For the community to attain and sustain a peaceful environment ,mutual understanding, good relations, collaborations and cohesion between the community itself and all security stakeholders is key.Building cohesion within and between communities is an essential step towards improving people’s quality of life.CSI conducted various cohesion forums with the main aim of discussing the best ways of creating strong and healthy relationship between security agencies and the community members .
The Chairman Board of Directors CSI-Kenya Dr. Mark Leleruk led the commemoration in honor of the forty-two gallant police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in the year 2012 in Baragoi, Samburu north. The event was held in Baragoi peace Resource center, a monument that was constructed by CSI-Kenya in partnership with NPS in honor of the fallen heroes who lost their lives while on a mission to recover stolen cattle from rustlers .
Dr.Leleruk urged the leadership of Samburu county to respect the police officers serving in the region in order for them to offer their services to the community diligently.
Community Safety Initiative the coast chapter donating foodstuff for Christmas ever to Nyali Police Station for use by detainees convicted during the festive season.
Local community policing committees play an important role in coordinating, leading, and representing the community policing forums. They work closely with the police and chiefs in maintaining law and order, social cohesion, and respect for the rule of law in the communities. To support the work done by local community policing structures, CSI-Kenya held a one-day forum for capacity strengthening of local community policing structures which brought together Nyumba Kumi representatives, Council of elders, chiefs, National Police Reservists, village administrators, rangers, resource sharing committee representatives, council and other local administrators from Samburu county. The main objective of the meeting was to enhance their knowledge and skills in effective community policing strategies and also on how to work closely with both the National Administration and County Government law enforcers. The anticipated outcome of the meeting included increased skills and knowledge in maintaining law and order, networking, sharing of information and enhanced good working relationship between police officers and the local citizens.
Members of the National Police Service Saturday held a memorial service at the Baragoi stadium in honour of the 42 officers who perished in Suguta valley, Samburu county after they were massacred by bandits four years ago.
The slain officers lost their lives while on a mission to recover stolen herds of cattle that had been driven to Turkana county.
Conflict among the pastoralist communities have continued to undermine the living standards of women and children. To address this, CSI has designed a program on gender mainstreaming in peace building and conflict transformation. In a nutshell, the main pillar for Community Safety among the pastoral communities of the North Central Kenya is dependent on the safety of women and their ability to attain dignified living standards.
According to The United Nations, Kenya is classified as a chronically water scarce country on the basis of having one of the lowest natural water replenishment rates. Kenyans in general do not have adequate sanitation; more than 90 per cent of the water and sanitation related disease outbreaks occur in the rural areas; 50 per cent of rural households have no toilet facilities at all, and where they exist they are generally unhygienic; up to 50 per cent of the urban populations reside in slum environments where sanitation conditions are appalling; on average, schools have only one latrine per 100 pupils compared with the recommended maximum of 40 pupils per latrine; more than three-quarters of Kenya is still vulnerable to disasters, especially floods, droughts and cholera.
CSI-KENYA is focusing on strengthening of preventive measures aimed at reducing loss of human lives, and loss of economic and environmental assets of communities in Kenya. CSI-KENYA is implementing priorities for actions as outlined in the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. The Framework supports a stronger recognition of climate change concerns in disaster risk reduction strategies and seeks to establish multi-disciplinary, forward looking approach.
Other activities under this initiative include but not limited to:
- Capacity building relevant Government institution and disaster risk reduction departments.
- Policy advocacy on DRR and Sustainable development.
- Public awareness campaign on disaster risk reduction.
- Improving science base for forecasting/modeling climatic conditions at different spatial and temporal scales;
- Improved procedures for hazard diagnosis and risk assessment
- Regular updating of disaster risk assessment and management guidelines to relevant stakeholders
- Improving channels for communication of information between science and users
- Improving coordination structures for disaster risk management
- Strategic and policy advances in strengthening disaster risk management
- Political momentum from major disaster events to consider future risks
- Project activity at local/community level in disaster risk management, often with focus on underlying vulnerability
- Advocacy for a financial/business case for adaptation in national budgets and ensure that Ministries with broad responsibilities such as Planning and Finance are involved in the process.
