SEAIP PROGRAM
Kenya-Strengthening Electoral Accountability and Inclusivity Program (SEAIP)
The Kenya-Strengthening Electoral Accountability and Inclusivity Program (SEAIP), is a partnership of national non-profit organizations, bringing together ELGIA (prime), Federation of Kenya Women Lawyers (FIDA-Kenya), the Centre for Multi- Party Democracy (CMD-Kenya), and the Kenyan Chapter of Transparency International (TI-Kenya), collaborating with U.S based Democracy International (DI) for strategic technical support and robust learning. It brings together Kenyan professionals working to enhance the democratic space, empower citizens and ensure accountable and, responsive governance, in a Kenyan-driven partnership, augmented by regional-African and global experience.
SEAIP consortium will emphasize assistance through key governance and electoral institutions in Kenya, such as Parliament, Judiciary, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission-IEBC, Office of the Registrar of Political Parties-ORPP, Political Parties Dispute Tribunal-PPDT, Political Parties Liaison Committee-PPLC, and other entities responsible for facilitating democratic processes, fostering citizen participation and inclusion as well as managing electoral disputes in Kenya. The approach will focus on capacity building, fostering collaboration, advocacy, peer learning and lessons transfer, technical assistance and advisory among other context relevant solutions. The aim is to support these stakeholders to collectively improve their technical capacity to discharge their constitutional and statutory mandates in the organization of accountable, inclusive, fair and transparent elections in 2022; by enhancing inclusivity and participation, accountability, efficiency and transparency into their operations, communication and oversight, including ability to deter elite and political manipulation and interference at all levels. The project will also support advocacy platforms which advance policies which redress gender imbalance and promote reforms which safeguard and empower women in leadership, including enhanced compliance with election laws; timely and responsive law reforms; reduced corruption, violence and vote buying during the 2022 electioneering period; and increased adherence to the rule of law and obedience to decisions of courts on electoral disputes. SEAIP considers that, through this proposed civil society-led advocacy project; accountability, efficiency, integrity, accessibility, and inclusivity in Kenya’s electoral process will be enhanced, this will in turn improve the levels of trust and participation by the public, in the country’s political and democratic processes. Citizen trust and participation in the political system are necessary for the stability of democratic regimes, as dissatisfaction (especially among losers of an election) often lead to violent forms of protest, and subsequently, if unresolved, apathy also sets in, which leads to low voter turnout and widespread civic disengagement in democratic and electoral activities. When certain parts of society become disengaged, their political representation is also reduced, they become increasingly disillusioned over time, eroding society's trust in democracy and systematically trigger challenges in governance.
SEAIP technical assistance and advocacy to electoral institutions will focus on systems strengthening, internal governance and accountability of key electoral institutions. SEAIP will support will include facilitated peer learning, staff secondment and training, and participatory policy development. Emphasis will be on the complementary areas of election management and administration (including transparency and accountability).
The consortium will leverage international expertise and facilitate identification of the most efficient, culturally appropriate and cost-effective systems and structures to address the problem of waste, fraud and corruption (pilferage and wastage of public resources), this will also include leadership skills development to enhance capacity to deter elite and political interference and manipulation.
Finally the consortium will advise the key electoral institutions on developing tailored strategic communication and voter education tools and programs to improve civic engagement and acknowledgement of reforms.
Summary of Year 1 activities to strengthen the accountability capacity of key electoral and democratic institutions.
· Provide technical, training and operational support to improve management of the various elements of elections operations. These include; voter registration and data governance protocols, deployment of technology, vote tallying, results verification and transmission systems, candidates’ vetting, nomination and registration, regulation of campaigns. Proposed activities to strengthen election operations include the following;
1. Conduct a comprehensive assessment to highlight opportunities on how IEBC can improve its’; ICT personnel capacity, ICT security protocols, ICT deployment strategies, EVID-voter identification system, CRS-candidates registration system, RTS-results transmission system, results verification protocols, voter registration BVR-biometric registration system, and data governance protocols.
2. Support operationalization of robust policies and structures to; improve voter registration and data governance protocols; develop and strengthen systems that will synchronize the voter register with the civil register (the register of births and deaths) to guarantee the veracity of the updated voters' register.
3. Support implementation of effective policies and structures that will; improve ICT personnel capacity, improve how IEBC plans for, acquires and deploys election technology; and reinforce technology security protocols that prevent data manipulation and unauthorized access.
4. Recommendation on early prioritization and identification of opportunities for improving; legislation-Elections Act, Elections (Technology) Regulations and other operational procedures that effect; the use of election technology and results verification and transmission systems. To allow for sufficient time for implementation and adoption.
