Dr. Gosia Pearson, who received a 2004 Sylff fellowship at Jagiellonian University to study at Oxford University, currently works in the European Commission’s department for humanitarian aid and civil protection (ECHO). She reports on the challenges of the humanitarian sector and outlines solutions to overcome them.

 * * *

Working for the leading humanitarian donor—the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO)—is an exceptional privilege. Each year, ECHO provides over 1 billion euros to help around 120 million victims of natural and man-made disasters in over 80 countries worldwide; these include not only major crises that are high on the international agenda but also those that escape media attention. But the job also carries an enormous responsibility to exert all efforts possible to save lives and give hope to disaster-affected populations. This is particularly difficult in current times, which witness challenges not seen in recent history.

The Changing Humanitarian Reality

Haiti after Hurricane Matthew, ®EU/ECHO.

Current humanitarian catastrophes are more devastating than ever before due to political, socio-economic, and environmental factors. There are numerous endemic internal conflicts, many of which are ideologically highly charged, involving elements of conventional war and terrorism, and resulting in dramatic regional consequences. Last year alone, there were over 400 political conflicts, including tens of wars, which affected lives of 50 million people. These crises often last for years because of lengthy negotiations and lack of political solutions and happen more frequently in poor and fragile states, adding up to the vulnerabilities of the local populations.

Climate change, environmental degradation, urbanization, and population growth increase possible hazards and lead to a global rise in disasters. The number of climate-related events worldwide has doubled in the last 25 years. Every year natural disasters impact the lives of nearly 100 million people, and in the last 15 years they have led to direct economic losses of an estimated 2 trillion euros. There is a growing interdependence among these factors, making crises more complex and unpredictable.

These drivers have led to unprecedented human suffering and record-high humanitarian needs. In the last decade the UN humanitarian appeals grew by 640%. At the beginning of 2016, 87.6 million people in 37 countries around the world were in need of humanitarian assistance, and about 60 million people were displaced. These numbers represent nearly a doubling of people affected by humanitarian crises in the last decade. This year the UN requested over 20 billion US dollars to meet the needs of the affected populations, which is the highest appeal in history.

The ongoing pressure on humanitarians to provide assistance that goes far beyond saving lives and alleviating suffering makes humanitarian work ever more challenging. The financial and operational capacities are stretched to the limits, hindering adequate response. Last year, donors provided over 10 billion US dollars to help victims of conflict and disaster. This was the highest contribution in history; still, it covered only half of the estimated needed help. Funds are most constrained in protracted crises, which absorb nearly 80% of humanitarian funding. In addition, the operating environment has become increasingly complex, politicized, and insecure. The humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence are often challenged, and international humanitarian law is bluntly violated, resulting in arbitrary denial of access and lack of protection. Civilians are directly attacked, sexual based violence is used as a weapon of war, and children are recruited as child soldiers. Humanitarian personnel are also victims of direct attacks and kidnappings.

Partnerships as a Basis for Principled and Effective Humanitarian Action

EU delegation to the World Humanitarian Summit Global Consultation, ®EU/ECHO.

The response to these challenges should be based, first and foremost, on genuine partnerships between the various actors engaged in humanitarian action. No single actor has the capacity and resources to face these challenges alone. It is only through linked and coordinated action that the global community can respond to the escalating and multifaceted crises and disasters that demand humanitarian assistance. Such partnerships should be fostered for two purposes in particular. The first is to reaffirm the very basic humanitarian values: the values of dignity, integrity, and solidarity; humanitarian principles; the respect of obligations under international law; and the commitment to keep humanitarian work distinct from political agendas. This will help ensure access to assistance, protection, and security. The second objective is to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian action. This should include risk-informed response based on needs; closer cooperation with local actors, where possible; efficient and sufficient funding; and closer cooperation with the development community.

To build a more inclusive and diverse humanitarian system committed to humanitarian principles, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the convening of a World Humanitarian Summit, which took place for the first time in May 2016 in Istanbul. This multi-stakeholder event aimed to set a forward-looking and collective agenda for humanitarian action. At the event, 50 world leaders and 9,000 humanitarian, development, and political stakeholders from around the world made altogether 3,000 commitments to support a new shared Agenda for Humanity and take action to prevent and reduce human suffering.

EU solutions to humanitarian challenges, ®EU/ECHO.

