Contents Editorial · 2019. 12. 20. · 1 Welcome to the second issue of Mwangaza – a learning and sharing tool produced by the ActionAid Kenya’s western region team. Through

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Welcome to the second issue of Mwangaza – a learning and sharing tool produced by the ActionAid Kenya’s western region team.

Through this, we aim to share and increase our knowledge and that of the entire ActionAid family as well as other development organisations’ in working with the poor to fi ght poverty and injustice based on the experiences of our work with the communities. We envision Mwangaza to be a ‘development practitioners’ journal – one that will serve as a reference material for development work especially for those who work with the communities.

The views expressed in this journal are extremely enriching as they are based on practical experiences in the fi eld. We strive to challenge ourselves critically on our approach, methods and way of work vis a vis the desired outcomes. For us, our vision is the benchmark. What do we want to achieve it? How are we doing it? Are we achieving the desired results? Are there better ways of doing it? What works and what does not work?These are some of the questions the entire journal strives to answer.

You will notice that the content as well as the lay out has changed considerably from that of the fi rst issue. We have taken into consideration the views and comments you expressed about the fi rst issue. Thank you for your support. We hope you will fi nd this useful for your work and do not hesitate to contact any of the team members for comments, views and suggestions.

Western Region Learning Tools

Issue 2 | November 2004

EditorialContents2 Working with Community Based

Organizations• Umbrella CBOs: Why common focuses are more

important than geographical areas• Reaching the poor

6 Gender perspectives• Changing lives – giving women economic strength• The impact of male gender trainers

• Graces reality must not be her daughter’s reality

11 HIV/AIDS perspectives• Working with orphans and vulnerable children

• The ambassador of hope

16 Transparency, accountability and effectiveengagement

• Creating a culture of transparency and accountability – it starts with us

• Who says they can’t – a community challenges representation and use of HIV/AIDS funds in Kenya

• Challenging the composition of district development committees

25 Research perspectives• The need for action research within ActionAid

28 News and updates• Poverty Studies Centre transforms

mwangaza is swahili word for illumination

Editorial Team:Dr. Roslyn Lwenya; Rahab Ngumba; Lovenna Akinyi; Cecil Agutu; Francis Satia; Christine Uyoga; Ashish Shah; Eric Kilongi; Elizabeth Muthuma

Design and Layout:Design Promotions & Media Interactive Limited

Produced By:ActionAid International Kenya: Western RegionP.O.Box 4572, KisumuKenyaGeneral Email: [email protected]

Subscriptions: Read Mwangaza and Subscribe Online http://www.kenyalink.org/mwangazaEmail: [email protected]

Mwangaza is produced by ActionAid International Kenya. The views expressed in this journal do not necessarily represent those of the producer. Accordingly, the producer is not responsible for any such views, nor for any other act or omission on the part of any such contributor or correspondent. Neither is any responsibility accepted by the producer for any loss or damage caused to any person relying on any statement in, or omission from, Mwangaza.

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FRANCIS SATIA and ASHISH SHAH

Community Based Organizations (CBOs) are local institutions formed by community members either directly or through the amalgamation of

smaller community groups. Most of ActionAids work in the Development Initiatives is with Community Based Organizations (CBOs) where we provide grants for various community actions / projects based on community need. The rationale of working with CBOs is seen as part of a process of empowering communities to own and take charge of their own development as opposed to the disempowering effects of an international NGO planning, designing and implementing projects it sees fit. Recognizing the strength of participation, inclusion and control of resources by poor people, the CBO concept presents itself as an effective strategy for NGOs such as ActionAid to effectively work with poor people. Secondly the concept should ideally allow for NGOs such as ActionAid to work with a wider community base as CBOs expand and more community members begin to participate in CBO activities.

CBOs – the simplified theoretical scenario

There are several types of Community Based Organizations (CBOs). This paper avoids the technical semantics of defining a CBO and uses the Mount Elgon DI experience of CBO setups which is probably also relevant in several other DIs in Kenya. In Mount Elgon DI, the community organization setup constitutes CBOs that are usually formed through the amalgamation of other smaller primary groups as opposed to individual members. Primary groups are usually closer to individuals and households in a village. In most cases primary groups constitute community members who have come together to address a common issue for instance; a self-help group focusing on an income generating activity, or a women’s group operating their own savings scheme or youth group carrying out awareness and advocacy on HIV/AIDS issues. On average the number of members in primary groups varies between 20 to 40.

Umbrella CBOs: why common focuses are more important than common geographical areasLessons from Mount Elgon

Working with Community Based Organizations

DC District Commissioner

SEDSmall Enterprise Development Programme

HHCDOHoma Hills Community Development Organization

PLWA Person Living With Aids

HIV/AIDS

PSC Poverty Studies Centre

CBO Community Based Organization

DI Development Initiative

CDFCommunity Development Facilitator

VCT Voluntary Counselling and Testing

LATF Local Authority Transfer Fund

NGO Non Governmental Organization

CACCConstituency Aids Control Committee

APAKAssociation of Persons Living With HIV/AIDS in Kuria

DDO District Development Officer

DDC District Development Committee

NACC National Aids Control Council

AAK ActionAid Kenya

MP Member of Parliament

Glossary

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This is represented roughly below:

Primary Primary PrimaryGroup Group Group

Community BasedOrganization (CBO)

Individual Community Member / Household

Primary groups are usually formed out of member’s own volition. Women come together to start a merry-go-round savings scheme amongst themselves, farmers come together to pool their resources for farming activities, parents come together to address issues of education. In all these cases people are joined together by certain norms-*. Primary group members know each other relatively well and a level of trust is already established amongst members enabling them to cooperate with each other. Without trust, participation and management of organized social structures becomes diffi cult. Secondly, primary groups that have formed on member’s own volition usually have a common focus / agenda – whether it is a savings scheme, an income generating activity or home based care.

As more and more primary groups form, it is assumed that members of these primary groups come together to form a bigger Community Based Organization enabling them to claim bigger space than what a smaller primary group could claim. As more women savings groups come together they end up forming and attract funding for a micro credit and savings scheme as is the case with the SED programme in Homa Hills DI (see related article). As more farmers groups come together, they end up forming commodity marketing networks to bargain for single prices for their produce and bypass the divide and rule tactics of middlemen.

Since the membership of the CBO is infact representative of the wider community, ActionAid engages with the CBO to provide funding and some

capacity building. The ideal result should be that the members of the primary group and hence the wider community will benefi t from this joint effort and the CBO continues to grow from strength to strength attracting new member groups and expanding its reach. ActionAid ends up largely interacting with the Community Based Organization and offi cials of the CBO who represent primary groups. Our interaction with Primary Groups usually becomes a function of grant assessment to ensure funds are utilized well by the CBO and to assess change in the lives of poor people.

In reality however, the experience is not as simple as has been portrayed. Our experience on the ground has brought out new insights about what contributes to a successful CBO.

Who forms CBOs and why?

This is a crucial question. Where CBOs have formed because of their own volition and need of their member groups, CBOs have tended to perform better in terms of management and focus as members of the CBO tend to have more control and interest over the management and running of the CBO. CBOs tend to be better if the level of trust amongst primary groups and individual members is high and if the primary groups that have come together to form a CBO have a common focus / agenda.

Primary Primary PrimaryGroup Group Group

Focus = A Focus = A Focus = A

Location = 1 Location = 2 Location = 3



Focus = A Location = 1+2+3


Common focuses – diverse geography

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If the primary groups have a common focus/agenda, then the overall focus of the Community Based Organization is clear and every primary group and their individual members can effectively participate in the direction and management of the CBO. More primary groups from different geographical locations with the same focus can become members of the CBO given common principles and common gains that can be made by coming together. In such a case the opportunity for expansion is greater than the risk of such a CBO falling apart.

When ActionAid started working with CBOs in Mount Elgon we made a few mistakes. In some cases is was ActionAid that created the need for CBOs as opposed to CBOs forming out of their own volition. We assumed that we could bring together several primary groups from one location to form and fund a CBO. The result was that the initial CBOs were formed largely because they are in the same geographical area and not because they are addressing a common issue. The external stimulus from ActionAid to form CBOs resulted in a rush to form CBOs largely to access funding from ActionAid.

Common geography – unclear focusCommon geography – unclear focus

Primary Primary PrimaryGroup Group GroupFocus = A Focus = B Focus = C

Location = 1 Location = 1 Location = 1



Focus = A+B+C? Location = 1

These CBOs had no real ownership as the individual primary groups had different interests, if any. The only commonality was that they had formed a CBO to access funds and that they came from the same geographical area.

The result has been dysfunctional CBOs. Once funds have been received primary groups continue going their own way. CBOs in this instance merely become brokers for disbursing ActionAid grants without any real control or relationship with the primary groups. A case at hand is with self-help-groups affi liated to Cheptais Ngachi CBO which was formed during the start of the DI. After receiving the fi rst grant, more than six primary groups within the CBO disintegrated and disappeared.

