networking neighborhood associations, collaboration, and advocacy work to ensure that the city residents get service. Level C (zones or boroughs) is envisioned as equivalent of small townships with municipal authority over their areas. The greater associations at Level B shall have elected representation at zone (borough) level. The committee will be responsible for monitoring of programs, and collecting rates and other levies on behalf of the governing council. The committee will work with the technical departments of the Nairobi City Council. Level D (the governing council) would the highest organ in the proposed system and will generally oversee the running of the City. The members of this Council shall be the representatives elected from the zones (boroughs). Members serving at this level must have been elected from the neighborhood association level through the greater association and the zone. Level D will be charged with overseer responsibility of strategic planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and resource mobilization and management.

3.3 DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT PLANNING The government planning process follows the spatial organization of the administrative structure. The district focus for rural development (DFRD) decentralized planning and implementation to the district level. However, the planning process is entirely in the hands of the departmental heads of various ministries at the district level. Some of those interviewed commented that the introduction of the DFRD did not amount to devolution of power, but merely built national structures at the district level. The communities do not see a clear separation of development from government administrative and regulatory roles. The district planning process is an internal affair within the district development committee

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that does not involve beneficiaries. The only notable example is Kilifi district where the activities of KDDP have attempted to introduce participatory approaches to district planning. The civil society organizations operate at grassroots level, although some federate or scale up at the location level. In the case of Dak Achana project in South Nyanza, the project location development committee is a sub-committee of the location development committee headed by the chief. Apart from Wajir pastoral project which links up with government structures at the district level, the civil society organizations interviewed linked with government structures or government personnel at the location level where the government structure does not have authority to commit state funds. Funds are only committed at the district level. The location development committees also have little influence on the decisions made at the district level.

3.4 LOCAL AUTHORITIES The local authorities and the central government provide a dual administrative structure at the district level. The local authorities come under the Ministry of Local Government. According to Part VIII of the Local Government Act (cap 265 of the Laws of Kenya), the appointment of municipal council officers is conducted by the Public Service Commission. The officers include town clerk, treasurer, engineer, and public health officer. The PSC may also appoint deputies for those officers. The power of the minister and the Public Service Commission to appoint municipal council officers has been the most contentious issue between the people’s representatives (councilors) and the central government. The operations of the local authorities are governed by a system of committees. These committees do not provide room for participation of residents in planning and implementation of activities. In Mombasa, coordination of development is complicated by a dual administration between central government and municipality since the boundaries of the municipality coincide with those of the district. The administrative system in Mombasa has duplications of offices in both central government and the municipal council e.g. health and education. PAMNUP is cooperating with the Mombasa Municipal Council in making the system of managing local authorities more open to residents. The dual administrations at the local level (central government through the DDC and the local authorities) are maintained by taxpayers. The communities do not view the local authorities as their partners in development since the councils have been locked out of development funds for a long time. However, the central government has started a process of transferring funds to be administered through the local authorities. The law on local authority transfer fund (LATF) was enacted in 1999, where the government committed itself to distribute 5% of the national tax revenue. However, mechanisms for participatory generation of development plans (the annual service delivery plan) on the use of such funds have not been developed at the local levels. According to various respondents, the Local Government Act (cap 265) excludes active participation of citizens in the running of local authorities since most of the authority is vested in the minister. The ongoing consultations on local government reform programme was seen as an opportunity to give a fresh look at the jurisdictional disputes embedded in dual administration, and deepening the process of devolution, accountable governance and quality of service delivery at the local level. Some respondents thought that the ongoing local government reform commission, the constitutional review process, and the PRSP were an integrated package for a new administrative and development order.

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3.5 INTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS Among the prerequisites for realizing transparent, accountable and effective management committees are trust, training and empowerment3. The community has to trust that their leaders will do the needful and do it when it needs doing. The leaders on the other hand have to be shown (trained) on how to do it. But the community has to be empowered through deliberate and focused capacity building to know and demand for their rights, access resources, as well as assess value for investments thereto, and monitor and measure performance of committees. The third component is pivotal to sustainable accountability and transparency within the system. The first two prerequisites are normally adequately addressed by most community projects. However, the achievement of the third component normally varies since the level of awareness differs between leaders and the community members they serve as a result of concentrating training and other aspects of capacity building on the leaders. Most primary groups first comes together bound by some level of trust to address local needs. For example, a women group at the village level does not include every woman in the neighborhood because there are some minimum requirements, including trust. Such trust is cultivated through continuous interaction. After a group is formed, cohesion within the group was largely determined by trust of members for each other and their overall trust of their leaders. When the group acquires a certain level of visibility, it may seek support from organizations that provide capacity building. For example, primary groups under Ilishe, KDDP (including village development committees), and partners of KCDF and ACTIONAID have gone through capacity building to acquire skills e.g. bookkeeping, aesthetic issues such as group management, and training on appropriate organizational structures (roles and responsibilities of boards and development committees). When LLIs have gone through levels of training and building of social capital, such LLIs enjoyed a higher level of internal cohesion and empowerment. Pastoral Associations are able to sit on the DDC because they understand the issues and can question and present their case. This could be contrasted with coffee farmers who have never gone beyond the local factory and have no idea where the Coffee Board of Kenya is located. Most progressive LLIs continue to build the capacity of their members through staff training, exchange visits and other forms of capacity enhancement. LLIs also improve their physical infrastructure depending on the quality of internal plans and level of financial resources (external or internally generated resources). To ensure accountable and transparent running of LLIs, the majority had bank accounts with specific signatory requirements known to members and included in the by-laws of the group. The majority kept records of events through minutes and other periodic reports. They also had a supreme organ to oversee the affairs of the institution e.g. central management committee. Such an organ was responsible for setting policy, promoting public image, and holding custodial responsibility over the assets and resources of the institution. The planning process included preparation of strategic plans, and periodic review of performance through regular meetings. In a few instances there were impact assessment reports and external evaluations, especially for activities supported by donors and NGOs.

3.6 PARTICIPATORY MONITORING AND EVALUATION Types of Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation Participatory monitoring and evaluation involves the process of generating community needs, prioritizing, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. There were two participatory approaches to project entry

3 See F.S. Barasa, “The ACTIONAID’s Community Education Initiative (CEI): Report of the Snapshot Review”, Department for International Development (DfID), May 2001

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that were identified. The first involves institutions or networks whose main purpose is development and documentation of participatory techniques without necessarily having a follow-on project. In the case of Egerton University PRA department, for example, a target community became more organized, was able to plan and implement community activities, to pool internal resources, to relate to the outside world in a beneficial and responsible way, and moved from a culture of despair. The second type of participatory approach is where an external agent has decided, through literature study or baseline surveys, to put tent in a particular community. The external agent may use participatory approaches at project entry to the community, and during community-based planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation in Practice At the most elementary level, members of a local organization are able to receive feedback on the progress of their organization at the annual general meeting. The AGM provided a forum for discussion, although problems arose if the grapevine information system had communicated messages different from those presented in the AGM. The AGM also provided members an opportunity to hire and fire their leaders. Regular monitoring of project activities was evident in a number of local organizations e.g. Pwani and Gilgil PRA communities. In the case of Dak Achana project, the monitoring system starts with the visits of community resource persons to participating homesteads, and then the group of homesteads in a specified neighborhood meeting to discuss their progress. This is followed by reviews at the village level, and scales up vertically to the sub-location and location levels. ACTIONAID has replaced the regular annual planning and reporting system with accountability, learning and planning system (ALPS) which bases the reports on reflection processes with the partner communities. The level of project success was more evident where participatory monitoring at the community level was the routine. There are some local institutions where community ownership of project activities was compromised by their low degree of involvement in monitoring project activities. Monitoring and evaluation within government through, say, national welfare surveys, was described as generation of long-term bench-marks rather than a participatory monitoring and evaluation process that can enhance efficiency and accountability.

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CHAPTER 4

EMERGING ISSUES

4.1 CHALLENGES LLIs FACE The LLIs discussed the challenges they face in the course of doing their work that included the following: Balancing Between Identities Some LLIs explained their difficulty in balancing between their primary functions and other added responsibilities as a result of branching into other avenues which were not part of the original idea. This may have occurred due to changed demands of the members, change in the environment, or external agent tagging on to the LLI to meet other agenda. In some cases, an external agent may want to provide financial support to strengthen activities of the LLI either on request of the LLI, identifying it through a baseline survey, or if referred by persons known to the LLI. Within government, there is no clear separation between administration, development and politics. The DDC and the provincial administration are government structures intended to deal with development work, and yet the same structures are used for political activities by the government of the day. This often confuses the communities. At the local level, LLIs explained that there was lack of participation and commitment from some community members and government at the local level. As a result of this attitude, some government officials tend to treat misappropriation of loans and grants from donors as using donor money rather than misusing Kenyan money. This leads to inefficient management of resources in their custody. Phasing-Out and Sustainability Issues Most LLIs started by an external facilitator were designed within defined life spans. It is often not clear what would happen if the external facilitator leaves or stops supporting the LLI with finance and other types of support. Unfortunately many LLIs and beneficiary communities with external facilitators often identify the project or initiative as being the property of that external agent. Experiences abound where many projects with role model LLIs have collapsed after the external facilitator leaves. And many LLIs initiated by outsider facilitators seem to believe that they must indefinitely continue to receive financial support from the outsiders. Among those institutions interviewed, there were expressions of concern about the future of LLIs and projects funded under GOK/bilateral arrangements. As they come to the end of the project period, it was not clear what would happen to the federations created at the local level. However, primary groups under the same projects are not often adversely affected. This is because such primary groups have activities independent of those of the federations. Examples here include women groups and other primary groups that have created village or sub-location level federations. Expansion and Replication LLIs are usually focused to serve a specific section of community, age group, issue or activity. Consequently, their work is spatially limited to the local community. Where such an LLI had visible impact, it was often the desire of adjacent communities, the local administration or the government in general, that such LLI expands and replicates its work. Despite their resource constraints, such LLIs are castigated by government as self-centered, not willing to expand, and sometimes accused of having a hidden agenda. The number of people who require the services of LLIs and their expectations sometimes overwhelm the capacity of LLIs. Lack of access to legal services and sustainable health services, for example, is directly linked

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to poverty. Because the poor cannot afford these services, there is need for NGOs, CBOs and other LLIs to provide. But against limited resources, these agents may not be able to go outside their “boundaries”. Effects of HIV/AIDS Many LLIs complained of loss of gains made due to the ravages of HIV/AIDS. Some communities said they have to cope with new challenges resulting from the effects and impact of HIV/AIDS. LLIs involved in production had lost capacity in skills, labor, experience, and new demands occasioned by deaths (e.g. providing for the widowed and orphans). In the case of LLIs that bring together a number of households, idle land and other resources also mean diminished productivity. Cultural practices and community attitudes toward sex continue to escalate the spread of HIV/AIDS. Such practices included polygamy and multiple partners, widow inheritance, perceived position of girls and women as sex objects, and the view that sex was a game for men to engage in (for young men to “taste”). Many communities were still in denial concerning existence of HIV/AIDS. Other self-destructive attitudes included the view that: “If AIDS doesn’t kill me, I will still die from other causes, e.g. road accident.” Ignorance about causes of AIDS contributed to beliefs that AIDS is caused by witchcraft or the “evil eye”. Theft by Custodians of Community Resources The initiative of organizations such as KCDF to instill virtues of good governance in LLIs is well founded. LLIs and communities that had vested trust in their staff and other custodians of community resources had been disappointed. One LLI complained of blatant theft by a staff member who had taken off with project equipment and materials using project transport. Poor governance of community resources was also cited in the leadership of the coffee industry right from the factory to the national level. Corruption at the LLI level is a reflection of the state of affairs in the whole nation. The fact that the community was unable to prosecute any community members whom they had elected from among themselves to protect their interests and property shows that corruption is institutionalized across the social spectrum. At the national level, corruption was responsible for collapse of state-owned organizations such as the former Kenya Meat Commission and consequent loss of livestock marketing opportunities for the pastoralists. Kenyan society is characterized by civic inertia, waiting for someone to bring in development. This weak civil society has over the years watched while corruption and other ills took root. The LLIs said they will continue to preach the virtues of good governance at the local and national levels. The Limited Scope of the Rights Agenda The LLIs at the grassroots level cited support from NGOs and local organizations on their clamor for rights e.g. access to secure land tenure at the coast. However, much of the rights agenda handles group rights but does not sufficiently support individual rights e.g. support to a particular individual or small group of persons who have been unfairly disinherited. The focus on group rights without sufficient support to protection of individual rights where they have been infringed was cited as a strong limitation in the advocacy campaign. The rights campaign among the coffee farmers focus on privatization of coffee marketing as the farmers are burdened with statutory deductions from their produce to support state-owned coffee marketing and research institutions. The communities are wasting energy and resources advocating for a more efficient and transparent management of government that would have been diverted to more productive uses. Lack of Proper Infrastructure Almost all the LLIs interviewed complained of poor infrastructure especially inadequate road network and quality of roads as a drawback to their work. They were unable to reach markets and could not be reached by potential investors. Lack of electricity meant lack of industry of any sort. One LLI had spent large amounts of resources but had still been unable to generate enough water to support activities of the LLI.