My most recent task was to prepare and coordinate the EU’s position for the Summit, where the EU pledged over

100 commitments on its own policies, programs, and funds. Some examples of its commitments include adopting new guidelines on protection of civilians, signing the Grand Bargain on Humanitarian Financing, funding for the Education Cannot Wait initiative, adopting a new policy on forced displacement, signing up to the Charter on Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, and signing the Urban Crises Charter. The EU also signed the Political Communique, which was supported by over 70 countries. Like the EU, other countries and organizations made commitments for a better functioning humanitarian system.

What Next?

While the World Humanitarian Summit was an important milestone, the work toward a new global partnership linking political action to prevent crises, development assistance, and more effective and principled humanitarian aid has only just begun. The challenges we are facing are complex, and there is no simple solution. The European Union confirmed that it would play its full part in reshaping aid to better serve people in need and called on all world leaders to do the same.

Session with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the World Humanitarian Summit.

What factors make parents resilient to the effects of poverty in urban Manila? Rosanne Jocson, a 2008–2010 Sylff fellow of Ateneo de Manila University, the Philippines,  and a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan when she received her SRA grant, investigates protective factors that buffer the negative effects of poverty and adverse living conditions on low-income urban Filipino mothers and fathers.

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A snapshot from a low-income neighborhood in Metro Manila.

In the Philippines, little systematic research has been done to study the effects of economic strain on parents and children and the factors that buffer its negative effects. This is a cause for concern, given that poor and low-income families constitute more than half of the household population in the Philippines.[1] In Metro Manila, the urban capital, about 1.8 million households are considered poor and another 8.7 million households are low-income.[1] Poor and low-income families confront several stressors in their psychosocial and physical environment, such as residence in makeshift dwellings, inadequate sanitation and drainage, limited access to clean water, overcrowding, and other threats to physical health.[2] In fact, reports show that Metro Manila has the largest number and percentage of children experiencing shelter and water deprivation.[3] Residents in informal settlements also face stigma, housing insecurity, and eviction threats, along with violence and dangers due to crime, drug use, and neighborhood gangs.[2] How do parents and children manage risk and function well despite these difficult conditions? Broadly, my research seeks to identify the factors that contribute to their resilience and positive development.

What Is Resilience?

In physics, resilience is the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape after it has been pulled, stretched, or bent in some form. Applying this characteristic to people, resilience is typically viewed as “toughness,” or the ability to “bounce back” from difficulty. In the field of psychology, resilience is defined as the achievement of relatively positive outcomes despite risk or adversity.[4,5]

An important feature of resilience is that it is a process of overcoming the negative effects of risk exposure and not a static, individual trait.[4, 6] This is important to note because framing resilience as a trait that lies within the person could lead to some form of blame on the individual if it is not achieved. As such, the main question regarding resilience is, “What factors make some people succeed despite experiencing risk or adversity?” These factors are known as “protective factors.”

Broadly speaking, protective factors are resources that buffer the negative effect of adverse conditions on an individual’s functioning.[4,6,7] These could be family-level factors, such as support, cohesion, and quality of communication among family members. They could also be resources outside the family, such as friends, mentors, and other supportive relationships in the neighborhood and community. Finally, they may also include individual-level factors, such as resourcefulness, intelligence, optimism, self-regulation, and spirituality.

Taking these together, resilience is not just an individual achievement. Rather, it is a process that is achieved through protective factors that are derived from people and resources in the individual’s context.

Investigating Resilience among Low-Income Filipino Parents

Given my research interest in poverty in the Philippine context, I used an SRA grant to investigate the individual-, family-, and community-level factors that promote resilience among Filipino parents living in low-income neighborhoods in Manila. I was specifically interested in the roles of religiosity and spirituality, family-oriented values and behaviors, and community cohesion in buffering the effects of poverty-related risks on Filipino mothers and fathers.

The author with her research team at the host institution, Ateneo de Manila University.

My focus on these three factors is based on their cultural relevance in the local context. First, the Philippines has the third largest Catholic population in the world,[8] and as such, religiosity and spirituality, especially beliefs and practices that are rooted in the Catholic faith, are deeply entrenched in Philippine society. Second, Filipinos are often described as having a strong adherence to family-oriented values emphasizing cohesiveness among immediate family members and extended relatives, respect for elders and parental authority, and mutual obligations.[9,10] Third, Filipino family-oriented values extend to people in local communities and neighborhoods, with close neighbors typically treated as extended family.[11]

I visited Manila from January to July 2016 to work on this research project. I was hosted by the Ateneo de Manila University Psychology Department and worked with mentors, colleagues, and students who provided invaluable support throughout the entire research process. I had the pleasure of working with a team of local graduate students in psychology, who assisted me in the translation and adaptation of survey measures, pilot testing, and data collection in three local communities. The research team worked closely with community leaders and coordinators from the recruitment sites to ensure smooth data collection with the 200 parents who participated in this study. This process highlighted the importance of establishing partnerships and strengthening ties with communities and local institutions for the success of a research project.

