investing in women empowerment fosters lasting change
Problems and Purpose
According to a report by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) in collaboration with the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD IC), indicate that “around the world, women human rights defenders (WHRDs) face a variety of threats as a direct result of their human rights-related work and because of changes in the context in which they do their work (Barcia, 2011, p. iii).”
The report notes that as human rights defenders, women face the same types of risks faced by all human rights defenders and as women they are also exposed to, or targeted for, gender-based violence and gender-specific risks. The report further recognizes that due to the threats, many rights groups have developed strategies and plans of action to provide support and solidarity to WHRDs (Barcia, 2011).
These support systems however are not tailored to respond to the unique needs of women, and have continued to strain the efforts of WHRDs. In Kenya, WHRDs have been forced to develop their own means of supporting each other over time, when no other organisations came to their aid. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and there was total lock down, the lack of support encouraged WHRDs in Kenya to organize amongst themselves to address their unique challenges and respond to community needs using locally-available skills and resources.
The Defenders Coalition, a national organisation in Kenya, started protection work officially as an independent organisation in February of 2012. The organisation engaged a Protection Officer whose day-to-day work entailed working with Human Rights Defenders at risk as a result of their work. Within the first three years, the Protection Officer noticed a trend where fewer women were accessing the organisation’s services. In 2015, Salome Nduta, the Protection Officer reached out to Urgent Action Fund (UAF) to find out if they would support a meeting of WHRDs aimed at helping the organisation understand why women were not coming for the services of the organisation.
The Defenders Coalition received funding from UAF to support a meeting for WHRDs and out of the meeting a survey was conducted which showed the various challenges women were facing (NCHRD, n.d.). This informed the engendering work of Defenders Coalition in providing support to WHRDs at risk. From the onset of this exercise, it emerged that the Defenders Coalition had not considered that men and women human rights defenders require different services based on their unique needs. Bringing women from different counties in a meeting meant that the organisation got to know the work WHRDs were involved in, the challenges they were facing, and how each woman based on their own context faced the similar challenges but was affected differently.
Background History and Context
From 1963 to 1990, Kenya was governed under one-party rule. In order to get to a multiparty system, many individuals and civil society organisations organized to resist rampant human rights violations. The efforts of community organizing between the 1990s and 2010 resulted in Kenya adopting a new Constitution. Organizing during this period was focused on democracy, good governance, urban poverty, and the threat of eviction that the urban poor faced. Some community groups advocated for their land rights such as the Majaoni and Mwembelegeza communities in the coast region of Kenya (ODS, 2004) and others their housing rights under “Muungano wa Wanavijiji” and Haki Jamii, which translates loosely to Federation of Slum Dwellers.
The Constitution of Kenya 2010 (CoK 2010) has a very progressive Bill of Rights that in part recognizes most of the demands championed in the 1990s. Despite the progressive nature of the CoK 2010, Kenyans continue organizing to ensure that current laws do not violate the rights that the Constitution sought to protect in the first place. It is on this basis that activists and especially women defenders have continued to organize in networks that monitor and report on the respect and protection of rights. It is on the same basis that women have taken action using the community organizing approach, to not only protect the rights that are provided for in the Constitution, but to challenge patriarchal and retrogressive cultural practices, traditions, and norms, as well as to champion the realization of the two-third gender rule, as envisioned in the constitution (Constitution art 27(2010) (Kenya). The two-third gender rule seeks to ensure that there is equality for both men and women in the governance structures and systems in Kenya, both at the national and county level. It also espouses that women and men have the right to equal treatment including the right to equal opportunities in all spheres of life.
Since the promulgation of the Constitution, activists have continued to organize themselves and address community needs through involving duty bearers and other stakeholders. The work at Defenders Coalition sought to facilitate human rights defenders and link them with these duty bearers so that they can contribute towards bringing change within their communities. When COVID struck in March of 2020, these same groups of defenders rapidly came together and started responding to community needs by, for example, sourcing and distributing foodstuffs to the most needy, by training women to make liquid soap for sale and home-use, and by organizing homegrown wellness sessions to deal with the lockdown.
Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities
Between 2016 and 2018, Defenders Coalition project entitled Enhancing the Visibility and Space of Women Defenders in Kenya received financial support from various funding partners, among them Urgent Action Fund (UAF), who funded the first survey which brought to light the challenges faced by the WHRDs in the various counties of Kenya, and the Embassy of Norway who offered resources for organizing women into networks in five counties including Elgeyo Marakwet, Nairobi, Vihiga, Wajir and Lamu.
Other partners have supported the work of the WHRDs networks directly, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which entered into a new partnership with The Feminists for Peace Rights and Justice Centre (FPRJC) in 2020 to provide technical and financial support in the provision of GBV response services, including the refurbishment of a rescue shelter as well as support for the Centre’s legal aid and economic empowerment activities (UNFPA Kenya, 2021).
The Belgian Embassy, through their ambassador, supported the Coalition for Grassroots Human Rights Defenders network to boost the work that had already been started by one of the WHRDs in Mathare (Njeri Mbugua,2020). The UN office supported women HRDs in recording the work they were doing during the peak of COVID-19. These stories went a long way in giving visibility to the work of WHRDs (UN-OHCHR East Africa Regional Office,2020). The organizing of women Defenders was being coordinated by Salome Nduta as an employee of Defenders Coalition. However, in August, 2021, Nduta officially exited the Defenders Coalition and formalized her working relationship with the Women Defenders Hub, which had existed as a space for women defenders to debrief, converse about their wellness and resilience, and catch up.
In October 2021, the Women Human Rights Defenders Hub (the Hub), which seeks to bring together the WHRDs networks in Kenya, received startup funding through Urgent Action Fund for Eastern Africa because they recognized the need for women to continue organizing. The Hub has also received fiscal and physical hosting by Protection International, financial support from the Women Refugee Commission, and further funding from Urgent Action Fund, Scottish Bar Association and is already in funding conversations with Wellspring Philanthropic Fund among others.
Participant Recruitment and Selection
Over the years, Kenyan women working within civil society organisations (CSOs) have built a critical mass of expertise within the women’s movement. WHRDs on their part have continued to tap into capacities that exist outside their community groups to those within the mainstream civil society. For instance, women professionals in the fields of counselling, legal work, feminist organizing, art and media have heavily invested in training WHRDs in their area of professional skills including feminist organizing and leadership. Lawyers and counselors have offered pro bono services to the women defenders who have come into conflict with the law or those facing burnout and trauma as a result of their work. This category of experts has purely been selected because either they themselves were activists and thus they have been through the same experiences or because of the expertise they have and are willing to share this for free with the networks of women defenders.
A second category brings together CSOs and government departments which have collaborated with WHRDs and their networks. Included among them are the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), both of which are governmental entities and have been instrumental in training the WHRDs and, in turn, also advise the government on issues of concern being raised by women defenders either through research or through the trainings (KNCHR (2017, June 29). A key CSO that supports the work of WHRDs is the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW), which aids women who face sexual gender-based violence, including WHRDs. During the pandemic, CREAW supported the work of WHRDs through the provision of funds and dignity kits containing “hygiene and sanitary items, as well as other items explicitly tailored towards the local needs of women and girls of reproductive age in particular communities” (CREAW Kenya (2022, April 22). For CREAW the dignity kit distributed during COVID 19 period included sanitary pads and underclothes. CREAW also provides safe shelter which complements the work of WHRDs who deal with cases that require shelter. CREAW also offers legal support to those violated through their pool of lawyers. Due to limitations in funding, these initiatives only benefited women and women defenders within targeted communities. For instance, during the pandemic, the work by CREAW only focused on the informal settlements of Nairobi because they were deemed to be the most vulnerable and needy. The work by the Hub only focuses on WHRDs because they are the ones who work on a daily basis to champion rights and rarely do they get support that they require and the pandemic tripled community expectations on them. Participants and/or beneficiaries were chosen based on need and the support available for particular target areas.
