Can Civil Society Influence Policy Making for Vulnerability Reduction

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Can Civil Society Influence Policy Making for
Vulnerability Reduction?

• Isabella Masinde, Advisor, Reducing Vulnerability

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Abstract

• The presentation is based on experiences from
  work carried out in Northern Kenya by ITDG-EA and
  other CSOs in water conservation as it relates to
  the drought cycle management. It highlights how
  advocacy can bring change in the policies and
  activities of all levels of government, NGOs,
  civil society, community organizations, aid
  agencies, private sector and individuals.

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Key words

• Water sources
• Water and livelihoods
• Water and conflict
• Water and the drought cycle
• Interventions (normal stage,
• lert stage, emergency stage and recovery stage)
  Advocacy
• Audiences The advocacy process.

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Water and livelihoods

• Water is a critical resource for pastoralists and
  agro-pastoralists livelihoods. Pastoralists
  migrate in search of water and pasture. Accessing
  the critical balance of water and pasture is one
  of the key skills in pastoralism. Civil Society
  works with the local people in the following
  areas
• Water interventions. These reduce vulnerability
  at household level in various ways that include
• Reduces time needed to fetch it when it is closer
  to the household. This means that women can spend
  more time doing other productive work.
•         Improved nutrition and health because
  when there is enough water, the household and the
  herd can stay together. Small children can easily
  access milk.

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Water and livelihoodsctd

• Less time spent trekking to water points means
  more time for grazing. Animals are healthier, put
  on more weight and produce more milk.
•         Well sited water interventions mean
  grazing pressure is better distributed.
• Example in Marsabit district during the
  1999/2000 drought, ITDG with funding from USAID
  worked with local communities to dig out troughs
  that acted as water pans. These were lined with
  plastic sheets and water was delivered by
  tankering every 3 days of the week. The water was
  used for domestic and livestock purposes. A
  similar intervention was carried out in Wajir by
  Oxfam GB.

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Water sources

• Drought prone areas have few water sources.
  Communities rely on
• Shallow groundwater from temporary wells in dry
  river beds.
• Water pans that hold water up to 3 months after
  the end of the rains.
• Springs in hills and forests
• Others include permanent water supplies such as
  boreholes, piped water, traditionally excavated
  wells, etc.

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Water sourcesctd

• Paying for water has helped many communities to
  sustain interventions that are otherwise
  expensive to maintain such as boreholes. A
  community in Samburu District relied on shallow
  wells, dug along seasonally dry river valleys.
  These were 10 km away, and were unable to supply
  the communitys water needs. A borehole was
  installed to pump water to a tank, from where
  pipes distribute it to four points in the
  village. They now walk for only 1 km to fetch
  water and have started kitchen gardens. Each
  household contributes only Ksh 50 per month to
  sustain the scheme and pay the attendants. The
  Samburu Wings of Mercy initiated this
  intervention.
• Government has borrowed the idea of
  commercialisation of water which was introduced
  by Civil Society to Water Users Associations
  (WUAs) in order to attain sustainability after
  project completion. This has been incorporated in
  the new water Act.

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Water and conflict

• Tensions usually arise between different groups
  of pastoralists or pastoralists and the crop
  farmers when the water available is little due to
  drought or breakdown in the supply systems. Civil
  society intervenes by providing conflict
  management solutions. Ex. Samburu sand dam.

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Water and the drought cycle

• Good water and pasture management is essential
  during the entire cycle for all water users. As
  compared to crop farmers and town folk,
  pastoralists have been found to respond
  positively by watering their animals less
  regularly. Civil society support their
  initiatives by offering training in pasture
  management and maintenance of boreholes as part
  of preparedness, and developing early warning
  systems.

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Advocacy

• The main objective is to bring policy change.
  Local people have little influence as their needs
  are disregarded. In addition, the current
  policies separate relief and development
  interventions. This creates a cycle where drought
  is seen to interrupt normal development work when
  in actual sense, it should have been anticipated.
  Organizing them into lobby groups has helped to
  bring their issues on the national agenda, e.g.
  in the constitutional review, the PRSP, and the
  draft policy for arid and semi arid lands and the
  National Disaster Management Policy.

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Audiences

• The decision makers at primary level and those
  who influence the decisions at secondary level
  need to be targeted. Both traditional governors
  and the parliamentarians need to understand the
  issues so that they can influence them in their
  policy making forums. Civil Society has worked
  well with Pastoralist Parliamentary Groups in
  bringing the issues to parliament. The media can
  play a crucial role in highlighting an issue e.g.
  the plight of Turkana that was highlighted even
  at international level. 
• Involve relevant departments on the ground.

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Conclusions

• Civil Society Organizations have had a great
  impact on the policy formulation/reviews in
  Kenya. The government has used case studies from
  CSOs to inform policy formulation.
• CSOs organized CBOs to lobby for the formation of
  a Pastoralist Parliamentary Group who could
  articulate their concerns in parliament. They
  have worked well with CSOs on issues of conflict
  resolution, lobbying for markets for livestock,
  animal health services and water management in
  drylands.

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Conclusion ctd

• The CSOs have facilitated the formation of and
  build capacity of user groups such as Water
  Users Associations, Peace Committees and
  Livestock keepers who are recognized by the
  formal structures at the district and national
  level.
• Issues of drought prone areas have gained
  international attention due to interventions by
  CSOs through information sharing, case studies,
  and by participating in other international
  events such as the UNDP Equator Awards.
• The most important contribution form CSOs is
  empowering the communities through capacity
  building, provision of skills and tools that
  ensures sustainability after project completion.

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Pictures courtesy of Eric Ogara