Mental Health Awareness

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The Silent Battle: Understanding the Impact of SGBV on Mental Health

Sarah was a young woman full of life and ambition. From the outside, everything seemed perfect in her life – a successful career, a loving partner, and dreams of a bright future. However, behind closed doors, she was living a nightmare. Her partner, Mark, subjected her to emotional manipulation and verbal abuse for years. At first, Sarah thought Mark’s behaviour was just a temporary hurdle in their relationship. But things quickly spiralled out of control as the abuse escalated, leaving her trapped in a web of fear and despair. One evening, after a heated argument, Mark’s rage turned physical, leaving Sarah bruised and terrified. At that moment, she realized that she could no longer endure the danger she faced. Fuelled by fear and desperation, Sarah found the courage to seek help. With the unwavering support of her friends, she contacted a local organization that specialized in helping survivors of domestic violence. Through counselling and legal guidance, Sarah found the courage to break free from her abusive relationship and start a journey of healing and empowerment.

Individuals experience pain and suffering throughout human life, which can leave unseen emotional scars. Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) is one of the most distressing experiences that can cause such wounds. Besides causing physical harm, SGBV can also have long-lasting effects on mental health, disrupting the balance and stability of a person’s overall well-being.

SGBV encompasses a spectrum of abuses, including rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), forced abortion, and forced sterilization perpetrated against individuals based on their gender. It is prevalent worldwide and affects people from different cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, and regions. However, discussions about its impact on mental health are often avoided because of the stigma and shame associated with it. Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) often face an array of psychological challenges that affect various aspects of their lives. They have to deal with trauma, which can manifest in different ways such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, substance abuse, and disassociation. Survivors may experience nightmares that disrupt their sleep, as well as flashbacks that transport them back to the traumatic event. This can make them feel trapped in an endless cycle of emotional pain and suffering.

Moreover, the psychological scars of SGBV extend beyond the individual, impacting interpersonal relationships and social functioning. Survivors may struggle with trust issues, withdrawing from intimacy and connection out of fear of vulnerability or re-traumatization. Survivors often blame themselves, which damages their self-esteem, leading to a sense of unworthiness. The invisible wounds of SGBV wield a profound influence, shaping survivors’ perceptions of themselves and the world around them.

Amid difficulties and hardships, the path to recovery is filled with obstacles, yet not devoid of hope. An important part of this journey is recognizing the experiences of those who have survived and acknowledging their emotions. Creating a safe environment for survivors to share their stories, without fear of judgment or disbelief, is crucial in promoting healing and empowerment. Professional mental health support, including therapy and counseling, equips survivors with tools to navigate the complex terrain of trauma and regain control over their lives.

Furthermore, addressing the systemic factors that perpetuate SGBV is essential in preventing future harm and promoting holistic healing. This entails challenging societal norms that perpetuate gender inequality and violence, advocating for comprehensive legislation to protect survivors, and fostering a culture that respects consent and promotes respect.

As we observe Mental Health Awareness Month, let us focus on the intersection of SGBV and mental health, amplifying the voices of survivors and working towards removing the barriers to healing. By taking collective action, showing compassion, and standing in solidarity we can create a world where survivors are not defined by their trauma but rather empowered by their resilience. Let us break the silence and work together to pave the path towards healing and justice for all.

By Rebecca Mmboga

Clinical Psychology Program Assistant

Profits from the Jasiri Fund loan brought relief in my life

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Covid -19 nearly brought to halt business operations not only in Kenya but globally. This follows the stiff measures that were placed to curb the spread of the virus, these measures affected women’s labour markets. Businesses such as greengrocery, and mitumba (second-hand) clothes, fish mongering which are dominated by women were hard hit as compared to those operated by men. The situation was exacerbated by the spike in cases of gender-based violence witnessed during the stay-at-home period.

As a way of re-energizing and rebuilding the resilience of women survivors of SGBV, Mastercard Foundation supported a consortium of three organizations including CREAW, Groots Kenya and CCGD to develop Jasiri Fund. This non-collateral loan sought to facilitate affordable financial services s women survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Kenya in the wake of Covid-19.

