The performance analysis assessed the achievements made by Kutoka Network in the implementation of its programmes and projects. It discusses the programmatic and institutional milestones achieved, challenges and lessons learned to provide inputs for the design of better and more focused program activities in the coming years.
2.2.1. KEY PROGRAMME ACHIEVEMENTS
Kutoka network has been working tirelessly in addressing the needs of people in the urban informal settlements since its inception. Over the years, the network has been guided by its core thematic areas in implementation of various programmes. These thematic programmes entailed:
✓ Human Rights: Governance, advocacy, peace building, social justice and reconciliation
✓ Gender :Leadership, mentorship and entrepreneurial support
✓ Capacity development: Sports and talents development and employment creation
✓ Livelihood: opportunity scanning, linkages, financial literacy and record keeping, entrepreneurship training and support and inter-faith economic justice
✓ Media : Training of community journalists to document their significant change stories, advocacy and lobbying, development of I.E.C materials and positive use of social media
✓ Inter-faith and inter-religious dialogue series: inter-faith perspectives to social justice-prophetic mission of the church and inter-faith collaboration.
✓ Environment and Climate Change: Decommissioning of Dandora dumpsite, solid waste management, promotion of hygiene and sanitation in SOSs).
Through these thematic programme areas, the network has initiated several key projects that have been of success for the target communities living in informal settlements within the urban setting. The following are some examples of projects implemented by the Network that had profound benefits to the communities:
3 UN-HABITAT and Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme (KENSUP).pdf
4https://www.fsinplatform.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/IPC_Kenya_Acute_Food_Insecurity_2020AugDec_Urban.pdf 5 https://theconversation.com/nairobis-slum-residents-pay-a-high-price-for-low-quality-services-104063
A) Social Justice, Reconciliation and Advocacy Project
The church is known to be the conscience of a society. It is therefore incumbent upon the church leadership to play a leading role in reconstructing the society in order to ensure that every individual and institution contribute towards building just communities where every human being irrespective of the social, economic or political limitations celebrate their humanity and feel part and parcel of being God’s children. Further, the enactment of the new constitution in 2010 which provided for a two-tier system of devolved governance, an expanded bill of rights which provided for compulsory public participation in decision making at both national and county governments and an elaborate chapter on lands and the environment re-shaped the way we approached or social justice, peace building and reconciliation programming. The end of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the launch of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have also had a positive impact on our programming as our future activities will be aligned to realization of specific SDGs.
It is in this regard that Kutoka Network initiated the Social Justice, Reconciliation and Advocacy Project. Some of the key achievement for the project include:
• Development of newsletter, sports, peace building and reconciliation barazas which helped to unite the various villages especially around 2007 and 2013 general elections which minimized violence.
• A total of 22 groups had participated in the project activities with a total of 528 participants. Most of them attended more than one activity.
• The project engaged with ward administrators who represent the governors at the grassroots level and the chiefs who represent the president at the same level. However, the political leadership didn’t engage with the project as planned. This is a gap that the new project is seeking to fill.
• The project formed 3 out of the 5 monitoring groups: Korogocho, Kibra and Mukuru.
• A mapping of devolved funds in each of the project target areas was undertaken. Most of the target beneficiaries who attended the devolved funds awareness sessions demonstrated low level of understanding of the devolved funds in each of the respective areas. Some of them complained that fidelity to elected political leaders prevented them from asking questions around governance since they were considered as the enemies of the leaders particularly at ward and parliamentary levels.
• The project conducted consultations meeting with paralegals that were trained during the last project.
• The project conducted a 2-day paralegal training with 36 paralegals. The project is also continuing with its collaboration with the Korogocho Justice Centre to refer cases regarding access to justice.
• The project developed the website with pins which indicate projects in each of the wards.
B) Public Interest Groups (PIGs)
The project achievements entailed: the formation of PIGs in Korogocho, Kibra, Mathare, Dandora, Kayole and Mukuru; the formation of Dandora Dumpsite Consortium: COPA-K; Kutoka Network; and Ufanisi Centre; and building new partnerships with democracy and access to justice actors: Lands Coalition, shadow reporting to COESCRs. The project activities and stories of change included: Evidence Based advocacy through research; Technical and Financial Support to Community Organizing Initiatives e.g. USA, MPI etc.; Telling the stories of change through information dissemination, traditional and contemporary media platforms e.g. Newspapers and Online among other areas.
Further during the project implementation the following Lessons were learnt
• Building of critical constituencies for impactful advocacy and human rights
• Community led mechanisms for information validation and sharing
• Effective MEARRL mechanisms which consolidate multi-stakeholders approach to measuring achievements
• Building the institutional and technical capacity of the PIGs to embrace evidence based to devolved funds advocacy
• Building on the strategic goodwill and political support both at county and national levels
C) Participatory Governance and Entrenching Good Governance
The project aimed at transforming unequal power relations through strengthening institutional and organizational systems in the community which influence participation as well as to promote and encourage inclusion and participation in governance by youth, women and the easily marginalized groups in Nairobi.