5. Support effective adoption of improved policies and structures that will; assist IEBC to train and improve polling officials-returning officer technical capacity; and improve the commissions’ vote tallying, results verification, and transmission systems.
6. Support the IEBC to develop and deploy effective task management tools and system improvement models to reduce the physical demands put on polling officials and results verification systems; to help the commission to contain the problem of human errors during vote tallying, results verification, and transmission.
7. Develop and improve the CRMS-Candidates Results Management System modules to integrate registration of candidates’ online particularly independent candidates to avoid the current situation were the candidates have to physically visit IEBC headquarters for registration.
8. Assist IEBC, ORPP, PPLC, and Parliament to develop, draft and enact substantive proposals to amend the Political Parties Act and establish appropriate timelines and improved regulations for Political parties and candidates to harmonize the agents' registration guidelines and facilitate improved coordination and deployment of IEBCs’ agents' training program thereby enhancing the transparency of the commissions results verification and transmission systems.
9. Support IEBC to carry out political advocacy with; Political Parties, Parliament, and the Executive; to build consensus and support for early efforts to review, improve and enact; election law amendments, regulations, and operational policies early enough to improve overall election framework and planning before the 2022 elections.
10. Capacity support to align improvement of election infrastructure such as; voter registration data, candidates and political parties’ data, polling station and election areas, communication protocols, regional and constituency offices to match global and best practice standards for elections operations.
· Conduct capacity building trainings, provide TA and facilitate peer learning exchange, focusing on; electoral system, management and operational policy framework, including internal structure of IEBC (accountability framework, departmental functions and internal procedures, codes of conduct and protocols).
· Undertake joint trainings for IEBC, ORPP, Parliament-JLAC/CIOC and Political Parties to strengthen the Integrity of Key election processes (voter register, data governance, ICT security and Results management, and Party agents capacity development). Including Technical analysis, on existing electoral laws, to help inform priority reform problem analysis and enrich timely solution proposals for the 2022 elections.
· Leadership trainings to strengthen organizational capacity of IEBC and Judiciary to develop technically feasible solutions that will identify and prevent elite and political interference and manipulation.
· Undertake capacity building trainings, TA and advisory for communication and leadership staff at IEBC, ORPP, PPDT and Judiciary, on effective public outreach and communication strategies during the 2022 electioneering period.
Output 1: SEAIP develops the technical capacity of IEBC and other electoral institutions to enable them to systematically enhance accountability, efficiency and transparency into the Kenyan elector system and in their respective operations, communication and oversight processes, including ability to deter elite and political manipulation and interference at various levels.
SEAIP will develop a comprehensive and integrated approach to both legal reforms and inter-institutional coordination, beginning with a comprehensive review of the legislative framework which draws on current baselines and identifies opportunities to influence change. In the pre-election period SEAIP will prioritise targeted advocacy with the executive and parliament for timely enactment of key election laws before the 2022 elections, this will include legal drafting assistance for election regulations and subsidiary legislation. SEAIP will similarly provide TA to the Office of the Registrar of Political Parities (ORPP) to facilitate review of the framework for political party regulation, and the development of internal policies, procedures and protocols. Through principled and evidence-based advocacy with Parties and the Political Parties Liaison Committee (PPLC), SEAIP will galvanise support for timely law reform. The Consortium will also facilitate inter-institutional collaboration to building strong relationships and identifying synergies which enhance efficiencies and compliance with new laws, and ensure prompt operationalization of new laws.
Year 1 activities to support broad-based and responsive electoral and democratic reforms.
· Facilitate coordination meetings and trainings to improve dialogue and synergies among election law reform stakeholders and enhance consensus among key Electoral Institutions (IEBC, ORPP, JLAC and JCE), CSOs, media, elected officials, public and private sector, faith based and special interest groups.
· Provide TA, advisory and training for election law reform stakeholders; key Electoral Institutions (IEBC, ORPP, JLAC and JCE), on how to identify gaps or flaws in election management policies, laws or regulations prior to the 2022 elections.
· Conduct technical analysis on critical electoral reform issues, and provide advice on proposed solutions, polices and operational procedures including legal drafting assistance.
Output 2: SEAIP provides coordination and technical support for electoral reform stakeholders to enable them to expand ownership of reform conversations, diversify participation in their platforms and leverage technical and expert resources to develop robust reform solutions for timely implementation of key election law reforms.
Year 1 activities to support broad-based and responsive electoral and democratic reforms.
· Facilitate coordination meetings and trainings to improve dialogue and synergies among election law reform stakeholders and enhance consensus among key Electoral Institutions (IEBC, ORPP, JLAC and JCE), CSOs, media, elected officials, public and private sector, faith based and special interest groups.