What we have learnt from our work with CBOS is that the level of ownership in a CBO increases if the focus of primary groups is similar. The management structure of a CBO that is formed with a common focus differs signifi cantly from the management structure of a CBO formed with a common geographical location and different focuses. The former has more ownership and community participation as members tend to share common values and norms. The latter has diverse values and tends to be driven by access to funding more than any need for horizontal linkage between the primary groups. Most dysfunctional CBOs that ActionAid has encountered will fall into the latter category.

The characteristics of a dysfunctional CBO are clear. Leadership and ownership is confi ned to a few individuals and most members of primary groups feel disconnected with the CBO. Decisions for the CBO are made by a few offi cials and very rarely does the entire membership (all primary group members) meet even for an annual meeting. Members of the wider community do not really know what the CBO does as there is no clear focus that the CBO identifi es with. The CBO ends up becoming an institution of its offi cials as opposed to a member driven institution. When capacity building trainings are offered it is usually the offi cials of CBOs who benefi t. Since the focuses of each primary group is different it becomes diffi cult to design a common training relevant to all members.


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Our initial response to dysfunctional CBOs has been to provide capacity building in financial management. This may not necessarily be the solution as long as primary groups continue to have diverse focuses. In such an instance it makes more sense to build the financial capacity of individual primary groups and fund primary groups directly.

The lesson however is clear. Successful CBOs are those that form out of their own volition with a clear common focus. As facilitators ActionAid can and must help primary groups come together to strategize on a common focus. What cannot work is for ActionAid to set criteria for geographical amalgamation. Facilitating the formation of a true people driven organization with full ownership and control over their structures requires facilitators to spend more time and energy with all members of the primary groups so they all own the process of amalgamation and strategize together effectively and clearly. How often do all members meet

in a CBO? Is it just officials who strategize and plan or are all members involved? Can members articulate CBO strategies as clearly as their officials? Are officials elected and changed regularly by members? Are we facilitating a process where all members are involved in owning their CBOs and are we helping to nurture leaders within CBOs who care more about the focus and less about their titles. Pamoja Tujenge CBO in Cheptais is a good example where leadership transitions take place regularly without much hindrance. This is because members of the CBO are more interested in the issue as opposed to accessing funds which is usually the sole reason why some leaders refuse to devolve power to the members. CBOs that come together over a common issue are clear on their roles no matter how many times they change officials. CBOs that come together because they are in the same geographical location change their primary focus depending on the focus of the officials elected. The risk of dysfunctionality increases.

As Action Aid we are still far removed from the community. We could be doing better. The CBOs do not give enough information to the community. If we have

to make a lasting impact in the communities where we work, we have to change our approach. We have to strengthen our contact with the communities and monitor the groups in the community more closely.

If we are to hold workshops, then they should take place in the community so that the poor have an opportunity to attend and participate. It is important to meet the poor early in the project before we give grants and not just a few officials. The facilitator should meet the poor in the community as opposed to meeting a few CBO leaders in a hotel. The chief can mobilize community members to attend a baraza after which the community members can take lunch instead of taking them to a hotel and spending a lot of money. Our money should benefit the poor instead of the hotels.

We should take the responsibility and initiative to meet with the poor and relay the importance of the project particularly if the CBO leadership is weak. The community and the CBOs should participate in this meeting. The Community Development Facilitators (CDF) should also move from one Development Initiative (DI) to another to learn how different communities work. This will improve our work and make it easier. Field officers should also move from one DI to another and support the CDF. We should spend more time on the ground as opposed to the office.

Reaching the poorDALAUSI OUMA, Western Region driver, talks about his experiences of dysfunctional CBOs


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NORAH OGUTU

HomaHills Community Development Organization (HHCDO)Small Enterprise Development Programme (SED)

HHCDO Small Enterprise Development programme (SED) was incepted in 1997 to increase the financial abilities of

women through enhanced access to credit and business management training. In pursuit of this goal, the program endeavors to increase the management and technical capacities of women to run income generating activities, encouraging savings for further investment, enhancing development of the informal business sector, and to create a sustainable credit scheme for women-led enterprises. This small-scale business development program offers hope for socially excluded and economically marginalized women in a culturally male dominated patriarchal society in Rachuonyo district.

The SED programme mainly targets rural based women who are small and micro entrepreneurs because they are economically marginalized and spend most of their income and time caring for the family. When their spouses die, women are often left without any resource to continue with life.

The revolving credit scheme uses policies that are based on a modified Grameen Bank Model, which provides women with easy access to credit without the requirement of conventional collateral. Under the program, members guarantee each other loans only with their savings. It aims to increase access to and control of disposable income by the targeted women to meet their household basic needs. The SED

programme provides credit and savings facility and training to women. Targeted and qualified group members can access credit from an existing revolving loan fund to increase the small-scale business activities they are involved in. Loans are issued to support small enterprise activities such as trade in cereals, fish and fish products, second hand clothes, quarrying, kiosks and groceries. Before provision of credit, training is provided to all potential beneficiaries on business management. The SED project also provides business-counseling support to project beneficiaries on an ongoing basis through regular on site visits.

The SED membership currently consists of 44 women groups comprising approximately 840 members in East and West Karachuonyo Divisions. Loans are given out ranging from Kshs 3,000 to 50,000 depending on the capacity of an individual. One is able access a loan more than once after completion of a loan cycle. The current loan portfolio is 3.5 million Kenyan Shillings. The program has managed to mobilize savings amounting to 1.6 million Kenyan Shillings (which belongs to members). During its period of operation, the program has helped to increase the income of women in the community, have control of household income and thus has enhanced their participation in household financial decisions.

The issue of savings is very important, because this is the only way other costs like school fees can be catered for or other future investments within the household.

The programme borrows from the Grameen approach where the clients are mobilized into groups and are given loans as per their requirements with each member co guaranteeing the other.

Changing lives:Giving women economic strength

Gender Perspectives

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Agnes Adhiambo Oimbo is married with one child to George Oimbo Opere. She is a member of Homa line Women group which was registered in 1998. She got interested in women group in order to acquire credit after her husband talked her into it. This was because they wanted to start a business but were not able because they did not have any money. Slowly they started by Merry go round and qualifi ed for a loan in the year 1999. Agnes was only able to get her loan in the year 2002 after others had received because the loans were given in phases. Her fi rst loan was Ksh 9,000, which she repaid and received another one of Ksh 15,000, then Ksh 20,000 and recently a loan of Kshs 60,000. Her goal

is to complete repayment and become self suffi cient. Agnes enumerates her achievements with pride. As a result of the subsequent loans she has been able to educate her brother in law to secondary school level, put up semi permanent house, started a retail shop, purchased a posho mill and even managed to clear a huge medical bill after she had undergone an operation.

Agnes agrees that the change of policy to give loans three times their amount of savings is good because it encourages members to save for future investments. She is happy with the trainings offered which have increased their skills in managing businesses profi tably.

Benefi ts of SED1. Women have become more enterprising

and carry out profi table business activities.

2. 45% of our clients are widows and this has ensured that they continue to sustain their households and dependents

3. Through the programme the women have been able to mobilize savings amounting to Kshs 1.6M

4. Increased women participation in household responsibilities and decision making in the homes (Many women are now involved in the payment of school fees, construction of houses e.t.c

5. The programme has also created employment for the very poor who are sometimes hired to work in the small beach food kiosks, pick and dry fi sh.

Other women have been motivated to start small business after observing other enterprising women within the scheme.

6. Women have access to skills training such as HIV/AIDS, business and leadership management.

7. The programme has created role models in the community – People who started without anything and through accessing the loan and have moved above poverty line.

8. A lot of women have been liberated to carry out businesses independently. The programme is open and includes the whole household (husband and wife) where necessary in planning and activities so that earlier suspicions that prevented women from operating business are no longer there.

Agnes Adhiambo Oimbo has a moving story to tell about HHCDO credit program. For her this program has made her to achieve what she had never envisaged to through her own efforts. “This programe is good and no other can match it according to me if I get the loan I ‘am given a choice on how to repay either after a year or 11⁄2years. I ‘am able to access another loan after repaying. I get money as if from a bank but unlike the bank the program is accessible and the offi cers are open to discuss our issues. Moreover there are trainings that have allowed us to learn more about business and management”. She says.

Gender Perspectives

Case study

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Inclusion of the poor

Micro credit world over is seen as an effective means of eradicating poverty. It is on this strength that Homa Hills was recognized by Poverty Eradication Commission as one of the well-managed micro credit program in Nyanza (Meeting in Mombasa in the year 2003)

SED programme targets the poor who are already helping themselves and are therefore supported to come out of poverty. As is well known ” Handouts Deepen Poverty”. There is need to encourage people to do something out of their own commitment. This programme has seen women move from owning nothing to having something.