The research team with the barangay chairman (the highest elected community leader) and other community coordinators of one of the research sites.

The main objectives of my dissertation are to (a) examine the ways in which poverty-related risks influence parents’ psychological well-being and parenting behaviors, (b) identify culturally relevant individual, familial, and community-level protective factors against poverty-related risks, and (c) investigate similarities and differences between Filipino mothers and fathers.

Initial analyses showed, after controlling for family income, that several poverty-related risks were associated with higher levels of psychological distress among mothers and fathers. These include neighborhood disorder, lack of access to water and electricity, food insecurity, and exposure to community violence. Many poverty-related risks were also associated with lower levels of warmth, after controlling for family income. These include lack of neighborhood resources, neighborhood disorder, and lack of access to water.

Further analyses showed that certain individual- and family-level factors had protective relations with parenting behaviors. For example, mothers’ spirituality was associated with higher levels of warmth and parent-adolescent communication quality. Maternal and paternal efficacy was also associated with higher levels of communication quality. Both mothers’ and fathers’ family-oriented behaviors were likewise associated with higher levels of communication quality and monitoring. These initial results highlight the importance of considering contextual risks when studying the impact of economic disadvantage on Filipino families and emphasize the roles of spirituality of mothers, as well as efficacy and family-oriented behaviors of both mothers and fathers, in enhancing their functioning.

Toward a More Global Perspective in Poverty Studies

The SRA grant has been instrumental in my goal to contribute international perspectives to the study of poverty and resilience. The need to adopt a more global perspective in this field is compelling, given the severe underrepresentation of developing countries in psychological research. As the nature and experience of poverty differ widely across contexts, it would be unwarranted to generalize findings derived from Western developed regions to the much larger population of children and families living in low- and middle-income countries. In the Philippines, for example, it is important to identify and highlight assets that are culturally and contextually relevant. These findings could then be incorporated to intervention projects, such as in the design and evaluation of parenting and child development programs for low-income Filipino families. Along with larger-scale efforts toward reducing poverty and inequality, such initiatives could help facilitate healthy family functioning and child development even in disadvantaged contexts.

References

1.Albert, Jose Ramon G. and Martin Joseph M. Raymundo (2015). Why inequality matters in poverty reduction and why the middle class needs policy attention. Philippine Institute for Development Studies Discussion Paper Series, 55, 1–42. Retrieved from http://dirp3.pids.gov.ph/websitecms/CDN/PUBLICATIONS/pidsdps1555.pdf

2.Racelis, Mary and Angela Desiree M. Aguirre (2002). Child rights for urban poor children in child friendly Philippine cities: Views from the community. Environment and Urbanization, 14 (2), 97–113.

3.Philippine Institute for Development Studies (2010). Global study on child poverty and disparities: The case of the Philippines. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Philippines_GlobalStudy(1).pdf

4.Rutter, Michael (2012). Resilience as a dynamic concept. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 335–344. 


5.Luthar, Suniya S., Dante Cicchetti, and Bronwyn Becker, (2000). The construct of resilience: A critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Development, 71, 543–562. 


6.Masten, Ann S. (2014). Global perspectives on resilience in children and youth. Child Development, 85, 6–20.

7.Sameroff, Arnold, Leslie Morrison Gutman, and Stephen C. Peck (2003). Adaptation among youth facing multiple risks: Prospective research findings. In S.S. Luthar (ed.), Resilience and Vulnerability: Adaptation in the Context of Childhood Adversities (pp. 364–391). New York: Cambridge University Press.

8.Pew Research Center (2011). Table: Christian Population in Numbers by Country. Retrieved from http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/table-christian-population-in-numbers-by-country/

9.Alampay, Liane Pena (2014). Parenting in the Philippines. In H. Selin (ed.), Parenting across Cultures: Childrearing, Motherhood and Fatherhood in Non-Western Cultures (pp. 105–121). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.

10.Medina, Belen T. G. (2001). The Filipino Family, 2nd ed. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.

11.Nadal, Kevin L. (2004). Pilipino American identity development model. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 32, 45–62.

