New Program in Narok! Research & Grassroots Forums

After SNA-K’s Narok Chapter successfully implemented an educational forum to address land issues in Narok at a key hot spot for conflict, Kibilat, we received positive feedback and requests for replication from individuals all over Narok. People felt that the forum helped them to understand key information about land issues. Specifically, the forum helped participants understand double leasing, a phenomenon in which two individuals are sold the same plot of land. Often, individuals believe others are grabbing their land when there is really double leasing (individuals have been sold the same plot of land, and often both have been tricked by a third party). This causes a great deal of conflict in the area, especially when rumors spread about specific instances of double leasing but exaggerate conflict between individuals into conflict between ethnic communities.

After the positive response from the initial forum, SNA-K sought support to replicate this forum in other parts of Narok, and to implement similar forums to address the relationship between the spread of rumors and conflict. In mid-February, SNA-K officially received support from USAID-OTI to implement this project, complete with new elements of extensive research on land issues throughout Narok, focus groups with key community leaders to create conflict-monitoring mechanisms using SMS, and a radio programs element.

Pastor Wilson Mosonik interviews community members during land research

The project has begun with three weeks of research conducted by ten local researchers in Narok North, Narok South, and Transmara. The researchers have interviewed stakeholders ranging from government land administration institutions, to individuals using these institutions, to local conflict resolution mechanisms and community elders.

This research will inform a series of grassroots forums focused on double leasing and rumors. The format of open-air forums provide a space for community members to come together in a safe space across ethnic lines to discuss the issues that affect them in a moderated format and in the presence of experts on the subjects that they discuss. By combining local perspectives and airing of issues with legal and educational information, SNA-K takes dialogue a step further by enabling community members to take next steps in addressing their issues.

A total of twelve forums will be held, six each on double leasing and rumor monitoring. Forums on double leasing will be held in Mulot, Ololulunga, Nkareta, Noroosura, Transmara, and Mau- Tipis. Forums on rumors will be held in London (Narok Town), Majengo (Narok Town), Ololulunga Town, Mulot Center, Olmekeinyu (Mau Forest Area), and Sogoo. Rumor forums will be planned to coincide with market days and to happen near to market places to have the largest audiences possible.

After these forums, SNA-K will hold focus groups with key community stakeholders to design a conflict monitoring mechanisms based on information gathered about land conflict and rumors. SNA-K will also work with community radio stations to have two shows discussing the most important issues that came up in forums, and will invite guest speakers to discuss how good leadership and policies can help address these issues.

Read the 3-page concept note on this program here!

Kasarani Community Forum

This past Saturday, SNA-K’s Kamukunji chapter held a community forum for seventy community leaders in Baba Dogo and Korogocho. The forum followed two smaller forums of approximately twenty leaders each in Baba Dogo and Korogocho, which identified the major needs in each of the two communities. Saturday’s forum brought together leaders from both locations to prioritize the needs identified by category and specific issue to provide the baseline of information for a Community Needs Assessment that will be presented to political aspirants. This forum will be supplemented by SMS-based input from the community, and creates positive civic engagement through bringing community leaders across ethnic and religious lines together to agree upon shared goals. More information on the forum will follow, but for a preview, the top five priority areas identified were:

1. Security

2. Education

3. Good governance

4. Health care

5. Environment

Participants’ evaluations of the forum were positive, with all participants believing that the document produced would reflect the needs of their communities, and participants commenting that the forum was very useful, and that the conversation and sharing of views was one of the most valuable parts.

Narok Chapter Update – Hot Spots Analysis & Community Meetings

After a fantastic outreach and a strategic planning retreat, the Narok team has planned to use the system for civic education, positive civic engagement, advertising events, and monitoring and responding to signs of tension or conflict.

The team began by researching and writing a hot spots analysis of Narok, which summarizes hot spots in each of its current areas as well as throughout the District.  They are now engaging representative community leaders for small meetings in each of their focus areas (Narok Town, Ololulunga, Mulot, and Mara Aitong) to receive feedback on the report, introduce the SNA-K Narok chapter to these leaders, and understand where there is potential for additional collaboration and support with these community groups. The first forum is scheduled to take place on July 21^st in Ololulunga.