· Provide TA, advisory and training for election law reform stakeholders; key Electoral Institutions (IEBC, ORPP, JLAC and JCE), on how to identify gaps or flaws in election management policies, laws or regulations prior to the 2022 elections.
· Conduct technical analysis on critical electoral reform issues, and provide advice on proposed solutions, polices and operational procedures including legal drafting assistance.
Output 2: SEAIP provides coordination and technical support for electoral reform stakeholders to enable them to expand ownership of reform conversations, diversify participation in their platforms and leverage technical and expert resources to develop robust reform solutions for timely implementation of key election law reforms.
Under this objective, SEAIP support will emphasize the building of linkages and collaboration between electoral institutions and vetting agencies to harmonize vetting procedures and ensure integrity of candidates, support capacity building of investigative and prosecuting agencies to conduct timely investigations and hold election law violators accountable to strengthen the framework that will prevent incidences of interference and manipulation during candidate nominations. SEAIP will also focus on supporting Political Parties to reduce and manage disputes arising from nominations and primaries, by ensuring that disputes are resolved promptly and transparently as well as improving county level access to IDRM structures. During Year 1 SEAIP will also prioritize work on enhancing the framework that will effectively regulate campaign finance and prevent use of public resources by candidates. Finally SEAIP will work closely with key stakeholders in Year 1 to facilitate participation in the elections, by advocating for the creation of an enabling environment which allows voters and candidates to lodge complaints in case of election law violations.
Year 1 activities to reinforce and advocate for integrity and enforcement and compliance with election laws.
· Coordinate interagency partnerships to harmonize vetting, including training and advocacy forums to promote Election Campaign Finance-ECF compliance and enhance effective monitoring and reporting on misuse of public resources in political campaigns.
· Facilitate joint advocacy and training meetings for ORPP, PPLC and Political Parties to adopt regulations, mechanisms and strategies that will deter voter bribery, violence, manipulation and interference in primaries and promote diverse participation in the 2022 electioneering period.
· Coordinate joint forums with security agencies to advocate for strategies to improve local level access to security services and resources during the 2022 electioneering period.
· Facilitate advocacy and training meetings between security and electoral agencies and political parties to advance adoption of citizen friendly security strategies, deter violence and commit to non-violence during campaigns, and enhance compliance with election code of conduct.
Output 3: SEAIP facilitates the scaling of capacity among electoral, vetting and security agencies including parties, to adjust and adopt enhanced mechanisms to check finance in campaigns and regulate political activities in a manner that deters bribery, violence and intimidation and interference during the electioneering period.
Year 1 activities to reinforce and advocate for integrity and enforcement and compliance with election laws.
· Coordinate interagency partnerships to harmonize vetting, including training and advocacy forums to promote Election Campaign Finance-ECF compliance and enhance effective monitoring and reporting on misuse of public resources in political campaigns.
· Facilitate joint advocacy and training meetings for ORPP, PPLC and Political Parties to adopt regulations, mechanisms and strategies that will deter voter bribery, violence, manipulation and interference in primaries and promote diverse participation in the 2022 electioneering period.
· Coordinate joint forums with security agencies to advocate for strategies to improve local level access to security services and resources during the 2022 electioneering period.
· Facilitate advocacy and training meetings between security and electoral agencies and political parties to advance adoption of citizen friendly security strategies, deter violence and commit to non-violence during campaigns, and enhance compliance with election code of conduct.
Output 3: SEAIP facilitates the scaling of capacity among electoral, vetting and security agencies including parties, to adjust and adopt enhanced mechanisms to check finance in campaigns and regulate political activities in a manner that deters bribery, violence and intimidation and interference during the electioneering period.
Under this objective, SEAIP will prioritise conducting a sustained advocacy campaign aimed at promoting women’s political participation both as voters and candidates under the slogan “Vote-a- Dada” (Vote for a sister), this will include engagement with the media through trainings for journalists and meetings with media editors to refine the approach when reporting on female political aspirants. Activities under Year 1 will also include a capacity building component, through a women leadership and mentorship activity targeting female aspirants. Priority will also be on training pro-bono Advocates in Year 1, these will provide legal representation to female aspirants who may have experienced violations during the electioneering period. SEAIP will also prioritise advocacy activities to create pressure for reform from the ground up, with political parties on access issues, and how parties can mobilise, support and mentor candidates who are women, and remove barriers to women participation, this will include national level advocacy for law reform on political party governance and reforms to redress gender imbalance.
Year 1 activities to strengthen the accountability capacity of key electoral and democratic institutions.