How does “oil money” shape a city? ThienVinh Nguyen, a Sylff fellowship recipient at Columbia University now enrolled in a doctoral program at University College London, used an SRA grant to observe how profits from oil are spent for the “development” of a port city in Ghana. During her eight-month-long research in the city, she saw oil companies spend enormous amounts on infrastructure development. Her report raises the question of who are the real beneficiaries of such spending.

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Even without oil, we are doing so well . . . with oil as a shot in the arm, we're going to fly. . . . Oil is money, and we need money to do the schools, the roads, and the hospitals. If you find oil, you manage it well, can you complain about that?

—–Ghanaian President John Kufuor, June 2007

Introduction

Many of Ghana’s offshore oil fields are located in the Western Region, whose capital is Sekondi-Takoradi. Image courtesy of Hufstader/Oxfam America, 2008

After a century of minor oil discoveries, in 2007 President John Kufuor announced that Ghana had discovered commercial quantities of oil in the Jubilee Fields off the coast of Sekondi-Takoradi. The International Monetary Fund estimates that oil and gas revenues from the Jubilee Fields alone could earn the Ghanaian government a cumulative $20 billion between 2012 and 2030, a figure that certainly makes an impact in Ghana’s national budget (Gary, Manteaw, and Armstrong 2009).

The question on everyone’s mind was: Will this be a blessing or a curse? Indeed, oil has been regarded by some as a dark, evil, corrupting resource. My research moves beyond this stereotype to explore the nuances of how the emergence of an oil industry transforms a city. Sekondi-Takoradi continues to change, as do cities all over the world, but the oil boom and the narratives around it enable new, ambitious, and fantastical development-driven visions for the city.

At the same time, we see an increase in citizens advocating for basic amenities and provisions—water, sanitation, electricity, and education—which the city has been slow to deliver in spite of the scale of oil-driven developments. Three major development projects are being promoted: the construction of a luxury shopping mall, the renovation of urban roads, and the expansion of Takoradi Port.

Case Studies

There is a small mention of the need for a mall in the current draft of the city’s development plan, and a South African developer has proposed the construction of a mall valued at between $65 million and $90 million (Ampratwum-Mensah 2015). Even though the local government and some residents support the project—seeing it as a sign of “modern progress”—others believe that there should also be a focus on ensuring that local citizens have access to basic services and provisions. Even with its supporters, however, the mall project has faced serious challenges. For one thing, the developers had to seek the support of the mayor, local government officials, and the police force to relocate the auto mechanics who had been “illegally” operating on the land. Some argue that these mechanics created a thriving local economy, while the developer and others say the mall will create new jobs and new public spaces.

Another development focus has been on roads. Roads are particularly helpful in getting political parties elected. With money from the oil boom, Sekondi-Takoradi has been improving its roads, especially those frequented by oil and gas companies and foreigners. The Jubilee Partners—the consortium of oil companies operating on the Jubilee Fields—also paid for the renovation of a roundabout they use frequently. A number of civil society organizations that I interviewed mentioned that while the paving of roads is welcome, the city is prioritizing development based on aesthetics that serves particular privileged groups, rather than meeting such community needs as water, sanitation, and electricity.

Sekondi-Takoradi, like many other cities, is going through change, where the new and old converge and where different visions of development affect everyday life and the urban form of the city. (Photo by ThienVinh Nguyen, 2015)

Sekondi-Takoradi has historically been and continues to be an important port, shaped by the shipments of resource minerals through the city. Currently, Ghana is investing heavily into the Takoradi Port Expansion Project, with the first and second phases of the project budgeted at well over US$300 million. Financing comes in the form of loans: €197 million from KBC Bank N.V. and about US$176 million from the China Development Bank (“Takoradi Port Expansion: Breakwater Nears Completion” 2014). A core feature of this expansion project is catering to the needs of oil and gas companies, including the creation of an oil storage area. This impressive expansion project will continue to shape the city, with new mineral wealth flowing in and out of the city.

Amidst heightened economic activity and growing possibilities, President Kufuor and other politicians—including US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who have both made visits to Ghana—promote the idea of hope and economic prosperity in the light of the oil discoveries, juxtaposing the promise in Ghana with narratives about weak states and the resource curse in Africa. These expectations are embedded in a context where Ghana is seen as a potential exemplar African state, capable of moving beyond the “tragedy” of resource mismanagement by continuing on its path as an international-investor-friendly, democratic nation. Citizens recognize that oil is a valuable commodity (despite declining oil prices) and that perhaps it has the potential to transform the income trajectory of all Ghanaians.

