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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.

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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.

Between 14^th and 17^th July 2014 CEEC trained 27 male youth from Kikuyu Sub County on Positive Masculinities with a view to building their capacity to combat gender based violence. The training was informed by the high incidence of gender based violence within the sub county with men being the main perpetrators. Evolving social and economic dynamics in Kikuyu Sub County as elsewhere in the country have brought about an affront to manhood resulting in unhealthy expressions of masculinity mainly through violence perpetrated by men against women as well as fellow men. This desire to assert power over others is rooted in male socialization which thrives on dominance and conquest.  This project which is supported by DKA Austria aims at helping the young men to become aware of how they embrace violent masculinities through the socialization process making violence part of their male identity. Men need to understand that the use of violence over others is actually a sign of disempowerment and that nonviolent masculinities are possible and desirable. That indeed, positive, healthy, nonviolent masculinity is a mark of real manhood.

The training was an eye opener for the youth who were able to make the link between flawed masculinities and violence. The youth also understood how gender based violence affects not only women but also men themselves and children. With this understanding, they were able to appreciate the important role they can play to combat this vice starting by personal change before reaching out to others. At the end of the training, the youth resolved to become champions against gender based violence and they came up with action plans outlining how they will raise awareness and mobililize fellow youth in their respective wards against gender based violence.

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CEEC has been working with women and MCAs from Kandara Sub County in Murang’a County on a Women and Devolved Governance Project supported by GIZ (CPS) which aims at promoting women’s participation in devolved governance. In February and March respectively the women and the MCAs were trained on devolved governance, transformative leadership and women’s participation in governance. After the trainings the women mobilized other women from their respective wards namely Kagundu-ini, Gaichanjiru, Muruka, Nga’raria, Ruchu and Ithiru to attend ward based forums. The purpose of the forums was to help the women address their issues of concern to their leaders. All the six MCAs attended the forums in their respective wards and responded to the concerns raised by the women. The women were very happy with the forums especially given that some of them did not know their MCAs and those who do had never seen them after they voted for them. They felt the forums had opened up channels of communication between them and their leaders and they would now be able to continue engaging with them. The MCAs on the other hand appreciated the fact that the forums had provided them with an opportunity to engage with a big segment of their constituents. They affirmed the important role that women play and pledged to work with them to ensure that there was gender inclusive governance in their respective wards.

As a follow up of the training of women from Kandara Sub County on devolved governance that took place in February 2014, CEEC trained seven MCAs from the same Sub County (five out of the elected six and two nominated women MCAs) in March 2014. The training which took place under the “Women and Devolved Governance” project supported by GIZ (CPS) covered the rationale for women’s participation, challenges that women face and strategies of enhancing their participation in devolved governance. The training aimed at building the capacity of the MCAs to promote women’s participation in devolved governance thus contributing to an all inclusive governance in Kandara Sub County.