The Our County - Our Responsibility!: Community Media Mobilising for Accountability in Kenya pilot project worked with community media in Kenya to support them in increasing civic participation, awareness, and transparency related to the planning and implementation of development policy goals. The main focus of the project, which ran from 2019 to 2020, was to build the capacity of radio stations and theatre groups located in 8 counties (Nairobi, Samburu, Homa Bay, Taita Taveta, Tana River, Isiolo, Kajiado, and Wajir) to be able to inform communities on how their local government works, how development plans are created, and how they are implemented. The project was implemented by the Kenya Community Media Network (KCOMNET), Jesuit Hakimani Centre, and Catholic Media Council (CAMECO), with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Communication Strategies:
The project worked to increase citizens' engagement around the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs), which are developed every 5 years to define the development areas, goals, and budget lines for each county. According to the Kenyan Constitution, the development measures set out in these documents should reflect the priorities of the citizens based on participatory processes in which citizens are consulted.
However, the results of research conducted by the pilot project confirmed what had already been shown in supra-regional research: The concerns of citizens were not reflected in the measures that have been decided upon in the CIDPs. The majority of the population were not informed that so-called citizens' forums were taking place in which the plans were to be presented and discussed. The CIDPs were also not accessible two weeks prior to the forumns, as prescribed. The time frame for the forums was extremely limited and left little room for dialogue and participation. In addition, the use of technocratic language and the complexity of the budgetary procedures were largely incomprehensible to those present, so that authentic and critical involvement by citizens was hardly possible. The research concluded that the "open government - open data" approach propagated by the government is being inadequately implemented. Accountability is largely neglected by county governments, and transparency is not established with regard to either the planned or the implemented development projects.
In order to address these shortfalls, the project engaged local media, which are considered best placed to promote participation in debates and to discuss the management of public affairs, as they have the most immediate and direct access to people, especially in rural communities. To achieve its objectives, the project had 2 key components:
- Research - The project undertook research in all 8 counties to identify current community participation levels in government, as well as the main issues that communities wanted to have addressed. Based on this research, the project produced fact sheets [PDF] (example in link is for Nairobi county only) for each county, which were distributed to the radio stations in that country. Each fact sheet included information on the development priorities that were identified by citizens in the research, as well as the budget breakdown as per the county CIDP.
- Training and information to community media and theatre groups - Radio stations and theatre groups in each county received training that covered topics such as the CIPD process, the mandate and role of public officials, budget cycles, processes of public participation, and the importance of mobilising communities to attend public county forums. Over the course of the project, these topics were addressed in 42 radio productions and 24 theatre plays. In addition, community media were supported with county-specific background materials (including the fact sheets mentioned above, posters, and county brochures), as well as tailor-made media content development trainings and productions at county level. In particular, training was given to radio talk show hosts who were in the best position to highlight issues related to the CIDP process in their programming. All programming was also packaged in different languages to ensure maximum participation, especially of rural communities.
Development Issues:
Democracy and Governance, Media Development
Key Points:
According to KCOMNET, the project has shown positive results in increasing civic participation, awareness, and transparency around how local government budgets are spent. The participation of citizens in public forums at county level was increased by an average of 50%, and weaknesses in the information policy of district governments were revealed.
Going forward, the project identified a need for more well-researched development-related programming, more "stories behind the data", and the need to fact-check the truth behind statements made by officials being interviewed. In response to this, CAMECO has developed, in cooperation with the radio network and Code for Africa (CfA), a follow-up project, which is planned from October 2020 until the end of 2023. The new project, "Our County - Our Responsibility: Telling Data Stories - Revealing Citizen's Realities", includes training schemes (e.g., in research techniques, data journalism, and solution-oriented reporting) and the design of an information technology (IT)-based online tool (County Data Information System - CDIS), whose purpose will be to create data transparency for the development schemes of county governments.
Partner Text:
Kenya Community Media Network (KCOMNET), Catholic Media Council (CAMECO), Jesuit Hakimani Centre (JHC), and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Source:
CAMECO website on December 4 2020. Image credit: KCOMNET via Instagram