Over eight months in Ghana, I conducted interviews with civil society organizations, traditional authorities, Ghanaian government officials at various levels, local businesses, and transnational companies, including oil-related companies from Britain, the United States, France, and South Africa, among others. Although China provided the Ghanaian government with a $3 billion loan to build natural gas infrastructure (see: Mohan 2010), I learned through my interviews that most of the money was spent outside of the city: in building a major ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) highway and constructing the infrastructure for a natural gas pipeline farther west on the coast. There were also proposed Chinese-coordinated projects in the city, though, in the form of road works and improving the railway system.

In addition to interviews with these stakeholders, I also analyzed various strategic plans for the city over time, including plans financed by oil companies, 20 years’ worth of development plans drafted by the local government, and plans developed by local nongovernmental organizations. Given all these emergent developments, which affect the structure and social landscape of the city, there has been an increased focus on the creation of spatial development plans for the city.

I argue that the process of formulating these plans opens up new opportunities for public engagement and forms of governance. The local government plans have certainly become more ambitious and in-depth, requiring much bigger budgets, following the discovery of oil. Indeed, the major oil company in the city has a field representative in the district assembly who attends the planning meetings. These plans—more so than in the past—serve as strategic tools for garnering donor support and private investment. Indeed, even those cynical of whether these plans will ever be implemented realize that the plans have mobilized a broad range of voices in shaping the future of the city. While implementation may be slow, they do affect the direction and structure of the city.

With a population of 560,000 in a country of 24 million, Sekondi-Takoradi consists of the twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi and is the capital of the Western Region (Wilde, Adams, and English 2013). This region is known for its rich resources—timber, bauxite, gold, and diamonds, and now, offshore oil and gas. Sekondi-Takoradi lies on the transport route to Kumasi and Accra—thriving cities that are the capitals in their respective regions, with Accra serving also as the capital of the country.

In this vein, this city, as is the case for all cities, is a site of territorialized economic development, given its dependency on natural resources and its role as a major port for Ghana. It has been integrated into the global supply chain, where international capital flows in and out of the city. Now, the Ghana central government insists that oil production will bring the city and country unprecedented wealth. Narratives about the potential for growth highlight how the city will be “one of the modern cities of the world,” with “skyscrapers, six-lane highways and malls” (Walker 2011).

The central market area of Takoradi, where old, colonial-style buildings (on the left) are juxtaposed with the new Ecobank building on the right. (Photo by ThienVinh Nguyen, 2015)

I asked all of my interviewees how the city has changed. Some commented on how there has not been enough change and that money has not “trickled down”—meaning that they would welcome further social and infrastructural development and that the city is still very much lacking. There remain “slum areas,” with many residents lacking access to water, sanitation, and electricity. With regard to electricity, despite having offshore oil and gas, Ghana is undergoing an energy crisis, where the load shedding schedule is 24-hours off/24-hours on.

The city’s central Market Circle consists of an organized, though seemingly chaotic, indoor and outdoor market areas, where one can find practically anything: from live animals and produce to cheap imported goods. This area, though, lacks proper plumbing and trash collection—despite the fact that vendors here pay fees to the city for being there.

Others contend that the city has indeed changed, for better and for worse. With more foreigners in the city, rents and food prices have gone up, and there is increased road congestion. There are large, newly built villas, hotels, and bank buildings in the city. While a public school teacher or taxi driver makes less than US$300 a month, monthly rents for a three-bedroom house in the wealthier neighborhoods range from $2,000 to $5,000.

Given the myriad development issues facing Sekondi-Takoradi, the question is not if change will take place but how, at what rate, and who will benefit from this oil boom.

References:

Ampratwum-Mensah, Akwasi. 2015. “EPA Holds Public Hearing on Proposed Takoradi Mall.” Accessed May 30. http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/43877-epa-holds-public-hearing-on-proposed-takoradi-mall.html.

Gary, Ian, Steve Manteaw, and Clive Armstrong. 2009. “Ghana’s Big Test: Oil’s Challenge to Democratic Development.” Oxfam America. Ghana Statistical Service. 2014. “Gross Domestic Product 2014.”

Ghana Statistical Service. www.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/GDP/GDP_2014.pdf.

Hufstader, Chris. 2008. “The Coming Oil Boom in Ghana.” Oxfam America. October 1. http://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories//the-coming-oil-boom-in-ghana/.

Mohan, Giles. 2010. China in Ghana: Easing the Shift from Aid Dependency to Oil Economy?(ARI). Real Instituto Elcano. http://biblioteca.ribei.org/1965/1/ARI-149-2010-I.pdf.