CSI-Kenya is a peace and security resource organization founded in 2011. The organization is one of the first civil society peace and security organizations in Samburu County that envisions placing the peace agenda in institutions, organizations and communities with the purpose to empower the pastoral people to overcome political and socio-economic challenges related to conflict and insecurity in the region. The organization has established a community peace and safety program with the guiding vision of “violence-free pastoral communities for integral human development” while also inviting, nurturing and facilitating the contribution of other actors and sectors interested in peace building in Samburu County. CSI-Kenya shall strive to achieve this by creating a Network of diverse Pastoralist Communities dedicated to working toward their safety and social solidarity as well as promoting inter-communal dialogue.
CSI-KENYA as an organization is privy to the challenges and bottlenecks that face developing countries in embracing and entrenching sustainable development in their various sectors. Kenya is one of these developing countries, and is no exception to these. One of the major setbacks that continue to draw back the country from mainstreaming the concept in the government ministries, departments and agencies, is the lack of proper understanding of the concept by the concerned persons. The idea is vague to many, and there has not been much done to demystify sustainable development even in line with climate change. This has had a negative impact vis-à-vis climate change and sustainable development. Little has been done to streamline climate change communication, an important aspect in enhancing sustainable development. The other challenge to embracing sustainable development is ‘NECESSITY’. This necessity is especially in the desire for quick, short-term impacts and benefits. It leads to short term activities that do not place much weight on the environmental impacts. Consequently, it leads to environmental degradation and pollution and other related consequences (e.g. water pollution, air pollution, deforestation, food insecurity, health problems).
In view of the above and other challenges, CSI-KENYA has developed (and continues to develop) a variety of programs that are means to address these challenges. We understand our role as a non-state actor in the field, and we are proud of this role. One of the roles that we are dedicated to is the dissemination of information to the stakeholders-both public and private. Information and knowledge management therefore lies at the core of our programming. We have to demystify both climate resilience and sustainable development. Our team is composed of various experts/specialists that link the various components of sustainable development and climate change. Of course, everything is related to everything is related to everything else.
Our programming in sustainable development is informed fundamentally by the current understanding of the pillars making the same, but still open to emerging information and knowledge from research. The pillars adopted by CSI-KENYA are:
- Social pillar
- Economic Pillar
- Environmental Pillar
- Cultural Pillar (as proposed by UNESCO )
Although we have all these pillars as the ones captured in our programs, there are other elements of the implementation of projects affiliated to each pillar. Collaboration with both the state and the non-state actors is key among them. In these partnerships, we enjoy increased synergy and much easier sharing of information and knowledge. We value all our partners in development. In Kenya, one of our important development partners is the Government of Kenya (GoK). It is a critical partner at all stages of our projects.
Despite the fact that the Government of Kenya has put measures to make significant steps in this direction, it is not oblivious of the importance of the concept of sustainable development. In this regard, sustainable development has been entrenched in the country’s laws and policy documents. This shows a rising consciousness in the leadership to adopt the concept. The Constitution of Kenya recognizes the importance of sustainable development. Under Article 10 (2) (d), the New Constitution of Kenya lists sustainable development as one of the national values and principles of governance. The other part where the term sustainable development appears in the supreme law is in Article 69 (2) where it is stated explicitly:Every person has a duty to cooperate with State organs and other persons to protect and conserve the environment and ensure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources.
Other crucial documents that recognize the need for sustainable development include the country’s development blueprint, the Vision 2030, and the draft National Disaster Management Plan. Various sectors have their versions evoking the same. This is a positive condition, and we are making use of it as much as we can.
The following are among the specific activities undertaken by the organization under this program:
- Policy advocacy on Sustainable development
- Public education and awareness
- Research and training
- Knowledge Management
- Networking and Partnerships with relevant stakeholders
Gospel artists Eko Dydda is now CSI-Kenya Ambassador. Eko will raise awareness on the various areas of focus the initiative is working on. Dr. Mark Leleruk was on hand to issue him with the CSI-Kenya Ambassadorial certificate in his office.
This is in an effort to address underlying socio-economic challenges that lead to community instability and conflict. Combat all forms of violence by advocating for fundamental human rights. Focus on gender issues in peace building and conflict management. Develop a road map towards a strategic policy on conflict management and peace building in pastoral communities.