Central to good governance is the ability of citizens to scrutinise public institutions and hold them to account. Where states can be held accountable for their actions, they are more likely to respond to citizen needs and demands. This programme focuses on strengthening the capacity of citizens to directly participate in decision-making processes and building networks to strengthen citizen voice. Governance in Kenya has traditionally been heavily centralised at national level, with central and local government institutions unresponsive and unaccountable to their constituents. With the advent of the New Constitution and more importantly, the Bill of Rights, the space for democracy will be increased, and human rights of all Kenyans will be protected. However, citizens have limited experience of participation with national and local government and are ill-equipped to effectively demand accountability. In addition institutions that profess to encompass participation have failed to commit to enabling engagement with all citizens. Instead they have been accused of focusing on consolidating their political power by streaming funds and services to the localities of their supporters. There is a need to change the power relations by building the capacity of citizens to influence government decisions on issues that affect their lives and to assert their rights. It is critical that citizens can effectively articulate their needs to the decision-makers and shape their own spaces for engagement.

The programme will transition citizens from ‘voice’ to demand accountability through creating awareness of rights and by supporting citizens to use voice through channels of advocacy and oversight. The programme will strengthen citizen demand for accountability through active participation. Constituency Monitoring Committees (CMCs) will be the key units of citizen demand, working at constituency level on civic education, rights awareness creation and monitoring devolved funds and service delivery. CMCs will move citizens beyond passive recipients to active participants involved in shaping development policies that impact on their lives.

The programme positions citizen engagement beyond basic consultative processes to more direct forms of influence over service delivery and decisions over devolved funds. Citizen demand will be built through social accountability tools by monitoring the management of devolved funds and delivery of public services. Citizens will then use this accurate and relevant analysis of local services and funds to influence the quality of government-citizen dialogue. This will place citizens in a more powerful position of influence and increase their capacity to bring about change in the policy process.

Programme objectives:
In 5 years, NTA will have:

• Established 290 active Constituency Monitoring Committees (CMCs);
• Established 47 County Demand Networks (CDNs);
• Developed, tested and distributed a series of guidelines for CMCs and CDNs to actively demand accountability from government service providers and devolved fund managers;
• Supported CMCs & CDNs to fundraise and efficiently manage their funds;
• Increased citizen volunteering through CMCs and CDNs;
• Ensured gender representation and participation in decision making processes;
• Forged multiple partnerships between CMCs/CDNs and other organisations including, CSOs, private sector organisations, government MDAs, and MPs to build citizen demand, and support improved service delivery and devolved fund management;
• Undertaken research studies on citizen demand for accountability and implemented the findings;
• Capacity-built CMCs and CDNs to effectively engage with service providers/fund managers on citizen demand
• Enabled CMCs and CDNs to be effectively communicating through multi-media;
• Developed a strong M&E system to measure the impact on citizen demand.