Way forward

The programme has great potential and is very promising in terms of sustainability. The program intends to seek further funding (seed capital) that can put the necessary structures in place and also enable us to serve more clients. Key to this will be the establishment of a revolving loan fund within the group through savings which, will continue to operate even after the withdrawal of HHCDO.

The program is already carrying out research on other products that can be put in place for the benefit of the community. We at HHCDO are very encouraged by the popularity this program enjoys with women.

Most people in Rachuonyo district live in absolute poverty, with 303,466 persons classified as vulnerable and below the poverty line (2002 Rachuonyo District poverty eradication report). People’s incomes are low, making it difficult for them to meet their basic needs. Many children of school going age have dropped out of school. School drop-out rates stand at 46% for boys and 55% for girls between Standard 1 and 4. Poverty is the predominant reason for this high level of School drop-outs. Many children leave school because of lack of income at the household level and go fishing to earn extra income for the family. Apart from the poverty the prevalence rate of

HIV/AIDS is much higher than the national average due to the nature of fish business and trade along the shores where young unemployed girls are lured by traders from outside the community. Also of concern are widows who accept to be inherited resulting to the spread of HIV/AIDS. The number of orphans and widows has overwhelmed exisiting community coping mechanisms.

Gender imbalances are rife and culturally imbedded among the targeted project beneficiaries. This is more so with respect to access to and control of household income, which women lack. This is what makes the SED programme a relevant tool to ensure women are

economically empowered. Further consultations with the community through focus group discussions and participatory project reflections and reviews have continued to highlight the high level of priority that HHCDO should give the SED project.

It should be noted that the high incidence of poverty prevailing in the District is not as a result of inadequate or unavailability of resources, but as a result of the inability of people to transform the enormous resource potential into tangible goods and services for their own benefit.

Gender Perspectives

General information

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LOVENNA AKINYI and EMMA ODUNDO

Patriachy is commonly practiced in Western Kenya. This is noticeable from socialization where gender roles are defined. Generally, men are portrayed to be masculine, outward and defenders. On the other hand women are seen to be meek and are confined to domestic roles. Amongst the Luos, male masculinity is even portrayed in the naming of animals e.g. A cock is referred to as nyagueno the “strong one” while a hen is the one who gives birth (nurtures).

It is against this backdrop that the gender concept approach needs to be tactfully looked at. In talking about gender, we lean towards women considering the fact that they are the oppressed in the society and often are excluded from making decisions.

As Abraham Omondi of Usigu DI confirms; “Initially, I used to understand gender as women and I used to argue with people to prove that gender is a name for women in the world.” In Usigu DI, an exclusively men’s group was trained in gender with the realization that if men understand the gender concept well, they would be in a better position to help women fight for their positions and rights.

As a result, a male gender trainer was brought on board. After the training, many participants were glad that it was a male gender trainer. As Sospeter Ochieng put it; “Had it been a female trainer, the hall would have been full on the first day and very few people would have come in the subsequent days.”

Why?

“I would have assumed that the woman is soliciting for our sympathy so that we can sympathize with women.” says Ochieng. This confirms the concept that gender is seen to be women.

Asked how they generally felt about the training, Michael Omoga says “It was interesting because we were able to identify with a man and because it was coming from a man, we saw it to be genuine.” From the gender training, a lot of changes have been realized. Mary, Abrahams’ wife says; “That is a training that really transformed my husband. Before, all the domestic roles in the house used to be my duty. I could be cooking, washing and doing all things at the same time while my husband is just seated watching and waiting. Now he can even make our matrimonial bed and look after the baby while I am busy taking care of other things.”

When asked how this has come about, Abraham said; “Through the daily activity schedule that we went through during the gender training, I came to genuinely appreciate the role of women at the household level. There is need for us men to chip into the domestic chores. Indeed the work is too much for the women. They are also human beings.”

So far, the few members of the boda boda group who were trained in gender have been sensitizing their fellow boda boda’s on issues around gender.

The impact of malegender trainers

Gender Perspectives

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RAHAB NGUMBA shares her observations from recently concluded participatory review and reflection in Mount Elgon DI:

Grace is considered to be a poor lady in her community as she is married and has 8 children, 6 sons and 2 daughters.

Two of the children have finished form four while two have dropped out of secondary school. One left school after standard eight and three are in primary school. None of the children is formally employed. They help out in their 2 acre farm. The eldest son and daughter are married. The son has been allocated a piece of land to till by the father.

The only radio that the family owns belongs to one of the sons and he moves around with it.

Action Aid has been working in Grace’s area for four years and one of the children is a sponsored child. Grace is a member of Jitegemee women group that is a member of Maendeleo CBO, which is an umbrella CBO.

Maendeleo has received some funds, which were distributed to some of the Women groups. Grace’s Group is waiting for their turn to get funds to start an income generating project. In the meantime, Grace’s daughter is not involved in the project since she is still young. The assumption is that she can join such a group when she is grown up, probably when she is married or after school.

If we wait for Graces daughter to grow up and join a group – won’t it be too late? Won’t she most likely follow her mother footsteps and end up having a daily schedule like her mothers? It may not be easy to change Graces life, but a lot can be done to change her daughters. Too often when talking about Gender we focus on older women and forget that where we could have real impact in changing the life of a whole generation is with the youth – young girls and boys. How much have we done as ActionAid to ensure that Graces reality does not become her daughters’ reality?

“Grace’s reality must notbe her daughter’s reality”

5.00 am Wakes up, heats water for milking, milks the cow (if there is one to milk), makes breakfast, washes the utensils, prepares children for school and sweeps the floor, fetch water. Takes milk for sale (optional)

7.00 am Goes to the shamba

11.00 am Makes lunch and wash dishes

3.00 pm Collect firewood/look for supper

5.00 pm Prepare supper, milk cow, wash children, wash cloths, help with homework

11.00pm Goes to sleep

Her husband Henry goes to the shamba between 6.00 and 7.00am. He will have lunch and leave for the shopping centre to catch up on issues at noon. He will return home at 9.00pm for supper and then retire to bed.

The unmarried sons go out to look for farm work and when this is not available they assist in the shamba. They spend the afternoons with friends at the shopping centre. As they are not married they eat at their mother’s. The girl, who is in class six, helps the mother with house and shamba work when she is not in school.

Below is a chronological series of events in Grace’s typical day

Gender Perspectives

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HIV/AIDS Perspectives

LOVENNA AKINYI

Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs)

Who is an Orphan?According to UNICEF and UNAIDS, an orphan is a child under 15 years who has lost their mother (maternal orphan) or both parents. This definition however excludes the paternal orphans – children whose fathers have died. It also excludes children between 15 – 17 years.

In Western Kenya (Luos and Luhyas), an orphan is anybody who has lost one or both parents before S(he) gets married, regardless of whether they have attained the marriage age or not. Within this context, a spinster or a bachelor who loses a parent or both parents at the age of 40 years is considered an orphan.

In current development work, an orphan is increasingly being defined as a child under the age of 18 who has lost one or both parents.

Working with Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs)

The vulnerability of orphansWhy are orphans among the most vulnerable groups in the society?

Socially there is lack of support system outside the family for the children. Therefore, they are at risk of being malnourished and stunted than children who have parents to look after them.

In education orphans are the first to be denied education when their extended families cannot afford to educate them. Naturally, people would offer support to orphans when they have extra resources above their family needs. Majority never sacrifice for orphans.

Emotionally OVCs are deprived, vulnerable and financially desperate. Therefore they are more likely to be sexually abused and forced into exploitative situations such as commercial sex work as a means of survival. As a result, they are also at a greater risk of getting infected with HIV. A 16 year old girl engaged in commercial sex once said that “She would rather die of AIDS 5 or more years later than sleep hungry today.”

Problem areas for children who have lost parents to AIDS

The Case of Budalangi (Busia DI)

In September 2004, the Regional Office and Busia DI initiated the OVC Psychosocial Support as a key strategy in strengthening the OVC care and support. The programme dubbed Sauti ya


Orphans share experiences in Budalangi

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Watoto – Budalangi is meant to help the children tell their stories of transition from children with parents to orphanhood. It was also meant to offer emotional support to the over burdened caregivers as well as skills to care for the OVCs.

The process entailed an appreciative inquiry or positive self reflection for both OVCs and caregivers. As William Posta once quoted Charles Handy in his article Capacity Building – The Making of a Curry, “Life is understood backwards, but fortunately, it has to be lived forwards.” Hence, understanding the lessons learnt and experiences encountered by the caregivers and OVCs is very critical if we are to make plans that would make OVC care and support more vibrant and more sustainable. The orphans and care-givers told their stories separately and a number of issues were raised;

Stigma and discrimination : The children reported facing a lot of stigma and discrimination both at schools and at community level. A 9-year old boy living with his elderly grandmother told us that he had no friends because the other children referred to him as dirty having lost his parents to a bad/dirty disease (AIDS). This particular boy held my shirt and asked me to be his friend – (ninataka uwe rafiki yangu). It was very touching.

