THE CONCEPT
Partnership with Governors and preparatory activities
The Devolution and Women Conference held in Naivash at Sawela between 8th -9th May 2014, was put together through a collaborative initiative by the National Women Steering Committee (NWSC), The Senate, Council of Governors (CoG), the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), the Ward Representative Association of Kenya (WRAK) and Action Aid-Kenya. The main thrust of the Conference was safeguarding devolution and gender gains in the Constitution of Kenya 2010. The configuration of delegations at this conference includes:-
- Speaker of the Senate of the Republic of Kenya
- Speakers of 47 County Assemblies of the Republic of Kenya
- Elected and Nominated Senators
- Leaders of Majority and Minority in the County Assemblies
- Minority and Majority Chief Whip in the County Assemblies
- The Chair, Secretary General and other officials of the Council of Governors
- Governors
- The Council of Speakers
- Women County Members of National Assembly of the Republic of Kenya
- Elected and nominated Women Members of National Assembly of the Republic of Kenya
- Elected and Nominated Women and Men Members of County Assemblies of the Republic of Kenya
- The Transition Authority
- Kenya Women Senators’ Association and Kenya Women Parliamentary Association
- Women County Assemblies’ Caucuses
- The National Women Steering Committee
- The National Gender and Equality Commission
- Action Aid Kenya
- The Civil Society
- The Media, including African Woman and Child Feature Service; and
- Resource Persons/Consultants
In sum, the delegation assembled was bi-partisan and reflected the face and diversity of the people of Kenya. There were over 1,300 delegates in attendance at the Naivasha Conference.
The need for the Governors Gender Round Table (GGRT) Forums were informed by a move by a section of members emphasising that Devolution aimed at enhancing the participation of citizens in planning and strengthening their voices in influencing service delivery by duty bearers. This however demands that part of political and economic decision making processes be transferred to the people through locally established mechanisms. While in theory this is taking place, in practice, the engagement of women, youth and persons with disabilities-PWD’s has been limited.
The challenge then was that despite the Constitution of Kenya 2010 guaranteeing the equality of men and women in the Bill of Rights and in several provisions outlawing discrimination on any basis including gender or cultural, in practice, the issue of gender equality has not been resolved satisfactorily, and there still remains the need for active intervention to ensure the meaningful participation of women, youth and persons with disabilities in public participation, leadership and decision making. Furthermore the lack of consolidated, organized and structured platforms for them to collectively identify their issues and interact with duty bearers to push their agenda has caused their concerns to be relegated to the periphery of development within the society.
Subsequent meetings and dialogue on devolution and gender has therefore enhanced the need to establish platforms in 47 counties that brings together women, youth and PWD’s networks in an organized manner to dialogue and collaborate with the leadership at the County level. The platforms will be collaboration between the NWSC and the Council of Governors-CoG and will seek to address issues of critical concern to women, youths and PWD’s in their respective Counties in an all-inclusive manner towards establishing gender responsive public service delivery through the formation of quarterly Governors Gender Round Tables (GGRTs).
The NWSC have already secured the buy-in of the Council of Governors and will work together to provide spaces for constructive interaction between the Duty Bearers (Governors and County governments) and the Rights holders to improve the relationship between the County Governments and the County citizenry. Using the “Reflect” method, the groups will be capacity built to identify, prioritize and present their issues to the County Government at the quarterly round-table meetings. The exercise will capture the views and aspirations of women, youths and PWD’s in development to ensure that gender is mainstreamed in all aspects of County development and public service delivery resulting in a more equitable society.
The approach and its activities will further assist communities and citizens in driving issue-based engagement with duty bearers where the citizenry is better able to understand their roles and responsibilities as well as the roles and responsibilities of the duty bearers. The willingness of the duty bearers, through the Council of Governors to actively engage with this process provides a perfect opportunity to forge an amicable working relationship that will better enhance citizen engagement with the leadership.
The key outcomes of the Governor’s Gender Round Table are:
- Enhance women and youth participation in decision making at County levels
- Promote gender responsive leadership and development
- Create organized and operational platforms for women and youths to dialogue with the County leadership
- Develop women’s leadership capacities and skills
The project Location(s): All the 47 Counties in Kenya
Project period: 2 years starting October 2015 through to 2017
The key target groups: County governments (particularly the Governors, the County Executive Committees and the County Assemblies Members).
Project Beneficiaries: Women, youth, persons with disability and civil society groups
Project goal: A society founded on informed people, promoting inclusivity and participation of all
ANTICIPATED KEY RESULTS
Result area1: Organized and functional platforms for women youth and persons with disabilities at the county level pushing development agenda
Result area 2: Enhanced participation of women, youth and persons with disability in CG decision making processes
Result area 3: Gender Responsive policies and development realized by County Government