“Takoradi Port Expansion: Breakwater Nears Completion.” 2014. May 16. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/artikel.php?ID=309576.

Walker, Rob. 2011. “Oil Boom Changes Face of Ghana City.” BBC, March 8, sec. Africa. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12646359.

Wilde, Alberto, Ishmael Adams, and Brian English. 2013. “Fueling the Future of an Oil City: A Tale of Sekondi-Takoradi in Ghana.” Global Communities. http://www.globalcommunities.org/publications/2013-ghana-fueling-the-future-of-an-oil-city.pdf.

In August 2013 Sylff fellow Otieno Aluoka (read his report)—the first recipient of the Tokyo Foundation’s recently overhauled Sylff Leadership Initiatives program—used his SLI award to organize a groundbreaking seminar in Kenya on ways to build a government that works for the people. Mari Suzuki, the Tokyo Foundation’s director for leadership development, offers a first-hand report on this seminal conference, which attracted over 150 civic leaders and public officials from Kisumu County, one of the semi-autonomous entities established under the country’s new democratic constitution.

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Kenya today is in the midst of a historic transition, the most important change the nation has experienced since achieving independence from Britain 1963. In 2010, Kenya adopted a new constitution centered on democracy and devolution of power. In 2013, the nation’s newly established semi-autonomous counties held their first-ever elections to select representatives to the national legislature under the new constitution.

For such democratic institutions to function as they were intended, however, it is vital that voters and officials understand the principles of the new system and their role within it. This was the aim of the Kisumu Leadership and Development Conference, held on August 26–27 with funding from the Tokyo Foundation’s Sylff Leadership Initiatives support program, administered in conjunction with the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund. The following is a report on the background and outcomes of the conference, which I attended as a representative of the Tokyo Foundation.

Sylff and the Kisumu Initiative

Sylff is a fellowship program established by the Nippon Foundation and administered by the Tokyo Foundation with the aim of “nurturing future leaders who will contribute to the common good of humanity, transcending the confines of nationality, religion, and ethnicity, even while respecting differences in culture and values.” Since its establishment in 1987, Sylff has grown into a fellowship program encompassing 69 institutions of higher education in 44 countries, benefiting more than 15,000 students.

Sugarcane is transported to a mill for processing

One key feature of Sylff is that it follows through with fellowship recipients even after graduation. The Tokyo Foundation’s Sylff support programs provide ongoing assistance designed to help former Sylff fellows grow into effective leaders who can make a positive contribution to their own societies at the local or national level. One such program is Sylff Leadership Initiatives (SLI), which supports various social action projects initiated by current or former Sylff fellows. The Kisumu Leadership and Development Conference was the first project selected for an SLI award since the program was relaunched in modified form in February this year.

The Kisumu conference was organized at the initiative of Otieno Aluoka, a 1999 Sylff fellow at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. Since graduating, Aluoka has worked as a governance consultant to international organizations and foreign governments in Nairobi. At the same time, he has been deeply involved in community action in his native Kisumu, to the west of Nairobi. The networks Aluoka built in both regions helped make the Kisumu leadership conference possible.

Village women walk with baskets balanced on their heads.

Kenya’s new constitution is a groundbreaking charter that seeks a wholesale reform of the political process. The aim is to move the nation from a system oriented toward preserving a balance of power among Kenya’s 40-odd ethnic groups to one focused on long-term problem solving via democratic processes. Yet the majority of Kenyans continue to vote along strictly ethnic lines. Aluoka realized that Kenyans had to begin casting their votes on the basis of the candidates’ policies, rather than their ethnicity, if democracy was to function properly in Kenya. And for this to happen, elected politicians had to begin rewarding their constituents in undeveloped areas by representing their interests at the national level and working on their behalf to promote development.

With this in mind, Aluoka decided that the best way to contribute to the development of Kenyan democracy was to organize a conference of county-level politicians (all of whom are new on the job), local officials, and community leaders to enhance their understanding of the new constitution, and the role of local leaders within the new system. It was the first such conference ever held in Kisumu—located far from the capital in Nairobi—where democratic reforms have been slow to take hold.