Subsistence and food security: One of the key concerns raised by the children and the caregivers was the lack of food. Illness or loss of a parent reduces the capacity of the family to provide for its own needs, such as producing crops or generating income. During illness, resources are used up. In the case of the elderly grandparents who once depended on their deceased children for sustenance, the situation becomes very difficult. Food insecurity becomes part and parcel of their lives.

Medical care: Increasing poverty causes a degradation of the immediate family environment, multiplies health risks and reduces their ability to obtain health services. Because the children are either under the care of elderly grandparents who are themselves dependants or under the care of guardians who were poor, medical care is not affordable. Most children under age 10 become pale with white skin. Shelter: Lost income or inability to maintain a home can result in shelter being lost, becoming

inadequate or dilapidated. Some children noted that they were staying in houses with leaking roofs while some had no windows. An eight year old girl said; “We sleep in the same house with livestock. So when the animals are passing urine, we are forced to move with our bedding, otherwise we end up getting wet.”

Education: In the case of Budalangi, the children emphasized the lack of resources to enable them go to school. Some guardians especially the grandparents were seen to be ignorant about the importance of education. As a result, there was lack of motivation for the children as some of them are even stopped from going to school by the caregivers. A 15-year old boy in class 6 living with grandparents shared with us that he was involved in bicycle repair as a source of income. The boy informed us that he never goes to school on Wednesday, which is a market day. He earns Ksh 50 every worked Wednesday. Other forms of child labour shared were; charcoal burning, shamba work, looking after cattle, fetching water, washing clothes etc.

Psychosocial well being and development: The illness and loss of a parent is very traumatic. The loss of consistent nurturing can have serious developmental effects. Some caregivers themselves had psychosocial needs. For instance, Mama Mary a 69 year-old grandmother said “These children are a constant reminder of my departed daughter. In them I see my late son in law who infected my daughter with HIV, the deadly virus that causes AIDS. Many times I react angrily to them and even abuse them. I feel that I have a lot of bitterness inside me.”

Lavinia, a 12 year old girl says “These days I just look at her (my auntie). When she decides to quarrel me, I let her yell after which she gets tired and keeps quiet. But whenever I try to explain myself, she feels bad. My aunt feels that I am being hard headed when I keep quiet.”

Property ownership/inheritance: In most instances land, home and possessions are taken by some relatives leaving children homeless and with no protection. Some of the children cried that they do not even know where their household belongings were taken after the death of their parents. One of the oldest boys among the OVCs commented “These days people do not respect the dead. They will really be cursed.”


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Our role as a development organization

Bridging the Gap – From parents to guardians, from dependants to caregivers, from consistent nurturing to orphan hoodOne of the issues that emerged was the fact that both parties i.e. children and the guardians were not prepared for the transition. The guardians were neither prepared emotionally nor financially to take care of the children. Some children expected life to continue the way it was when their parents were still alive. They expected their grandparents to provide meat, chicken or sodas.

On the other hand, some of the children reported that they have been hardened by the difficulties that they were going through. Some of them had resorted to arrogance as a survival tactic.

It is quite evident that community based OVC care and support is not attainable unless the psychosocial /emotional gap between caregivers and OVCs is bridged. Otherwise resources would be mobilized and they will never get to the intended beneficiaries. Take the case of an orphan under the care of a guardian with 3 children within the same age bracket as the orphan. How practical is it that a blanket or clothing donated to the orphan will be used by the orphan and not the guardians own children?

Our role as a development organization would be to help the children and their caregivers understand these experiences/lessons then help them translate these experiences into workable plans.

NB: Sauti ya Watoto programme is being implemented by Olisanda Group in Busia DI.

GEORGE OGINGA

The road to Uhuaya village from Usenge market where the tarmac ends is dusty and rough. Like many rural roads, it takes many years before the government remembers to work on it. The craters on this road in the name of potholes drown a five-year-old child during rainy season when water collects in them making them look like strewed small lakes alongside the expansive Lake Victoria to the left of the road. This road leads to the home of Janet Oloo. The home is located a few meters from Lake Victoria, the third largest in the world. It is in Got Agulu sub-location, Usigu Division of Bondo District, Nyanza Province. Two grass thatched huts provide shelter for this family of nine members.

Meeting Janet for the first time one would be fooled by her jovial looking countenance for a woman who is happy and satisfied in life. This is not true for Janet and many women in Uhuaya. Like the road that leads to their village, women in Uhuaya lead bumpy and rough lives, dogged by poverty, poor health and HIV/AIDS epidemic, which according to 2003 Kenya Population and Health Survey, her tribe leads with prevalence rate of 25.8 against national rate of 7.6.

Unlike many women and men, Janet has grown beyond being resigned to her HIV positive status. At 32 years, she looks older than her age. This does not reflect in her actions and the way she looks at life. Married to Eliakim Awelo, Janet has seven children; six boys and one girl born in 1997, three years before Janet tested HIV positive. She had suffered from several recurrent ailments and for one year, she was in and out of hospital at Got Agulu Health Center.

Janet did not know her HIV status until one day her ‘nyamrerwa’, Community Health Worker to whom she was a client convinced her to go for VCT. The CHW,

The ambassador of hope:

The case of Janet


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Rose Orege was a member of Nyanam Women Group and had been trained in home-based care support to sick clients. It was one Saturday morning, Janet recalled, when Rose paid her a visit and talked to her about HIV/AIDS. “I got convinced to go for testing, although I never thought I could be suffering from HIV/AIDS. We had heard about this disease but we had never seen one suffering from it. It is now that I realize many of us have been actually ailing from this disease without knowing.” said Janet.

Like many infected people in her community, she kept this top secret. Not even her husband, Eliakim knew that she had gone for the test and that she tested HIV positive. “I continued to suffer in silence. I was not at peace in my mind and I was worried and bitter,” Janet recalled with sadness on her face. “Things have changed thanks to the trainings and support you have given us,” Janet said in reference to Action Aid’s training programme to groups caring for the sick in her community.

One such group is Nyanam in which Janet is now a very strong member. “I thank Action Aid for the support they have given our group. More so you have taken us like your close friends, especially us who are sick. I look at life positively now. I am a happy woman, a happy mother and wife.”

Seeing Janet, would attest to this statement. She embodies a growing soul, a living human full of optimism in life. This is in spite of what she

has gone through. As a result of many capacity building and mobilization activities, Usigu DI has undertaken to fight HIV/AIDS amongst the partner communities. Many people especially women have started coming open about their HIV status after going for VCT. Some of these VCTs are organized by CBOs with support from Action Aid. When the DI started work in Usigu in June 2001 not even one person had come out in public about their HIV status. Presently there are more than 1000 people who have gone public about their HIV status. The number is increasing, thanks to mobilizers and campaigners like Janet. They have defied stigma and have taken HIV/AIDS awareness to all corners of the DI and beyond. Through their network for PLWAs, Janet and colleagues have made what once used to be abomination to talk about a common public knowledge.

Through regular visits and close interactions with PLWHAs, the DI staff have managed to cultivate trust and helped them organize themselves into further smaller support groups of not more than 15 members. Through these groups the CDF together with12 trained community volunteer counselors, have regular therapeutic sessions with PLWAs. The PLWAs find these support groups very helpful in that they share a lot of issues that affect them and learn how to live positively. In these smaller groups, PLWAs also engage in sporting activities like netball, volleyball and also drama and songs. On quarterly basis, these groups come together to meet at PLWAs Network level to share ideas on positive living and also learn new life skills in areas such as opportunistic infections management, nutrition, spiritual nourishment etc. During these quarterly meetings, guest speakers are invited to give talks on identified topics.

In a remote village where people lived in denial and explained HIV/AIDS related illnesses with curse or ‘chira’, Janet and her friends’ achievement is no easy fete. “It wasn’t that easy. We were abused and some called us pretenders who were out only to gain money from the NGO s”, she mused and went on, “even my husband thought I was up to something”. She said this and looked at Eliakim who was also present during this interview. “She convinced me. I went for


The writer with Janet (centre) and her husband Eliakim (left)

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VCT in 2003,” Eliakim said and continued, his face portraying the seriousness with which he took the matter, “every time she came home from training she told me and even the children what she learnt. Slowly I gained confidence and became like her. She even taught me how to write my own memory book.”

Eliakim was one of Janet’s clients. He was in support group C while she was in-group A under the mother group, Nyanam. “She has been our ambassador of hope, “ Eliakim said this with a lot of appreciation on his face. And that is what Janet and her team of volunteers has become in their community: ambassadors of hope.

Janet however has some fears that she is yet to out-live. One of them is the biting poverty that her family is living in. With support from Nyanam and Action Aid, she is now able to supplement her husband and childrens’ efforts to feed the family. She got a loan from Nyanam of Ksh. 3000, which she used to start maize grain selling. She started with one sack and now she has two.

