Consultative Forum for the Civil Society Actors in the Lower Eastern - Foundation Office Kenya
Workshop
Details
The Kenyan Constitution has placed critical roles and responsibilities under its people. The numerous public participation clauses in the Constitution cannot be underestimated and the on-going institutional reforms, together with the devolution process, call for serious engagement and sensitisation amongst the non-state actors to play their central participatory roles.
As the Constitution has become the beacon of hope towards development in many of the marginalised and underdeveloped areas of the country, the role of participatory leadership and management of public affairs call for the non-state actors to endear themselves towards enhancing accountability, inclusive of the public private partnerships, with objectivity in critiquing the duty bearers.
Accountability of leadership and management cannot be realised when the people are not informed or aware of the issues they ought to advocate for, in relation to provision and guaranteeing of social services and rights such as health, food, water and sanitation, agriculture, education, housing, land and its management, environmental care among others. These call for social groups and organisations in any region to come together, promote their awareness to enhance accountability within and amongst all actors within the region. For this to happen, awareness raising and public education remains the starting point of any social change, participatory democracy and respect for human rights and good governance.
With this understanding and with devolution taking shape in the Lower Eastern Counties (Machakos, Kitui and Makueni), the need to have consultative forums to create avenues for initiating mutual engagements, towards public participation in the County Governments as oversight mechanisms through the constitutional provisions remains that paramount. As a start, it is on this basis that a consultative forum needs to be organised by KAS for the Lower Eastern Civil Society Actors and groups to;
•Initiate broader deliberations and consultations on the developmental and governance needs and issues that
affects the region
•Deliberate on the methodical and popular approaches on how these issues can be managed, resolved or
transformed and advocated for, through the Devolved System of governance as enshrined in the Constitution, and
with accountability mechanisms.
•Deliberate on the prerequisites and vehicles for social organising towards resource mobilisation, for socio-
economic, cultural and political change and development.