Getting to know ActionAid Kenya.....

ActionAid Kenya is preparing for its next country strategy which comes into effect in 2011 and as a part of this process a team of ActionAiders was assembled to review their progress over the last five years, assess future opportunities and make recommendations on the direction of the programme. I was lucky enough to be selected as the Team Leader for this review and I had the absolute privilege of working with Seema Joshi, our Child Sponsorship Coordinator in the Asia Region, Judy Kamyani from the ActionAid Uganda Board, Olutayo Olujide, our Regional HR/OD Coordinator for West and Central Africa and Jo Walker from the ActionAid International Campaigns Team.

Then there is our team in Kenya that is superbly led by Jean Kamau who is 5 hours behind me on her first trip to Australia. Its when you work closely with such a talented and committed group of people you get a true sense of the drive behind this ambitious and bold organisation that I am so proud to be a part of.

So what did we find out about Kenya? Everyone, and I mean everyone, in Kenya is talking about the recently promulgated Constitution. This is a far reaching instrument that devolves the political authority in the country to county level and importantly from ActionAid’s perspective it contains a bill of rights which importantly grants women equal citizenship in the country for the first time. As a friend of mine in Kenya recently said, “Kenya you have a green light”!

My colleagues at ActionAid Kenya should be praised for the pro-active role they have played with civil society colleagues and government in preparing the bill of rights that is a feature of the constitution. All of this and more is to be implemented before the next election in 2012. This time the ball is squarely in the Government of Kenya’s court and this is their chance to ensure that the poor and excluded people of Kenya are finally able to claim their human rights.

This opportunity is also a big challenge for my colleagues in ActionAid Kenya to ensure that civil society ensures that government delivers essential services at the county level and that national legislation (nearly 50 bills have to be reviewed and passed in the next two years) is suitable to implement the new constitution. Our work led us to some recommendations on ActionAid focusing its work on some core priorities with women’s rights at the centre. We also pulled together a few ideas to help our colleagues in Kenya take the experiences and challenges of poor and excluded people at local level into some national level coalitions. This is particularly important in engaging with contentious issues such as land rights.

We’re still slaving away on the final report but it will be done soon. In the meantime it’s back to Sydney in an hour or so and then straight to Canberra to moderate the ActionAid Australia/ANU policy dialogue on the MDGs on Thursday 16th which happens to be four days out from the MDG Summit in New York. More on that soon and there is a real need for all of us to stand up and shout out for the MDGs!