To date, over 700 women have benefitted from the program. One of them is Ms. Dolrose Awino, a greengrocery businesswoman based at Kinango market in Kwale County. Despite having a successful business before the onset of Covid-19, all the success she had made was watered away by the pandemic. Her situation was worsened by the continuous domestic violence she experienced in her marriage.     

“My ex-husband used to beat me, he demanded that I leave the house by 10:00 am and come back by 5: 00 pm failure to which he would beat me up. The man used to beat me on a daily basis because of the nature of my job where I have to leave early to the market and come back late in the night,” she narrated.

But when push came to shove, Ms. Awino walked out of the abusive marriage. She was later enrolled as a beneficiary of the Jasiri Fund program where she was among other survivors who were taken through a number of entrepreneurship training before being given loans.

“Personally, I was given a loan worth Ksh, 80,000 which I used to boost my business and the profit plowed from the business is what I used in buying the four cattle as I plan to venture into livestock keeping.,” she explained.

Added: “From the loan, I could use Ksh. 15,000 to buy a sack of sardines from Kisumu out of which I would make a profit of Ksh. 10,000 per sack and that is how I managed to raise money to buy these cattle.”

Ms. Awino has not only ventured into cattle rearing but aspires to open up a retail shop within Kinango “As we speak, there is a place I have identified that am planning to open up a retail shop this is due to the harsh economic time we are facing. So, if I can combine the two businesses – greengrocery and shop then I will be one step ahead;” she said.

She remains buoyant that Jasiri will continue empowering more women like her. She, however, calls upon the program implementors to onboard more women in the program as this will help in reducing cases of SGBV in the county.

Despite making business progress, Ms. Awino faces a number of challenges which she says has affected the business considering that her businesses rely heavily on Jasiri loan. “Some of the challenges we are facing here in Kinango are drought and rise in the price of commodities which have adversely affected our businesses,” said Ms. Awino.

She pleaded with women in business to reduce expenses in their businesses and turn their focus into savings.

“I urge fellow women in business to put more effort into savings and avoid too many expenses in their businesses. They should also set targets in their businesses,” she said.

With support from Mastercard Foundation, through the Response, Recovery and Resilience Project in partnership with CREAW and GROOTS Kenya, CCGD has facilitated affordable financial services to women such as Ms. Dolrose Awino through Jasiri Fund. CCGD is currently implementing the program in Kwale, Kajiado and Busia Counties.

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Relaunch of the Protection of Civic Space in East Africa Platform

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By Getrude Angela

The East Africa Civil Society Organizations’ Forum (EACSOF) Kenya Chapter with support from International Centre Not-For-Profit Law (ICNL) on 15th September 2022 relaunched the Protection of Civic Space in East Africa Platform – an open interactive platform that seeks to re-enforce the capacity of civic actors in East Africa to counter shrinking civic space by sharing information, human resources strategies and share best practices in the region. The platform was originally launched on 19th September 2019.

Speaking at the relaunch, Hon. Zein Abubakar, a former legislator of the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) stated that one of the cornerstones for creating the platform was to safeguard public participation in civic space.

He noted that constraining constitutional and legal frameworks from different EAC partner states have advanced the shrinking of civic which has left only Kenya with a fair legal framework in the region.

Ms. Florence Nakazibwe, Legal Officer at ICNL said the platform will consolidate expression and intensify efforts to address the challenge faced by civic actors and CSOs. Adding that it will also incorporate influential people such as traditional leaders, youth and FBOs, social movement activists, and trade unions as key allies that will amplify the civic space.   She called on civic actors in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania to build the capacities of civic actors in the new states joining the EAC.

The chair of EACSOF-K, Mr. Morris Odhiambo urged members to interact with the platform as it will enable them to get regular updates on emerging trends in civic space saying that the platform will offer the opportunity for information sharing across the region and formulation of strategies to enforce and safeguard civic space.

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Kwale County medical, law and justice actors join efforts to improve the collection and handling of SGBV -related evidence

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By Maurice Goga

Kwale Law Courts Senior Principal Magistrate Hon. Joe Omido making a presentation on the nature of the evidence required and how to present such evidence during the court process by police and medics. (Picture: Vicky Kisuli, CCGD)

Clinicians, police, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and judiciary representatives held consultations on collecting and handling SGBV-related evidence to ensure justice for survivors. 