Other community groups who worked with the Hub – the Coalition for Grassroots Human Rights Defenders, Feminists for Peace, Justice and Human Rights, the New Dawn, Teenseeds among others – were focused on supporting their communities in Mathare, Kibera, Maringo and Kiambiu respectively.
Methods and Tools Used
Two of the methods that have been used include:
a) Community organising and engagement
The Women Human Rights Defenders Hub applied the community organising approach in its work with WHRDs. Community Organising is both a developmental approach and a human right organising approach that applies a ten-step engagement process with community groups. This approach is people-centred and builds on participants’ experiences.
b) Trainings
Trainings were organized with the goal of equipping WHRDs with skills and knowledge about key thematic areas. Between July 2020 and August 2021, the six volunteer women human rights defenders under the Hub trained other WHRDs on safety and security, monitoring and documentation, and engaging with regional and international mechanisms.
Beyond the knowledge-based training, in September 2020, a team of fifteen women were trained on how to make liquid soap which they used during the peak and post COVID-19 pandemic period to address they hygiene needs required of managing the pandemic. The skills gained have continued to not just economically empower the fifteen, but more women who were further trained by the fifteen. Some women are solely depending on these skills and have built business ventures out of it.
Another key training area has been the human rights-based approach training which has targeted young women activists from the informal settlements. The training was conducted between January and April 2022 and supported by Equitas Global Rights Connection program. The training which has targeted women human rights defenders from Kibera, Mathare and Korogocho aims at equipping the young women defenders with knowledge and skills in human rights education which it is hoped they will apply to analyze community concerns as well as document cases of violations within the informal settlements with a view seeking justice for victims and survivors of the violations.
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
The 10-step community organizing process ultimately led to the formation of a WHRD Network. In getting there, the first four steps were deemed most crucial because they include social investigation (SI) where the staff and volunteers of the Hub immerse themselves within communities where WHRDs live or work. They learn their culture, traditions and practices. This is followed by integration which means they start introducing themselves and the work of the Hub to the WHRDs with a view of identifying what areas to plug into, and to better understand the work of the women and the challenges they face. After integration, the journey of working together begins, where now both groups embark on issue identification, analysis and prioritisation. The issues prioritised inform the work of the Hub and is built on and informed by the rich experiences of WHRDs. Through caucus meetings which are held regularly, both parties identify possible collaborators and partnerships which are discussed and agreed upon. The WHRDs then reach out to any duty bearer or ally through first role playing possible outcomes of this outreach. Successful outreaches are then evaluated for success and failure with an aim of improving subsequent outreaches. After undertaking interventions together and through drawing from successful lessons and reflections, the group builds confidence and is able to continue working together. This becomes the people’s organisation (in this case, the WHRD Network).
In terms of the trainings, 30 WHRDs from the five counties (totaling over 150 women) were trained on monitoring and documentation from a gender perspective. During the training sessions they were connected to duty bearers, among them the National Human Rights Institution (KNCHR), where they contributed to the policy on protection of Human Rights Defenders. They were also connected to the County offices of the National Gender Commission (NGEC), the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), and the Women Representatives Office with the intention of discussing challenges that WHRDs face and to find ways of working together. Beyond the duty bearers, the networks have been connected to local community media such as the correspondents and community radios in order to highlight their work positively. Through these interactions, the WHRDs agreed together with the stakeholders regarding how they would be working together especially on matters like children’s rights. The content of the training was informed by the gendering documentation process proposed by the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD-IC) (2015, March 28).
The trainings were aligned with achieving a number of steps done through the Community Organising process, including issue identification, analysis and prioritisation. The women would first sit in groups based on their sub-county of origin and identify priority needs/issues and share in a bigger plenary group where common issues at the county level were identified and further prioritised by the whole group. The give and take of priority issues by sub-counties was the most difficult to navigate and the role of a facilitator at times was challenged by the women. Where sub-counties could not agree on picking just one issue, they incorporated all the issues and then gave themselves timelines to achieve all issues, even identifying other actors they would bring on board to support them. It is these prioritised issues that they would engage on with the different duty bearers based on their respective mandates and priorities. For the issues that did not fall/fit within the mandate and priority of duty bearers, the women used mainstream media and social media to highlight. The whole idea of this organising was to inform different stakeholders including national, regional and international organisations as well as governments that women defenders exist and have needs and that their needs – especially in the middle of a pandemic or emergency – which must to be looked at from a gendered perspective.