Her husband also got a donation of two goats from his welfare group in response to their needy situation. Their two older sons spend most of their time in the lake fishing but this has not

abated their poverty situation. “I know they will not go far with their education,” Janet told me referring to the children who had just joined us from school. She informed me that the older boys had dropped out of school when she was bed ridden to support the family to fend for itself. Janet’s other fear was her little girl, Helida. She was not sure she was free from HIV. Helida is in class one at Ulowa Primary school. She is seven years old and looks healthy. She was born when Janet was ailing and Janet has, however not gained courage to take her for testing. “I am afraid she is not old enough to handle her situation if she were to be found positive”. She explained why she had not taken Helida for VCT.

Despite all these tribulations, Janet epitomizes hope for people living with HIV/AIDS. From a wretched, sick woman to a strong willed mother and campaigner against HIV/AIDS in her community. As ActionAid, we are not only proud of Janet but also rejoice in the realization that the approach we building confidence and trust amongst the groups and community is beginning to pay dividends. With increasing number of Janets in the DI, the fight against HIV/AIDS and lives of the infected is bound not to be as bumpy and rough as the road leading to Uhuaya village on the shores of Lake Victoria.

An ambassador of Hope is an envoy whose express mission is to demonstrate the true human cost of HIV/AIDS to the communities, including the cost of inaction by our government. The Ambassador’s role complements that of the government and communities in galvanizing the society to respond en masse to the very personal, the social and economic devastation of HIV/AIDS and to bring hope to the millions of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

In March 2004, west region initiated the Ambassadors of Hope mission. Members were recruited from all the DIs and partners. The recruits, all PLWAs, went through a two-level training. Level one offered an in depth understanding of the roles and responsibilities of an Ambassador of Hope, while level two provided practical skills of Hope Ambassadorship i.e. public speaking.

Ambassadors of Hope mission is an example of a successful training in West. The success of this training can be attributed to;

• Close supervision of the training

• Clarity from AAK –West right from the beginning such that participants were aware of the 2 training levels

• Continuity through engagement of the same facilitators and participants throughout the process i.e. two levels

• Commitment from both participants Ambassadors and facilitators

Who is an Ambassador of Hope?


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ASHISH SHAH

Ask any Kenyan what one of the biggest problems facing this country is, and most likely the answer will be lack of transparency and accountability which results in corruption. This has permeated every aspect of our society – from the grand that is visible and epitomized by Goldenberg to the minute and often hidden that affects poor people when they go to get an ID card, a death certificate or try and understand how school bursary funds were allocated.

Lack of transparency and accountability is more often than not associated with governments. We are fast to pick on and point fingers at the government when services that should be offered to poor people are not offered. We accuse local councils of misusing / misallocating funds. We question whether all citizens have access to information on Local Authority Transfer Funds (LATF) to be able to hold their councils accountable. We are shocked at the magnitude of the Goldenberg scandal and quick to make judgments on the Anglo Leasing scandal. As individual citizens

of this country we all have an individual right to question how our money is used and to demand for transparency and accountability from every aspect of the state.

Transparency, accountability and moral legitimacy?

But as Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as is the case with other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) our right and moral legitimacy to question the state on its level of transparency and accountability diminishes or increases depending on our own levels of transparency and accountability as institutions and organizations. Corruption, lack of transparency and accountability is not exclusive to government only. We know that lack of transparency and accountability permeates every aspect of our society, beyond government, to private sector and civil society organizations, NGOs, unions, cooperatives, CBOs, churches and schools. Beyond the private sector and civil society organizations, lack of transparency and accountability exists amongst bilateral and multilateral organizations including donors on how funding is allocated and under what conditions.

How can we expect to change the state and increase levels of transparency and accountability in the state if we are not demonstrating and practicing the kind of transparency and accountability we want to see. A good measure of our own moral legitimacy as NGOs is to ask how many citizens actually have access to our budgets and expenses and how easy is it for a citizen to get this information from us?

If we want to challenge others to be transparent and accountable, we must make a forceful and persistent effort to bring our transparency and accountability to the forefront. Whilst traditionally all ActionAid Kenya accounts are available for anyone to see, most of these

Creating a culture of transparency and accountability – it starts with us

Simple transparency tool part of a bigger process of change

“Moral Legitimacy”

“Transparency & Accountability is a Citizen Right”

“Poor People must be central to our accountability requirements”

Transparency, accountability and effective engagement

Community members discuss the content of the public information board

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accounts are in files and require someone to consciously ask to see them. Budgets and Accounts are discussed with community members usually at the end of the year when we carry our annual reviews and reflections. On critically reviewing current practices we recognized that there is more that we could do to scale up our levels of transparency and accountability.

It is for this reason that the Western Region has embarked on a drive to ensure that our budgets, expenses and strategies are available in the public domain for citizens to see. Outside / near all our DI offices in Budalangi, Kapsokwony, Cheptais, Usigu, Kuria and our partner DI in Homa Hills we have put up huge Public Information Boards that display our budgets and amount of funds available for that particular area, and a regularly updated whiteboard that shows how funds were expensed, to who and for what reason (updating is usually done on a monthly). Similar boards will be in place at the West Regional office by February 2005.

By doing so, we believe we will have increased our moral legitimacy to question others on their levels of transparency and accountability. The fact that we have all our information publicly available has given us legitimacy and space to prepare for a region wide intense campaigns on public transparency and accountability on public funds such as LATF, School Bursary Funds, Aids funds, Constituency Funds and Cess Funds just to mention a few. Already plans for intense LATF civic education campaigns are at an advanced stage hopefully for launch by December 2004 running into next year.

Mahatma Gandhi said “be the change you want to see in the world”. The basis of this simple but powerful quote was to get all of us to recognize the importance of moral force and moral legitimacy in the process of change. Without moral force, without moral legitimacy we fake and dilute our campaign to change the world.

But the purpose of putting up public information boards goes beyond building our own moral legitimacy….we recognize transparency and accountability as a Citizen Right and core principle.

Transparency and accountability as a citizen right

If we want to empower citizens to challenge the state and others on their transparency and accountability – we must make a conscious effort to provide the highest standards of transparency and accountability as a citizens right.

By blatantly publicizing our budgets and expenditure on a regular basis on a huge public billboards, we are making a point that every citizen has a right to know how public money is budgeted for and spent and we’re fulfilling that right by starting with ourselves. Accessing budgeting and spending information on public funds is not a luxury a few should enjoy – it’s a right that all should have access to without having to ask.

Secondly we’re making a point that if we can publicize our budgets and regular expenses publicly, citizens have a right to ask every other public institution to do the same whether government, local councils, churches, schools, donors, NGOs, community based organizations to name a few.

Thirdly by making our finances available to the public we are trying to generate a greater culture of transparency and accountability amongst the people and institutions we work with. We have had cases where leaders of community organizations we have funded have failed to disclose the amount of funds received to their own members let alone the wider community, thus creating opportunities for misuse of funds.


Budalangi DI team – Mary, Vincent and Hassan (writing) update the public information board

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Since putting up the boards in the DIs it has become very difficult for leaders of community based organizations to mislead members and the wider community, and we’ve made a point that there is nothing secret about community funding. Further more, community members are applying pressure and questioning Community Based Organizations they feel are not delivering. Community members know what community based organizations have received from ActionAid and for what. As Francis Satia, Programme Coordinator Mount Elgon comments: “the number of community members coming to the ActionAid office to inquire about how much funds a CBO has received has decreased as most people read the board and go directly to question and apply pressure on the CBO”

Fourthly, by displaying our budgets and expenses publicly we are hoping to create a culture of questioning. We want community members to question why and how funds are allocated and advise us if they feel funds can be re-allocated to other areas on a regular basis. We want community members to use budgets to prioritize areas so they own the budgeting and funding process and have constant input into that process as opposed to once a year when we hold our annual reviews and reflections. If community members can feel empowered enough to question us on our budgeting and spending, it will go a long way in building the confidence of citizens to question the state and others.

Making poor people the centre of our accountability requirements

Beyond creating moral legitimacy and citizen rights, the third principle behind the Public Information Board project is to ensure that poor people are at the centre of our accountability requirements. Too often NGOs make donors and the outside world the centre of accountability requirements at the expense of the people we claim to work with. A good example is to ask how many NGOs publish their annual reports in a language other than English. Even if we are publishing our annual reports in English, how often do we first think about sending our annual reports to our donors and other NGOs first before thinking about sending our reports to poor people? How

often to poor people have access to our ‘english’ reports and an opportunity to discuss our work with us? How often do we publish our strategy papers in a language other than English to ensure that poor people have access to a document that explains what we intend to do as an organization?

ActionAid Kenya has continuously tried to implement and better this principle, from our accountability, learning and planning systems (ALPS) to the fact that we are now printing our annual reports in Kiswahili and hopefully later in local languages. We have tried to apply the principle of making poor people the centre of our accountability requirements through the Public Information Boards by ensuring that our budgetary and financial expenditure information is no longer an exclusive and primary domain to those who ask, or to our auditors and supporters.