Speaking at the meeting, Msambweni Law Courts Senior Resident Magistrate, Hon. Sandra Ogot stated that the chain of conviction starts with the police who compile evidence before handing them over to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) which then presents the evidence before the court.

“The police are the first point where survivors of SGBV run to before they proceed to the hospital for examination by clinicians. Once the evidence is lost at this point, the case is lost because the evidence determines whether the case will end up in conviction or acquittal,” Hon. Ogot said.

The Senior Resident Magistrate called on the police not to accept any form of bribery to interfere with evidence saying interfering with evidence will delay or deny justice to the survivors.

Mr. Mulama Allen, Prosecutor from the ODPP stated that most medical practitioners and the police usually have a challenge when filling the P3 and PRC forms as the prosecution teams often have challenges in interpreting the filled forms which have led to many acquittals.

On her part, Fatuma Hadi Ali, a Senior Superintendent from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said that Kwale County has seen a reduction in the number of unreported SGBV cases which she attributed to the establishment of police gender desk and policare at various police stations across the country. She urged the police officers to ensure that they go through the evidence and exhibits with the plaintiff before the case proceeds to court for a hearing.

The participants said that through community policing they have been able to respond to SGBV cases which has led to a decline in the cases of SGBV in Kwale County.  However, some of the cases go unreported due to   preference by community for community informal resolution mechanisms.

 CCGD continues to strengthen support and services to SGBV survivors by offering institutional support to the Msambweni Referral Hospitals; Gender-Based Violence Recovery Centre (GBVRC).

The GBVRCs offer clinical and psycho-social support to survivors as well as referrals to law and justice institutions support services including medical attention, psychosocial support and linkages to referral pathways whenever they report their cases.

Baringo Youth Demand Involvement in Peace Building

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Youth in Baringo County have called on government and other stakeholders to involve them in peace-building initiatives. This comes in the aftermath of reported banditry attacks which led to loss of lives and displacement of people with women and children left to pay the price of the attacks when the security operation was put in place in the aftermath. 

Speaking during a forum on the use of traditional and new media (social media) techniques to promote peacebuilding in Baringo County held on 27th July 2022 in Kabarnet town, the youth noted that they don’t have safe space and platforms where they can freely speak on issues of insecurity and conflict affecting the county.

Led by Felix Chirchir, a member of the Baringo Peace Consortium, the youth expressed their disappointment for not being actively engaged in the decision-making process in matters of peace and security in the county. 

“Youth are mostly perpetrators of these attacks and involving them and giving them a platform to speak on some of the challenges we have as a county will help in addressing the challenges such as conflict,” said Chirchir.

Felix Kemboi, Youth Peace Ambassador for CSI- Kenya called for mapping for mapping of youth groups and community-based organizations working on peace and security and giving safe spaces where they can table their issues.

“As young people, we only want to be listened to and given an opportunity to table our ideas,” said Kemboi.

On her part, Winnie Tuitoek, Journalist at K24 noted that the security agencies have also neglected the youth when it comes to peacebuilding initiatives even in Baringo North and Baringo South where banditry attacks are rampant.

 Participants are usually leaders and security agencies and, in most scenarios, the youth are not given time or space to give their views.

Further, the youth called on the community and security agencies to cease from victimizing and arresting youth who surrender their guns as this will make them shun surrendering the guns.

 The youth also cited limited political goodwill by the government in promoting youth-led initiatives such as inter-communal peace tournaments, inter-cultural festivals, and art-based activism (artivism) that promote peacebuilding.

They called for the engagement of PWDs since some of them were disabled by conflict and they are usually worst affected.

Currently, CCGD is implementing the Women, Peace and Security Program (WS) which aims to end the double marginalization of women in peace and security processes in the counties of Mandera, Samburu, and Baringo counties. The involvement of the youth in peace-building processes and giving them a voice in peace processes is a key objective of the WPS program. 

By Carol Jebet and Maurice Goga

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Youth Call for Decriminalization of Petty Offenses

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The youth called for immediate decriminalization of petty offenses at this year’s EAC National Dialogue Forum. They said this would ensure that penal laws and enforcement of criminal laws follow human rights standards. During the forum, the youth presented issue papers on Youth Peace and Security; Petty Offenses; COVID-19 and Sexual Reproductive Health Rights of Girls and Young Women; Strengthening of National Youth Council and National Youth CSOs and Human Trafficking: The Socio-Economic Etiology of Human Trafficking.