Kasarani Chapter Update – forums & civic education

The Kasarani team has moved on to work on positive civic engagement. Specifically, they are focusing on creating a document that will capture community needs and can be presented to political aspirants as well as scorecards to measure whether the individual elected is successful in tackling their needs. They have begun two community forums (one each in Baba Ndogo and Korogocho), involving a representative group of community leaders from different ethnic communities, religions, genders, and ages. This Saturday May 16^th, they will hold a joint forum with the attendees of both previous forums and an additional twenty individuals who have been invited to harmonize their needs assessment for both communities and prioritize the needs they have identified. They will involve the community for awareness and opinions via the SMS platform after this baseline is established.

The Kasarani team continues to send civic education SMS to the community subscriber base, educating them on the new constitution. The SMS were created at a training led by Treasurer to the Board Damaris Lukwo (Dama), who is a Kenyan lawyer who has specialized in community trainings and the new constitution. The training brought together Dama’s expertise with the chapter members’ knowledge of which information is important to groups on the ground.

Kamukunji Programming

Kamukunji is a constituency in Nairobi that is a central to politics within the city. It is a focal point of jua kali work (“hot sun” work, or casual outdoor labor) within the city, and has a very diverse population.

SNA-K’s Project: SNA-K received a short-term grant from USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) to conduct programming in Kamukunji in the lead-up to a disputed by-election [sic] for the area’s Member of Parliament, which was scheduled for the end of May 2011. SNA-K began work in Kamukunji in April 2011.

SNA-K recruited 18 volunteers from Kamukunji community organizations who conducted outreach for the local phone number throughout Kamukunji. Approximately 7,000 individuals signed up in the volunteers’ two weeks of outreach. Subscribers were varied, with jobs ranging from civil servants, elders, and religious leaders, to matatu touts (workers on a form of public transportation), unemployed, housewives, and jua kali labor.

Confirmed subscribers received civic education messages sensitizing them to good leadership under the new Constitution, which were created through an expert-led workshop with SNA-K’s Kamukunji volunteers. Over 5,000 subscribers were given the opportunity to participate in an SMS-based survey of community needs, which was used to craft questions at a local debate between political aspirants (results to be available on this website soon). The most common community concern was unemployment.

One business day before the by-election was scheduled to take place, Kenya’s High Court postponed the election because of a pending election-related case. SNA-K sent a message to its subscribers asking them to wait peacefully and patiently for more information and to accept the High Court’s ruling. The community response was overwhelmingly positive, and community members called SNA-K’s volunteers to thank them for the message and let them know that it provided accurate information and helped to maintain peace and patience in Kamukunji.

Throughout the process, SNA-K used its Kamukunji network to monitor tensions and signs of tensions, and engaged in collaboration with the NSC (National Steering Committee, a government body appointed with coordinating Early Warning and Response). SNA-K reported signs of tension to the NSC for action.

Looking Forward: SNA-K is continuing to develop civic education messaging to educate Kamukunji subscribers about the new Constitution, and following closely as the High Court case proceeds with its case and decision with regards to the continuation of the by-election.

Why Sisi ni Amani – Personal story from Megan Turner (April, 2011)

When post election violence occurred, I was fifteen back in my home in southern California concerned with AP tests and the upcoming school dances.  I understand very little of the implications of the ethnic tensions that underlie the violence or the effect that the violence would have and continue to have on the social fabric of Kenyan society.  I knew enough to get into contact with my friend who lived in Nairobi but after learning that he was safe, I was at a loss as to what else I could do.  Flash forward three years and I was moving away from home studying International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University in Washington D.C. studying ethno political conflict and genocide, focusing on Africa, and learning Kiswahili.

Last semester I took the opportunity to study abroad in Kenya through my university and was recommended Sisi ni Amani Kenya (SNA-K) as an organization to consider interning with.  From the very beginning, I recognized SNA-K as an organization straight out of my development class discussions.  It was an organization that had involvement from the Western world but relied on the ideas and leadership potential of local Kenyans who knew the language, culture, people and what would work and not work.

The concept of SMS technology appealed to me as a teenager who has grown up in the cell phone era- what better way to reach a wide array of people poorly connected but through texting- and for such a good cause as peace and civic education?  From what I saw from my time in Kenya, the usage of SMS technology is an integral part of society and more effective than posters or fliers and can be accessed at any time on little notice, day or night, unlike soccer games or theatre productions.

