11 hours Ago By KNA2
Community Resource and Empowerment Organization (CREAMO) has launched a civic empowerment and capacity-building initiative in Migori County, aimed at strengthening community systems through Bunge La Mwananchi (People’s Assembly) structures. The initiative, which is funded by the European Union, is being implemented in partnership with various Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Inform Us, a Nairobi-based Organisation charged with monitoring the initiative. Speaking at a Migori town hotel during the launch of the initiative, CREAMO Executive Board Chairman Tobias Ogola announced the rollout of the pilot programme in two wards within Suna West Sub-County, namely Oruba Ragana and Wasweta II.
He said the initiative aims to shift grassroots assemblies from political engagements to development-oriented civic participation. Through this initiative, members of Bunge La Mwananchi will be equipped with tools and knowledge to monitor county projects. They will be trained so as to fully understand planning documents such as the Annual Development Plan (ADP) and County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) in order to deliver on their mandates; mainly tracking the use of public resources.
CREAMO’s Executive Director, Dorothy Odhiambo, emphasized the need to utilise Bunge La Mwananchi as a tool to realize closer community engagement. Bunge La Mwananchi are close to the people and thus have the potential to be the most effective channel in transmitting civic education and promoting accountability. She said that the project will help to transform Bunge La Mwananchi from political forums into instruments of change and empowerment.
Bunge La Mwananchi-Migori branch Chairman Charles Osewe acknowledged that the county has faced accountability challenges that they will strive to address without engaging in witch-hunting. “This initiative is not confrontational, rather, it seeks collaborative improvement on county accountability and transparency mechanisms,” he explained. Osewe stressed the importance of civic education in holding leaders accountable, noting that leaders should welcome positive criticism to improve on service delivery and accountability.
He said that CREAMO initiative has enabled them to understand their role in evaluating public service delivery and conducting social auditing. The two-day training marks the first phase of a larger plan to extend civic education and social audit practices to all the eight sub counties of Migori County..