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The Low Position of Women in the Community Although the position of women in communities and indeed within LLIs seemed to remain low, the role of women was represented positively. Most of the LLIs interviewed had equitable representation and participation. The women-only initiatives presented an opposite picture in terms of gender balance, but this was viewed against the specific objectives of the institution. The study did not come across men-only LLIs. Retrenchment of GOK Extension Staff Reduces Productive Capacity The LLIs which were involved in production and who have been utilizing government extension officers to improve their work were quick to point out that retrenchment of extension staff had adversely affected their productivity. Cattle Raids, Inter-Clan Conflict/War Pastoral communities pointed out that pastoralism as a way of life was not understood by outsiders including the government. They felt they were not accorded due support. It was for this reason that the Oxfam Pastoralist Programme came into being to prove that there is life beyond the tarmac. Livestock diseases and loss of markets pose a challenge due to depletion of herds. Strict quality control, lack of means of production (drugs, water) and access to international markets also make it difficult for these communities to translate their livestock into wellbeing. Cattle raids and inter-clan conflict and wars among these communities aggravate their situation. Natural Disasters The work of some LLIs had been affected by natural disasters. Prolonged droughts and floods were said to sometimes invalidate any gains made. Pricing in the International Markets Coffee farmers, livestock farmers and other producers lack representation at forums where prices of the products and commodities were discussed. The coffee in particular was discussed with passion. The Coffee Board of Kenya (which determines the quality of coffee), the KPCU (which processes the coffee) and factory (which processes and transports the coffee to KPCU) were said not to have the interest of the farmer at heart. And yet coffee still ranks among the major foreign exchange earners for the country! NGOs, GOK and Donor Money There were some complaints about the reasons for which NGOs (both international and local), GOK and other institutions solicit donor money. It was said that some of these agents source donor funds for personal gain or for political reasons using some LLIs and civil society as intended beneficiaries. Sometimes, some of the money did not reach the intended beneficiaries. The GOK and NGOs were also said to negotiate with donors and other agents on issues that will affect the community (especially money) without necessarily involving the community. Both government officials and NGOs said there was lack of transparency between GOK and NGOs. The government believes that NGOs and LLIs own inexhaustible amounts of money solicited from donors on behalf of the community. On the other hand, most LLIs and NGOs were struggling to survive. Each of the institutions interviewed including those supported by international NGOs and GOK/bilateral projects pointed out their concern for sustainability beyond the project life span. Government officials especially at the district level claimed that the government was not informed of what NGOs and some LLIs are doing. The NGOs were viewed as having something to hide. On the other hand, NGOs claimed that they submit periodic information in the form of annual reports, plans and evaluations to the government at the district level. They often invited the government to participate in development activities. The local administration through the chief and assistant chief were often called upon to mobilize the community or to pass information to the community.

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Politics and Influence Women groups especially were said to be a focus for politicians and local leaders as a source of funds and labor for ‘harambee’. Other LLIs were also a “punch bag” for politicians when things went wrong. NGOs were often blamed for advocating civil unrest as well as being hailed for good work. Local politics could make or break the work of LLIs. Diversity The Kenyan spectrum is diverse and boasts a collage of ethnic groups, religious practices, socio-political and economic divide, and the urban-rural disparities. The NGO Council described the district as “having no shape, the province is even worse”. Because of this diversity, LLIs and other development agents found it difficult to design interventions. In a Nairobi slum, one may find different ethnic groups, religious faiths and political affiliations, but must drink from the same water source. When designing a programme, their divergent views and opinions may have to be considered and taken on board. The district being a bigger unit may pose different issues of concern. The whole district may be occupied by a major ethnic group, but be faced with problems that will affect the whole nation. An LLI serving the community around Sondu Miriu may advocate on the environmental impact of a hydroelectric project, and yet its concerns about impact on the local communities may be similar or different from those of people in Nairobi or Mombasa.

4.2 REGION-SPECIFIC ISSUES Although LLIs were facing similar constraints to effective implementation of development activities, there were some indications of region-specific issues: Coast Region Apart from the village development committees formed under the GOK/bilateral KDDP project and the KRSP (supported by the Aga Khan Foundation), the LLIs at the Coast were dealing in issues of advocacy around rights, especially land tenure. Ilishe, primary groups under the umbrella of Ilishe, and Lycodep were concerned with issues of women personal rights and rights to inherit, rights of youth to access to decent sources of income, and child rights. Other local partners of Actionaid and PAMNUP were concerned with human settlements and benefits accruing to extraction of their natural resources e.g. the titanium debate. Nairobi Region In Nairobi, the study mainly covered umbrella offices of national institutions including the NGO Council, Kituo Cha Sheria, Pamfork, KCDF, World Neighbors, Oxfam, Aga Khan Foundation, the central government and bilateral agencies. The only organization dealing with Nairobi region was We Can Do It, an umbrella of Nairobi neighborhood associations. Among their beneficiaries at the local level were grassroots initiatives in Korogocho informal settlement where Kituo cha Sheria has had activities in legal awareness training, while partner neighborhood associations benefit from We can Do It initiative. Due to the diversity of needs in Nairobi and the limited scope of groups interviewed, the study mainly covered policy issues at the level of central government and donor perspectives. Western Region The western region covered Western and Nyanza provinces. Almost all the groups visited were dealing with aspects of basic survival. Akukuranut in Teso, and Amani and GSI in Oyugis were dealing with an integrated package of needs around food and water. FPAK was concerned with health as a basic need. The Fish Groups deals with spiritual matters as well as basic requirements. Dak Achana in Homa Bay was in adaptive research for sustainable clean water and farming methods. The central government in Rachuonyo district was concerned with awareness-raising on basic needs for household level livelihoods and environment conservation.

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Central Region The central government in the province categorized the region as different from other areas: “These people do not want hand-outs. They want financial resources to improve their infrastructure and returns from coffee”. There was limited presence of intermediary organizations such as NGOs and CBOs as Central province is generally perceived as “developed and rich”. For this reason, NGOs and other development organizations have shied away from working in the province. Donors have also not been eager to fund development agents to work in the province. As a result, there is limited development activity on the ground. In addition, the coffee sub-sector in the province has collapsed. The few NGOs registered as working in the province were said to be operating from Nairobi with little to show on the ground. The prevalence of poverty and HIV/AIDS in the province was reportedly high, and food relief has been administered in some parts of the province. Most of the province has been cut off from mainstream development, as it is believed that “all is well in Central”. Most of those from the province who have made it live in Nairobi and commute “home” once in a while, by going and returning to Nairobi the same day. North Eastern Region When Oxfam started work with Pastoral Associations and other local development partners, it aimed to show that “there is hope beyond the tarmac”. The Actionaid-led NGO initiative on “Basic Needs Are Basic Rights” challenged the pastoral community to make a case for themselves. The momentum generated has been sustained and pastoral issues emerged as a thematic area in the PRSP. The issues rotate around sustaining pastoralism as a way of life, especially with respect to marketing of livestock and livestock products. Eastern Region While Yatta South Women Group (YSWG) is at the level of maintaining their niche on the international market for handicrafts, Mwana Mwende Child Development Trust is grappling with basic issues of personal rights and basic needs of the girl child. There is little basic awareness to directly confront negative attitudes towards the female gender. It was difficult for YSWG to balance the roles of wider community development on one hand and managing production and marketing of baskets on the other. North and Central Rift Region The groups visited in the North Rift varied in the level of development. Koikee Women Group was at basic survival level while Midiliwo was processing milk with fairly modern equipment. Cheptebo Rural Project of the AIC and the farmers under the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru enjoyed the support of development arms of the churches. Gilgil and Pwani went through an empowerment processes using PRA facilitated by Egerton University PRA department. The needs in both the North and Central Rift revolve around basic needs and scaling up for sustainability of development activities. In the north Rift, civil society organizations were also concerned with rights of girls, especially with respect to female genital mutilation.

4.3 GENDER PERSPECTIVES Gender representation in management structures, sensitivity to gender issues in programme design, and women participation in the day-to-day activities of LLIs was quite apparent. In a number of organizations, gender equity in representation in village development committees (VDC) was a requirement e.g. in KDDP and KRSP. The VDCs are mostly made up of primary groups that include women-only groups. The study did not find men-only groups. There were groups, however, which were dominated by men e.g. Lycodep federation was made up of groups of young men. However, to address the issue of inclusion of needs of young women, the federation started a group specifically to address the issue of girls who were victims of early pregnancies. Ilishe groups were said to enjoy gender equity. The management committee had nine women representatives. At the Fish Group in Kisumu, the project design considered both young men and women. GSI central

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management committee in Oyugis had a 50% gender equity representation. The project coordinator at Akukuranut (a woman) worked with a team of men, while their primary groups were mostly women groups. While the picture on women representation looked good in most places, there were areas where women did not feature at all in the management structures or the day-to-day running of the LLIs. The coffee industry in Murang’a had no women in the management committees. There was no indication that there were women at KPCU or the Coffee Board of Kenya representing issues of women in the industry. But the women work in the farms tending coffee and ensuring that it arrives at the factory. The produce is recorded in the factory against registration numbers that mainly consist of men. Among the pastoralists, women issues were represented at the lower level through women-only groups in Wajir town. Women representation diminishes at the higher level. Amani Christian Development Project in Oyugis reported that the project has tried to encourage gender equity in committees, but women are not normally elected to the management committees. Although some LLIs were concerned about the girl child and women’s involvement in production, there were only a few deliberate attempts to deal with their aesthetic value of human dignity. For example, while Mwana Mwende Child Development Trust addresses the impact of early pregnancy, they were not successful in challenging the community attitudes that place the girl-child in the category of a play-thing that can be bought with chewing gum or for young inexperienced men to test their virility. Polygamy and widow inheritance was rarely questioned except for concern that the practice may have a role in aggravating the spread of HIV/AIDS. Lack of women’s representation in the coffee sector and pastoralist groups only acknowledged their absence but did not adequately address possible remedial actions. Stakeholders in development hardly ever question why there are few men-only groups that can be vehicles for development. For example, the groups that originally comprised Lycodep came together to deal with the crisis of young men being thrown to jail while others were dying as stowaways at sea. Pastoralist associations came together arising from a crisis of livestock production and marketing, but brought on board women groups. The study interacted with both men and women managers of different institutions who had been recruited for their capability rather than their gender. As one moved from primary groups to higher levels (e.g. village development committees), the number of women in leadership tended to diminish. At times, the old “bug” of equating gender to women seemed irritating: “You can see I am the only man here”. While the community level was comfortable with answering questions about women representation and participation, a male spouse or some other relative could interfere with a woman’s participation in a primary group. Studies have shown that most women groups have a small percentage of men, usually as employees, but who may be in charge of major decisions concerning money. The NGO Council faired well in gender equity while the central government had some women in positions of leadership. Both women and men in these positions had relevant credentials and wealth of experience, and were well versed with issues of operations of LLI. Donor agencies had poor women representation, and the few did not hold critical positions of leadership. In the case of Burkina Faso study, gender analysis was notable for its absence. The issue of gender balance is normally analyzed from the point of gender representation, the quality of the gender balance, the changes in the gender balance as one scales up, and gender sensitivity in project design (e.g. choice of technologies). Gender representation was fairly good in terms of numbers. The quality of the gender balance (the effectiveness of women in leadership) was difficult to measure. However, it was evident that gender balance generally deteriorated at the higher levels. Women were well represented in decision making at the primary level. Where a woman was in position of power, she was judged by her academic qualifications and experience rather than by her gender.

