Category: Updates

On 15th February 2015, CEEC closed the project Building the capacity of communities in Burnt Forest to prevent and appropriately respond to Gender Based Violence with a celebration at Kamuyu Secondary School. The celebration brought together about 200 Community members who included 67 trainees from the eight farms. The chief guest was the Acting Deputy County Commissioner, Chuck Masua. Also in attendance were chief Bitok and assistant chief Biwott from Olenguse Location. Specialists on alcoholism from Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital also attended the celebration to enlighten the community on the adverse effects of alcohol. A VCT desk was also in place due to requests from community members.

The guest speaker and the other invited guests lauded the project, saying it had made their work as government officials easier since there is heightened awareness of gender based violence. The community members were urged to change with the times and leave behind cultures that are not helpful.

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On 14th February 2015, CEEC conducted an evaluation of the project Building the capacity of communities in Burnt Forest to prevent and appropriately respond to Gender Based Violence. The evaluation brought together 35 trainees from the eight farms of Kamuyu, Kagongo, Chuiyat, Kaplalach/Rironi, Ndunglu, Lingway, Rukuini and Barakeiywo in Burnt Forest to evaluate the outcome of the project. The trainees shared insights, challenges, lessons learnt, success stories and feedback received from their respective farms

Key learning points

• Flawed socialization lies at the heart of gender based violence.
• It is possible for men to be strong and not use their strength to violate others. Men should use their strength responsibly.
• Both men and women suffer as a result of gender based violence.
• Communication is key in avoiding gender based violence.
• It is important to have gender equality/equity especially in the way children are socialized.
• Alcoholism is a major contributing factor to gender based violence.

Some of the success stories:

• More respect for women
• Women are being more involved in family affairs
• An increased amicable settlement of family disputes
• A number of men confessed that they had cut down on their drinking while others had stopped altogether.
• Many of the trainees informed CEEC that they had now become champions against gender based violence and they were using all available opportunities to sensitize other community members.
• The community has become more alert to cases of gender based violence and they are no longer keeping quiet.
• Families of the trainees have become role models in the community.

The trainees said the project was an idea whose time had come it had hardly scratched the surface. They called on CEEC to ensure that they reach out to as many stakeholders as possible.

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As part of the Building the capacity of communities in Burnt Forest to prevent and appropriately respond to Gender Based Violence project, CEEC carried out monitoring field visits in the eight farms of Lingway, Kamuyu, Rukuini, Rironi/Kaplalach, Ndungulu, Chuiyat, Barekeiywo and Kagongo. The farm based visits aimed at assessing the trainees’ grasp of what they had learnt during the GBV prevention and response training held in November 2014. Each group of trainees took the lead in facilitating sessions on gender based violence and alcoholism which are the two problems they had identified as most pressing. The two are interrelated because alcoholism contributes to GBV or makes it worse and in some cases GBV perpetrated against men leads to alcoholism. The attendance of the forums was good with between 35 and 40 community members attending each forum. The trainees were able to engage those who participated in the forums and what CEEC had gathered during the needs assessment and trainings was confirmed during these monitoring visits – that GBV is a very serious problem in this area and a lot of work needs to be done with both men and women who have all internalized the vice as a norm.

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On 15^th December, CEEC brought together representatives of the trainees from the five ward of Kikuyu, Sigona, Nachu, Kinoo and Karai in Kikuyu Sub County for an evaluation meeting. During the meeting, the youth shared their success stories, challenges, lessons learnt and recommendations. It was very gratifying to hear the youth share their own stories of personal transformation in addition to the roles they were playing within their families, youth groups, churches and community as male champions against gender based violence. In addition to evaluating the project, the Positive Masculinities Handbook was also launched.

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This project is being implemented with the support of GIZ (CPS) and it started with a Needs Assessment which was conducted by CEEC in July 2014 in Burnt Forest. Following the findings from the Needs Assessment, CEEC conducted two trainings in November 2014 which aimed at building the capacity of both men and women to combat GBV. The first training was for 36 women and it took place on 19th – 22nd November 2014. In addition to issues of gender based violence, the women also got information from the Gender officer from Eldoret East and the Women Enterprise Fund field officer on opportunities available to them including Uwezo Fund. This was aimed at facilitating women’s economic empowerment thus making them less vulnerable to GBV. The women’s training was followed by another one for 31 men on 24th -27th November 2014. The men’s training focused on the link between flawed masculinities (characterized by male disempowerment) and GBV.

