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In November 2020, CEEC carried out two sets of three days’ training for a total of 39 youth at PCEA St. Andrews Church, Nairobi. The training was implemented under the Project, “Promoting Peaceful Co-Existence in Nairobi’s Informal Settlements during the Covid-19 pandemic by Combating Gender Based Violence’’, with support from GIZ-CPS. The trainees were from five informal settlements in Nairobi namely; Kibra, Kawangware, Korogocho, Dandora and Mathare. The overall training objective was to strengthen the youth’s knowledge and skills to effectively advocate for GBV prevention and response, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The training helped demystify myths and stereotypes surrounding gender based violence and it strengthened the trainees’ capacity to prevent and respond to GBV. Due to the traumatic nature of gender based violence, a psychosocial practitioner was present to address any emerging issues/concerns and provide the necessary support. The trainees also received contacts for other stakeholders in the GBV prevention and response chain for collaboration and synergy purposes. At the end of the two trainings, the 39 youth committed to become GBV Prevention and Response Champions within their respective areas.

Between September and October 2020, CEEC with support from GIZ conducted a total of 16 Inter-gender forums in eight farms in Burnt Forest namely; Ndungulu, Barekeiwo, Rukuini, Kagongo, Chuiyat, Kamuyu, Kaplelach and Lingway. The forums were part of the project, ‘Combating Electoral Gender Based Violence through Positive Masculinities and Femininities in Burnt Forest’. A total of 430 community members participated in the forums. In same gender groups, the forum participants explored challenges that hinder women from accessing leadership, strategies that can be used to address these challenges as well as the role of both men and women in promoting women’s leadership. For each forum, the trainees who were supported by CEEC staff, facilitated the men only/women only group discussions and then brought the two groups together in plenary to share key issues arising from their discussions. The participants then generated strategies and reached consensus on how to promote gender inclusive leadership.

With the support of HorizonT3000, CEEC conducted a policy dialogue training of 20 Community leaders from Kikuyu Sub County on 28th-30th October 2020. The training that took place at the ACK Emmanuel Church, Kikuyu, brought together stakeholders from youth groups, CSOs, religious organizations, Community Health Workers, women groups as well as other community opinion leaders from the five wards in Kikuyu Sub County namely Nachu, Kinoo, Sigona, Kikuyu and Karai. The training was informed by a Baseline Survey conducted by CEEC in 2018, on the “Prevalence and Effect of Alcohol and Substance Abuse and Effectiveness of Intervention Models in Kiambu County”. Survey findings identified one of the key challenges in addressing the problem of Alcohol and Substance Abuse as lack of proper support and response systems for those with the problem. Of particular concern was the fact that there are no public rehabilitation centres in the County and the privately owned ones are out of reach for most people due to the exorbitant charges. One key recommendation from the survey findings, which was confirmed during a validation exercise conducted in the five wards in September 2020, was the need for a public rehabilitation centre. The aim of the workshop was therefore to build the capacity of the stakeholders to conduct policy dialogue on issues of alcohol and substance abuse generally but in particular, the establishment of a public rehabilitation centre. The training equipped the leaders with the necessary knowledge and skills to engage with the policy makers. The trainees came up with a variety of strategies and approaches which included the formation of a County wide network, development of a policy brief and identification of key policy makers that they would present the policy brief to.

As part of the GIZ supported project, “Combating Electoral Gender Based Violence through Positive Masculinities and Femininities in Burnt Forest”, 38 community leaders conducted a series of “door to door” campaigns between 28th September and 17th October 2020 to sensitize the community to embrace women’s leadership. The leaders who are residents of Barekeiwo, Ndungulu, Rukuini, Lingway, Kamuyu, Kagongo, Chuiyat and Kaplelach had undergone training on how to combat Electoral Gender Based Violence through Positive Masculinities and Femininities. They were now using the knowledge and skills they had gained to raise awareness within their respective areas on how to address the challenges that hinder women from getting into leadership both at the community and political levels. The trainees used T-shirts and stickers with relevant messages as advocacy tools and they were also given a booklet entitled “Understanding Gender Based Violence “for reference. A total of 729 households were reached with awareness and in recognition of the hardships the communities are experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IEC materials were accompanied by face masks. The community members lauded the exercise and pledged to support women seeking leadership roles. They also asked that such awareness is sustained up to the 2022 General Election.

In September 2020, CEEC with support from HorizonT3000 validated Alcohol and Substance abuse baseline survey findings in Kikuyu Sub County. The findings were a result of a baseline survey on the Prevalence and Effect of Alcohol and Substance Abuse and Effectiveness of Intervention Models in Kiambu County which was conducted by CEEC with the support of DKA Austria in 2018. The validation exercise took place in the five wards in Kikuyu Sub County namely Nachu, Karai, Kikuyu, Sigona and Kinoo bringing together a total of 104 community leaders. Overall, feedback received confirmed the survey findings that indeed alcohol and substance abuse is a serious problem that is causing untold suffering within the community. The problem has been exacerbated by frustrations caused by loss of livelihoods due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The validation meeting participants also confirmed that the community has played a role in escalating the problem mainly due to ignorance that addiction is a disease that needs treatment. Due to this ignorance, those abusing alcohol and other substances are ostracized and condemned instead of being given the assistance and support they need. The participants expressed grave concern at the government’s apathy towards this scourge that is threatening to wipe out a whole generation of young people. Most of the participants were not aware that: there is an allocation in the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) to address the problem; that close to Ksh.100 million is collected every year from alcohol licenses and it is deposited in the Alcoholic Drinks Control Fund, which according to the Kiambu Alcoholic Drinks Control Act 2018, should be channeled back to the fight against alcohol abuse; and that provision had been made within the CIDP for a public Rehabilitation Centre to be constructed in Kikuyu Sub County. All the participants of the validation meetings were in consensus on the urgent need for a public Rehabilitation Centre since the private rehabilitation centres in the county are way out of the reach of most people due to the exorbitant fees. They committed to do community advocacy to curb alcohol and substance abuse generally and specifically for the establishment of a public Rehabilitation Centre.