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4.4 PEOPLE’S VIEWS ON THE PRSP Most of the LLIs had either heard about or had participated in the PRSP consultations at the district level. There were, however, a few groups that had not heard about it. While PRSP as an abbreviation was widely known, many of the LLIs did not know what the initials stood for. Level of Participation While those who had interacted with the PRSP said the idea of community consultations was positive, there was a general feeling that the consultative process was inadequate. Some complained of the limited amount of time allocated to the consultations. In most districts, the consultation was only one day, hardly enough to exhaust the issues facing a whole district. Some LLIs were not sure whether they had participated in the PRSP consultations and had therefore no idea of how they would engage with the process. Some of those who had participated asked why the government needed the PRSP process to legitimize its access to people, which should be a regular feature of government operations with or without PRSP. Feedback Most of the organizations were waiting for feedback on PRSP, as a report and budget line for the priorities they presented to the PRSP teams. Some of the LLIs complained that it is a tradition for researchers to extract information but never give feedback in form of reports. They hope that PRSP will be different. What Really is PRSP? There was concern from some quarters that the PRSP reads like a traditional development plan, and lacks an adequate implementation framework. Most of the LLIs and communities had understood PRSP to be a budget line rather than a process of participatory development. In one community where donor funds were coming to a close, the community was not worried because PRSP funding will take over. Challenges Facing LLIs in Relation to PRSP Some LLIs said that the communities expect to be trained on the contents of the PRSP so that they can participate in its implementation and M&E. Some others found themselves in a difficult position because PRSP has brought in “an animal” bigger than what their existing programmes can manage in light of the fact that the PRSP process had created high expectations in the communities. What are the First Things? There was a general feeling that communities can actually be trusted with PRSP resources especially money, but there is need to instill governance in management of resources. Some communities were reported to have ability to manage small funds, e.g. Shs 3 million. GOK at the District Level The District Development Officers (DDO) had not received specific instructions on whether district plans will base their priorities on the district PRSP reports, and the level of involvement of community and civil society organizations in the actual preparation of the plans. Within the government system, the DDOs were involved in the PRSP consultation process, while their parent department (the Rural Planning Unit) was not directly involved. There were therefore fears that the PRSP process may not be internalized through the district planning process. PRSP Secretariat is a Temporary Structure Funded only till 2002 Some LLIs said they understood the PRSP secretariat to be a temporary structure whose existence has not been legitimized through amendment of the relevant laws. They cited the district development committees

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which exist through administrative fiat but are yet to be formalized as legal structures for planning and implementation at the district level. The PRSP as a Process PRSP was said to have created space for dialogue on many themes including pastoralism, gender and disability. However, there was a feeling that PRSP was a top-down process demanded by donors. They expressed the view that a genuinely home-grown process would have built on the participatory poverty assessments (PPAs). Some LLIs felt that the entire district planning process is not participatory but just transferred a national structure to the district level. PRSP was a more democratic, open process that brings information to the national level. However, some people were not convinced that the government was committed to participatory planning at the local level. One of the constraints cited was the traditional culture of fear of the provincial administration and how this was going to affect community participation in implementation and monitoring of PRSP activities. Relationship with Other Initiatives Some organizations cited the previous poverty-focused government initiatives that did not yield the expected results e.g. the social dimensions of development (SDD) and the various initiatives at rationalization of public expenditure (e.g. PIP and MTEF). Other concerns included the harmonization of the activities of the PRSP with MTEF and poverty eradication commission (PEC). There was also concern that the Government itself may not have internalized the PRSP. Some felt that to make PRSP a true participatory process, there is need to train community-based organizations on its contents so as to enable them to participate effectively in its implementation and monitoring of activities at the local level. Scaling Up by Including Grassroots Participation Most LLIs and organizations interviewed expressed the need to scale up their activities through involvement of communities and grassroots institutions in consultations on planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

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CHAPTER 5

PARTICIPATORY INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS IN THREE VILLAGES

• Uloma Village, Ukwala Division of Siaya District • Warugara Village, Mathioya Division of Murang’a District • Iguhu Location, Ikolomani Division of Kakamega District

5.1 PURPOSE OF THE INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS

To identify, short-list and learn about the perceived and actual roles and activities of the various institutions found in the selected villages.

To understand how the community views these institutions and how they rank them according to their perceptions of their importance and contribution to their development.

To assess the relationships among the various identified institutions using participatory tools to show their institutional importance and interactions.

To extract key lessons and perspectives that might arise from the three case studies to represent village-level distinct issues, lessons and experiences that could be considered for up-scaling and/or institutionalizing for effective rural development.

5.2 METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE The basic methodology adopted was a participatory institutional analysis. Each of the three consultants chose a rural village and its constituent homesteads for the investigation. In Uloma Village, Siaya District, a short meeting with homestead members identified key actors and opinion leaders in the village and drew a bird’s eye view of the types and nature of local level organizing. The initial information was then used to develop a plan of action, which involved individual and focused group discussions with village members. It was decided that the village elder (who is the official elected representative of the village) and one respected village member be used to mobilize representatives of the various local level institutions and ordinary village members to discussion meetings. Two meetings were held, one involving the village elder and representatives of the various local level organizations and institutions, and another open one involving the same group and respective group and ordinary community members. The open meeting attended by about 30 community members was used to discuss general development issues in the village and to shortlist and discuss the roles and activities undertaken by the various local level organizations and institutions. The second meeting attended by 15 institutional representatives was more focused and sought to distill emerging issues from the first meeting and to rank the various institutions based on their perceived contributions and importance to the community. The participants in this meeting were involved in a ranking exercise using a Venn (chapati) diagram and pair-wise ranking. In Warugara Village, Murang’a District, the consultant identified a recently retired civil servant to be the research assistant and arrange meetings with community members in his own village. Due to the tight work schedules of community members in the village, meetings were held with individuals and small groups of people. Various community leaders and ordinary community members were asked the same questions in separate meetings in an effort to reduce bias in the information provided. In Iguhu location, Kakamega District, the consultant requested a local NGO in the community to mobilize village elders as an entry point into the village. The first meeting with elders used participatory tools, explored village issues through sessions on personal introduction, leveling expectations, and statement of

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objective for the gathering. The forum then progressed into defining the word “institution” and exploration of the village institutions, their role and activities, their ranking in terms of accountability and efficiency, impact and how they can be improved. The most important institutions in the village were ranked as village elders, women groups, sector development committees and the church. This session ended with a plan of action for in-depth discussions at the household level. In-depth discussions took place in three locations and covered the structure of the institution of village elder, women groups, and one healthcare service provider. Village-level relationships were also covered. Potential of scaling up focused on improving priority institutions. The consultant team shared the three area-based case studies and considered emerging issues, lessons, experiences, and diversity.

5.3 ULOMA VILLAGE, SIAYA DISTRICT Uloma Village is one of several villages that make up the Simur sub-location, Simur Location, Ukwala Division of Siaya District, Nyanza Province. The entire sub-location has a population of about 500 households according to the 1999 Population and Housing Census. The area produces maize, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, bananas, cowpeas, indigenous vegetables (akeyo, osuga) and keeps zebu cattle and goats. Two meetings with different members of the community revealed and described the following local level institutions: Uloma Village-Kobiero sub-clan (Puny Clan): the clan is a traditional, indigenous institution considered as the most important institution and the basis of local organizing and social life. The clan is the basic ancestral identity and one’s reference of existence. Women groups: there are several women groups in the community coalescing around solidarity to pool labor as an input of production in agriculture, and engage in income generation and other aspects of food security e.g. merry-go round, grain bulking/ banking, food processing, and revolving funds. Most of these groups were initially formed as entry points for special projects brought into the community from outside, but which collapsed for different reasons. Challenged by the impact of HIV/AIDS and effects of poverty, these groups are reinventing themselves to respond to poverty using their own meagre resources to fulfill the need for solidarity and to address livelihood challenges. Sector project committees: there are several sector local level institutions addressing issues of water, education, health, agriculture, local administration and energy. Major sector institutions included the following:

The Yesire water project committee and Gula water project committee are two projects said to be community-initiated which had poor entry processes and consequently lost recognition and ownership by the community.

Education: Lifunga Nursery and Primary School and Undhine Primary School are run by the Ministry of Education as a service to the community.

Health service delivery includes primary healthcare provided by the Government’s Ukwala Health Centre. The community explained that cost sharing has reduced access to health services due to poverty. HIV/AIDS is a growing threat while wife inheritance and poverty are the key spread and debility factors, respectively.

Agriculture and livestock development involves provision of extension services to the community, but inadequate resources limit outreach.

Local administration: including “mlango” (village elder), assistant chief and the chief, form the local government representation and entry point for village-level development activities which include convening of public meetings, community mobilization for development, and issuing of identity cards.

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Although the government permeates every facet of people’s lives through this structure, it was ranked lower in terms of actual usefulness in people’s lives. This relationship is characterized by distrust of these leaders by the community.

Ministry of Energy is currently making an attempt to mobilize financial resources from the community for a rural electrification programme. Due to high levels of poverty, the initiative has slowed down.

On the pair-wise matrix, the Catholic Church ranked at the top of preferred institutions. Together with other Christian groupings, the church runs several projects including capacity building activities for people’s participation in politics and leadership, HIV/AIDS, taking care of needy people (including the disabled and street children), provision of farm inputs, and basic health services. The St. Monica Widows Movement is a noteworthy church-based local level institution for the fight against wife inheritance and a host of other community social welfare activities. Several initiatives by NGOs included provision of agricultural extension and advisory services by SCODP, and attempts at integrated development by CARE-Kenya.

5.4 WARUGARA VILLAGE, MURANG’A DISTRICT Warugara Village is in Kora sub-location, Kiru location in Mathioya Division, Murang’a District. The village borders North Mathioya and Thuruthuru Rivers. The village has an estimated 180 farm units, which translates to a slightly higher number of households. Rugara means a big traditional basket. Bonding through the churches The people of Warugara are mostly Christians of different churches including the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) which had gained a stronghold in Warugara. Each village has only one mainstream Christian church as a result of a missionary agreement during the colonial period to avoid spatial competition so as to ensure that mainstream Christian churches did not have churches in the same village. Due to post-independence freedom of worship, there is less restriction. The other main churches with followers in the village are the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA), African Christian Churches and Schools (ACC&S), the Catholic Church and small Pentecostal churches. The role of the church is to preach and provide social support to its members especially the very needy, within laid out values, although the churches seem to differ in their approach and practice. Elected committees are in charge of church decisions in the ACK, Catholic and AIPCA. Among other structures in the Church are neighbourhood churches and groups serving church members in a neighborhood. Gender plays a great role in the church in terms of power and control. Although there is freedom of worship, the church discourages competition of faiths for fear of possible division within families. Lineage Relations Among all the institutions that define social relations, lineage was reported as the most important. The lower lineage subsets of the three clans are mbari, nyumba and then individual households. About 40 years ago most community activities were organized at the clan level. But probably due to population growth, the circle is getting smaller, sometimes to only the grandfather level at Christmas celebrations. Rites of passage, especially marriage and burial, are organised at the lineage society level. Family needs with heavy financial requirements such as meeting hefty hospital bills are more demanding occasions which necessitate co-opting other relations and friends. A management committee elected annually by a show of hands is responsible for the running of clan affairs based on clan values. Participants at the meeting felt that in the whole of Central Kenya, neighbourhood support and family bonding is strongest in Murang’a.

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Sources of livelihoods These include coffee, dairy farming and maize. Coffee: issues surrounding coffee include reduced production levels due to unfavourable prices, high cost

of inputs, bureaucracy in payment, too many middlemen, and mismanagement and corruption in the coffee cooperative societies. Other issues include liberalization, farmer apathy, and neglect of the coffee sub-sector by the Government.

Dairy farming: the community cattle dip is outside the village and unutilized because of mismanagement of revenue by the provincial administration. Farmers have resorted to spraying their livestock at their own individual level and cost. The livestock farmer makes an average income of KShs2,500 per cow from sale of milk, in addition to home consumption of milk.

Maize: mainly hybrid is grown in two seasons exclusively for home consumption. Potatoes supplement food consumption needs for the family.

