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Human rights-based development at the grassroots level in Kenya
11 July 2007
Equal in Rights

In April 2007, equalinrights facilitated and supported a five day workshop for 21 representatives of grassroots organisations in Vihiga, Kenya. The main theme was: ’Empowering rural grassroots stakeholders to confront poverty through human rights-based approaches‘. Facilitators James Nduko and Kukubo Barasa worked with the participants on a deeper understanding of power relationships, resource mobilisation, the human rights framework and tools for socio-economic inclusion. How did the participants respond to this workshop? And how do they plan to integrate the lessons they learnt within their own work?

Background

During a field trip in Kenya, equalinrights visited the Vihiga district to meet with the NGO Empowerment Participation and Development Agency (EPADA) and many of the groups they work with. Following various discussions on ways to work together, assessment of the communities‘ an organisation‘s needs and EPADA‘s participation in the World Social Forum (January 2007), a capacity-building workshop to redress poverty from a human rights-based development (HRBD) perspective was developed for rural grassroots activists.

Sande Olocho, member of EPADA and consultant for Eduscope, met with the facilitators to discuss these areas and ways to integrate them in the workshop. During this process, 21 participants representing diverse community groups were identified as key stakeholders in the region that would benefit from this training. Community groups/sectors represented included: women; youth; education; faith-based organisations; and community leaders (provincial administration). All participants are actively involved in on-going community actions that redress poverty based human rights violations that community members face.

HRBD for social transformation

The aim of the workshop was to help participants increase their capacity to effectively use human rights-based development (HRBD) in their work in order to support communities‘ self-empowerment for social transformation. Workshop objectives were:

To deepen participants understanding of power, accountability, empowerment, participation, non-discrimination and the human rights framework and examine possibilities of integrating them in their work to effect sustainable change;
To support participants to use practical tools to translate HRBD into practice; and
To develop a framework of action for effective human rights-based development work.

Following a needs assessment with participants, the facilitators opened the five-day workshop with an exchange of experiences from the field. Through facilitation, joint exploration, discussions, debates, question and answers and analysis, the group identified common patterns in their work, experiences and struggles. Following this, facilitators weaved in a theoretical framework to strengthen participants‘ existing knowledge.