Historical and Political Context

To better appreciate the significance of the Kisumu conference, we should take a moment to establish its historical and political context. The chronology below lists the major historical milestones leading up to the promulgation of Kenya’s new constitution. Brief Political Chronology

1963
Kenya gains independence from Great Britain; early constitution provides for multi-party parliamentary system and elected provincial assemblies.
1966
Kenya become de facto one-party state; provincial assemblies abolished.
1982
After attempted coup d’état, National Assembly officially declares Kenya a one-party state. Country is divided into eight provinces under provincial commissioners, who are appointed by the president.
1991
Constitution revised to permit multi-party elections and limit presidents to two terms.
2002
President Daniel arap Moi steps down after 24 years in office; movement for constitutional reform picks up steam.
2007
Presidential election held under new election law. In post-election violence, some 1,500 Kenyans are killed and tens of thousands are forced to flee their homes.
2010
New constitution enacted with the aim of preventing further violence, devolving political power to local districts, protecting the rights of minorities, and solving long-term problems.

Government under the New Constitution

Previously, Kenya was divided into eight provinces, which were under the direct control of the central government. The new constitution (specifically, Article 11) provides for the devolution of power to the local level. It divides the country into 47 counties, each of which has a locally elected governor and deputy governor. (Governors are typically male, while deputy governors are most often female.) Elections and lawmaking are governed by the rules of multi-party parliamentary democracy. The constitution also features special provisions designed to guarantee that marginalized groups, such as women, disabled persons, and youth, have representation at the local and national levels.

Kenya’s 47 counties are each divided into anywhere from 2 to 12 constituencies, depending on their population, and each constituency is further divided into 5 wards. Each ward elects a representative to serve on the county assembly, which works with the governor to govern the county. In addition to ward representatives, each county assembly has six nominated members chosen to represent marginalized groups. Members are also selected as necessary to ensure that neither male nor female members control more than two-thirds of the seats in any given county assembly.

Figure 1. Kenya’s Bicameral Parliament

At the national level, Kenya has a bicameral Parliament made up of the Senate and the National Assembly. The Senate consists of 67 members. Of these, 47 are elected from each county by direct ballot. In addition, 20 seats are reserved for marginalized groups: 16 for women, 2 for youth, and 2 for the disabled. These are filled by party nomination according to each party’s share of the vote.

The National Assembly consists of 349 members. Of these, 290 are elected by popular vote, one from each constituency. Another 47 seats are filled by women elected from each county. Finally, 12 members are selected by party nomination to represent the disabled and other marginalized groups.

The legislators elected from counties and constituencies around the country gather for parliamentary sessions in Nairobi, where they represent the interests of their respective districts while participating in important decisions regarding budget allocations. Kenya’s least developed counties are entitled to allocations from an “equalization fund” amounting to 0.5% of state revenues, but only on request. How much a county receives hinges largely on the efforts of its representatives in Parliament.

Kisumu and the Leadership Conference

Kisumu County is located in western Kenya, far from the nation’s capital. (To the southwest, in neighboring Siaya County, lies the village of Nyang’oma Kogelo, birthplace of Barack Obama senior.) The city of Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria, has historically functioned as a major center of East African commerce. Because of its location along Africa’s largest lake, the area is ideally situated for fishing and fish processing, but the central government has long controlled key concessions on the lake, and economic development has left many of the inhabitants behind. Fishing, sugarcane farming, and rice farming are the county’s principal industries. Kisumu has long been riven by a fierce political rivalry between the Luo and Kikuyu peoples, and these ethnic tensions erupted into deadly violence following the controversial outcome of the December 2007 presidential election.

The Kisumu Leadership and Development Conference was held on August 26 and 27 at a community complex in Chemelil ward in Muhoroni, one of Kisumu County’s seven constituencies. The conference drew more than 150 participants, including members of the Kisumu County Assembly, various community leaders from each constituency (including representatives from the farming and fishing industries, business, nonprofit and civic organizations, research entities, the legal profession, the teaching profession, women’s groups, and so forth), and members of the Kisumu County Executive Committee, as well as a number of legal experts and civil rights experts from Nairobi. The region’s ethnic plurality was also on display at the conference: Along with the Luo, who make up the majority of the district’s population, the Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Nandi, and other ethnic groups were well represented.

The plenary sessions featured talks by scholars, members of the Kisumu County Executive Committee, a National Assembly member (from neighboring Siaya County to ensure neutrality), and others regarding the principles of the new constitution and the political and administrative systems it established. Each of the speakers fielded numerous questions from the audience. In breakout sessions devoted to healthcare, education, transportation, water, and law and order, participants discussed the issues facing Kisumu and what must be done to resolve them.

By the end of the two-day conference, the groundwork had been laid for future meetings by citizens interested in formulating concrete proposals in each area and submitting them to the county government. Equally significant was the bonds newly forged among the county’s civic and economic leaders, many of whom met for the first time. Participants from diverse sectors pledged to work together to make the new constitution’s promise a reality.