Infrastructure: Warugara cannot be accessed using motor vehicles because the bridge on the Mathioya River broke down several years ago. There is however a bridge under construction approaching from the Thuruthuru River. Lack of motor transport creates a problem for the community because they are unable to transport such things as building materials, coffee, and farm inputs. The Role of Provincial Administration: There is a village elder who was imposed upon the village and therefore is not recognized by the people as their village leader. The assistant chief was described as a peace-keeper, facilitates social development, and is head of government in the sub-location. He has set up a vigilante youth group. He facilitates land demarcation, setting of boundaries and sharing of land among siblings. He participates in harambee and at burials. The chief of the area was new. There are no NGOs in the area. Community assets: Warugara Primary School is run by a committee made up of 5 District Education Board (DEB) members

and 8 selected by the parents to represent each class (one parent for each class). The DEB representatives are local elite and are supposed to change after every 8 years, but they have not changed since 1988. The school is well managed as shown by its excellent performance in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).

The Nursery School is run and administered by the teacher who collects revenue from the parents.

Women Groups: there is one registered women group called Kiru Gwaka Women Group with 209

members from Kora and Kaiiro sub-locations. The group has resources including a business building that they completed in 1988. They last held elections in 1988. But they have continued to participate and hold Harambee especially with politicians. The women groups do not have laid-down accounting structures although there were no complaints of mismanagement. There were also several non-registered women groups including lineage groups, which provide social support to their members who are married in the same family or lineage. Bonding is based on blood, marriage and place of birth (for women).

5.5 IGUHU LOCATION, KAKAMEGA DISTRICT Iguhu Location is in Idakho South, Ikolomani Division of Kakamega District. The location comprises of twenty-six (26) villages, each headed by a village elder. The area has three assistant chiefs who report to the chief (the administrative head of the location).

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Of the twenty-six village elders invited, only nine (9) attended the forum. The session on leveling expectations revealed that village elders were not known to respond to invitations unless the assistant chief personally sent the invitation. All of them except one said they had come to find out why they had been called. On the development agenda, the village elders were not known to think beyond their immediate village concerns. Their development agenda therefore includes mobilizing villagers to clean their drinking water sources, maintaining village access roads, being available at village level forums such as land demarcation, school meetings and other development initiatives (such as women group activities). At the top of the agenda of a village elder was settlement of disputes both domestic and those originating from external sources. A great deal of time of the village elder is spent on attending rites of passage e.g. negotiating dowry, being present at village marriage functions, and facilitating funeral arrangements for the members of the village. Definition of Institution The village elders defined an institution as a place where people learn something. It also includes a group of people living together, or fellowshipping together for common objectives e.g. the family, sub-parish or religious groups, self-help groups (including women and youth groups), village elders (as part of the institution of government), and development committees (such as PTAs, health committees, water committees and tea committees). Functions of Local Level Institutions The function of these institutions included facilitating village activities as a way of life such as working to earn a living, raising children, participating in different village social functions such as leaders’ meetings, the religious calendar, weddings and marriage ceremonies, participating in moaning and burying their dead, participating in sector development activities such as road maintenance, cleaning of water sources, and ensuring protection of personal rights of the villagers. Major preoccupation of the village people revolves around basic subsistence and rites of passage. Ranking the importance of local level institutions The village considers religion as a very important component of daily life. Between religion and the Government, the village sometimes ranks them as equal but with slight variations depending on the specific issue being addressed. Yet at the same time, this village is not quite sure who the government is. On reflection based on their development record, they decided to further analyze their priority institutions. At this point the government dropped out because the villagers realized they were doing their own development, unless they define the government as “they themselves”. A deeper analysis ranked the institution of village elder as the most important followed by women groups, development committees, and then self-help groups. Groups addressing specific issues such as services provided by traditional birth attendants were in a category of their own. Leadership relations and accountability mechanisms Protocol and village governance revolves around the village elder who reports to the assistant chief. In some cases, there may be a senior elder who acts as the “eye” of the assistant chief and takes information to and fro. At the village level, the assistant chief is the most senior administrator who in turn takes the community’s issues to the chief. The village elder is expected to do whatever the assistant chief may assign him and what the village wants. The village elder is supported by a youth-winger who runs errands for him. Village elders have no job description or terms of reference. They can be appointed by the chief as an imposition on the village, or selected by the village through a show of hands or the queuing system at a major village gathering. The 26 village elders of Iguhu are all men. They can keep their position as long as they want. The community and sometimes the chief are at liberty to get rid of a village elder if he violates one of the village values. Such dismissal is done in the public. The work of the village elder is voluntary and may from time to time yield some fruits in the form of a chicken, or some meagre financial token as part of some settlement imposed on an offender. This has caused some village elders to become corrupt. Village elders are a de-motivated group of village leaders, but who are said to be the cornerstone of village protocol and governance.

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The role of the other important local level institutions The family was regarded as a very important institution whose objective is to sustain the family lineage.

The family contributes to the development of the village. Religious groups (including Friends African Mission, Catholics and African Independent churches) play a

major role in maintaining morality among members of the village as well as sponsoring major development activities such as education, health, and water.

Women groups interviewed included Shangolole Women Group. They sustain community welfare and contribute to the economic empowerment of the individual women, their families and the village at large. Both the leadership and the villagers recognized the work of women groups.

Self-help groups are a new phenomenon and fairly few in number. They are yet to make an impact. They have, however, been seen as having a potential for occupying idle time of the youth.

Development committees are the single most important group that oversees the sectoral affairs of development in the village. They include health, roads, water, and education committees. Recently, vigilante groups have been formed to ensure security in the village.

Special interest groups e.g. Shiseno Community Health Group (including TBAs, CBHW, and home care for people living with AIDS) are filling up the gap left by government healthcare delivery system.

How the work of priority local level institutions can be improved The village elders reckon that their work can be improved if they were treated as part of the central government and have an employment letter. They also suggested that selection of village elders should always be done by the members of the village. Their work can also be improved if they could undergo some basic training in management and leadership. The other priority suggested was awareness raising and capacity building through some external facilitation to cross-fertilize their efforts in order to bring some change into the community. They observed that there were some NGOs working in parts of these villages. The work of these NGOs needs to reach every member of their villages for them to feel the impact. Otherwise, the work of the local level institutions would continue like it always did over the years, helping villagers just to survive.

5.6 LESSONS LEARNT From the in-depth study of Kenyan local level institutions, the following key things emerged:

At the village level, there are institutions which revolve around issues of identity, spiritual matters, and morality from the traditional and religious perspectives, rites of passage, sector development issues, protocol and governance issues, and gender issues and power relations (though silent).

Lineage, blood relations and marriage form a strong base for bonding for both men and women. The institution of the village elder plays an important role in the village in spite of the aura of distrust

that ails the local administration. Women groups and the church form the most important structures by providing both the socio-political

as well as the socioeconomic support for village development dynamics. Most of the local level institutions function without written accountability mechanisms. Most local level institutions have existed against a fragile back-drop of apathy and rudimentary basic

survival. The capacity for local level institutions to scale up or draw-down for effective rural development have

been affected by the ripple effect occasioned by collapse of central government development machinery. Individual initiatives by NGOs have yielded some fruit but failed to create community-wide impact due

to limited resources, perception, community expectations, and political manipulation, among other reasons.

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Suggestions from villagers in the three communities indicate that people are suffering from civic inertia and apathy. The communities were weak in terms of advocacy, and expressed helplessness in their ability to negotiate their own future. Ravages of HIV/AIDS, diminishing land resource, and food deficits are major debility factors. Since the central government stopped to exist in terms of service delivery, the people in these villages have done well through mutual support at their own level in order to exist till tomorrow. The question of scaling up or drawing down should come to bear on the shoulders of the village elder, the church, women groups and the lineage societies. Massive structured capacity building which takes into account the values of the different groups can cross-fertilize their local initiatives to bolster appreciation of self and translate available resources into wellbeing.

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ANNEX 1: TERMS OF REFERENCE

A. Select diverse provinces/districts of Kenya for participatory action research. Within these provinces/districts, select communities for participatory action work. Selection of regions should be based upon achieving the widest diversity possible. Selection of communities should be based on identifying one that is perceived by district officials to be internally well-organized and a second that is less so. B. Interview either Province or District agencies before going to communities. Select two communities in the district for further participatory action work. C. Undertake two-day participatory analysis with each community. D. Review results in terms of following:

1) Types and categories of LLIs; 2) Organizations preferred by different groups in the community; 3) Organizational structures of the LLI and their geographical spread; 4) Preferred accountability mechanisms; 5) Internal investment structures; 6) Internal structures for defining priorities and strategies

Study Methodology Analyze the review in terms of the following:

1) Identify key structures and or mechanisms that contribute to the following: accountability, priorities; and actions carried through

2) Indicate similarities and differences among communities and regions on the points identified above.

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ANNEX 2: INSTITUTIONS AND PERSONS INTERVIEWED NO. REGION CONTACT PERSON INSTITUTION IDENTITY NAIROBI 1 David Nalo Central Bureau of Statistics GOK 2 Nyambura Githagui World Bank Donor3 Mohammed Mursal Oxfam NGO 4 Aues Scek GTZ Donor5 Kennedy Alumasa Pamfork Network 6 Christine Kilalo World Neighbours NGO 7 Monica Mutuku KCDF Assoc.8 Gregory Kunusia KCDF Assoc. 9 Martin Oloo Aga Khan Foundation NGO10 Haroun Ndubi Kituo cha Sheria NGO 11 Deborah Ongewe NGO Council Council12 L.O. Obidha Social Policy Unit GOK13 Grace Atieno Rural Planning Unit GOK 14 George Wainaina Nairobi Neighbourhood Assoc.15 Edwin Wanyonyi Nairobi Neighbouhood Assoc. 16 Brenda Rakama Futures Private COAST 17 Pamela Midiwo Actionaid NGO 18 Elphas Ojiambo Actionaid NGO19 Abdalla Mwazecha Lycodep Federation 20 Julius Lewa Ilishe Trust 21 Peter Okinda KRSP NGO 22 Kenda Mwenja KDDP NGO 23 Wamachi KDDP NGO24 J.M. Musau PAMNUP NGO RIFT VALLEY 25 David Amdany District Commissioner, Keiyo District GOK 26 Langat SARDEP GOK?27 Ruth Mitei SARDEP GOK? 28 Jonathan Kimuge North Rift Network Network 29 Ambrose TAC: SARDEP CBO 30 AIC Cheptebo Church 31 William Keya Diocese of Nakuru Church32 Njeri Muhia Egerton University University WESTERN/

NYANZA

33 Betty Okero Western Network Network 34 Hesbon Ouma Kefeado NGO 35 Consolata Akukuranut Trust 36 Mokaya District Development Officer GOK 37 Richard Obudho Fish Group CBO 38 Joan Oduor Family Planning Association NGO39 Elizabeth Feilden Amani Development Centre NGO 40 Neville Agolo Amani Development Centre NGO41 Catherine Gatama District Commissioner GOK 42 David Kang’ethe CARE-Kenya, Homa Bay NGO 43 Paul Kagutu Dak Achana CBO 44 John Odhiambo Gender Sensitive Initiatives NGO 45 John Odawo Gender Sensitive Initiatives NGO CENTRAL 46 Kajumbi Obondo District Commissioner, Murang’a GOK47 Esther Muiruri Cooperative Officer GOK48 Evanson Wahihia Kiawanduma Co-op

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49 Annington Mwangi Iyego Coffee Cooperative Co-op EASTERN 50 Mary Kabiru Mwana Mwende Groups CBO 51 Anne Njenga Mwana Mwende Groups CBO 52 Phoebe Makasi Yatta South Women Group CBO 53 Beatrice Muema Yatta South Women Group CBO

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ANNEX 3: INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY THE RESEARCH TEAM Dr. Nyambura Githagui, World Bank The consultant team met with Dr. Nyambura Githagui to shed some light on the operations of the World Bank in Kenya and how these relate with the proposed study on LLIs and PM&E. The issues arising out of the meeting include:

There is need for the World Bank Economic and Sector Work to reflect on GOK priorities, especially where the GOK was going to house the PM&E in the implementation of the PRSP.

The Monitoring and Evaluation component in the PRSP document has a top-down character. There was need to marry the “bottoms”. The consultant team would need to discuss this further with GOK. There may also be need to incorporate the provincial planning units in the study.

The LLI debate was a recent one within the Bank spearheaded within the scope of social capital. A similar study has been conducted in Burkina Faso and another was ongoing in Niger.

