Changes in the civic space for water, sanitation and sexual health rights in Kajiado County, Kenya

Two large scale programmes have been working in Kajiado County to improve the civic space since 2016. Namely:

• Watershed, which focuses on water, sanitation, hygiene and Integrated Water Resource Management (WASH/IWRM), with a budget for Kenya of about € 450.000 per year for 5 years (including work at national level and in Laikipia and Kajiado counties)
• Health Systems Advocacy (HSA), which works on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), also had a budget of about € 500.000 per year for 5 years (Kajiado County and national level).

The two programmes were funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “Dialogue and Dissent” which aimed to strengthen the capacities of civil society organisations in evidence-based lobby and advocacy for a range of human rights in low-income countries.

The scope of a cross-sectoral study was to determine the extent to which civic space in governance in Kajiado County had changed from 2016 up until August 2019.

Three aspects were investigated:

• Accountability of government and civil society organisations about their plans, activities, and results
• Participation of different stakeholder groups on governance processes, and
• Transparency and communication about government decision-making processes

This briefing note gives the highlights of the longer case study.