A number of the conference participants provided positive feedback regarding the event and its significance. The following is a sampling.

Teresa Okiyo, a research officer at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, noted that very little information had reached Kisumu regarding the new constitution and the process of devolution, and she praised the conference for helping participants see what they needed to do to make their voices heard in government. (Okiyo has studied paddy farming in Yamagata Prefecture under a Japan International Cooperation Agency training program.)

Dr. Rose Kisia, Kisumu County Executive Committee member in charge of commerce, tourism and heritage, called the conference an important first step that had made Kisumu a model for other counties to follow.

Legal Resources Foundation Trust director Janet Munywoki, who arrived early in the morning on the first flight out of Nairobi, noted that she had traveled to Kisumu at her own expense, convinced of the importance of such a ground-breaking conference. She stressed the need to hold similar gatherings throughout Kenya.

Significance and Impact

Returning to Nairobi after the conference, I had the opportunity to speak with John Smith-Sreen, director of democracy, rights, and governance for USAID (US Agency for International Development) in Kenya. Noting that the new constitution had been 10 years in the making, Smith-Sreen stressed the importance of the next three to five years in laying the groundwork for a functioning democracy.

Political instability, corruption, and inefficiency have long stunted Kenya’s growth and development. Fair democratic elections and the devolution of power to the counties are critical to the nation’s future economic growth. This is why American, British, Canadian, European, and UN agencies are actively involved in supporting Kenya’s reforms. USAID has placed special emphasis on promoting effective coordination between the state and the counties. But another key task is to ensure that civil-society organizations are informed about the new constitution and to encourage their political participation at the local level.

By promoting public understanding of devolution and helping to forge linkages between the county government and the local citizens, the Kisumu leadership conference has made an important contribution to the local community and Kenyan society as a whole. It is a contribution made all the more significant by the fact that it occurred when it was most needed. In this period of sweeping change for Kenya’s government, society, and economy, the nation has scant resources to spare for such consciousness-raising efforts. This is why Otieno Aluoka’s initiative was such an effective use of SLI funds.

A Role Model for Young Leaders

Otieno Aluoka at the Kisumu leadership conference.

Otieno Aluoka, who successfully organized the Kisumu leadership conference using a Sylff Leadership Initiatives grant from the Tokyo Foundation, has an excellent understanding of the Sylff mission to “nurture future leaders who will contribute to the common good of humankind.” Aluoka has been actively involved in the Sylff network for 14 years, ever since receiving a fellowship at the University of Nairobi. In March 2008, in the wake of the violence precipitated by the December 2007 election, Aluoka submitted an article titled “Kenya’s Post-Election Violence” to the Sylff website, in which he argued eloquently for the need for stronger legal and judicial institutions to create a just society in Kenya.

An anthropology major at the time he received his fellowship, Aluoka put his education to good use, subsequently devoting himself to law studies at the University of Nairobi. More important, he has used the fruits of these academic labors not merely to lift himself up but to build a better society. This is precisely the outcome envisioned by the Sylff program, and it is this impulse that SLI and other Sylff support programs were designed to encourage. Listening to the lively and passionate discussion among participants at the Kisumu conference—described by Aluoka as the starting point for the devolution of power in Kisumu County—I was struck by how closely his initiative dovetailed with the purpose of the Foundation’s Sylff support programs. This was truly money well spent.

By supporting the activities of Sylff fellows after they go out into society, SLI complements the fellowship program in an important way, defining Sylff’s long-term aims and expectations and encouraging concrete social action. As the program continues, the success stories of people like Otieno Aluoka will provide inspiration for other Sylff fellows and contribute further to leadership development around the world.

Leadership development is a long-term undertaking. But the young leaders that the Sylff program has nurtured over the years have continued to grow, and last August I was able to watch as one of those leaders made an important and timely contribution to his nation’s development during a period of political and social transformation. I am hopeful that Otieno Aluoka’s example will serve as a stimulus and encouragement to young leaders in Kenya and around the world.

Postscript

Following the conference, Otieno Aluoka compiled a list of proposals based on the discussions held at the conference and submitted them to the Kisumu County Executive Committee on September 9, with the cooperation of Chemelil ward representative Joseph Osano, who has pledged to push for their adoption. Issues and ideas raised at the conference received coverage in three of Kenya’s national newspapers, and they are already beginning to influence policy makers at various levels.