Voice of civil society more desirable now

Civil Society

The world is developing at a dizzying pace - innovations are breaking frontiers of everything imaginable. With these great breakthroughs, businesses and governments are reconfiguring and becoming more powerful and aloof. 

Yet, amid this meteoric rise, a huge part of the global population is left to its own devices. Strong governments and wealthy multinationals, more often than not will pursue interests - political power and profits - that largely ignore or disenfranchise the poor.

The mundane, but crucial, needs of the ordinary person ranging from basic sanitation to the right cooking materials, climate dangers to food safety always take the back burner.

While we know that in the doctrine of the social contract the State ought to meet its obligations of ensuring citizens live in dignity and security, it never always happens. This could be because of an honest budgetary constraint, apathy, ignorance or competing priorities. And that is how the civil society comes into the mix - to voice society concerns and draw attention of corporates and governments into meeting their social justice obligations.

Sadly, this civil society role is often mis-understood. There is a whole lot of organisations critical in the social eco-system of things that silently but powerfully, help our society forge forward and get to the straight and the narrow. We need to encourage and celebrate them.

Thousands of civil societies operate at the grassroots, covering all aspects in society, to which credit goes for massive wins enjoyed by communities. Civil society are also working with private sector, and government to contribute to new solutions where there are challenges.

Take the example of the partners that we indulge at SNV through the Voice for Change Partnership program, implemented with the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Dutch Government.

To create a vibrant and effective sector, at SNV we are creating an evidence-based advocacy realm where organisations are empowered to collect the right data, process and develop solid evidence to collaboratively contribute to the enabling environment within selected sectors.

We work in four critical thematic areas that include renewable energy specifically on clean cook-stoves, sanitation, resilience in climatic variations especially in among the pastoralists, and food and nutrition security.

The desire is to contribute to enabling environment within sectors and ensure citizens enjoy access to basic services such as sanitation and enjoy good quality milk and vegetables that are of the same standard as in put in the export market.

For example, about 20 per cent Kenya’s fresh vegetable meets very rigorous euro gap and other set global gap standards for western markets. The challenge is how do we bring the more than 70 per cent of fresh vegetable consumed in the domestic market to the defined national standard.

By working closely with the regulators, value chain actors and county governments the civil society organisations are instrumental in facilitating pilots for traceability of produce from farm gate to retail markets. Our markets are largely informal and whereas it is possible to operationalise traceability of fresh foods with organised retailers, it is more complex for the informal markets. Therefore, creating awareness with farmers and the agriculture ministry on safe production methods and at the same time creating awareness with consumers to demand quality products is key.

But all this positive change can only happen if we recognise and strengthen civil society voice. The project works to generate evidence through reputable research agencies that strengthens civil society negotiation through evidence based advocacy that also brings solutions to challenges within sectors. Strong civil society is important and is able to bring required constructive engagement. Then there is need for coherence and consistence engagement. And finally, strategic communication – at all levels from interpersonal to mass communication- is critical to create the necessary understandings and influence.

Thus, the civil society should be able to set the agenda for discourses and actions. This means that the actors must have the capacity to distil through myth and facts, be able to research and gather unimpeachable data, and even be in a capacity to negotiate and to lobby.

This explains why peasants who have been toiling on the land for decades after independence have not improved their lot, nor do we have a sound infrastructure for water and sanitation. The environment continues to suffer amid blatant defilement of water catchment and riparian land; and fruits and vegetable sold off a pavement in the urban centres; and adulteration of milk has become norm. Every village has a story. The list of challenges eating our society is endless thus the need for continuous collaborative engagement with all stakeholders. To drive this agenda, and to voice for the common person is the civil society.

The voice of the civil society is more desirable than ever. The constructive voice that raises concerns where the authority does not see or does not want to see. It’s an approach, which offers a win-win situation for the masses, private sector and even governments. We are proud of the new initiative in the civil society realm through the Voices for Change.

- Ms Njuguna is the head of agriculture at the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV)

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