The strategy ahead

Our strategy is simple. We seek to see a culture where every public institution – whether state or civil society has their budgetary and expenditure information displayed in public. We’ve started with ourselves, but by January 2005 it will be a requirement that all community organizations we work with must have their budgetary and expenditure information displayed in public (ActionAid will supply the boards). We are also encouraging voluntary take up of public boards by public institutions. Already in Kuria, ActionAid has supplied three boards in partnership with the Constituency Aids Control Committee to three CBOs funded by CACC as per their demand (See separate article from Kuria in this issue of Mwangaza). By mid 2005 our partnerships (either financial or non financial) with any institution will be on condition that they prove they have displayed their budgetary and expenditure information in public. We hope to create a strong ethical coalition of non governmental organizations, community based organizations and other civil society organizations who publicly display their budgets and finances, and by so doing increase the moral legitimacy of this ethical coalition to question others on their transparency and accountability.

Coupled with this will be intense and continuous civic education campaigns on the


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expenditure of public funds such as school bursaries and local authority transfer funds using several media from radio to pamphlets to barazas (public forums)

The challenges

Our biggest challenge starts with our own staff. Since putting up the public information boards it has become evident that those staff who believe in and own the three principles of moral legitimacy, citizen right and centrality of poor people have religiously ensured that the public information boards are up-to-date to the last cent. The impact of these religiously filled boards has been immense as evident in Mount Elgon and Budalangi. It is crucial that all staff in the region own the principles behind the Public Information Boards and ensure proactiveness in demonstrating out transparency and accountability on a regular basis

Our second challenge is more a comedy of reality than anything else. We cannot assume that every other organization will buy the idea of displaying their budgets and expenses publicly. For us there is no justifiable reason why an organization can refuse to display its budgets and expenses publicly except that that organization does not believe in transparency and accountability. This helps us weed out organizations that are serious and

committed to fighting corruption from those that are not. An example of this was visible in early October, 2004. I had the opportunity to attend a Ministry of Health – CACC meeting in Kuria – and noticed, that whilst the CBO that was most vocal in demanding for transparency and accountability demanded all manner of rights, when it was proposed that they follow ActionAids example of publicizing their budgets and expenses the came up with various excuses – my favorite being: “If we display our budgets and expenses to the public we will be killed by thieves!” I wonder if they believe the same applies to all government officials who they demand should display their budgets and expenses publicly. All I know is that since we put up the boards in May 2004 at ActionAi, none of our team have been murdered for displaying how they are spending millions of shillings in the DI.

It is too early to assess the impact the boards have had in the community and we hope to have a community assessment of the boards in the next issue of Mwangaza. What is clear however is that many people have both welcomed and been surprised by the initiative. A common question is:

How can an international NGO display its budgets and regular expenses to the public?

Our Answer: We can, we’re doing it and we expect you to do it too!!!!

The Boards are double sided and roofed to protect against rain.

One side is a white board that contains a standard template on which budgets and regular expenses are displayed and erased for easy changing.

The other side is a half notice board for pinning up notices or reports and a half white board for announcements.

Text on the board is in Kiswahili and English

The boards are located as follows (as of November 2004)

About the public information boards

Budalangi, Busia: Outside the ActionAid DI Office

Usigu, Bondo: Outside the District Officers Office (Opposite the ActionAid DI Office)

Kapsokwony, Mount Elgon: Outside the ActionAid DI Office & Opposite the Council Town Hall

Cheptais, Mount Elgon: Near The Main Road Opposite the ActionAid DI Office

Kehancha, Kuria: Outside the ActionAid DI Office

Homa Hills, Rachuonyo: Outside The Homa Hills DI Office


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LUCAS CHACHA

This is a story about how a local community organization called APAK, (Association of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS in Kuria ) actually got representation and an opportunity to sit in the highest HIV/AIDS decision making organ in the district: The Constituency AIDS Control Committee (CACC), and what changes the association has managed to influence in the district. This has moved our efforts to challenge transparency and accountability in the use of HIV/AIDS funds, many steps ahead.

About APAK

APAK was registered in February 2004. It has 34 active members of which only 6 are men. The Community Based Organization (CBO) has a representation of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA) from the entire district, covering 5 Divisions.

APAK is the product of the AIDS week activities that were facilitated by ActionAid in December 2003. During this week, a series of campaign activities and information dissemination activities took place at divisional level as opposed to activities being done at the district headquarters, as has been tradition over a few years now. The reason for carrying out these activities at division level was to ensure that as many people in the district could be reached, especially those who couldn’t make it to the district headquarters.

During the AIDS week, a PLWA was brought in from Kisumu District, who shared his experiences as a person living with AIDS with the community. (At the time, a local PLWA resource person could not be identified largely due to community stigma that made PLWAs

not to come out in the open.) His intention was to get the community to understand three realities. Firstly, that a positive person looks just as healthy as anyone else, secondly that it’s possible for one to live a long life just like everyone else if one has access to timely and adequate information on how to live positively and thirdly to prove that there is no relationship between AIDS and witchcraft.

Initially, this ‘disclosure’ was taken with sceptism by some community members and dismissed as ‘stage managed’ as happens in all other areas where talking about the virus is considered taboo.

Who says they can’t‘A community challenges representation

and use of HIV/AIDS funds in Kuria’


The public information board at Gwitembe Pefa CBO supplied by ActionAid and CACC

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The communities beliefs and myths on HIV/AIDS were challenged and the message that Kuria too was no exception to the epidemic began to become clearer.

It took some weeks for the message to sink and it begun to become evident that there were many persons living with the virus in the district. I began receiving many enquiries about the benefits of knowing ones status.

At about the same time, one of the PLWAs disclosed his status publicly and requested to be supported to make visits to existing HIV/AIDS CBOs in the district to try and identify other PLWAs so they could come together to start an association specifically for people living with AIDS and so APAK was formed.

Challenging the Constituency AIDS Control Committee

The Constituency AIDS Control Committee (CACC) is the government body at the local level mandated to fund community organizations and carry out activities to address the epidemic.

In April 2004, during APAK’s routine monthly meeting, the chairperson of APAK brought up a strange “AOB” (Any other Business). He wanted to know whether there was a CACC in Kuria, as he knew they existed in other districts.

Everyone thought the question was silly, and misplaced, and the answer looked too obvious to merit any attention. Members giggled, and murmured. There was `silence for a moment, until he asked to be told what the CACC was doing in the district.I thought hard about the question, until I realised that I did not have an answer to the question. I had never thought hard enough about the issues surrounding the disbursement and use of HIV/AIDS funds from CACC, and other donors/Players in the district and the truth is that very few people actually knew what CACC was doing in the District.

I took it upon myself to find out the answer to the question and to provide an answer in the next meeting.

I paid a visit to the DDO, who was then the secretary to the DACC (District AIDS Control Committee which has since evolved into CACCs).

I visited the DDO’s office on 5th May. I made frantic enquiries about the activities of the committee in the district, CBOs that had been supported, their distribution in the district, the composition of the committee members, their funds etc. I made a report of my findings and prepared a report for the next APAK meeting which was to be held on 12th May 2004.

Come the meeting, and the report was tabled. Several glaring shortcomings were noticed, and these needed to be clarified. The Chairman of APAK, Mr Richard Kibure was not ready to take anything for an explanation, and insisted that a sub committee of 4 be nominated to visit the DACC.

All was set and the team visited DDO on the 15th May 2004. I distanced myself from the visit so that the APAK members could take the front line in the whole saga given the fact that they had more legitimacy than me in demanding for explainations.

In the meantime, I did my homework on the guidelines that were issued to manage disbursement of funds from the National AIDS Control Committee (NACC). I realised that there was provision for inclusion of a representative from PLWAs in the district to sit on the CACC. We decided that the war be fought from this front so that APAK could secure membership in the Committee, so as to make changes from within.

The visit to the DDO took place and APAK was given a No to their request to join the Committee and represent the interests of PLWAs. We sat down again to restrategize.I agreed to intercede on their behalf so they could get their rightful place in the CACC. I met with the relevant authorities to argue a case for representation. Eventually, we agreed that ActionAid Kenya, rather than APAK, sits in the committee. The irony of it is that APAK is more legitimate to sit in the committee than ActionAid Kenya. I decided to accept the invitation to take up a seat in the committee and


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use that as a platform to secure representation for APAK.

I was invited to attend the first meeting, which I did. At AOB time, I raised the issue of inclusion of APAK on the committee. Emotions were elicited once more. After a lengthy deliberation, there appeared to be another set back. The guidelines were clear I was told, that the CACC could only have 15 members. Since ActionAid had taken up the 15th place and seeing that the only objection to APAKs inclusion was that the 15 places were full, I stepped down AAK’s position in the committee, and gave room for APAK to be included. This was a bomb shell. There was no more excuse to deny APAK representation in the commitee. APAK was admitted.