The specific objectives of the project included creation of public awareness on devolved government, the role of public in the devolved government and checks and balances to ensure the letter and spirit of the constitution is adhered to; and creation of a safe and secure environment through peace by transforming structures which perpetuate injustices and inequalities. To achieve these objectives the project carried out the following activities: networking, seminars/workshop, dialogue, conferences, road shows/processions, focused group discussion, mobilization, lobbying, media, sports events, and courtesy calls.
At the end the project was able to achieve the following results:
• Inclusion and Participation of Community in Local Governance in Nairobi.
• Equitable and sustainable development through participatory democracy and good governance. • Due processes followed in setting up devolved funds committee and monitoring and evaluation frameworks developed to check identification, implementation and hand over of the projects. • Public able to know and monitor corruption and promote honesty, integrity and quality service
D) Public / Civic education – Enhancing the Knowledge of Wakaazi (residents)
The project entailed: enhancing the Knowledge of Wakaazi (residents) in five self-organized settlements to engage with their leaders and make them more responsive. The five settlements in Nairobi included Korogocho, Kayole, Dandora, Mathare, Mukuru and Kibera.
The activities of the project involved:
• Conducting awareness raising workshop in each of the five-project target self-organized settlements on monitoring of public funded projects with at least 30 participants in each workshop. 150 wakaazi taken through leadership awareness sessions and become more responsive to monitoring public funded projects and influencing development within their electoral wards.
• Convening a leader’s leadership consultative meeting in each of the target self-organized settlements with at least 30 representatives of key stakeholders.
• Conducting a baseline and end-line social audits of publicly funded projects from the target self-organized settlements.
E) Sauti Kutoka Ghetto
Sauti Kutoka Ghetto was a weekly Radio show that was aired every Wednesday at 7.30PM on Radio Waumini, the Catholic Radio station in Kenya. Each programme has a relevant theme in the areas of human rights, advocacy and lobbying for implementation of policies and programmes which impact positively on the livelihoods of urban slum dwellers. A team of trained community reporters were tasked to gather and report news from different slums. The program hoped created an even bigger impact in the lives of the people it stands for; the slum people.
Key issues noted during the project include:
• To advocate for children’s rights to quality and affordable basic primary education through formal and non-formal structures
• Education is becoming part and parcel of our news agenda, being agenda 2 of the Millennium development Goals more and more people are appreciating discussions and issues based on education • More listeners are getting in touch with us by communicating and sharing their opinion on the radio show. We are already in touch with the ministry of education and the Nairobi City education department that we hope can help get more contacts with the policy makers
Mashinani Campaigns are still in progress and we are getting more and more parishes that want to join us in the campaign we are also engaging other key stakeholders in education, like the educationalists: University lecturers and Educational forums like FAWE to be part and parcel of our education campaign. The project constituted a committee of 12 community representatives to mobilize the community on issues relating to urban slums education.
F) Social Audits Project
The goal of the project was to undertake on-going social audits of public funds in Nairobi and hold leaders accountable to the public over management of the funds. This project’s theory of change (ToC) is informed by Kutoka Network’s history of working with communities to enhance their access to justice and hold public leaders accountable to them. The project ToC is premised on the fact that IF communities in SOSs are enlightened and made aware of their role in participating in development THEN they will be empowered to demand transparency and accountability in the management of public funds and THUS lead to improved development and service provision to the people living in SOSs BECAUSE equitable development is a fundamental human right.
The project trained 15 community social auditors (CSAs) per project area who were in charge of undertaking social audits within their regions. The social audit approach was preferred in this project because it allowed for trained community social auditors (CSAs) to spearhead the process using a scorecard with relevant indicators, which respond to the communities’ concerns regarding management of public funds. The issues from the community were generated through a participatory process such as conducting Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) in communities. Issues, which commonly emerge, are converted into indicators, which were used as a basis of developing data collection tools. Data collected from the communities were subjected to a validation by the leaders through holding Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with relevant public officers such National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO), governors, relevant CECMs, MCAs and leaders of various devolved funds committees. A final report was produced after issues from the communities and the team undertaking the social audits (CSAs) has verified leaders.
2.2.2. KEY ORGANIZATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
Over the past several years the organization has been able to make great changes in the organizational level especially within the communities within the informal settlements. The following were identified as key organizational achievements made:
✓ Dandora dump site consortium, comprising of St. John’s sport Society (SSS), COPA Kenya, and Ufanisi Centre;
✓ Build new partners with democracy and access to justice and non- state actors; ✓ Evidence based advocacy through research e.g. Dandora dumpsite social mapping, baseline survey on devolved funds 2019 and 2021.
✓ Accessing awareness on devolved funds identification of public funded project with a view of accessing the viability, status etc.
✓ Small assessment of the perception survey of the BBI;
✓ Technical and financial support to Public Interest Group [PIG]’s in 6 target areas i.e., Dandora, Korogocho, Mukuru, Kibera, Mathare, and Kayole;
✓ Telling stories of change through trained community journalists based in the 6 target project locations. These are alternative media platforms. Some of the direct beneficiaries of community journalism have been employed in major media organizations while others have been employed as communication and public relations (PR) professionals.