Recent Reports

Stuart Coupe

Abstract

Hand in Hand Eastern Africa has demonstrated that it is a learning organisation and has already developed some innovations in its model to increase the recruitment and retention of YM members, including bringing Young Mothers into established Groups for mentorship and recruiting a proportion of older mothers into the new groups as mentors to give solidity and stability. The MTR offers some suggestions and recommendations to strengthen the reporting and monitoring of the programme..

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Stuart Coupe & Eric Kisiangani

Abstract

The LEGS effectiveness study was conducted by Vetwork UK consultants in June and July 2013 over a four week period in Ethiopia and Kenya.
The study was made possible through support from FAO Subregional Emergency Office for Eastern and Central Africa (REOA) with financial support from European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) project Drought Risk Reduction Action Plan (DRRAP) focusing on increasing resilience and reducing vulnerability in local communities in the Horn of Africa.
The broad objective of the study was to analyse the effectiveness of LEGS-based interventions at field level in order to provide recommendations for implementing agencies and for the LEGS Project. The Specific Objective was to analyse the appropriateness, feasibility, adoption and timeliness of LEGS interventions, and their cost effectiveness and impact.
The study team spoke to representatives of more than 20 organisations involved in implementation of livestock emergency interventions. They visited three implementation zones in Kenya (Kitui, Isiolo and Marsabit) and two in Ethiopia (Borena and Jijiga) to discuss with locally based implementers and communities the range of emergency interventions in the 2010/2011 drought, looking at the extent to which these interventions were guided by LEGS and attempting to discern the consequences and impact of following or not following the guidelines.

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Roger Lewins

Abstract

The devolution process in Kenya represents an exciting opportunity for change because the policy and legislation already in place has public backing and broad social legitimacy. As such, it is certain that governance in Kenya will evolve rapidly and the key issue is ensuring that new roles, responsibilities and functions are shaped in partnership withcivil society.
In the case of the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) of Kenya, the challenge is to promote local needs to new sets of government and non-government partners to ensure that the public have access to immediate support as required, but also continuous and long-term development. Fundamental to this is a supportive policy and legal context. The Constitution of Kenya (2010) and the County Government Act (2012) stipulate a legal requirement to represent ethnic and regional diversity and to include socially and geographically marginalised groups in decision-making.

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Stuart Coupe, Michael Majale, Phillip Arkell

Abstract

Developing Good Governance in the Niger Delta, Nigeria (GTF309) was a five year project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF). The overall goal of the project was: Government and civil society in the Niger Delta contribute towards the accelerated achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to meet the needs of the people. Officially started on 8th August 2008. More specifically, the project purpose was to strengthen the capacity of six Local Government Authorities (LGAs) in three states to deliver basic services arising from a more effective demand by civil society coupled with enhanced performance by civil servants and elected leaders.
For one of the most challenging environments in the world to address issues of good governance, the project has made some significant progress, particularly in relation to establishing partnerships and dialogue between local governments and their citizens on less controversial issues. The main achievements of the project, as determined by the FE Team, were the following:

• there is greater awareness of the obligations of Local Government Authorities (LGAs) with respect to service delivery among the public effectively reached by the project; and increased awareness among LGA politicians and technical staff of their obligations to their constituents
• the Open College Network (OCN) training, Good Governance Forums (GGFs), Accountability Corps (AC) and advocacy training have led to the revival and rehabilitation of abandoned projects and initiation of new projects
• civil society activists are more confident and able to pursue advocacy through the relevant channels
• social media has provided an effective platform for engagement with politicians and technical staff at LG and state levels
• however, institutionalization and sustainability of project innovations is highly dependent on the political wing of the LG and state structure-which is prone to instability.

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Smail Khennas, Stuart Coupe and Jean-Philippe Denruyter

Abstract

Sustainable energy is starting to move to the core of energy policy in Africa. There is a growing realisation amongst African policy makers that with deforestation, escalating oil and gas prices, and global measures to mitigate climate change, purely traditional biomass and fossil fuel based development paths are no longer viable.
In fact, across Africa a wide range of sustainable energy solutions have already been implemented and, in most instances, are working sustainably and effectively. The opportunity therefore exists for each country to learn from these solutions which exist already somewhere in the continent and bring them all together for implementation at national level, according to the specific energy resource endowments.

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