Community Driven Development (CDD) is not a formal activity within the Bank except in the area of management of social funds. The World Bank and governments are normally sensitive about direct CDD because it bypasses governments.

In Kenya, the World Bank Early Childhood Development (ECD) contracted NGOs on two pilot activities (health and nutrition, and community grants). Some of them work with the DICECE programme officers in the government structure while others work directly with community-level institutions e.g. Madrassa.

The reason for the new focus is non-performance of governments in poverty eradication. So far, Kenya has had limited experimentation with social funds. The closest analogue of social funds using CDD in the Kenya case is the HIV/AIDS project, which will operate at the national, provincial, district and constituency levels through a Community Initiative Account (CIA) receiving funds directly at community level. The institutional structure is already in place.

An example of a project that is decentralized to the local level is the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) project financed partly by the World Bank. The structure of the project has a thin national secretariat (in the Office of the President) which facilitates flow of funds to the districts, and a district coordinating committee chaired by the District Commissioner (DC). The project is being implemented in ten districts where each district makes its district work plan under the office of the District Coordinator and works with government departments (e.g. veterinary) and use of pastoralist associations as entry points and implementing agents at the community level. The project involves veterinary pharmacies, boreholes and livestock sale yards (e.g. in Suguta Marmar on the boundary of Laikipia and Samburu districts).

Teleconference with Paula Donnely-Roark, Social Scientist, World Bank, Washington DC In Paula’s view, the study should focus on activities, not outcomes. The key words should be internal accountability, transparency and ability to scale up. The consultants’ interpretation of the TOR was very comprehensive, but had, however, hit more buttons than could be accommodated in the study. She emphasized that the aim of the Kenyan study was more “to put a toe in the water to test whether or not one should swim depending on the temperature”. The Burkina Faso study had been conducted over several years by a number of researchers administering both qualitative and quantitative questionnaires. The study in Kenya needs to establish whether or not there are structures at the local level and to understand how these structures are run internally. In addition, it is important to understand how they relate with outsiders, what responsibilities can be appended to them, and how external agencies can collaborate with them so as to create an internalization focus for participation and inclusion. Looking at the Kenyan horizon, disparity in the types and functions of LLIs would pose a challenge to the consultant team. Although the Kenyan people have recently started to find convergence points at market places and graves, there exist great disparities between the haves “residing” in posh areas (e.g. Karen and Muthaiga) and the have-nots “dwelling” in adjacent slums. The existing gender gaps between men and

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women almost put Kenyan men and women in separate bedrooms starting with Parliamentary representation, to employment, and to the household. At the local level women are seen but not heard. How does a consultant reconcile such disparities for purposes of highlighting high performing LLIs? Even the Burkina Faso study seemed to have suffered in the area of gender inclusiveness. In the Kenyan context, it was also explained that Government is often seen as provider and people as passive recipients. Instead of advocating for their rights, Kenyans continue to create parallel structures to solve problems. There is the question of development jargon, strategic plans, benchmarks, sustainability, etc. In the case of LLIs, is it sustainability to apathy or obscurity? Grassroots democracy may be a reflection of national democratic governance, accountability and decision-making, and the power to hire and fire. While it is important to look at the bottom, it is equally important to go all the way to the highest level to see how the auditor general’s report on government finances and expenditure relates to the grassroots. Monitoring and evaluation needs to be built in as part of the implementation process. Experience in Kenya with PRA methodologies has shown that even the attempt to be all-inclusive still echoes the voices and thoughts of old men. Consequently, social organization may be determined by factors quite different from what is perceived or recorded by researchers. Based on the findings of the Burkina Faso study, Paula explained that the series of studies are about community-based and community-driven development. A village project may not involve the whole village, but could cover several geographical communities. She admitted, however, the World Bank does confuse between local level initiatives with local level government. Rather the focus should be on those institutions lower than local level government, perhaps the equivalent of a sub-location in the Kenyan context where you find a community pulling together around a common interest. Some of the LLIs in the Burkina Faso study did not perform well on measurements. There were contradictions, e.g. although they may decrease inequality, competition would mess up cohesion among villages. However, internal participation seemed to make a big difference. Whether or not participation influenced effectiveness and inequality did not come out clearly. It could be a hypothesis that the Kenyan study could answer. Groups in Burkina Faso were generally organized around different priorities. The Kenyan study was expected to prepare a story on potential capacity of LLIs. Some of the considerations would be looking at the level of success if the government is not accountable or does not provide certain levels of information. There is need for constructive engagement to give communities room to negotiate their own future. In Burkina Faso, there seemed to be no correlation between income and apathy, even though apathy was high. The communities did, however, endure with minimal resources and were really deprived. There is a real gap in how projects involve local people and vice versa. Individuals committed themselves as members but thereafter did nothing. The equivalent in the Kenyan context could be volunteerism because it also increases the level of apathy and poses a threat to sustainability. David Nalo, Central Bureau of Statistics Mr. Nalo explained that the Government had found it necessary to request for undertaking of this study. The GOK was therefore supportive of the study. From the GOK perspective, the study was crucial because the GOK needed to be aware and put in place mechanisms for implementation of the PRSP, with focus on:

The initial step in M&E is how the budget responds to the PRSP. This was seen as a process that tracks down resources from national, district to community levels.

Drawing attention of communities of how their needs are reflected in the budgetary process.

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In actual M&E, there is need to establish that experience and institutions exist that reflects the implementation process e.g. boreholes sunk in Kitui.

The capacity to respond or confirm that implementation has taken place. The priorities in this study and in M&E as a component of PRSP are therefore in the budgetary process and performance vis-à-vis targets. It is important to provide meaningful indicators, especially where the indicators may be moving in different directions e.g. increased provision of books and other study materials may be accompanied by poor/declining pass rates. It was felt also that it is crucial to see how the civil society organizations tag themselves to the national vertical administrative structure. There was need to spell out specific M&E activities at the community level as well. An analysis of LLIs by themes was seen as important to be able to consider some specific issues such as marketing boards vis-à-vis the cooperative movement. It was felt that Kenyans should start seeing things in the wider context e.g. change in development philosophy on implementation, ownership, and monitoring. To begin to consider the wider context, e.g. at the national level, it is perhaps important to know how the auditor general reports are acted upon, the annual general meetings (AGM) in local and national institutions, and annual reports of government and private and public corporations. The consultant team felt that it was important that Kenyans should begin to think beyond PRSP as a budget-line and realize the need to change our way of doing business to bring meaningful change in this country. Given current practice, channeling development through the provincial administration may be putting the process to severe test. It is widely known that the District Development Officer (DDO) and District Social Officer (DSO) may not necessarily work together even though they are in the same district and probably within the same office block. The need to institutionalize district consultative forums to facilitate exchange of ideas could not be overemphasized. It is important to understand the work of NGOs, and formulation of strategies on how their work can be scaled up in implementation and M&E of projects at the district and community level. From the Government perspective, the scope of the study should cover PRSP thematic and priority areas over a fairly wide geographical spread. Oxfam, Wajir Project Oxfam in the Greater Horn of Africa has several components in its program including (a) livelihoods especially in agriculture and semi-arid (pastoral) areas, (b) urban densities mainly accessibility of slum children to education and rehabilitation of street children, and (c) national policy and advocacy work. In pastoral areas (e.g. Wajir and Turkana), the program also includes relief work. The program works through local partners rather than Oxfam representative offices. In Wajir, the program started in 1984 but took 10 years to address pastoral issues effectively when it launched a serious program to show that “there is hope beyond the tarmac” (meaning beyond Isiolo). The program assisted in formation of local institutions (pastoral associations) that have federated to the district level, empowerment of local communities, and influencing government structures to participate in addressing local priorities using participatory approaches. The pastoral federation and lower level pastoral associations have inbuilt structures with capacities for monitoring and evaluation. The community challenges include water for domestic and livestock use, lack of access to potential export markets for livestock and livestock products (e.g. the European Union and the Emirates), animal diseases, poor infrastructure, and appreciation by other Kenyans of pastoralism as a way of life. Oxfam has participated in the pastoralist thematic group under the PRSP.

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GTZ Treasury Office GTZ is a bilateral donor assisting the government to promote community participation in district planning in selected districts (Samburu, Mwingi, Marsabit, Trans Mara, Lamu and Kilifi). In Kilifi, GTZ supports the Government efforts through the Kilifi District Development Program (KDDP). Among the lessons learnt from the initiatives is that scaling up that includes community participation brings success and local ownership of development activities. Some of the constraints to development include attitudes toward external support as using “donor” money rather than misusing people’s money; suspicious relationships between the Government and NGOs, and negative attitudes of politicians on community participation. The PRSP process is still perceived as top-down, with limited involvement of the local people. The major limitation of bilateral activities is that only communities or the Government can scale up, and not the external agency. Participatory Methodologies Forum of Kenya (Pamfork) Pamfork is a thematic network of the NGO Council, which was started in 1994 to promote or mainstream participatory approaches to development through capacity building. Pamfork has undertaken capacity building for members in the areas of participatory monitoring and evaluation, advocacy for participatory development, and documentation of methodologies, among other initiatives. Local membership includes NGOs using and promoting participatory approaches, academic and research institutions, government departments, and individuals. It also has links with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK, and is a member of an international network on participatory learning for action. Pamfork is governed by regulations of the NGO Council through an elected Board and a steering committee. Challenges facing Pamfork include donor dependency that threatens sustainability, shifting membership needs, and identity and image problem. Pamfork was co-consultant with the African Medical & Research Foundation (AMREF) in in-depth participatory poverty assessments (PPAs) undertaken in year 2001 in ten districts to deepen the PRSP process. World Neighbors, Nairobi World Neighbors is a northern NGO which sought independent registration in Kenya in 1983. Individual donors, and relief and charitable contributors from the USA mainly fund it. The organization addresses integrated community needs in the larger community units, mainly sub-locations. It has assisted in setting up village councils to bridge gaps of link-up with villages. Initially, the program worked with traditional women groups, but identified that there was need to integrate men in community development activities. Since contiguous communities may be struggling with common problems, communities formed umbrella organizations at sub-location level which later evolved into trusts in both Teso (Akukuranut Development Trust) and in Taita/Taveta. World Neighbors undertakes capacity building. Some of the challenges include instances of institutionalized corruption down to CBO level, phase-out issues that can be affected by community expectations of possible entry of another NGO to take over the activities, weak institutionalization of PM&E processes, and people’s perception of the local provincial administration. World Neighbors’ local partners participated in PRSP consultations at the district level, which was viewed as too short. Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF) KCDF is a grant-making organization that builds assets through building endowment funds for use in building local governance structures. It undertakes comprehensive capacity assessments on institutional,

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financial, and governance structures and helps to put these structures in place e.g. development of management boards, participatory monitoring and evaluation, financial management, and project design. Capacity building involves social capital in the sense of creating the culture of an organization that mainstreams good governance in its routine operations. This includes evolution of policy, accountability in the use of resources at their disposal, transition mechanisms for the leadership of an organization, gender balance in terms of men and women (and the quality of that gender balance), and modulating the softest and the loudest voices in an organization. KCDF as a local grant-making organization finds its credibility questioned alongside other local organizations because of “the way Kenyans do business”. Due to such biases, KCDF is yet to pass the acid test to qualify as custodian of large funds in trust for the Kenyan communities. Its focus on perfecting internal governance structures of its partners also raises suspicion from partner CBOs especially those with direct links to donors. Promotion of community empowerment also pits the organization against local politicians. Phase-out and sustainability issues are also major challenges for community-based organizations. Although bilateral and multilateral donors are not convinced that there are local organizations that can undertake building of social capital, KCDF is emerging as a potential role model as custodian of people’s resources. Donors continue to rely on expensive private consulting firms as financial management agencies (FMA) for administering community funds. The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), Nairobi The AKF is an international donor working with various communities in Kenya. On the ground, it involves building community institutions at the local level e.g. villages and women groups to address their own problems as an interface with the people. AKF facilitates clustering of village development organizations on specific issues such as land tenure by training the LLIs in leadership and financial management. Interventions at this level have led to emergence of federations at the local level. At another level, AKF engages Government in participatory planning for poverty reduction e.g. disaggregation of the national budget to the district level. AKF also conducts research and is currently studying the non-profit sector in East Africa in collaboration with Uganda and Tanzania. AKF works with the government either directly or through co-opting government extension officers in its activities at the community level. Although AKF uses participatory methodologies in designing and implementing community initiatives, M&E is not structured in the way PME is understood. AKF feels that there is need for broader participation in M&E beyond CBS, and a long-term legal framework to avoid possible involvement of civil society only in preparing the PRSP rather than in its implementation. Kituo Cha Sheria Kituo cha Sheria (KCS) was started in 1973. Some members of the legal profession, among them Humphrey Slade (one time Speaker of the National Assembly) started KCS. The institution was started because there was need for legal services for those who could not afford. With time, the organization realized that there is direct link between poverty and empowerment and the need for legal services. Before long, demand for services from KCS far outstripped the ability of the organization to manage. The use of trained paralegals did not ameliorate the problem due to their lack of focus on governance issues and their tendency to identify themselves with KCS rather than the communities they were serving. KCS has continued to build capacity for people in selected geographical areas on their rights e.g. land issues at the Coast.

