Description

In one of the poorest constituencies in Kilifi County, Kenya, World Vision’s advocacy approach known as Citizen Voice and Action (CVA) is making a difference. Bamba Integrated Project Area (IPA) is located in Ganze constituency, where the majority of residents live below the poverty line and adequate delivery of public services has been a challenge.

The community has been struggling with poor road network, incessant water unavailability, inadequate health facilities and personnel, and declining education standards. The participation of citizens in governance and decision making processes has also been limited and non-existent in some areas. There was insufficient information available to the people concerning how government works, budgets are planned out and allocated, and to which services citizens are entitled.

In face of this scenario, World Vision implemented the CVA methodology in the area with the goal of empowering community members to engage with service providers on issues of service delivery. Another objective was to ensure that advocacy was mainstreamed into IPA programs.

The introduction of the CVA approach in Ganze constituency has not been an easy task. Previous social accountability initiatives have often been the strategy of outside Community Service Organizations (CSO), which often collect data on the use of Constituency Development Funds (CDF). This data is then analyzed and released at press conferences. Local leaders used to learn about findings of such initiatives through the media and were not part of the process.

Based on the reception elicited both from inside and outside groups, the advocacy team met the Ganze Member of Parliament (MP), Honorable Francis Baya. The objective was to unpack what CVA entails and the benefits that it would bring to the constituency. Based on the work that World Vision has done in Bamba, the MP offered his support toward the CVA work.

After successful discussion with the MP, the next step was forming a structure through which the CVA work could be implemented. The IPA facilitated community members to identify and select their representatives who would be trained as community monitors.

The training consisted of learning about policy making and budgeting, procurement, project planning, social accountability, advocacy and communication, and decentralized funding. The participation of local leaders was important in that it enabled a direct engagement between community members and service providers.

The positive reception from community members and local leadership has made the work of community monitors easy. However, they noted that operating as an amorphous entity was challenging, so they decided to seek legal recognition.

Community monitors are in the process of being registered as a community based organization with the Department of Social Services. They will be referred to as Citizen’s Help Advocacy and Development Initiative (CHADI). The mandate of CHADI will include creating awareness to community members and other stakeholders in Ganze Constituency on government policies, service charters, citizen entitlements, and rights and responsibilities in regard service delivery.

CHADI’s current area of focus is the health sector. Members of the group were recently trained on key policy documents, which include child survival and development strategy, health service delivery standards, and health annual operation planning.

The CHADI team was also able to have an interface meeting with service providers. The two groups noted several issues that hindered effective delivery of health services, which included dysfunctional health management committees, non display of service charter by service providers, poor health seeking behaviour, and inadequate information on rights, responsibilities and entitlements of citizens as well as obligations of service providers.

As the CHADI team prepared the community for interface meeting, the team worked on raising awareness about service delivery standards. At meetings, the goal was to allow both community members and service providers assess the quality of service delivery, and design a plan of action. The engagement of the community in the process continues as it monitors the implementation of the plan and holds the local government accountable.

As seen above, the CVA approach serves as an on-going methodology that encourages people and government to work together as they seek better life conditions.