Council’s Delivery Focus
INTRODUCTION
We have over the years remained focused on our mission while addressing the emerging needs of the various communities that we serve through our member churches. Such activities are coordinated through NCCK’s regional offices stemming from the head office to all our 9 regions. In the late 1980s, we committed to changing the mode of doing our programme work from implementation to facilitation. After a comprehensive evaluation of our performance for the period 1996 to 2001, we made a strategic choice to carry out advocacy work at the national level while facilitating the regions and member churches to undertake social services delivery. The regional framework empowers the County Coordinating Committees (CCC) to implement activities in collaboration with member churches.
Over the years our focus has revolved on the operations and programmes around:
- Enhancing Fellowship
- Social Justice and Development
- Advocacy for Social Justice
PROGRAMMES:
The Programme work of the Council forms the bulk of our work. The activities we undertake have a direct impact on the lives of the people in all our 9 regions where we operate. In this implementation structure, 5-6 counties are clustered to form a region, which is equipped with Council staff and an office.
a) Capacity Building for Membership
Capacity Building for Membership (CBM) enables us to facilitate the building of capacities of member churches and organizations. It is achieved through the following interventions;
- Organizational development process
- Training on peace building and conflict management
- Trust healing and forgiveness activities
- Project management cycle and resource mobilization training and adaptable skills technology training.
b) Education
We remain committed to enhancing academic standards in the Country by advocating to for quality education to all children. We also administer scholarships for bright and needy students on behalf of our partners and implementing Pastoralist Education Programme.
c) Social Services Projects and Programmes
Through this thematic area, we facilitate the membership to appreciate their role in social action aimed at responding to poverty, inequality and dehumanization. The membership is empowered to design, implement and manage projects effectively and efficiently. Those included are women and children in stress project and GarbaTulla and Turkana Children’s Home.
d) Family and Community Health
The thematic area enables us to promote access to quality and affordable medical care by all people by supporting local community initiatives in conjunction with our partners. We have achieved this by implementing Global fund and Filling the gaps projects, Malezi Bora Project, Total War against AIDS and Huruma Clinic.
e) Refugee Services Programme
In the partnership with United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), we have implemented various activities at both Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps. These are;
- Reproductive health programmes
- Peace education programmes
- Shelter programmes,
- Livelihood projects
- Verification of refugees
f) Peace Building and Conflict Management
We continue to enhance the capacities of communities in the country to prevent, manage and mitigate against conflicts and violence. Following the 2008 Post Election Violence (PEV), we embarked on a programme of healing the nation programme through inter and intra ethnic initiatives. This initiative also included capacity building on peace initiatives at community level such as Jirani mwema project and child protection project.
Through the office of the General Secretary, we have mobilized NCCK membership and the Inter Religious Forum (IRF) to call for peace and security thus stabilizing the country. IRF developed and implemented a “peace plan” that focused on four main areas namely, humanitarian relief; media and communication; prayer and spiritual engagement; and political mediation. Other projects, which had significant impact, included emergency response project, Kenya civil society strengthening project, protection and peace building project, Rift valley protection monitoring project and Nyanza strategic recovery forum project. These initiatives continue.
g) Constitution and Legislative Reforms
We have maintained our quest for constitutional dispensation since early 80s, leading to the promulgation of the new constitution in 2010. These efforts were evident until recently during the implementation of the four anotted agendas, of the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Commission. But, tactfully, we trained various church leaders to enable them engage effectively on constitutional matters, such as preliminary development and dissemination of laws, acts and bills and active engagement in the constitutional review process.
While the writing of various statutory laws is on- going, within the framework of the constitution and the schedule six, we have embraced numerous changes that have been precipitated with the new constitution. The devolution law provided an opportune moment for the us to overhaul our district structures at regional levels, replacing them with County Coordinating Committee (CCC). Similarly, the new law introduced gender parity rule for state offices, however, most institutions, including NCCK have adopted such changes in order to improve women participation in council affairs.
h) Environment
With effects of global warming being felt in many nations, we continue to join hands with other partners in the mitigation efforts by empowering communities to better manage their environments. To this end, we remain focused in creating awareness on climate change and food security interventions.
i) Ethical Governance and Accountability
Endemic corruption has fundamentally perverted the cultural values, religious beliefs and social fabric of Kenyans. Consequently, accountability systems set up by the government and other institutions have been ineffective. In this regard, we engage on the governance and accountability systems by enhancing the capacities of church leaders and the general public to recognize and shun corruption. Such initiatives included Pesa Zetu activities, community dissemination forums and WachananaUfisadi Project.