Both sets of trainees were drawn from 8 farms in Burnt Forest namely Lingway, Kamuyu, Rukuini, Rironi/Kaplalach, Ndungulu, Chuiyat, Barekeiywo and Kagongo. They identified GBV and alcoholism as two very serious and interrelated problems in all the farms. Although men are the main perpetrators, it emerged that in some cases they are on the receiving end and especially those who are alcoholics. A guest speaker from Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital gave a talk on alcoholism and both the men and women were shocked to learn that it is a disease with far reaching health and social effects. On 28th November 2014, both groups of trainees got together and came up with joint action plans on how to disseminate what they had learnt to other community members in their respective farms.

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CEEC has been working with youth from Nairobi County since October 2013 under the project Youth and Devolved Governance which is being supported by Heinrich Boll Stiftung, East and Horn of Africa. Under the project, an online platform Sauti Mtaani was set up to facilitate civic engagement between youth and their respective Members of County Assembly (MCAs). The second phase of the project started in September 2014 and it involved training of MCAs and youth on devolved governance, MCAs’ mandate and the importance of youth participation in governance. Following the trainings, a more user friendly version of the Sauti Mtaani platform was designed and launched. The trainees then embarked on popularization activities aimed at sensitizing fellow youth on the use of the platform as a tool for civic engagement. Popularization activities were carried out in all the 15 participating wards namely, Baba Dogo, Dandora 3, Korogocho, Kahawa, Karura, Kasarani, Kwa Reuben, Laini Saba, Lucky Summer, Mlango Kubwa, Ngei, Pipeline, Roysambu, Umoja 2 and Zimmerman. Banners, stickers and wrist bands with instructions on how to use the platform were used as advocacy materials.

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On 27th November 2013, and with the support of  Heinrich Boll Stiftung, East and Horn of Africa, CEEC launched two e-participation platforms under the name   “Sauti Mtaani”   to facilitate engagement between youth and their Members of County Assembly (MCAs). These were an sms platform and a Facebook application. Drawing from lessons learnt in the pilot phase, CEEC re-designed the Sauti Mtaani platform to make it more user friendly. The re-designed Sauti Mtaani Platform was launched on 26th September 2014 at the YMCA, State House Road under the second phase of “Youth and Devolved Governance” project.

The Sauti Mtaani platform is a web based portal which enables the youth to send text messages to their respective MCAs through a short code (21393). The MCAs then respond to the concerns raised by the youth from any web enabled device. This means the MCAs are able to communicate with the youth even when they are physically away from their wards. To further enhance interactions, the platform is complemented by a Facebook page.

You can view photos from the launch here

Under the Women and Civic engagement project, CEEC supported women from the six wards of Kagundu-ini, Gaichanjiru, Muruka, Nga’raria, Ruchu and Ithiru in Kandara Sub County to organize forums in their respective wards in March 2014. Members of County Assembly (MCAs) from the six wards attended the forums and responded to issues and concerns raised by the women. The forums were very successful and both the women and the MCAs requested for more forums in order to reach as many women as possible. It is in light of this that CEEC supported the women to organize follow up forums between 23^rd and 30^th August 2014. Just like the first phase, the second round of forums was also very successful and some women who did not even know their MCAs got to meet with them and to present their issues. One of the nominated women MCAs representing People with Disabilities attended one of the forums and enlightened the women on what the County Government is doing to assist people with disabilities. The turnout for the ward forums was very good with some wards having as many as 150 women. Being a predominantly agricultural area where women are the main source of labour, having so many women leaving their daily chores to attend meetings on issues of goveranance is an indication that the women in the area are starting to become aware of the need to participate in public affairs. The quality of discussions was very impressive and demonstrated the women’s growing awareness of the need to hold their leaders accountable.

Click here to view the pictures from the ward forums.

Between 28^th July and 1^st August 2014, CEEC carried out a Needs Assessment in eight farms within Burnt Forest namely, Lingway, Kamuyu, Rukuini, Rironi/Kaplalach, Ndungulu, Chuiyat, Barekeiywo and Kagongo. The exercise was informed by a request by the women from the eight farms for an empowerment project and the objectives were;

• To identify the most important women’s needs
• To identify the women’s perceived solutions to their needs, as well as their priorities and preferences.
• To ensure that any proposed intervention will be in line with needs that are expressed by the women in the eight farms.
• To identify other players in the community addressing the identified needs.

In recognition of the need to have male allies while implementing women empowerment projects, the Needs Assessment targeted not only women but also important male stakeholders, mainly the community’s gatekeepers. Top on the list of the needs identified was community capacity building to prevent and appropriately respond to gender based violence which is prevalent within the eight farms. Flowing from the Needs Assessment, CEEC is in the process of designing a Gender Based Violence prevention and response project which will work with both women and men from the eight farms.