Strenghtening the capacities of state and non-state actors for effective devolved governance

Contract number: 351479

Action title: Strenghtening the capacities of state and non-state actors for effective devolved governance. 

Project details:

The project’s overall objective is to contribute to an accountable, transparent and participatory County governance system in Kenya in accordance with its constitutional rights.

Specifically, the project will strengthen the capacities of citizens as well as County governance institutions to effectively execute their democratic mandates – which means: the main focus of the project lies on capacity building.

The project operates on national as well as on regional level (“on the ground”) with different target groups, e.g. Committees on national level like the Council of Governors, County Authorities, journalists in the regions, Court User Committees and local offices of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, County Budget and Economic Forums, as well as different Actors of the Civil Society.

The project results are:

Result 1: Awareness about devolution & citizen engagement opportunities substantially increased.
Result 2: COF established, understanding their roles, and holding County Governments effectively to account.
Result 3: Through increased participation more effective and efficient decision making tailored to the needs of the local population.

One of the key activities of the project is the foundation of Citizens Oversight Forums (COFs) – one in each of the ten target Counties. They are primarily seen as the advocate of the people with its main interest in participating in the budgeting and planning process of the Counties for ensuring improved service delivery by the County Authorities. The cooperation and networking of the COFs with local organizations and committees lead to mutual information sharing and therefore responds to the Devolution process as a still new and highly complex reform.

The project is implemented in cooperation with:

Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops - Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC); Centre for Enhancing Democracy and Good Governance (CEDGG); Mobilization Agency for Paralegal Communities in Africa (MAPACA).

Main activities are:

• Media partnerships,
• Various public outreach tools,
• Trainings of staff, associates and volunteers of the target CSOs/CBOs/FBO identified through the baseline survey,
• Community level civic forums on county governance processes, Set up of and technical,
• Support to Citizen Oversight Forums,
• Training on score-card methodology (Budget, County Legislation, Integrity),
• Training of target CSOs & County Authorities, Networking with national CSOs on Oversight,
• Cooperation with local Court User Committees & local offices of the Ethics & Anti-Corruption Commission,
• Targeted capacity building/technical support to specific County Authority Institutions,
• Training for informed participation of CSOs,
• Technical support to County Citizen Forums,
• Quarterly consultative workshops with and technical advice to the Council of Counties,
• Annual best practice and lessons learned WS

Regional Officer / Trainer (100%), 144months

Project Manager (100%), 48 months

Accountant (80%), 48 months

Regional Coordinator (50%), 144months

Assistant (100%), 144months

 
Financing by EC: 500,000.00€ (50%)

by BMZ: 499,979.00 € (50%)