· Undertake women leadership trainings and facilitate forums to advocate for removal of barriers to voting and standing for election for women and promote women friendly media engagement platforms during the 2022 electioneering period.
· Targeted advocacy with electoral institutions ;Parliament, IEBC, ORPP, Political Parties, PPDT and the Judiciary to ensure that electoral laws, policies and procedures are fair, inclusive and promote women to participate both as candidates and voters.
· Provide training and develop mechanisms to safeguard women from intimidation and SGBV during the electioneering period, and advocate for improved access to security and other support services for women who experience violence during campaigns and voting.
Output 4: SEAIP establishes platforms and mechanism to expand leadership opportunities for women, and redress barriers which perpetuate their exclusion and advance policies and structures to safeguard women during the 2022 electioneering period.
Year 1 activities to strengthen the accountability capacity of key electoral and democratic institutions.
· Undertake women leadership trainings and facilitate forums to advocate for removal of barriers to voting and standing for election for women and promote women friendly media engagement platforms during the 2022 electioneering period.
· Targeted advocacy with electoral institutions ;Parliament, IEBC, ORPP, Political Parties, PPDT and the Judiciary to ensure that electoral laws, policies and procedures are fair, inclusive and promote women to participate both as candidates and voters.
· Provide training and develop mechanisms to safeguard women from intimidation and SGBV during the electioneering period, and advocate for improved access to security and other support services for women who experience violence during campaigns and voting.
Output 4: SEAIP establishes platforms and mechanism to expand leadership opportunities for women, and redress barriers which perpetuate their exclusion and advance policies and structures to safeguard women during the 2022 electioneering period.
SEAIP will prioritise support to the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) and Judiciary on EDR, with an emphasis on TA and advice on harmonising the EDR framework, developing tools, training and advice to enhance operational effectiveness and access to relevant jurisprudence to be used to guide scrutiny of the electoral system during petition proceedings. The focus in Year I will include targeted advocacy to improve uptake of, and familiarity with EDR services, especially among women and minorities. SEAIP will also support strategies to enhance EDR service delivery, so that the EDR system is able to deliver transparent, responsive and, expeditious justice in resolving electoral disputes, (this includes decentralization and digital integration of EDR services to the local level). Finally, due to the short periods of time that electoral dispute resolution institutions will have to make their decisions, the performance and professionalism of EDR officers, will be key, to a functional electoral dispute resolution system in 2022, SEAIP will therefore support learning and capacity building programs through the JTI-Judiciary Training Institute, for judges and magistrates during the first year of program work.
Year 1 activities to support EDR Institutions in Kenya to become more accessible and effective.
· Undertake leadership training and advocacy to advance strategies and practices which promote independence of EDR institutions in the 2022 electioneering period.
· Provide TA, advisory and training to support strategies aimed at digitizing EDR processes and platforms and enhancing service delivery at the local level during the 2022 electioneering period.
· Coordinate EDR education, advocacy and training forums to promote familiarization and access to EDR and improve overall uptake of EDR services and increase diverse participation in the EDR process.
· Facilitate peer learning forums to enhance jurisprudence, procedures and regulations to guide petition hearings in the 2022 electioneering period.
· Develop learning tools and coordinate joint training and learning platforms for EDR officers, to develop their skills, familiarize with new laws, align jurisdictions, harmonize the EDR framework and improve synergies.
Output 5: SEAIP assists EDR institutions to become more accessible and enhance their capacity to deliver transparent-responsive-expeditious justice, including facilitating lessons transfer, learning and development, to increase the functionality of the EDR system in 2022.
Year 1 activities to support EDR Institutions in Kenya to become more accessible and effective.
· Undertake leadership training and advocacy to advance strategies and practices which promote independence of EDR institutions in the 2022 electioneering period.
· Provide TA, advisory and training to support strategies aimed at digitizing EDR processes and platforms and enhancing service delivery at the local level during the 2022 electioneering period.
· Coordinate EDR education, advocacy and training forums to promote familiarization and access to EDR and improve overall uptake of EDR services and increase diverse participation in the EDR process.
· Facilitate peer learning forums to enhance jurisprudence, procedures and regulations to guide petition hearings in the 2022 electioneering period.
· Develop learning tools and coordinate joint training and learning platforms for EDR officers, to develop their skills, familiarize with new laws, align jurisdictions, harmonize the EDR framework and improve synergies.
Output 5: SEAIP assists EDR institutions to become more accessible and enhance their capacity to deliver transparent-responsive-expeditious justice, including facilitating lessons transfer, learning and development, to increase the functionality of the EDR system in 2022.
