5) Description of initiative: • To establish how much funds has been disbursed to the constituencies and what criteria were used to identify the beneficiaries • What were the determinants of the decisions made for the CDFs projects and what information and communication channels to arrive at this. • What was the level and depth of involvement of community members • .How can ICTs be used to enhance the existing communication channels and information flows around CDFs.

6) Description of innovation: Even though the CDFs was established to help the ordinary person within the constituency realised their potential by providing them with resources to engage in projects to enhance their livelihood, lack of information flow is likely to make the project to be treated like a club leaving the majority of the ordinary people out. The use of language is also an issue. The CDF Act is only in English and no one has attempted to translate it into Kiswahili or other languages spoken by Kenyans. This might affect women most considering that the majority of them are illiterate.

Therefore the rationale of the research is to determine the channels of information flow which exists for the implementation of the CDFs and how the Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) can be used to enhance the flow of that information to the wider society for the equitable use of Constituency Development Funds (CDF). Hypothesis: Adequate Information flow and Communication channels which can be enhanced by ICTs can help make the society aware of their rights and make the CDFs fund be used adequately to alleviate poverty among the Kenyan society.

7) Delivery model: The proposal by the African Women and Child Feature Service to do research on the importance of information flows to ordinary Kenyans and how they can access the information using the various channels as well as ICTs in the context of CDF is founded upon the nature of interaction that exists between legislators and their constituents, the former controlling the funds and the latter needing as well as deserving the same funds since it is their right.

The research project should show how democracy can be deepened through the CDFs using the right to information and how communities (women, men and young people separately) access information. It should clearly show the entry point for ICTs in CDF and in governance and development.

The history of Kenyan politics and in other so called new or emerging democracies shows that this interaction is based on information flow. In many cases nevertheless, the information flow has been limited to campaigns and other electioneering exercises.

Members of Parliament are only available when they need the communities to vote for them. Soon after, they disappear to cities until the next electioneering period. Even in cases where there is information flow, it is always one sided-the politician informing the communities and not the other way round.

Chances are that in the matter of CDF, the same thing will happen. Measures have to be put in place to ensure that information about what kinds of project the communities really want get to the leaders. Additionally, information about CDF and other mechanisms related to it are disseminated to the constituents.

The proposal’s rationale therefore is based on the premises that while the art and practice of government policy-making, citizen participation, and public work is quite complex. This is based on the work by the International Society for Development (SID) highlighted in their report entitled “Pulling Apart” where they indicated not only are the gap between the poor and the rich are wider but also in the access to information.

Previous research by AWC entitled Gender Audit for the 2002 General Elections further indicates that because of lack of information, women voters rarely make proper decisions and they are always prey upon by politicians to see things their way, further marginalizing them and the issues that affects them at the community level.

The need to audit of information in communities and their impact in governance and development is very crucial especially at a time when other countries are embracing e- governance where they can strategically use of ICTs in the communities to deepen democracy in terms of political commitments and accountability and also brings into focus other players like women’s organizations, rural communities, the minorities and other interest groups.

According to ICTs and Development: enabling the Information Society, a publication of the World Bank, ICTs contribute to development through three different channels: social, economic and political empowerment. The publication further says that ICTs can improve governance first by assisting decision makers in acquisition, management and transmission of complex policy information and data, thus creating efficiency benefits; second they improve the delivery of government services; third they empower civil society by raising access to government information and facilitating dialogue and public feedback on government projects and performance.

A fact that has been alluded to throughout many discourses around ICTs and governance is that the ICTs helps to bring about good governance, but they have to be present and entrenched in the communities for them to work. Otherwise the initial step would be the provision of these technologies. The following illustration provides a simple framework adopted from 2003 United Nations World Public Sector Report can put into context the impact of CDF In this model of traditional government policy-making: 1. Citizens provide occasional input between elections and pay taxes. 2. Power in the Governance infrastructure is centered with political leaders who determine broad policy priorities and distribute resources based on those priorities and existing programs and legal requirements. 3. Through government directly, and other publicly funded organizations, Public Work represents the implementation of the policy agenda and law.

Over time of course, bureaucratic barriers to reform make it difficult for leaders to recognize changes in citizen needs and priorities. Citizen input, outside of elections, often has a difficult time getting through. Disconnects among citizens, leaders, and those who implement public work are often based on the inability to easily communicate through and across these groups. As our one-way broadcast world becomes increasingly two- way, will the governance process gain the ability to listen and respond more effectively? The information-age, led by Internet content, software, technology, and connectivity, is changing society and the way we can best meet public challenges. E-democracy, e- governance, and public net-work are three interrelated concepts that will help us map out the impact of CDFs, their opportunities and how the public can participate more effectively, how the leaders can` govern, and do public work.

8) Key operational partnerships: Background and Context

In the spirit of building good government around democracy and empowerment, in June 2003, The Government of Kenya (GoK) launched the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (ERS) which built on earlier work- the 2001 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), the National Development Plan 2002-2008, the National Poverty Eradication Plan to 2015 (NPEP) and the NARC Coalition’s election manifesto and post election action programme (PEAP).

In its attempt to link governance and human capital, on the 31st December 2003, Kenyan president, Mwai Kibaki signed into law the Constituencies Development Fund Bill, 2003. This Act has since come to operation and the government allocated 1.2 billion Kenya Shillings to the fund for the 2003-2004 financial years. For the current financial year (2004-2005) each constituency has been allocated 20 million Kenya shillings.

CDF’s which is 2.5 % of total revenue by the government currently stands at Kshs 5.8 billion which is expected to go to the constituencies and the 75% of the this money should be divided equally across the board among the 210 constituencies and 25 % of the balance to be distributed to according to poverty level within the constituency.