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Kituo has a board that plans its program and staff who implement the program. Some of the challenges Kituo faces include hostility from politicians, its identity and role, diversity in communities it works with in terms of values and practices (hence lack of replicability of experiences from, say, Mombasa to Korogocho slums in Nairobi), vulnerability at local levels due to interference from politicians, and the way civil society does business. On the latter, KCS feels that the community should propel the élites, and the “civil society must work itself to irrelevance”. There was a feeling that the preparation of the PRSP was not consultative enough in terms of the type of communication and the manner it was conducted. In addition, the link between the PRSP and MTEF is not quite clear, the process of consultation has not been internalized by the state itself, there is a culture of fear of the provincial administration, and ME is yet to be viewed as institutionalized aspects of project implementation rather than an instrument for reporting to donors and other agencies external to the communities. National Council of Nongovernmental Organizations (NGO Council) The NGO Council is an umbrella of all NGOs and has regional and thematic networks covering almost the whole country. It was established by an Act of Parliament in 1990. The Council has an Executive Committee elected by a General Assembly to serve for a two-year term, a Regulatory Committee, a Board of Trustees, two sub-networks, and a Secretariat headed by the Chief Executive. The Council regulates, harmonizes and monitors the work of member organizations. Some of the challenges facing the Council are the diversity of its membership, the political environment and hostility mostly from politicians and the Government, sustainability due to dependency on donor funding, and the magnitude of the responsibilities it has to carry. The Council participated in the PRSP through its membership and sits on the “inner circle” of the PRSP Secretariat as a strategic partner in poverty reduction. One of the concerns the Council has over PRSP is in the area of M&E because “a district has no shape. A province is even worse”. In addition, the concept and practices of ME have to be thought through, as “the chief’s baraza, by its own history, is not held for monitoring.” Heterogeneity even at the district level will be a major challenge. Social Policy Unit, Human Resources and Social Services Department, Ministry of Finance and Planning The main agenda of the Unit is poverty analysis using data collected by the CBS. The Unit has provided inputs into the PRSP and the Poverty Eradication Commission (PEC), including empirical criteria for resource allocation. Reports on poverty prepared by the Unit are disseminated to the districts. Some of the concerns expressed were whether the PRSP will be disseminated to communities and whether it was going to create an impact other than simply raising community expectations. The other challenge is the harmonization of past and ongoing efforts of the PEC with those of the PRSP.

Rural Planning Unit, Ministry of Finance and Planning Traditionally, the framework for rural planning has been from the top but with inputs from various ministries as a government-driven process. The PRSP has now introduced the concept of community consultation in setting priorities. The Unit was for some reasons bypassed in the preparation of the public investment program (PIP), MTEF and PRSP, and the DDOs were therefore directly involved at the district level without the active participation of their parent department (Rural Planning Unit). Although there is need for decentralized planning and budgetary processes, it would be prudent for the PRSP secretariat to handle national matters, while the Rural Planning Unit handles matters at the district level. Over the years, efforts have been made at by the Unit to strengthen district planning through various projects

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and participating institutions e.g. the Harvard Group, the EEC and IFAD. However, all these projects have closed. The Unit faces challenge of lack of adequate resources including finances and personnel. This has created gaps e.g. the infrastructure inventory is “comatose”. The district focus process goes only up to district level. As a result, people do not identify with government plans. In addition, headquarters of government ministries do not send district ceilings, and a district budget proposal is often a gamble. ACTIONAID Kenya, Coast Region The mission of ACTIONAID-Kenya is poverty reduction through understanding the community and working through them to change their livelihoods. The main activities are capacity building, policy, and advocacy with partner institutions. After normal protocol with community leaders at project entry, ACTIONAID uses PRA/PUA with communities to build capacity in leadership, bookkeeping, proposal writing, micro-enterprise development, vocational training, counseling skills, community health, and community-based planning. The preparation of annual reports has shifted from traditional documentation by staff to a process of reflection with participating communities. Challenges facing development agents in the region are the contradiction between the wealth of the region and poverty of its people e.g. on secure access to land. The Coast region, for example, contributes an estimated 60% of tourist revenue; 20 nautical miles rich in fish; the port of Mombasa as gateway and lifeblood of the East African hinterland; and about 10% of the world’s known deposits of titanium. There has also been deliberate and systematic collapse of the economic base e.g. cashew nuts, tourism, and bixa. The communities that ACTIONAID works with participated in the district PRSP consultations, and are awaiting feedback on funding and changes in the policy framework. There is no clarity that district forums will get money for the priorities they identified. ACTIONAID will need to train partner CBOs on the contents of the PRSP to enable them to participate in its implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Likoni Youth Counseling and Development Programme (LYCODEP) The history of the program can be traced back to 1992 with formation of one group. The group was concerned about continued lack of proper understanding between youth and the government which led some youth to be thrown into jail for drug abuse while others took off as stowaways on ships. In 1984, 11 stowaways were thrown into the sea. After witnessing stories of success, more groups were formed all over Likoni, including one for girls who were victims of early pregnancy. These groups federated to Youth Counseling and Development Programme (Lycodep) as an umbrella organization. Lycodep is mainly concerned with capacity building for self reliance in (a) rights and advocacy to identify, demand, receive and utilize their basic rights e.g. land, education, employment and health, (b) education especially access and retention, and (c) enterprise development for poverty reduction. Major challenges include government attitudes toward youth; politics; land tenure; HIV/AIDS; lack of access to education; lack of equipment for fishing and agriculture; volunteerism; lack of viable economic activities for the member groups and the interim Lycodep leaders; and lack of maintenance of cultural values among the youth. Lycodep will be run by an executive committee that will be elected by the Annual General Assembly. It is registered as a welfare group under the Department of Social Services.

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Ilimu na Sheria (Ilishe), Mombasa Ilishe is an umbrella organization of 38 groups, mainly women and youth. Ilishe was started in Mombasa in April 1993 with the help of Kituo Cha Sheria initially to deal with issues on land rights in Likoni. As people became more aware of their rights, KCS was challenged to come up with a more innovate programme to include management of group resources, i.e. capacity building in areas of governance and management of groups. In 1998, Ilishe gained an independent identity from KCS when it was registered as a trust. Ilishe introduced land and shelter, savings and credit, and education and training in its program. The main focus of the primary groups is economic viability of their members, Ilishe has also received support for capacity building from KCDF, while AKF plans to implement its Early Childhood Program in the area through Ilishe. The successes of Ilishe are rooted in their commitment to fight for the rights of their members, retention of an independent identity from those of its sponsors, membership of groups whose internal activities are independent of Ilishe, and emphasis on participatory training of members rather than action through selected leaders. The institution covers Mombasa and some parts of Kilifi, Malindi and Kwale districts. Their major challenge is divergence of views with donors on how Ilishe should be run. Ilishe did not participate in the PRSP consultations. Kwale Rural Support Programme (KRSP) The program was born out of an AKF’s primary health care program, which later capitalized on the gains of PHC to support a livelihoods program (including water and food security). KRSP was born in 1997 with the broad goal of equitable livelihoods among the poor in Samburu division, Kwale district. The purpose of the program was establishment of viable village level institutions for the livelihood project. The components of this program include (a) community organization (b) productive physical infrastructure and support for production activities, (c) community level savings, (d) technical support to livelihood initiatives, and (e) human resource development by training of para-professionals in priority areas. KRSP applies participatory methodologies with village development organizations (VDO) as entry units. This level scales-up into village development committees (VDC) at the sub-location level which then come together into a supra organization. The role of KRSP is to facilitate sensitization on power relations among various committees that report to the VDC (the highest level of these community structures). The supra structures which reach only the sub-location level are not answerable to the provincial administration. They, however, hold monthly meetings, which the chief is free to attend and follow up on issues, which may seem important to the chief. Since the VDO structure seems to be filling up a void at the low-level of government, it has stirred the government structure at the local level. The second phase of the project will address policy and advocacy for effective representation in government organs. Unfortunately government is retrenching its extension officers. KRSP is involved in capacity building of the VDO members to take up the multiplicity of community priorities that they face. The project is scheduled to have a life span of ten years. The issues KRSP is grappling with include food poverty, a national culture of corruption, parallel government structures, sustainability of the local-level institutions, absence of government extension, female participation in a patriarchal society, and water stress. PRSP was treated as a private meeting. The NGOs participated although they had not been invited. Kilifi District Development Programme (KDDP) The KDDP was started in 1994 as a multi-sectoral, district-based rural development program supported by the Governments of Kenya and Germany. The program focuses on building capacities of communities and

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service providers in Kilifi district with the aim of contributing to poverty reduction and testing a model of district level planning that involves active participation of beneficiaries over the entire project cycle. The basis of development support is the village as a traditional community where people are known and can be identified by the village name regardless of administrative boundaries. The villagers organize themselves into village development committees (VDC) which federate to work with government structures. The composition of elected members is gender and age-inclusive to ensure equity. Currently, the program is working with 100 communities. The program links with other development initiatives and donors e.g. PEC and the European Union. Resource mobilization for implementing activities includes community contribution in the form of finance, labor and materials. The program is facing great challenges, including a top-down government structure, failure of government to match GTZ contributions as per agreement, resistance from the provincial administration and politicians, and inadequate community contributions. Decision-making is community-level based, but people’s decisions on how the DDC should be run were turned down. KDDP and its partners participated in the PRSP consultations. The district was divided into zones, and each zone had working groups that prepared zonal reports that were presented for consideration at the district forum. Although people voiced their concerns, decision-making is still centralized at the national level. There was a feeling that the PRSP process was a donor-driven initiative. However, the PRSP process was good and should be adopted for decentralization of national planning and budgetary systems. It will have served its purpose if it changes the planning and budgetary processes, otherwise it will not be different from the prevailing practice where government decentralized nationally but built a national structure at the district level. Partnership Approaches to Meeting the Needs of the Urban Poor (PAMNUP) In 1996 DfID decided to start an urban program to meet the needs of the urban poor in the towns of Mombasa, Kisumu and Meru. Mombasa was selected a torchbearer to gain experience in partnership approaches to meeting the needs of the urban poor. Jamvi la Wageni was selected as a pilot site. The approach was institutional framework building within boundaries of the operations of the municipal council, which is why the program operates from the Municipal Council offices. The program created three organizational levels, namely: (a) A steering committee that included chief officers from all the departments of the Council, some NGOs (including AAK), the NGO forum, the DDO representing central Government, the private sector, and two community representatives; (b) Coordination committee from the Municipal Council technical departments, NGOs and community small traders; and (c) Settlement team comprising of four NGOs (FPAK, Mewa, APDK, Safe World and PAMNUP) to work with the community to evolve an effective institutional framework that works with people within the 8 villages that make up the settlement. The program provides intensive capacity building on PUA for selected leaders. This is followed by community action plans from the ground, which are then consolidated by various thematic areas (e.g. environmental sanitation, water, small-scale enterprises, education and health). Prioritization of community needs will be over in November 2001, which will be followed by decisions on whether to change the approach and whether to move to the other four settlements in the project plan. PAMNUP is undertaking a profile of ward-level services currently available from various providers (e.g. municipal council, central