Waves of change

In the next meeting, the Chairman of APAK attended the meeting. He noted the many proposals that were written with support to PLWAs as a key Item. He challenged CACC to identify the names of the PLWAs who were reffered to in the proposals as he felt several community organizations were misusing PLWAs to raise funds for their own interests. It was

made mandatory that any proposal targeting PLWAs that the committee received had to be vetted by the Chairman of APAK. Some Discipline was already being instilled, and proposals alleging assistance to PLWAs declined drastically.

The wars continued within CACC, until it became clear that the Committee had to be more transparent and accountable, not just to NACC, but also to the recipient community members.

The climax of demanding for more accountability was at its peak around September 2004, when as a region, we had decided to lead the way in accountability and transparency in the use of our funds by publicly displaying our budgets and expenditure through the use of Public Information Boards (See related article).

We had made a programme to have the AAK boards launched publicly. I however decided to use the age old principle in journalism that ‘if a dog bites a man, that is not news to dogs, neither is it to humans… but the moment a man bites a dog, then that becomes news to both human beings and dogs.”


Displaying financial information at Isabanya CBO

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Whilst it is unique that an international NGO such as ActionAid can publicly display its budget, it would be more unusual if a HIV/AIDS CBO actually did so.

I approached the Chairman of the CACC, who, after several deliberations was positive about displaying the amounts disbursed by CACC to the CBO’s and displaying the actual spend by the CBO.

AAK agreed to make 3 boards similar to the ones that we have but this time these would be erected outside the Funded CBO’s offices.

The Boards were launched in two CBO’s (Gwitembe PEFA CBO, and Isibania CBO). Both CBOs had received Kshs 350,000/= each from CACC only a few weeks earlier.

These boards would display the following Information: The Name of the CBO, its geographical coverage, The 4 Committee members / representatives of the CBO to be contacted for any clarification that the wider community needed, the amount received and date of receipt, details of the activities undertaken to date, amount spent, balance of funds, lockable suggestion box for areas of improvement / observations. (See photo) A similar board is in the pipeline for erection at the District Headquarters which would display names of CBOs funded by the government, their distribution by Division, and the sector for which the funds were sought.

During the official launch, which was done jointly between AAK, the Local Leaders, The CACC, and other like minded CBOs, the chairman of CACC made the following changes in the way HIV funds from CACC would be disbursed.

1. When any proposal is being vetted all the office bearers have to appear in person so as to rule out the possibility of family members being the sole leaders.

2. Any CBO requesting for funds must have a physical office where they can be reached, to avoid briefcase CBOs

3. Funds/Cheques from NACC would not be sent directly to the CBOs bank account. Instead, they were to be sent to CACC so that the cheque could be presented in public to the CBO.

4. There would be no funding, until the approved CBO agreed to display the information on the boards which AAK has committed to provide.

5. Before the CBO received their cheque, AAK would organise for a short training on book keeping for the committee members so as to rule out CBOs feigning ignorance for not keeping their books properly.

6. There would be a periodic monitoring of each CBO particularly before any further disbursements are done.

These recommendations have come into force recently. We are yet to see them work and weigh their effectiveness. However, some are already being implemented and I believe there will be an increase in the level of discipline in the use if HIV/AIDS funds. Only when these good looking recommendations are implemented to the letter shall we say that we have created an irreversible change. At the moment, I take pride in knowing that policy changes do not necessarily have to be done at the national level. They can actually be tailored in a small way to address a local issue, and that the longest journey starts with a single step.


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JAMES KIPLIMO

For a long time, DDCs have been a preserve of civil servants and or head of departments in specific districts. Occasionally the so called main stream NGOs who more often than not are perceived to be big spenders also attend. In-deed the likes of AAK have been frequent attendees to such fora. Much of what is discussed in such fora have a bearing on the well being of the community who are perennially excluded. This has been not only insensitive but has also relegated community to the dungeons of silence and would therefore be on the receiving end- that is if there is anything to receive. Monies allocated and programs developed in respective departments and agencies are therefore not known to the community who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of such funds. This has been a conscious and deliberate move to ensure that funds can be used by departments and in a number of cases by individuals at their own wish and whims. If they do not reach community, who cares!

We all have a responsibility to challenge the status quo

Having attended a number of District fora, my conscience was challenged. Many of these meetings hardly had 10% of community representatices and more often than not these were councilors. In mid 2003, I made a deliberate effort to request for an expansion of membership of DDC. I was met with immense opposition. “The inclusion of community members would make DDC ungovernable and would be too open” claimed some of the DDC members. At one point I had to give a condition for AAK’s attendance to the forum. AAK would not attend DDC meetings nor submit its budget and programs until and unless the membership is expanded and departments submit annual plans and budgets.

The intervention of the DC, the forum Chair saved the day who requested for nominees from community. As a result, the next DDC (in September 2003) had community members as the majority.

The DDC now talks community. It is now one year and community representatives now challenge head of departments on their roles and duties as civil servants. Some of the questions raised that have elicited great debates include among others the the role of the sitting MP on the constitution of Mt. Elgon District Hospital Management Board.

Having realized the negative influence of politicians in curtailing the smooth management of the hospital, community members demanded that the sitting board be allowed to work without due influence. The board had been stuck for nearly two years and had suffered from disruption of their meetings and threats of de-gazettment. Consequently, funds raised for hospital’s expansion have never been used yet community suffered the costs of referral to far away places. The community introduced the agenda to DDC and was discussed at length with members declaring that the board be given a chance to work without external influence. Now the board meets and deliberates on their programs. We are convinced this will go a long way in providing health services to the community.

Other contentious issues that community has challenged are;• The ‘Demand driven policy’ ascribed by

the local Agriculture office with regard to extension service to farmers

• The disapproval of micro-credit to Chemtaet Women group even after its approval by Poverty Eradication committee

• The effectiveness of Public works department in constructing better roads

• The allocation of Constituency

Challenging the composition of district development committees


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development Fund solely controlled by the sitting member of parliament.

The challenge

In most of the meetings at the district level, it has become apparent that community is not accessible to relevant information that would strengthen their cause. Such meetings have acted as sources of information but how I wish this information could reach them before such meetings. The challenge is and will be how AAK can be able to reach out to each and every household and provide information. Yes, we have tried using the notice boards, community meetings, sub-DDCs, but are they enough? Perhaps we need to employ other methods or a combination of all these, so that community can make informed demands and decisions.

It is also true that the opportunity given to community has resulted in the emergence of leaders who can challenge the status quo, champion the rights of the community and demand for services. But my worry is how far can deliberations of DDCs go? Are deliberations of DDC legally binding? Who decides on the agenda of the meetings and how effective is community involvement? Is there feedback on the deliberations of the meeting? Such questions suggest that we still have a mile to walk.

DR. ROSLYN LWENYA

What is action research?This paper begins with a brief overview of action research and a discussion of its strengths. The paper also includes a brief account of why anyone would use action research. An even briefer mention of participatory research to improve inclusion in debates and access to resources of the excluded is also included. The intention of this paper is to help AAK staff to understand the relevance of research and thereafter make an informed choice about their approach to research.

As the name suggests, action research is a methodology which has the dual aims of action and research...

• action to bring about change in some community or organization or program

• research to increase understanding on the part of the researcher or the client, or both (and often some wider community)

There are in fact action research methods whose main emphasis is on action, with research as a fringe benefit. At the extreme, the “research” may take the form of increased understanding on the part of those most directly involved. For this form of action research the outcomes are change, and learning for those who take part.

Action-oriented research in development seeks to bring about social changes. It tackles existing structures at the root, supports self-reliant activities of existing initiatives, and fosters the formation of groups. Through ongoing motivation and communication or ‘animation’ work, it supports the efforts of the population to express their problems, elaborate options and take self-reliant decisions. It makes the joint evaluation of results by all actors a precondition for further promotion measures. Action research is thus by definition a fundamentally participatory approach.

The need for action research within ActionAid

Research Perspectives

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Why would anyone use action research?There are a number of reasons why you might choose to do action research...

• Action research lends itself to use in work or community situations. Practitioners, people who work as agents of change, can use it as part of their normal activities. Mainstream research paradigms in some field situations can be more difficult to use.

• When practitioners use action research it has the potential to increase their ‘learnings’ from their experience. The action research cycle can also be regarded as a learning cycle.

• Action research is usually participative. This implies a partnership between you and your clients. You may find this more ethically satisfying. For some purposes it may also be more occupationally relevant.

Strengths of Action Research

For the following reasons, action research methods are particularly suitable for initiating development processes by means of external stimuli and sustaining them thereafter:

• The users themselves learn a great deal about their own situation and the reasons for it.

• The users learn problem-solving techniques which they can also apply to other aspects of their life and work.

• It is the users of the measures, rather than external experts, who learn from their experience and mistakes; as it is they who suffer the consequences of their mistakes. They develop an enhanced sense of responsibility for their own actions.

