PAST EVENTS...

Celebrating the Life of Professor Wangari Maathai

28 November 2011
Uhuru Park, 8:00am - 1:00pm

Theme: Greening politics through Wangari’s vision: it is time for women to unify Kenya
Even though she was accorded a State Burial, the women of Kenya felt that they did not have chance to celebrate the life of Prof Wangari who to them was the symbol of relentlessness, courage, and achievement against all odds. It is against this background that the women of Kenya, led by the KEWOPA, and in partnership with women’s organizations, key government ministries, the Nairobi City Council, UNEP, UN Women and UNDP held a half-day commemoration ceremony at Uhuru Park on 29th November 2011.

Key guests included UNEP, UN Women and UNDP representatives and KEWOPA members, including Martha Karua. Various civil society organizations and community groups participated: GROOTS Kenya, Maendeleo ya Wanawake, Women Political Alliance Kenya, Caucus on Women Leadership, two women selected from each of the 47 counties in Kenya and all members of the Green Belt Movement.

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CREAW and USAID Launch Phase Two of Kibera Gender-Based Violence Outreach Project
Thursday 10th November 2011
9:00am - 12:30pm

Kibera DO's Grounds

With the support of USAID/Kenya, CREAW now is in the process of ushering in the next three-year phase of the project that will address major implementation gaps identified in the first phase of this project. These gaps include inadequate male involvement in GBV mitigation, weak linkages among partners working on GBV and lack of a properly coordinated management system for GBV services. The second phase of this project will also strengthen our current GBV work by re-energizing our efforts in Kibera and expanding our outreach services to better prevent and respond to GBV. We also aim to re-engage key stakeholders including implementation partners and community members. This is an important milestone for CREAW as we seek to bring real empowerment and services at the community level.To celebrate this new and exciting phase, CREAW, in partnership with USAID, will be officially launching the second phase of the Kibera GBV Project on 10th November, 2011.

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COMMUNITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

CREAW in partnership with Africa Community Development Media (ACDM) has organized a one- and- a -half day Conference for community media managers and key coordinators on the constitution.

The media, and in particular the community media, have a great impact on the various communities they serve, and are able to reach multitudes within the remaining time frame of 30 days.  If community media are tapped into, the masses will be aware of the content and process of the constitution to avert its being hijacked by the political elite.

With the launch of the draft constitution by the Committee of Experts (COE), it is so critical that the community media engage in a meaningful and participatory process, to ensure that democratization is realized in the constitution making process, and that the citizens' agenda is placed before the public domain, thus securing the draft at all times up to, and including the referendum.

The conference is taking place on 30th November - Tuesday 1st December at Lenana Mount Hotel, Nairobi.

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Validation Workshop: A RESEARCH REPORT ON THE LEVEL OF COMMUNITY AWARENESS AND ENGAGEMENT WITH THE CONSTITUENCY DEVELOPMENT FUND (CDF)

The Constituency Development Fund Act was passed into law in the year 2003. In principle, the Act compels the Minister for Finance to allocate not less than 2.5% of all collected ordinary government revenue, every financial year, for development programmes in the constituencies. The rationale behind the legislation is to combat poverty and promote equitable growth and development. This end is meant to be met by the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), into which not less than 2.5% of all Government ordinary revenue collected in every financial year, is channeled for disbursement to the various constituencies. In certain financial sessions, the Fund amounted to as much as 3.5% of ordinary Government revenue. A motion seeking to increase this allocation to 7.5% of Government's revenue was recently passed by Parliament. To this date, over 40 billion shillings have been allocated to the Fund.

CREAW in partnership with Christian-Aid, set out to conduct a baseline survey in the following constituencies: Nakuru, Subukia, Naivasha, Tigania West, Tigania East, and Nithi to assess the beneficiaries' perceptions of the CDF and the Committee assessment of the CDF financed services with regard to ascertaining access to, utilization and satisfaction of the community with an emphasis on women in relation to the fund.

The workshop will be held at Panafric Hotel on Monday 23rd November, 2009 from 8:30a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

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CREAW has carried out an evaluation of Policies systems and structures at Ministry of Education that deal with sexual abuse in schools to highlight gaps therein.

We have also carried out a study of teacher training curricula in Kenya. This was carried out in order to understand and interrogate the extent to which the curriculum course prepares teacher trainees to understand gender issues such as sexuality, which can help manage teacher- student dynamics and reduce instances of teacher-student sexual abuse.

With this in mind, CREAW will be holding a full day validation workshop at PanAfric Hotel on Friday 13th November 2009 from 8.00 am to 4.00pm with the Civil Society to identify immediate and practical steps that will strengthen Policies and practices within Ministry Of Education and Teacher Training Curricula, to reduce instances of teacher student sexual violence in Kenya.

Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence- 2009

This Year, CREAW will continue to join hands with others to speak out, stand out, and commit to preventing violence against women during the 16 days of activism against GBV which are held from the 25th of November to the 10th of December.

CREAW is partnering with other members of the civil society to hold Gender Film Festivals at various communities such as the Kibera slum nd Korogocho.

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A full-day validation workshop at the PanAfric Hotel Nairobi, Monday 2^nd November 2009. 8.00 am to 4.00pm

CREAW and the Teacher Service Commission( TSC) have carried out a study on policies, systems and structures at the TSC with a view to unearth procedural, policy and operational challenges that can be addressed to strengthen TSC as an institution in dealing with teacher- student sexual violence.

At the forum, CREAW presented findings to the board and Commissioners of the TSC, and identified immediate and practical steps that TSC can employ to address gaps highlighted and explore areas of synergy and greater partnership with the Civil Society.

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BASELINE SURVEY

CREAW is undertaking a project on strengthening the capacity of marginalized community members for good governance and promotion of transparency and accountability on decentralized funds. This is aimed at promoting community members to access information and opportunities available in the decentralized fund, Local Authority transfer fund (LATF). We are conducting several activities to this effect such as a baseline survey and community radio shows.

In October 2009, a team of 5 research assistants and a lead researcher carried out a baseline survey (towards implementing key project activities). The survey sought to establish the various levels of awareness and engagement of women on the decentralized funds (constituency development fund / CDF and Local authority transfer fund/ LTF among other funds, in Nakuru, Naivasha, Subukia and Meru;Tigania east, Tigania west and Nithi. It was carried out for a period of 8 days which run between the 30th September 2009 - 3rd October 2009 and 7th October 2009 - 10th October 2009 respectively. The survey was completed successfully as a majority of the respondents were reached and filled the survey questionnaire on their knowledge and or engagement with the decentralized funds.

LAUNCH OF CREAW'S KIBERA SGBV OUTREACH OFFICE

CREAW has been implementing community awareness programs in Kibera with a focus to end Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV).

The outreach program enables women residents of Kibera to have direct access to full legal aid, counseling and other support services to avert domestic and other Gender based violence. In addition to these direct legal and support services, CREAW has trained 5 community paralegals who are continuously equipping other community members with skills to end SGBV. For us, this is a large milestone as it seeks to bring real empowerment and services at the community level. The success of this pilot program will see its replication in other constituencies in the country.