KHRC Presentation during the ICT4Democracy in East Africa Workshop December 2012 Kenya Human Rights Commission Presented By Beryl Aidi Programme Officer-Media, Communication and Publicity

1. Kenya Human Rights Commission
Presented By Beryl Aidi
Programme Officer-Media, Communication and Publicity

2.  The Reforms Through Citizen Participation and Government
Accountability project is an ICT-based campaign that seeks to
entrench the principles of good governance by demanding
accountability and rule of law in Kenya. These problems are
detrimental to the economy and it is the masses who bear the
brunt of the problems above.
 The kind of transformation that Kenyans want is predicated in
the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, (CoK 2010), which is the
culmination of twenty years of agitation for reform for
transparency and accountability. Since its inception in 1992 the
KHRC has advocated for constitutional reforms and was at the
forefront of the designing of the human rights-based and people-
centred CoK 2010.
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

3.  Goal: HURINETs and particularly their youth
membership have improved understanding of and
commitment to building a human rights state and
society
 Objective 1: To engage citizens in dialogue and
establishing the rule of law in the context of
democratic governance to ensure a decline in human
rights violations.
 Objective 2: To increase government accountability
through monitoring service delivery at county level in
the devolved government
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

4.  The particular areas of concern are education, water
sector reforms and livelihoods. It is expected that
through these campaigns, Kenyan public from across
the board will be able to demand for services,
accountability and make decisions to vote for leaders
who can help the country move or otherwise vote out
corrupt and unprogressive leaders. Thus the project
will contribute to citizen participation and citizen
empowerment.
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

5.  The primary beneficiaries of this project are the 10
selected Human Rights Networks (HURINETS)
out of the 27 groups that the KHRC works with on
the ground who will benefit directly from capacity
building in technology through both skills transfer
and equipping.
 Aim is to build a core-group
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

6. Secondary Target groups
 The secondary target groups with whom the
networks work is the youth and especially
university students, women, survivors of past
injustices and influential leaders of the society
including the local administration and other
stakeholders/interest groups working in the target
regions.
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

7.  The increasing widespread use of mobile phones in
even the remotest areas of Kenya provides an
opportunity to engage communities in knowing and
claiming their rights and for monitoring human rights
abuses and Government actions.
 In order to manage the information that the KHRC and
the HURINETs generate, we plan to install a
Management Information System fitted with an
intranet for the purposes of information sharing
internally and also among the HURINETS as well as
affording the KHRC a remote mechanism to monitor
the activities of the HURINETS.
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

8.  The KHRC planed to tap into the potential of Information
Communication Technologies (ICTs) to increase citizen
participation, monitor human rights violations, monitor the
electoral processes, monitor government fulfilment of promises,
carry out campaigns and also inform and educate its
constituents and the public on various human rights and
governance issues.
 Working with the HURINETs by building their capacity in ICTs to
enable them take advantage of existing social networking
platforms to monitor government performance as well as social
organising and mobilisation.
 The rationale for engaging various networks and community
groups is to facilitate the creation of a vibrant social movement
that would ensure a future where this country is free of human
rights abuses.
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

9.  Bulk sms
 Intranet
 Social media- FB, Twitter and blogs
 Website: www.civicaction.or.ke
 A Ushahidi crowdsourcing platform eg Uchaguzi
for elections and Hakireport- web and sms based
 Institutional strengthening- intranet/extranet
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

10.  Kwale Hurinet blog
 VIFANET
 People for Rural Change Trust(PRCT)- Kuria
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

11.  Capacity building
◦ AHRC
 TI-Kenya (Enhancing the crowdmap)
 CREAW’s KCSIS portal
 My Societies.com (www.mzalendo.com)
 Global Partnership for Leadership in Human
Rights ( Ford Foundation)
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

12.  Policy Advocacy on Internet Freedom
 Global Partners Association-UK on freedom online and
capacity building for CSOs
 International Network of Civil Liberties Union Organizations
(INCLO) – Information Rights and Privacy Freedom Online
 Electoral Governance
 KTI – Elections monitoring
 Norwegian and DAP on electoral governance
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

13.  Slow momentum with the HURINETs
 Human Resource
 Toll free number not easy to get
 New SMS directives
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013

14. The time to be VIGILANT IS
NOW, kwa hivyo,
TWENDE KAZI!
Asanteni!!!
Kenya Human Rights Commission February 4, 2013