These funds have been earmarked to ‘facilitate development projects in the constituencies’ and is approved and disbursed by a National Committee and made available to the constituencies through a constituency bank account.

According to

9) Financial model: Work plan, timeframe and budget allocation (October 2004- March 2005)

Activity Time-Frame Amount (US$) Literature Review Sept-Dec 2006 3,000 Analysis of the CDF Act Jan 2007 4,000 Information and data collection

a) Development of the questionnaire and other tools February 2007 5,000 b) Interviews of legislators and parliament and law/development experts in 16 sites throughout the country. March-April 2007 15,000 c) Field visits and administering of research tools April-May 2007 20,000 d) Tabulation and analysis of the information and data June 2007 6,000 Report writing and analysis of findings and report editing June-July 2007 10,000 Launch of the report in the various Provinces August 2007 4,000 Transport and accommodation during the research period February -May 2007 10,000

Total 77,000 Administration cost@ 7% of the total budget 5,390 Grand Total 82,390

          • Costs as percentage of income: 30%

          • Financing: Through the barious donors locally also in partnership with the local NGOs

10) Effectiveness

          • Project outcomes: The reseach is still on-going, so far we have finalised with the following activities; Description of activities 1. Newspapers and other publications review The initial part of the research involved the extensive collection and analysis of newspaper articles and other articles from other sources on the subject of CDF. Particular attention was given to open approval or disapproval of the fund and the argument behind them. This activity will also seek to do a follow-up of the actual funds; how they have been allocated to projects all over the country. For the purposes of this research, we also looked at the daily newspapers are the Daily Nation and the, the Standard, Kenya Times and the People Daily. Other relevant journals and were also used as sources of information. An emphasis was put on community based information channels and tools like newsletters and local papers. 2. Analysis and interpretation of CDF Act (2003) The CDF Act, like many other legal documents are full of jargon and ‘legalese’ that makes them hard to understand for the average Kenyan, much more for communities which do not understand English or even Kiswahili. Various professionals with expert knowledge in legislation and the legal sector will be sought to interpret and breakdown the Act into ‘a language understood by the ‘lay person’ This has been translated into Kiswahili for the majority of women who are illiterate 3. Information gathering/Data collection This involved the collection of information and data, written or otherwise from the stakeholders, notably the communities, local authorities, civil society organizations, legislators and their counterparts from other political parties. Questionnaires was formulated and distributed randomly to the members of constituencies and also organizations working on development and/or information and communication issues in the communities. Interviews were conducted with the aim of gathering information that was not covered by the questionnaires. Other empirical data including demographic information, number of projects within selected constituencies, needs of the communities, infrastructure, and community based organizations and their work etc will be collected and tabulated in relation to the CDF. 4. Field visits- constituencies Selected constituencies in all the provinces in Kenya have been visited with aim questionnaires and other information collection tools. The main aim of this activity is to find out what projects under CDF are underway, how much information on CDF is available in the communities, what kind of ICTs are available in the communities and any other relevant information, data and opinions.

          • Number of clients in past year: The research focused on the following selected constituencies in all the eight provinces of Kenya and will be sampled so as to be representative of all the 210 constituencies where at least samples were randomly carried out on more than 50 women per contituency i. Langata, Embakasi (Nairobi Province) ii. Baringo Central, Subukia, Kajiado central, Eldoret North, Turkana south (Rift Valley) iii. Bondo, Nyando, Suba (Nyanza) iv. Gatundu, Othaya, Gichugu (Central) v. Kitui central, Imenti south, Mbeere (Eastern) vi. Wajir west, Ijara (North Eastern Province) vii. Kisauni, Matuga, Taita Taveta (Coast) viii. Kimilili, Emuhaya, Funyula (Western) The above choices are randomly selected but the number of constituencies in each province is based on the sizes of the provinces. A factor considered in the random selection is the proximity of the constituencies to each other, so that those that are far away from each other are chosen to get as representative information as possible.

11) Scaling up strategy

          • Stage of the initiative: Scaling Up stage.

          • Expansion plan: 5. Information and Data analysis

After information and data has been collected from the fields, a process of analyzing the data and interpreting it with an aim of finding a way forward will follow. The instruments to be used to analyze the data include a scale to show awareness of development issues including CDF vis a vis access to ICTs. Information from the review of literature will also be analyzed. A recommendation, founded upon the analyzed data and the findings of the research will be made to the legislators, development organization, communities and the government. Furthermore the research will be disseminated to the public through the media.

6. Report writing and presentation of findings

The findings of the research will be presented in form of a (report) publication and several newspaper articles, commentaries and analyses. A launch of the report, where a way forward will be given will be organised. A workshop and public forum to encourage debate will the organised to coincide with the mentioned launch.

12) Origin of the initiative: IDRC together with African Woman and Child Features were the originator of the idea, right after the CDF funds were underway adn there was a realisation that there is a strong gender dimension to this poverty, whose greatest prevalence is in female headed households within the society and that accords unequal power status to men and women and spreads opportunity asymmetrically between boys and girls. Open unemployment today in Kenya stands at almost 2 million people or 15% of the labour force, with almost half of the unemployed being youth. Disguised underemployment, particularly within the public and informal sectors is estimated at over 5 million people. Poor governance and limited popular participation in a political structure fed by patronage and paternalism are the core of this legacy and this might affect the recently launched Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to help alleviate poverty and empower the people within the constituencies.

Contact Information:
Rosemary  Okello-Orlale
Ashoka Fellow
Executive Director
African Woman and Child Feature Service
(NGO)
P.O.Box 48197, 00100, Nairobi
Kenya
Tel: 254-20-2724756,2720554
Fax: 254-20-2718469
Email: info@awcfs.org
Website: www.awcfs.org