One of the most admirable qualities of SNA-K is their emphasis on local leadership- not regional and not national.  Each community is different- with its own culture and way of life and SNAK respects and empowers these communities to reach their full potential and take ownership of the well being of their community.  I found from my time in Kasarani and Narok that each leadership team preferred to approach their work with different styles and chose to rely on different aspects of peace and civic education as their respective community necessitated.

I highly value the time that I spent interning with Sisi ni Amani- Kenya and even though I have returned to the states, I am hoping to stay active with the work of SNA-K and help in whatever way I can.

Narok Outreach Success (March 19, by Megan Turner)

The Narok Leadership Team has done an incredible job with community outreach: in just two and a half weeks, they’ve managed to get over 1,700 subscribers, mostly from very rural areas. The Sisi ni Amani member groups in these various areas have shown tremendous dedication, commitment, and organization in conducting extensive outreach. Jackson Saruni, a bright and motivated member of the Narok Leadership Team, has taken the lead in coordinating and organizing the various groups.

Each week, they have chosen a different location. They started with one week of outreach at Narok University College, led by a dedicated and self-motivated team of University students. In one week, the students managed to obtain 700 subscriptions out of a student body of approximately 2,000.

Next, the team focused on Mulot, a rural and primarily Kalenjin area, and brought in another more than 700 subscribers, with more still coming in. They focused on door-to-door and market day outreach, and also brought 31 pastors from different churches on board to conduct outreach on a Sunday.

The group is now focusing on Ololulunga, a primarily Masai rural neighbor to Mulot. The border between Ololulunga and Mulot is often a hot spot for violence, and by bringing groups from both locations together to conduct outreach on either side of and across the border, the group is targeting a large constituency. In addition, one enthusiastic member group, NABOK, has also been leading outreach in the rural areas of Sekanani and Aitong, with 300 subscribers within the first few days.

Next week outreach begins in Narok Town, with three different groups including University student volunteers from both Narok University and Kenya Methodist University in Nairobi participating.

Planning Outreach in Narok Town (March 18th, by Megan Turner)

Today, we had a meeting with our local chapter leaders in Narok to finalize plans for outreach in town the week of March 21^st. While there, we were able to meet with the leader of Narok Youth Congress who displayed an interest in the new SMS system and indicated an interest in joining and assisting with outreach.  In terms of the upcoming outreach in town, the community groups are going to focus on markets that are still divided along PNU/ODM lines, pikipikis, churches, Total and Majengo Estates, and the Central Business District.  Local community groups such as HAPEP and Neighbors Peace Initiative will be involved with the various aspects of outreach.  Students from Kenyan Youth Methodist are planning on coming to Narok University on Friday to assist with outreach, and students on both ends are excited to meet and work to promote peace together.

Introducing our New Intern (March 9th, by Rachel)

Sisi ni Amani is excited to introduce our new intern who, for the next two months, will assist with various outreach programs and logistical matters.

Megan Turner is a student at American University from Lakewood, California who will graduate in 2012 with a BA in International Relations with an emphasis on Peace and Conflict Resolution and Africa with a minor in Economics.  She is in Kenya through American University’s Sustainable Development Study Abroad Program studying at United States International University.   In Washington D.C., Megan interned at American University’s Conflict Resolution Program working as a mediator and conflict coach as well as designing programs geared towards mitigating conflict in residence halls. She also served as an intern at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum working with visitor services and education.

Over the next two months Megan will be assisting with outreach in Narok, Korogocho and Baba Dogo as well as working on the 1,000 for Peace funding campaign.

Why Civic Education? (March 8, by Rachel)

In August, 2010, Kenyans voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new constitution. The constitution marks a step forward for many, but also brings with it contentious and easily misunderstood issues that may cause tensions, and subject to manipulation by politicians. In Kasarani, the group firmly believes in the importance of educating the community about the new constitution proactively, specifically before electoral campaigns begin. By educating proactively instead of reactively, they believe they have the best chance of preventing manipulation and tension arising from these issues. Community knowledge and understanding of the new constitution and its contentious issues is key to preventing tensions that arise from misunderstandings or manipulation.

As such, we have scheduled a “Training of Trainers” with Sisi ni Amani Kenya board member Damaris Lukwo, a Kenyan lawyer specializing in the new constitution, to create a 3-month SMS-based civic education curriculum for the Kasarani area. The training will bring together the understanding of triggers of conflict that the local leadership has and the legal knowledge of Damaris to create a community-specific civic education program.