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government), which will be used in the preparation of a service delivery plan. The implementation of a pro-poor service delivery plan might lead to shift of DfID resources from the other four settlements to the municipal council. Some of the key challenges for the program include a dual system of central and local governments (as Mombasa is both a municipality and a district); the internal nature of local authority committees that do not have space for “outsiders”; and lack of a service delivery plan for funds from the municipal’s internal resources and transfers from the central government. The bigger challenge is how to create space for meaningful dialogue, and decentralization of government to local authority governance. The PRSP came all of a sudden, bringing with it the challenge of having to consider Mombasa district as a whole (the 55 informal settlements) which is way beyond the thinking of the program. The ongoing local government reform commission should have been tied to the PRSP as a vehicle for local community participation, transfer of resources from the central government to the local authorities, service delivery at the lower levels, and more involvement of local authorities in service delivery. District Commissioner, Keiyo District Keiyo district falls within three ecological zones: the highlands with pockets of poverty; escarpment; and Kerio Valley which is the poorest due to climatic conditions. The use of PRAs has helped the community to evaluate why they are poor even in areas endowed with good climatic conditions and good soils. People’s attitudes have also changed from dependency on government and external agencies to more proactive initiatives in development. People are growing and marketing their crops, and more generally taking control and ownership of community projects. They contribute to local resource mobilization for local projects. Challenges facing the community include isolated cases of drunkenness, poor self-image by some people because of poverty (e.g. livestock), and cattle rustling (which is going down due to government and community efforts). Some of the NGOs in the area have reported much impact and community participation, while others are involved in locally controversial issues e.g. female genital mutilation as an aspect of human rights. The communities in Keiyo district had a wonderful time listening to participants in PRSP at the local level. Semi-Arid Lands Development Project (SARDEP) SARDEP grew out of a Dutch-supported ASAL project which did not register much impact on the ground. The management of the activities undertaken under the ASAL project changed when SARDEP was created in 1998. The oversight role for the project is provided by SNV in Nairobi rather than directly from the Netherlands embassy. The program objective is sustained poverty reduction with sustainable resource management and gender balance. SARDEP uses participatory methodologies based on demarcation of the project areas into sections called transects, with each transect running from the highlands, through the escarpment to the valley. Altogether, there are 14 transects but with concentration of activities on 8 of them. The selection of the coverage of a transect is based on (a) drainage, i.e. people sharing a water source that drains towards Kerio Valley, and (b) common administrative boundaries. The transect is governed by a Transect Area Committee (TAC). At the lower level are project groups (about 110 this year), each with a Project Management Committee (PMC). A TAC is the immediate contact between community groups and SARDEP. Activities of SARDEP in community-based natural resource management include raising awareness, resource mapping, information sharing, and land use planning. SARDEP funds community-managed projects (based on proposals from potential beneficiaries) and supply-led activities in skills and capacity building. Some of the CBOs that SARDEP supports include the Emkong Water Project, Midiliwo Zero Grazing (on dairy farming, processing and marketing), Koikee Food Security Group, Emkon Water Project, and the Africa Inland

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Church Cheptebo Rural Development Project. The main challenges include encroachment on forests, environmental degradation due to migration, insecurity and sustainability (due to poverty). Catholic Diocese of Nakuru The Nakuru Diocesan agricultural program started in 1985 as a relief program in response to the 1984 drought, but later shifted to rehabilitation. Its 1993 evaluation report commended the success of the project in both relief and rehabilitation, but recommended a shift more towards sustainable development. The new program was started in 1995 with support mostly from Germany. The programme has 7 field officers with the eighth acting as coordinator. At the community level, there are 45 volunteer community animators selected by the community and trained by the program. Volunteers receive a token monthly stipend for their services. The program also has other resources (e.g. 3 vehicles and 45 bicycles) for facilitating the program work. Although the diocese split into two dioceses (Kericho and Nakuru) covering Nakuru, Baringo, Koibatek, Kericho, Bomet and Buret districts, the Agriculture and Rural Development Program (ARDP) covers the two dioceses. The program also runs a savings and credit scheme - the Agriculture and Rural Development Savings and Credit (ARDESC) - as an institution of farmers. The main objectives of ARDP are to: (a) train, educate and empower groups, (b) food security with a focus on crops and livestock, (c) provision of credit for agricultural development, (d) promotion of the credit program (ARDESC), and (e) environmental reconstruction. Capacity building focuses on human resource development, social capital (for groups and networks), procuring and managing financial resources, and natural resource management. The program collaborates with government at scheme, district and provincial levels. The ARDP program has a board of 13, equally distributed between farmers’ representatives, the two dioceses, and other programs of the dioceses (including two professionals). The communities working with the program have been asking the ARDP management about PRSP and whether ARDP can be used as a local agent for poverty reduction. They have not adequately answered the questions. They are waiting to see whether ARDP will qualify as an implementing and monitoring unit to reach its constituent farmers. Egerton University, PRA Department The PRA department was instituted in 1990 and has been undertaking training in PRA methodologies to training institutes, research institutions, ordinary community members, GOK/NGO extension staff, and UN agency staff. The training attracts participants from other countries including Uganda, UK and USA. It partners with Clark University in USA. The department has published PRA training manuals, documents PRA methodologies, and undertakes community appraisals of LLIs like Pwani (on the shores of Lake Nakuru) and Gilgil. It has consequently linked these LLIs to organizations such as Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru. It has assisted in the formation of other LLIs in Murang’a and Maragwa districts in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture. Akukuranut Development Trust (ADT) Akukuranut is an umbrella organization of groups (mostly women groups) whose objective is enhancement of food security at the family level. The organization traces its origins to the efforts of a young man from the area who was growing vegetables but volunteered himself to assist other vegetable farmers to improve crop husbandry. The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) later assisted the young man (who is currently a member of staff of ADT) to assist YMCA groups on the same. The groups increased over time to about 60 groups. The objective later expanded to encompass wider food security issues (and not only vegetable farming).

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The ministry of agriculture assisted the groups with training. They were registered as a welfare group under the Department of Social Services, but extension staffs from the Department were interfering with the smooth running of the organization. Consequently, they registered as a trust in 1999 with logistical and financial support from World Neighbors. The organizational structure consists of (a) members as supreme authority, (b) Board of trustees (with categories of founder members and co-opted members), (c) seven thematic sub-committees, and (d) a lean management unit. There are 13 fully registered groups, and 64 associate member groups for only savings and credit who are not members of the trust. Activities of the Akukuranut include a grain/cereal store, and sweet potato planting materials. Member groups are involved in different activities e.g. merry-go-rounds, brick making, bee-keeping, dairy farming, pottery, fish farming and horticulture. The organization collaborates with other institutions and government. Key challenges for ADT include male idleness, drunkenness, female illiteracy, inferior position of women and the girl child, and dependency on donors. ADT participated in PRSP consultations as World Neighbors was in charge of the budget on behalf of the whole district. ADT was committed to the PRSP process and delivered according to expectations, including properly accounting for the money. ADT described itself as “a credible, little organization”. District Development Officer, Kisumu Kisumu District has many resources including fish from Lake Victoria, many NGOs, and a fairly acceptable infrastructure (by Kenyan standards). The NGOs were, however, concentrated in a few areas (mainly in Winam), while most were said to be contributing little to development of the area. Some NGOs that claim to be operating in the district could not even be traced in spite of the fact that they receive funding for local projects. The NGO Western Network was taking an inventory of the NGOs and CBOs operating in the region to establish how they can be strengthened for the benefit of the community. The District participated in the PRSP consultations. Mobilization was done at short notice and the one-day allocated was not enough to exhaust the issues. It was observed that the district was already behind schedule in preparation of the seven-year district plan. It is expected that the plan will directly respond to the issues raised in the district PRSP, although guidelines for the preparation of the Plan had not been received from the Ministry’s headquarters. The preparation of the district plan will use a consultative process. Thematic groups have been organized in line with PRSP priority sectors, and each thematic group will incorporate relevant organizations of the civil society. Kisumu Town Youth Fish Group Kisumu Town Youth Fish Group was started in 1985 by Catholic missionaries to encourage youth participation in the affairs of the church and in other social issues. It started with 8 groups in Kisumu which have now grown to 25. The activities are mostly social (e.g. sports and drama), educational (leadership, behavioral change process, drug abuse and gender awareness) and spiritual activities (a doctrine course). The structure of the organization consists of members who elect their representative to the parish, and the parish elects representative to the Leaders’ Assembly (the decision-making body). The major challenges include HIV/AIDS which has claimed a few of their colleagues, youth mobility for work elsewhere, and lack of funds. They have participated in raising awareness on HIV/AIDS mainly with support of AAK. They participated in the PRSP consultation process. PRSP is on how poverty can be reduced. The PRSP consultation process was more of training rather than active participation, as questions were asked and two people responded.

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Amani Christian Community Development Project Amani Christian Community Development Project was started in 1985 by a missionary (Elizabeth Feilden) to train farmers on bio-intensive agriculture and later on included HIV/AIDS and income generation. The project has expanded into other activities including running a guest-house and conference center, a nursery school, technical training workshops, skill training for orphaned boys and girls, demonstration plot for agriculture, and a youth programme called JAM FACTORY (Jesus and Me, Faith As Children To Obtain Righteous Youth). The project is currently working with 160 groups and has 25 members (including extension workers). The organization falls under the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK), but the project enjoys autonomy from the Church. There is a Board of trustees, a management committee, a coordinator, manager and departmental heads. The organization connects with the community through the management committee and departmental heads. The project tries to be gender-sensitive but does not always succeed since the groups they work with will rarely elect a woman into a position of leadership. The major challenges facing the project include high expectations, lack of infrastructure (e.g. electricity and water), impact of HIV/AIDS which has outstripped gains made in the area, cultural practices and attitudes, corruption, political interference, the scope of work, and issues of sustainability due to dependency on donors. Amani participated in the PRSP consultations, but feels that one-day was not enough. Amani could have a role to play in the implementation of the PRSP as its recommendations tallied with the vision of the institution. District Commissioner, Rachuonyo District Rachuonyo is a new District recently carved out of Homa Bay District. The district has poor infrastructure e.g. water and electricity. The district is said to be politically calm and currently concerned more on development, although culture adversely affects production. The district lacks storage facilities for fish and parts of the district could thrive on irrigation. People do not give sufficient attention to environment issues e.g. tree planting. The district is endowed with absentee university professors and other professionals from the area who prefer to live in Nairobi. However, the professionals recently formed three associations from each of the areas (Karachuonyo, Kasipul and Kabondo) to deal with issues of poverty and education in the community. There are many NGOs in the community but nobody knows what they are doing. Those who are doing something have limited themselves to small geographical areas. The NGOs are encouraged to promote a spirit of partnership and transparency. CARE-Kenya, Homa Bay CARE-Kenya in Homa Bay implemented agro-forestry and water and sanitation in different locations. The program plans to work in a few geographical areas with more than one project e.g. agriculture, water and sanitation in the same location to obtain synergy through partnerships with the communities and other development agencies. A rapid assessment undertaken in 1996 identified the priority problems to include food security, water and sanitation, lack of farm inputs, and HIV/AIDS. On the basis of these findings, CARE initiated the Dak Achana Project that only focused on agriculture and water and sanitation due to limited funding. In agriculture, the program involves agricultural extension on modern farming methods, adaptive research through women groups (e.g. testing seed varieties, pest management, and pest management plants), and institutional capacity

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building. The use of adaptive research by farmers and community involvement through farm visits and regular review meetings is more effective than the traditional “training and visit system” as it assists in the internalization of research findings. In water and sanitation, the activities include safe drinking water, household hygiene, and hygiene education. At the community level, the structure has a village management committee, sub-location management committee and location development committee (which is a sub-committee of the location development committee headed by the area chief). Among the projects sites of CARE is Lambwe Valley where PRAs have been conducted and the use of chlorinated water is being tested and researched with the technical support of the US Centre for Disease Control. The community undertakes participatory monitoring and evaluation at all levels as part of the normal project implementation process. Gender Sensitive Initiatives (GSI), Central Management Committee, Oyugis The vision of GSI is sustainable communities of value with in-built gender equity. In Oyugis, GSI conducted capacity building for people empowerment using participatory evaluation process (PEP) methodology starting from 1992. The community appointed representatives to spearhead the development process based on their priority problems which included poverty, famine, communication (roads and others), water, and health. There are altogether 144 committee members throughout Kasipul and Kabondo divisions. The Central Management Committee (CMC), the structure responsible for planning and overseeing implementation, is drawn from among the 144 members and has 48 members representing 12 locations (4x12). There is a technical staff of 6 that helps the CMC to coordinate activities and sends monthly reports to the Central Office in Nairobi. The CMC and the technical staff have a strategic plan with activities drawn from the priorities generated by the communities. Activities are mostly capacity building, production, advocacy and policy. Participation and gender mainstreaming are the key tools in poverty analysis, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The activities address multi-sectoral needs of the community including women’s participation in leadership. Challenges for the CMC and GSI are mostly on the scope of the project, limited financial resources due to donor dependency, and impact of HIV/AIDS. CMC participated in the PRSP consultations and are waiting for feedback so as to assist in its implementation at the local level. Futures Group, Hapac Project Futures Group is a consultancy firm contracted to channel funds from DfID to partners who include NGOs and CBOS at the grassroots level. Futures Group screens proposals from partner CBOs mainly in the area of HIV/AIDS and recommends them for funding. HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care (HAPAC) concentrates on Nyanza and is currently working with 11 NGOs, Centre for British teachers in Bondo, Kenya Association of Professional Counselors, and Catholic Relief Services in Homa Bay, among others. Components of the HAPAC programme include education, care and support, and behavioral change. The activities of the partner CBOs are monitored through the Ministry of Health’s provincial and district structures. HIV/AIDS need to be controlled; otherwise HIV/AIDS is moving people to destitution while more are being infected. HIV/AIDS has brought in many dimensions to the development process. It is targeting the most productive members of the society and also affects caregivers of the ailing relatives. It brings with it widowhood and orphans. It is important to consider wider development issues including ways of generating income, raising people’s consciousness, and alleviating suffering within families through food, school uniforms and other services.