For the subsequent trainings on soap making and Human Rights Based Approaches (HRBA), the Hub targeted women in the informal settlements of Nairobi. The women trained on soap making were trained by fellow WHRDs and some of them are using the skills gained as a source of income generation. The HRBA training conducted by Equitas alumni members has been applied by the networks of women to reach out to more WHRDs within their locality and to inform and improve on how they do advocacy at the community level.
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
While the two methods of trainings and community organizing have been effective in equipping WHRDs with knowledge and skills as well as building strong networks of WHRDs, there has been a limit as to what number of actors the Hub can engage with. This is because the methods are dependent on the availability of adequate resources to do the work effectively as well as the fact that community organizing is a long-term process. This has resulted into the Hub only focusing on the informal settlements of Nairobi. Expansion of its work will be rolled out as funds are availed. It is worth noting that organizing of WHRDs into networks has resulted in:
a) More WHRDs are organized into community networks which are working together and have formed strong solidarity movements. A case in point is the Coalition for Grassroots Women Human Rights Defenders (CGHRD) which runs the Pussy Power campaign and most recently organized the Pussy Power festival during the 16 Days of Activism in 2021. The Feminists for Peace Rights and Justice Centre (FPRJC) has trained women in making detergents and is already running a business under the name Feming’arisha, and on 10th January, 2022 when one prominent women defender was killed, WHRDs came together to organize a vigil in her honor (Front line Defenders (FLD) (2022, January 10).
b) Allies have emerged and are supporting women’s initiatives. Among these allies are UNFPA which supports the work of FPRJC, and Urgent Action Fund which has supported the work of Domestic Workers Rights Spaces Organisation (DOWRIS), an organization that works with women domestic workers.
c) WHRDs have taken aim at politics by participating in the 2022 elections as leaders seeking elected positions. A number of WHRDs have vied for political positions ranging from local councils to the women representative (Ukombozi Review (2023, May 16).
d) WHRDs’ work and their leadership has been given positive visibility through media coverage by mainstream media and on social media.
e) During the peak of COVID-19, the networks mobilized foodstuff, trained in soap making, and supported those among them who could not have access to food. In informal settlements, WHRDs sourced food and dignity kits which they then distributed within their communities.
Analysis and Lessons Learned
Through evaluations conducted by different Civil Society Organisations working in Kenya, among them the Defenders Coalition, a number of lessons have been learnt Key among them include those drawn from the assessment of the Ni Mama project that was implemented by them, the following were identified as lessons from the implementation:
● Openness and transparency are important. For example, proper information should be given to groups to avoid misinformation and suspicions.
● Flexibility in project implementation is key. The funders, WHRDs and implementing organizations should be flexible in their approach especially during a pandemic.
● There is need for solidarity among the women thus a collective approach to protection of those at risk.
● Strategic collaboration and networking with a broad range of state and non-state actors is a viable way to break barriers between duty bearers and WHRDs.
● Economic well-being for HRDs and especially WHRDs is important, and there is need to harness partnerships with the private sector.
An assessment by Katiba institute showed that participants were able to ask for information in government offices Katiba Institute (2023, May 18).
Other lessons shared by women human rights defenders can be found in the stories of WHRDs consolidated by the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (UN-OHCHR) (UN-OHCHR (n.d.). These lessons have informed greatly how the Hub continues to organise women defenders not just in Kenya, but also in the region (e.g., the organizing work of the Hub has ensured that strong networks of women defenders are formed at the county level and promoted collective economic empowerment through livelihood support to the networks).
The work of the Hub is guided by four pillars, all of which complement each other and seek to build collaboration and partnership across local, national, regional and international levels.
The Hub is also using Community Organizing as one of the key approaches to bringing change not just in the lives of WHRDs, but as a method that fosters strategic collaboration and networking with the aim of building both economic agency and people’s power for political agency (i.e., for good governance and constitutionalism).