• The users generally begin by tackling a problem which they consider pressing and in their efforts to solve it encounter a whole series of other problems calling for solutions in a growing number of different sectors. This promotes the organic development of an ‘integrated’ approach.

• The users almost automatically take account of the socio-cultural environment and political power structure of which they are themselves part. In this way sustainable solutions can be found without the need for the external project personnel to first understand the socio-cultural factors in full.

• As it is usually aimed to find solutions which benefit a group or profession rather than a single individual, action research methods generally have broad impacts and a good cost-benefit ratio.

• Determination of objectives, methods and actions, along with implementation of measures, by users and project during (open) orientation phases serve as ‘trial runs’ for cooperation and are thus important in helping to design the implementation phase.

• Where conventional planning methods are used, the target groups are involved at best through representatives with some form of authorization who are obliged to fit into a structure imposed by outsiders (seminar situation, programme targets, discussions dominated by ‘experts’ and conducted in technical language). By contrast, participatory planning methods enable the users as a group to remain within their accustomed living and production environment. They can thus work out their intentions and proposals for themselves by way of collective discussion over a lengthy period. As the discussion is conducted within the groups’ own environment and in their everyday language, it helps to strengthen their position vis-à-vis experts and representatives of government institutions, who unconsciously or covertly, by applying their own logic, always represent their own interests.

Participatory planning, implementation and evaluation

Participation essentially means ‘active involvement’. But who is involved, who is ‘being’ involved, and by whom? How much participation is ‘allowed’? Consequently, participation as a key concept always needs to be defined in the context of a concrete project.


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Only then does it become apparent whether the participatory approach selected merely serves to legitimise interests or some other instrumental purpose, or whether it truly serves to increase the self-reliance of actors from the bottom up.Participation as understood by action research accepts that priority must be attached to an active, bottom-up role of the users (small entrepreneurs, the village population, members of a women’s group, and members of other self-help groups). Self-reliant development includes the assumption of responsibility in all phases of cooperation, i.e. in planning, implementation and evaluation.

The evaluation of cooperation and discussion of further activities jointly with the users is an integral component of participatory promotion. It enables the users to pursue self-organization on the sound basis of their own assessment of the situation, to compare their assessment with the proposals of other groups, and to plan and execute on a largely self-reliant basis further activities to solve the problems which they have identified.

Participatory research to improve inclusion in debates and access to resources: Working on options for the excluded with the excluded

Following my visit to the regions and DIs it was evident that there is not so much going on by way of research. It is one department that has been taken for granted and plays second fiddle. Planning and in effect development is mostly done at ad hoc or based on inherent knowledge. There is need to put more efforts into research. Proposed areas of research for Western region are as follows (list not exhaustive!):

• a case of increased school drop out rates in Kuria district

• displacement of Kuria people from Transmara in south Nyanza province

• Cotton Survey in Budalangi and Usigu DI’s

• Baseline survey in Kuria, Mount Elgon and Usigu DIs to assess level of community knowledge on Local Government Funds in their areas. This will form a benchmark measure of assessing impact when we roll out civic education campaigns.

• Baseline survey on environmental issues in Homahills in collaboration with Moi University and ICRAF.

It is now apparent that there is need to slightly shift initiatives of the debate from one of advocacy for the excluded, to a more serious commitment to building resilience and local knowledge. A reduction in exclusion is not just an ideological political platform, but a sincere new focus on taking local knowledge

seriously, with a commitment to build local rights and respect for previously marginalized groups through the knowledge they have of resources. The new empowerment focus is not simply about rights – it is also about holding onto heritage and knowledge at the local level and using that knowledge for planning.

Research should be able to proactively identify what the poor already do in the face of stagnant livelihood situations, effects of environmental degradation. Following from the various studies we will be able to come up with gender-focused poverty alleviation options. Through inter DI and Regions Shared learning processes will also enhance the efficiency of action based research.


Learnings and observation

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ASHISH SHAH

2005 will see the Poverty Studies Centre change in its entirety (including its name) that will result in an all new looking facility offering several specialized products to National and International Civil Society Organizations. The facility will be closed most of next year to enable us to undertake major construction work and product development that will result in the creation of a valuable one stop resource for Civil Society Organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa. We share our vision and mission of what we want to create:

Our Vision is to create a world class centre for sharing, developing, learning and the transformation of development thinking and practice in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Our Mission is to enhance the capacities of civil society organizations by providing facilities and services that can enable continuous learning, innovation and sharing in the fight against poverty.

In order to achieve this, the new facility will offer four different products.

Product 1: ActionAid internal services

This product will provide; - relevant, appropriate and tailor made

capacity building, training, and facilitation services to ActionAid Kenya and the wider ActionAid.

- research, learning, documentation and information exchange services to ActionAid Kenya and ActionAid International

- a world class conference and learning facility to ActionAid International

Product 2: Specialized Civil Society Organization training, facilitation and capacity building services

This product will provide; - high quality, high impact, low cost training

products for Civil Society Organizations ranging from NGO Leadership Management to Rights Based Approach, Financial Management, Social Audit and Effective Impact Assessment to Gender Skills developed based on our experience

- high quality facilitation products for strategy

Poverty Studies Centre transforms!

News & Updates

Architect’s view of new library block

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planning, CSO reviews and other tailor made needs

- effective capacity building services to community organizations that ActionAid works with.

- onsite and offsite training, facilitation and capacity building services to Civil Society Organizations

Product 3: Learning, meeting and conference facilities This product will:- provide high quality, affordable facilities

primarily to all cadres of Civil Society Organizations to conduct their own meetings, workshops and training activities

- provide a conducive refl ection and learning venue

- be ActionAid International’s preferred meeting venue

- develop one of the largest development libraries in Sub-Saharan Africa and provide CSOs access to the latest learning and reading materials.

Product 4: Partnership Development: research and learning

This product will:- develop long term learning partnerships

with key learning institutions with the aim of providing learning opportunities in development work and practice to build the capacities of existing and upcoming development practitioners

- develop long term research partnerships

with key research institutions with the aim of providing, debating, sharing and publishing regular and relevant research for the wider civil society audience.

- develop a Development Practioners learning journal that will increase the level of learning and sharing amongst Civil Society Organizations.

- provide an online learning and research platform for African Civil Society Organizations.

Major construction works will see amongst other things, a state of the art 200 seater conference room; one of the largest development libraries in Sub Saharan Africa, a comprehensive IT centre, new accommodation facilities, and major improvements to existing facilities all maintaining the environmentally friendly nature that currently exists. One of the innovative environmental features in this facilitity will be the setting up of one of the largest rain water harvesting system in East Africa designed by ActionAid Kenya very own water engineer Dereje Mekonnen.

We shall continue to offer our current training products to groups on an off-site basis during 2005 while the facility undergoes renovation. To make an enquiry about training products for next year, please complete the attached enquiry form.

Please post, fax or email this form to us and a PSC team member will get back to you shortly. Alternatively you can contact us by telephone.

News & Updates

Architect’s view of new accomodation facilities

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About the contributors

Roselyn Lwenya (Dr) Research CoordinatorActionAid Kenya

Rahab Ngumba CoordinatorPoverty Studies Centre

Norah Ogutu Programme CoordinatorHoma Hills Community Development

Organization

Lucas Chacha Programme CoordinatorActionAid Kenya, Kuria DI

Lovenna Akinyi HIV/AIDS and Gender CoordinatorActionAid Kenya, Western Region

James Kiplimo Funding and Sponsorship ManagerActionAid Kenya

** Kiplimo was formerly the Programme Coordinator Mount Elgon DI

George Oginga Community Development FacilitatorActionAid Kenya, Usigu DI

Francis Satia Programme CoordinatorActionAid Kenya, Mount Elgon DI

Emma Odundo Programme CoordinatorActionAid Kenya, Budalangi DI

Dalausi Ouma Regional Driver,ActionAid Kenya, Western Region

Ashish Shah Regional CoordinatorActionAid, Kenya, Western Region

Contributors

Postal: P.O.Box 4572, Kisumu, KenyaTelephone: + 254 (0)57 62245/62016/62239/62227Fax: + 254 (0)57 62239Email: [email protected]: Off Kisumu-Kakamega Road, Before Kiboswa Market, See Sign Board



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Mwangaza enquiry form

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NB: we will only provide trainers, training materials and course content for off-site services. Participant accommodation and training venue must be provided by the client.

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Poverty Internalisation

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* Off-site training courses will be offered on first come-first served basis

Enquiry form

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Postal: P.O.Box 4572, Kisumu, KenyaTelephone: + 254 (0)57 62245/62016/62239/62227Fax: + 254 (0)57 62239Email: [email protected]: Off Kisumu-Kakamega Road, Before Kiboswa Market, See Sign Board



Documents

Contents Editorial · 2019. 12. 20. · 1 Welcome to the second issue of Mwangaza – a learning and sharing tool produced by the ActionAid Kenya’s western region team. Through