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At the beginning of the year 2018, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) received funding from CAFOD (Catholic Fund for Overseas Development) to implement a joint Project made by the Department of Justice & Peace and Caritas Kenya. This Project was known as Strengthening Local Governance and Community Empowerment Project. The overall goal of this Project was to enhance democratic and participatory governance and holistic community empowerment in the target regions. Kisumu County (under the Archdiocese of Kisumu) was one of the target areas together with Kwale, Kericho, and Nyandarua Counties.

This Project was intended to run from 2018-2020 but due to the unforeseen challenges of COvid-19 Pandemic, it has gone to 2021. Some of the key intervention issues includes enhancing public participation through established structures like Citizen Oversight Forums. It was also focusing on carrying out an oversight of the County projects through budget tracking, community score cards and social audit. It also aimed at engaging the County Oversight Forums with the county and national government structure like the County Budget and Economic Forum (CBEF). To do this, the Project aimed at building the KCCB structures at the National and Diocesan levels targeting the Bishops’ Committees, as well as the Diocesan Coordinators and Commissioners of both CJPC and Caritas. Civic education was also a component of this Project so as to do policy advocacy like enacting public participation laws.

Speaking during the opening of one of the trainings of the Diocesan Commissioners of Justice and Peace, the Diocesan Coordinator, Rev. Fr. Samuel Nyattaya emphasized to the participants that the training on how to develop a Community Score Card is so important especially now that the country is gearing to the General Elections of 2022.

 

The Community Score Card (CSC) is a participatory, community based monitoring and evaluation tool that enables citizens to assess the quality of public services such as a health centre, school, public transport, water, waste disposal systems and so on. It is used to inform community members about available services and their entitlements and to solicit their opinions about the accessibility and quality of these services. By providing an opportunity for direct dialogue between service providers and the community, the CSC process empowers the public to voice their opinion and demand improved service delivery.

This training was being done by the Project Officers from KCCB, Mr Festus (CJPD) and Mr Donald (Caritas Kenya). It was attended by 35 participants drawn from across the County of Kisumu.

Such engagements are part of the many other ways through which the Archdiocese of Kisumu demonstrates its social concern. The Church has both a right and a responsibility to show her concern on issues that affect the society.

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the Administration