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Family Planning Association of Kenya, Kisumu Some of the services provided include family planning methods, pap-smear, MCH, management of STI/counselling services for STI/HIV, laboratory services, curative services, pharmacy, male circumcision (but discourage female circumcision), post-abortal services, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, and voluntary counselling in testing for HIV. The national executive committee comprises of policy volunteers. The Kisumu office runs FPAK activities in Nyanza and Western provinces, Turkana, Samburu, Trans-Mara and Eldoret. FPAK activities in the region have had various sponsors who include Family Health International, UNFPA, Futures group (the HAPAC project in Nyando and Bondo districts), the European Union, USAID, and DfID. FPAK is a 40-year old organisation started by two Kenyan doctors who had a vision for this nation. IPPF has been the main sponsor. The organisational structure comprises the volunteer structure (which has national chairman and general secretary/treasurer), regions, districts and divisions. There is a committee at every level, and elections start from the bottom upwards. At the grassroots level are volunteers at village level. Division representatives elect chairmen of districts/secretariat through the delegates system. FPAK supplements government efforts, and sometimes gets contraceptives and equipment from government stores. FPAK works closely with NCPD. FPAK played a big role in the creation of NCPD (the umbrella for the NGOs in reproductive health issues). Western Kenya NGO Network The Western Kenya NGO Network is one of the regional networks of the NGO Council. The network was started by 6 organizations in Kisumu (AAK, CARE, ITDG, Africa Now, Kefeado and Osienala) in 1998. The first workshop held the same year and funded by AAK discussed organizational structure, management, and issues to be addressed in the region (Nyanza and Western provinces). A preliminary mapping of NGOs and CBOs was undertaken. The Network has established good working relations with government structures and sits at most government development meetings. The network and its members participated in planning an inclusive process for district PRSP, and the actual consultations at the district level. A civil society representative from the PRSP Secretariat was called upon to explain the PRSP to the participants. The PRSP process has created an entry point to lobby for governance and strengthen networking in the region. Some of the challenges include (a) lack of finance and personnel (one person covers 25 districts), (b) weak civil society networks at the district level, (c) inadequate information on the number and activities of NGOs and CBOs operating in the area, and (d) lack of a well-defined relationship with the NGO Council vis-à-vis the NGOs supporting the network at the regional level. Murang’a District Commissioner, Kiawanduma Coffee Cooperative Society, Iyego Coffee Cooperative Society The story of coffee is a very sad one. Kenya coffee, one time the second foreign exchange earner after tourism, still reigns supreme on shelves of coffee shops and coffee houses abroad. It is a perfect blend, its aroma drifting in the kitchens of the rich in the world. Kenyan farmers do not drink coffee. What they produce are coffee berries. When processed, coffee comes back to the Kenyan supermarket, and the coffee farmer can hardly recognize it, leave alone afford it. The giant Murang’a Cooperative Union was the role model for cooperatives in Kenya. It dictated development in Murang’a. In 1988, the district produced a record 130 million-kg of coffee. In 2001, they produced 32 million-kg. In the year 1997/98, Iyego Farmers Cooperative Society representing 12 factories recorded production of 3.3 million kg which fetched Shs 111.6 million. In the year 2000/2001, the production was 3.0 million kg, and the members received Shs 386,162.

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The coffee farmers of Murang’a and elsewhere have never been able to come to terms with what has happened to the coffee industry. Most of them do not even understand what is going on. There are too many things going on, there are too many invisible people who are too far away for the farmer to comprehend. There is the local coffee factory, secondary cooperative of coffee factories (e.g. Iyego), KPCU, Coffee Board of Kenya, Coffee Research Foundation, auctions, buyers, etc. Apart from the factory management, the farmer does not interact with all these other structures. Yet, like the biblical Samson turning the tread mill, the farmers continue to tend and deliver coffee berries to the factory, just like they have always done. At the local level, the farmer is saddled with inputs for tending coffee, whether or not he asked for them. This may very well be adding to the already outstanding credit (most of which was accumulated under the World Bank Small Coffee Improvement Project - SCIP II), for which he has labored to repay without success. Struggling under the weight of berries on the back, the farmer or wife of an absentee husband trudges the meandering and almost vertical hills to deliver coffee to the factory where the berry is weighed by the factory hand and recorded against the owner’s reference number. Due to illiteracy, farmers may be cheated by the “weighing scales”. This stage is the last the farmer sees his coffee because some other people take over from there. From this point on, it may take up to one year before receiving payment. The factory processes the farmers’ coffee to deliver to KPCU in Nairobi or a private miller in Thika. The farmer does not know the transactions between KPCU and the factory manager. The factory manager is in turn not part of the transactions between KPCU and the Coffee Board of Kenya. The interaction between the Coffee Board of Kenya and the international buyer at the auction is something totally removed from the farmer. The farmer has “no business” with the pricing of coffee. The farmer knows nothing about where inputs for tending coffee are acquired from except what is imposed on him at the farm level. The farmer knows that he cannot uproot the coffee trees even when they reach the doorstep leaving no space for a kitchen garden. The farmer is ruled by something called the Coffee Act and the coffee berry itself. Coffee is the coffee farmer’s burden. The farmers complained of high costs of production, illiteracy, ignorance and other forms of disempowerment, bouncing cheques, delayed payments, politicization of the management of coffee marketing, corruption, stealing, poor investment decisions, slavery to an outdated Act of Parliament, burdensome taxes and levies for services not rendered, and total violation of farmers’ rights. The story of coffee is ugly. There are many disconnects within the management of the coffee industry, too many loopholes, and too much deliberate dishonesty. Some of the challenges facing the industry and indeed Central Province seem to link to attitudes. Coffee is mismanaged right from the farm level, where the farmers are represented by their own immediate people whom they know by name and gates to the homesteads. For a long time, power brokers at the higher stations of the coffee industry have been people from within the province. The community points out that most of the people from Murang’a live in Nairobi and may travel home once in a long time for one day, never spending time to acquaint themselves with issues in the community. There is hardly any repatriation of earnings into the community like it happens with other communities. Other issues include the myth that Central Province is rich and developed. Natural disasters like the El Nino rains wiped away what was left of the infrastructure. High unemployment and lack of industry, dependence on coffee and to some extent tea, and effects of HIV/AIDS, add to the factors militating against development in the community. There are also hardly any NGOs, CBOs or other LLIs to boost development in the community, apart from the coffee factories. People from the district went to Nyeri to participate in the PRSP. The PRSP process ignored what PEC had done and did not consider Murang’a as a priority. The one-day forum was a mockery to the people and a window dressing to justify expenditure. The people are waiting for repair of the dilapidated infrastructure and Stabex funds to revamp their local economy. They do not believe in handouts, but only infrastructure and an enabling environment (e.g. liberalization of coffee marketing).

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Mwana Mwende Child Development Trust Mwana Mwende Child Development Trust started in 1997 in reaction to the findings of an action research study that pointed to the need to counsel teenage mothers. The research observed tendencies of low self-esteem and dependency on parents, which led to a program to improve the quality of their lives and those of their children. The program worked with the ministries of health and education to train Community Health Workers (CHW) and pre-school teachers mainly on child health, nutrition, early childhood care and development, and early stimulation. For purposes of sustainability, a male member of the community who was trained as a community motivator in organic agriculture started with the groups of teenage mothers. The groups have formed into village committees, which have in turn formed sub-location committees, which are in turn expected to federate to a location committee. The groups are also trained on income generating activities. Mwana Mwende is registered as an NGO. The beneficiaries of the program reported on progress made since 1997. “Mwana Mwende taught people to return teenage mothers to school; not to feel it is the end of the world after teenage pregnancy”. They have learnt to be careful and use planning techniques “until we get husbands”. They talked of pregnancy sometimes being out of bad luck. Rape is normally by close relatives and “trusted” caregivers e.g. their primary school teachers. But other times, girls as young as 12 years are lured into this mchezo (game) by old men including leaders like assistant chiefs who buy them chewing gum, and younger men who want to “taste”. “But you give birth alone, and rear children alone”. The local provincial administration and village elders do not handle complaints from teenage mothers on restitution by those responsible for the pregnancies with fairness. The roles of the village committees are monitoring and to ensure sustainability on phase-out by Mwana Mwende. A village committee is made up of elected community members, a pastor, village elder, pre-school parent, pre-school teacher, and a primary school teacher. A sub-location committee has three representatives from each constituent village committee (chair, secretary and treasurer) plus a pastor and one village elder. Challenges facing these groups and the larger community include: the low positions of women and girls, tradition, community attitudes toward sex, treatment of the girl-child, and the attitudes of leaders and parents. Mwana Mwende, including the area location chief, did not participate in the district PRSP consultations even though they are just down the road from the district headquarters. Yatta South Women Group (YSWG) The wife of a Danish Volunteer posted at the Katangi Youth Polytechnic started Yatta South Women Group in 1986. The purpose was economic empowerment to meet the basic needs of the 1,400 basket-weaver members of 31 existing women groups through marketing of Akamba sisal baskets. The membership has grown to 2,033. The YSWG has a management committee that is elected by the annual general meeting of 2 representatives of each of the 31 groups to serve for a period of 3 years. The project has a manager in charge of the basket business supported by a secretariat. There is a community development section headed by a Danish volunteer. Basket weaving and marketing is the breadline of YSWG. However, the institution experiences some problems including: (a) The group internal constitution is difficult to implement. For example, if a member refuses to weave

baskets, there is nothing that can be done about that because earnings are based on the number of quality baskets each member weaves;

(b) Conflict between the operations of the business side and the community development because it confuses leadership roles and responsibilities;

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(c) Balancing between demand for and supply of the baskets in relation to other priorities in the women’s daily calendar, e.g. the planting season demands more time;

(d) Political interference (e) Contradictions of donor aid policies e.g. when we preach self-sufficiency and a donor comes with

handouts. YSWG did not participate in the PRSP consultations. Their letter of invitation was still sitting at the District Office long after the consultations took place. We Care About Nairobi (We Can Do It) WE CAN (Care About Nairobi) DO IT is an informal group of concerned residents registered under the Societies Act. These residents of Nairobi got together to try and improve the City. Their goal is to see a long-term sustainable system of governance and service delivery by the local authority. The association proposes a reorganization of the city council to begin with a democratic structure at the bottom (households) that scales up to estate, with several estates forming a division that federate at the council level. Taskforces were formed to study city planning, security, infrastructure (e.g. sewerage), and social welfare (education and health). The mayor has accepted that the association will work together with the Nairobi City Council. WE C.A.N. DO IT is likely to face a myriad of challenges. The recent past history of Nairobi reeks of corruption that this association is trying to confront. The diversity of Nairobi residents including a transit population of business people also presents a diversity of needs and interests. Lack of political will and commitment to change is another stumbling block. The great divide between the haves and the have-nots is another challenge, to name just a few. The association also needs more exposure and access to reliable sources of funds to meet its operating costs. The association did not participate in the PRSP.