Program Description
Advocacy and Communications, the youngest department in the organization, is an integral and essential cross-cutting part of KMET programming, leading to the influencing and strengthening of political commitment at both the county and national level, influencing the prioritization of the organization’s projects during national and especially county planning and budgeting processes, and in legislative frameworks. Working to address the key structural and underlying root causes of vulnerability in the community by changing the policies, systems, practices and attitudes of duty-bearers that maintain inequalities and deny enjoyment of rights, the department combines community engagement, policy and budget advocacy, and strategic partnerships and proactively engaged with a wide spectrum of stakeholders, to achieve the dual aims of policy change and citizen empowerment, with the community at the heart of our approach. All this is done through the mirror of communication to ensure there is clear messaging to the target audience using relevant, timely, and simple to understand messaging for target audiences through appropriate channels. The organization’s Communications team plays a critical role in creating awareness, knowledge, and mobilizing support for KMET among the key stakeholders and more central to this, is highlighting the community voices and capturing our community impact.
The department currently Host the following Projects
1.Gender Justice
2.Uongozi Bora Mashinani
The Department has in the past host the following Projects
1.UHC -Engage
2.Uzaaji salama
3.APP
4.WACHA
- Advance Transformative Change ( ATC)
Gender Justice
KMET, with support from Equality Now, has been implementing the Gender Justice Project in Kisumu County since 2019. This strong partnership has played a key role in mainstreaming gender issues, particularly Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) across the County Government of Kisumu, engaging both the executive and legislative arms.
The project focuses on addressing SGBV and enhancing access to justice for women and girls. Its core pillars include community dialogues and awareness creation, strengthening justice mechanisms through policy formulation and review, survivor support, and civil society organization (CSO) engagement.
As a result of these efforts, Kisumu County has seen a notable increase in budget allocations for SGBV response and the strengthening of multi-sectoral response systems within both the judiciary and county institutions. This progress has ensured that vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities, are able to access training and services in SGBV prevention and response.
A significant achievement of the project has been the empowerment of community-based organizations (CBOs) to take the lead in protection and justice-related initiatives. This has contributed to a marked increase in community-level awareness and action against GBV.
Among the project’s major wins is the creation of a dedicated Gender Department within Kisumu County Government, alongside the development of several progressive policies, including the Kisumu SGBV Policy. These milestones have laid a strong foundation for sustainable and coordinated gender justice interventions.
The overarching goal of the Gender Justice Project is to promote a more just and equitable society for women and girls in Kisumu, where their rights are protected and access to justice is guaranteed.
Uongozi Bora Mashinani
The Uongozi Bora Mashinani project aims to strengthen civic education and public participation in Muhoroni Subcounty, Kisumu County. Civic engagement in Muhoroni presents a mixed picture. While there are instances of community involvement in local development initiatives, challenges such as low awareness of government programs, limited access to information, and weak channels for citizen participation persist.
These factors contribute to a gap between the community and decision-making processes. By empowering the community, the project seeks to enhance their ability to influence policy and service delivery.