Taking these results and lessons into consideration, a blended approach using both Community organizing as well as tailored trainings aimed at both economic and political empowerment have proven effective in shifting the public narrative around WHRDs, localizing resources to support the work of WHRDs, recognizing the gendered nature of the key role they play in defending the rights of communities, and ultimately in pushing to make the rights enshrined in the Constitution of Kenya a reality on the ground.
References
Books
· Barcia, I. (2011). Urgent responses for women human rights defenders at risk: Mapping and preliminary assessment, Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID).
· Lines, K. & Makau, J. (2018). “Taking the long view: 20 years of Muungano wa Wanavijiji, the Kenyan federation of slum dwellers.” Environment and Urbanization 30(2), 407-424. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247818785327.
· NCHRD-Kenya. (No Date). Gendered Risk; Challenges WHRDs Face in the Course of their Work. Fact Sheet. Available at https://defenderscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Gendered-Risk_-Challenges-WHRDs-Face.pdf
· O. D. Services. (2004). Mapambano: A documented account of land struggles in Majaoni and Mwembelegeza. CLARIPRESS.
· WIDMG. (2015). Gendering Documentation A Manual for and About Women Human Rights Defenders. Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition.
Newspaper articles
· (2020, May 8). Helping hand reaches the forgotten ones in Mathare. Star E-Paper, (sasa). https://doi.org/08 May 2020 - 05:00
Websites:
· United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-OHCHR) (December, 2020.). ON THE FRONTLINES: DEFENDING RIGHTS IN THE TIME OF COVID19.https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/DefendingRightsinthetimeofCovid-19.pdf
· UNFPA Kenya (2021, May 3). Family Planning and Gender Based Violence prevention classes offer lifeline to women in Kibera. Kenya.Unfpa.org. Retrieved January 17, 2022, from https://kenya.unfpa.org/en/news/family-planning-and-gender-based-violence-prevention-classes-offer-lifeline-women-kibera
· Kenya National commission on Human rights (2017, June 29). Gender Audit of the Situation of WHRD_2017.Pdf. www.Knchr.org. Retrieved July 3, 2021, from https://www.knchr.org/Portals/0/OccasionalReports/Gender%20Audit%20of%20the%20Situation%20of%20WHRD_2017.pdf?ver=2017-06-29-164919-560
· CREAW Kenya (2022, April 22). Jasiri Fund: The silver bullet to my financial freedom. Home.Creaw.org. Retrieved March 30, 2023, from https://home.creaw.org/2022/04/22/jasiri-fund-the-silver-bullet-to-my-financial-freedom/
· Front line Defenders (FLD) (2022, January 10). Murder of woman human rights defender Elizabeth Ibrahim Ekaru. Www.Frontlinedefenders.org. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/murder-woman-human-rights-defender-elizabeth-ibrahim-ekaru
· Ukombozi Review (2023, May 16). Women and Politics: Reflections of my participation in Kenya’s 2022 Elections. Ukombozireview.com. Retrieved November 29, 2023, from https://ukombozireview.com/issue-13/women-and-politics-reflections-of-my-participation-in-kenyas-2022-elections/
· Katiba Institute (2023, May 18). PROJECT REVIEW: Strengthening the work of human rights defenders and enhancing their protection. Katibainstitute.org. Retrieved November 29, 2023, from https://katibainstitute.org/project-review-strengthening-the-work-of-human-rights-defenders-and-enhancing-their-protection/
· United Nations human rights office of the high commissioner (UN-OHCHR) (n.d.). Kenyan human rights defenders show solidarity with vulnerable communities during COVID-19. www.Ohchr.org. https://www.ohchr.org/en/get-involved/stories/kenyan-human-rights-defenders-show-solidarity-vulnerable-communities-during-covid-19
External Links
· https://defenderscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Status-Report-Ni-Mama-Mtaani-Booklet.pdf
· https://defenderscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Gendered-Risk_-Challenges-WHRDs-Face.pdf
· https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956247818785327