Visibility, Openness and Integrity through Community Engagement (2)
- Location
- Kenya
- Grant Amount
- n/a
- Start/Finish
- Oct 2019 – Mar 2023
- Donor
- Integrity Action core funds
How can we ensure that local authorities and official representatives receive and respond to community members’ feedback on local services, and communities can understand and influence local decisions?
The devolution process in Kenya started in 2013 and the new devolved structure presents opportunities for citizens to engage more closely and proactively with duty bearers in order to improve service delivery in the county. As such, our approach was to embed our accountability mechanism in the way citizens and government representatives interact in Kwale County, coastal Kenya.
We have a longstanding relationship with partners in Kenya, and we have seen the devolution process since the very beginning. Through supporting active and inclusive community engagement, this initiative aims to contribute to improved transparency, participation, accountability and performance of public services and infrastructure projects in Kwale.
Citizens act as community monitors and check local infrastructure and services related to health, livelihoods, education, water and sanitation and report problems using the DevelopmentCheck mobile app. They then engage constructively with key stakeholders in order to get the issues addressed, and when problems are fixed, this goes live in the app too. This initiative aims to improve how county authorities and other duty bearers listen to and respond to citizens’ concerns on services and infrastructure, with added focus on women’s voices. At the same time, the initiative makes it easier and more rewarding for all citizens to raise those concerns.
This initiative is implemented by partner organisations Kwale County Natural Resource Network (KCNRN) and Kwale Youth and Governance Consortium (KYGC) and builds on the achievements seen in the earlier Visibility, Openness and Integrity through Community Engagement initiative.