On 19th August 2020, CEEC with the support of GIZ held a positive masculinities/femininities sensitization forum for electoral duty bearers from Uasin Gishu County in Eldoret town. The objective was to sensitize the duty bearers on how to promote women’s leadership through their work using the positive masculinities/femininities approach. After the forum, the duty bearers met with 27 women leaders and 16 male champions who had undergone a training on “Combating Electoral Gender Based Violence through Positive Masculinities and Femininities in Burnt Forest’’. The consultative forum that took place on 20th to 21st August 2020 at PCEA Church, Burnt Forest, was attended by representatives from the Office of Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP), the National Police Service (NPS), Media and Political Parties. It aimed at first of all demystifying the mandate of the different electoral duty bearers and secondly, brainstorming on ways that these duty bearers can help curb electoral gender based violence, thus promoting women’s leadership. The duty bearers committed to work with the trainees and the rest of the community to promote women’s leadership. In this regard, the trainees were encouraged to sensitize fellow community members on the mandate of the different duty bearers and to encourage them to hold them accountable.

On 19th August 2020, CEEC with support from GIZ held a sensitization forum for 11 electoral duty bearers on promoting women’s leadership at Simba Village, Eldoret. The forum was part of the project “Combating Electoral Gender Based Violence through Positive Masculinities and Femininities in Burnt Forest’”, aimed at building the capacity of electoral duty bearers’ to discharge their mandate in a more gender responsive manner. The forum was attended by representatives from the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP), the National Police Service (NPS), Media (Royal Media Services, TV 47 and KASS FM) and Political Parties (the Jubilee Party, ODM, KANU and CCM). The forum provided a platform for the duty bearers to be sensitized on how they can integrate gender concerns in their work. This was in view of the fact that the duty bearers have been indicted for perpetuating women’s rights violation in the political space through commission or omission thus contributing to lack of gender inclusivity in political leadership. The forum facilitated an understanding of the role of socialization within a highly patriarchal culture as the underlying cause of women’s poor performance in politics. The duty bearers realized how they, being a product of a flawed socialization process, have internalized and perpetuate gender stereotypes in the course of their work. They committed to advocate for women’s leadership by sensitizing men and women on the importance of gender inclusive leadership using existing avenues within their work places and shining a spotlight on gains made by women in leadership in order to bring about a shift in mind-set.

With support from GIZ, CEEC trained 16 male champions from eight farms in Burnt Forest namely Lingway, Rukuini, Kaplelach, Barakeiywo, Ndungulu, Chuiyat, Kamuyu and Kagongo. The training which took place on 20th to 23rd July 2020 at PCEA Church, Kamuyu was part of the project ‘’Combating Electoral Gender Based Violence Through Positive Masculinities and Femininities in Burnt Forest’. It was based on the premise that at the root of Gender Based Violence generally and Electoral Gender Based Violence in particular lie negative masculinities, rooted in a highly patriarchal culture. These negative masculinities are characterized by power and control dynamics which result in exclusion of women from important processes especially political leadership. The training helped the Male Champions understand how negative masculinities and marginalization of women hurt not only women but also men themselves as well as children. For communities and indeed entire societies to develop, it is imperative that all development processes, including political leadership be gender inclusive and one way of promoting this inclusivity is by embracing Positive Masculinities. The trainees pledged to be Positive Masculinities Champions within their respective communities. They committed to sensitize fellow men on the need to embrace healthier masculinities generally, and in particular to drum up support for women’s leadership.

In June 2020, CEEC with support from GIZ-CPS distributed peace packages within five informal settlements of Nairobi. The peace packages were part of the project ‘Youth Embracing Diversity within Five Informal Settlements of Nairobi,’ which aimed at promoting peaceful co-existence during the Covid 19 crisis as well as cushioning the most vulnerable families within the informal settlements against the effects of the pandemic. 500 families from Kibra, Korogocho, Kawangware, Dandora and Mathare received the peace packages comprising of posters and stickers with peace messages as well as food packages and masks. More peace messages were relayed through a jingle that was played in the three community radios in the project areas Mtaani Radio, Pamoja FM and Koch FM.

CEEC with the support of GIZ-CPS kicked off Phase 2 of the of the Embracing Diversity project in March 2020 with a training of  22 youth from Kibra, Kawangware, Dandora, Korogocho and Mathare informal settlements . This was a follow up of  Phase 1 of the project which was implemented in 2019 bringing together  28  youth . The project sought to strengthen the capacity of youth to promote cohesion building by recognizing, resisting and condemning manipulation of diversity. Project activities were a training on respect for diversity; community conversations; radio talk shows and an Embracing Diversity Road Show. The project was lauded not only by the youth but also by community members as one whose time had come. The beneficiaries, both direct and indirect, felt that as many youth as possible need to be reached as the country inches closer to the 2022 General Election. The youth in particular felt that their peers need to understand that diversity should not divide them but rather make them strong thus the slogan“Our Diversity, Our Strength/Utofauti Wetu Nguvu Yetu”. This, they felt would contribute to the mitigation of the electoral violence witnessed every five years especially in view of the fact that informal settlements are infamous for being the main hot spots for the violence in Nairobi. In addition, it is also true that the main perpetrators are youth. Trainees from both phases came together in a joint planning meeting during which they  came up with work plans on how they would facilitate community conversations in their respective areas.