PEN in collaboration with her national level partners, Civic Freedoms Forum (CFF) and Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), in June and September held awareness creation forums on Civic and Democratic Spaces in Kenya. These meetings targeted Kisumu, Mombasa, Makueni, Isiolo, Turkana and Nakuru counties, with the aim of improving the awareness of civil society leaders on issues of civic and democratic space.
The CSO leaders were taken through the transition in civic and democratic space in Kenya from the pre-colonial period to the current post – 2010 constitution period. This analysis can be found under PEN’s Knowledge Hub on this website or HERE.
During these Forums, the CSO leaders were also able to identify potential opportunities that would affect the county-level civic and democratic spaces. The opportunities range from the new county governments sworn into office, more active citizenry, stronger CSOs and their networks and receptive independent offices located at the county level.
However, the threats to enhancing their civic and democratic spaces was not lost on them, especially as relates to: active interference by county government officials, disjointed and uncoordinated CSO actions, diminishing funding sources and preference of external development partners by the county governments.
A key take-away from these forums was the need to deepen the engagements between CSOs, County Governments, National Governments, citizens and other local stakeholders.