They asked the EAC partner states to ensure the full domestication and implementation of the EAC Sexual Reproduction and Health Rights (SRHR) Bill, Development of a Youth Scorecard to Monitor and evaluate the framework on the EAC Youth Policy and adoption of the National Action Plan on UNSCR 2250 on Youth Peace and Security.

Anita Otieno of East African Child Rights Network (EACRN) making a presentation on Sexual Reproductive Health Rights during the National Dialogue Forum held on 23rd and 24th February, 2022 in Nairobi. [Getrude Angela, CCGD]
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JASIRI FUND REBUILDS THE LIVES OF WOMEN

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By Maureen Wairimu

Ushanga Businesswomen in Mailua, a remote town in Kajiado South, Kajiado County were hit hard by the lockdown measures of COVID-19, that confined them to their villages. This contributed to a sharp increase in sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) against women and girls. 

The introduction of Jasiri Fund- a low-interest and unsecured loan for SGBV survivors came to the rescue. Women survivors of SGBV were able to access Jasiri loans through Kenya Women Finance Trust (KWFT) to rebuild their lives and businesses.

One of the beneficiaries of the Jasiri loan was Supukon Nkaanchu who received a loan of Ksh. 50,000 and used it to venture into the greengrocery business. Nkaanchu says that the business provides an income to sustain her household.

Supukon Nkaanchu beneficiary of Jasiri Fund in Mailua

She adds that the orders made for beads have become inconsistent as a result she needed to venture into an alternative business

 “In future, I want to build rental units with another loan from Jasiri Fund,” says Nkaachu

Right next to Supukon is Nkunyinyi Josiah. A 30-year-old businesswoman who owns a hotel christened ‘New Face Enterprises’ used Jasiri’s loan to open her hotel.

She says her business is doing well. A steady flow of mostly boda boda riders come in and out of her hotel for a quick bite, before returning to work. Besides owning the business, she is also a job creator whereby she has employed a young lady to help with cooking and waitress duties.

“My focus right now is to save and clear my current Jasiri loan as soon as possible, apply for a higher amount, and expand my hotel business to include a butchery as well.”

For Leah Meliyio, the loan came through at time she was still bound to care work duties as she was taking care of her weeks-old baby and therefore she could not engage in any vigorous activity that would take much of her time as well.

Rather than let the money be in her account, she decided to take a risk and use the money to buy goats and to open up a ‘Choma Zone’ (a hotel with a focus on selling roasted meat) and butchery/hotel that has become a favorite spot for many in the area. She also created job opportunities as she employed others to help in running the two businesses. “My goal for the near future is to expand the hotel part of my business to diversify my offerings and cater to an even larger number of customers.” Says Meliyio.

With support from Mastercard Foundation, through the Response, Recovery and Resilience Project in partnership with CREAW and GROOTS Kenya, CCGD has facilitated affordable financial services to women such as Supukon, Nkunyinyi, and Leah through Jasiri Fund. CCGD is currently implementing the program in Kwale, Kajiado and Busia Counties. As of April 2022, a total of 268 women and youth (young women) and PWDs with existing businesses had received loans worth Ksh. 15, 115, 875.

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Lunch of a Study on Women’s Economic Empowerment

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Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development (CCGD) in partnership with the Ministry of East African Community and Regional Development, the East Africa Civil Society Organizations’ Forum, and Nathan Associates Foundation convened a two-day stakeholder (state and non-state actors) forum for the launch of a study on women economic empowerment.

The study dubbed, Increasing Salience and Strategic Engagement for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), Women Empowerment Collectives (WECs), and Gender Integration (GI) was conducted between October and December 2021 with a focus on the WEE, WECs, and GI policy and projects and initiatives outside the Ministry in charge of Gender, State Department/ Agencies directly charged with advancing women’s empowerment and gender equality.

While addressing the stakeholders, the Principal Secretary, State Department for East African Community Dr. Kevit Desai stated that a lot of efforts have been put into women’s economic empowerment especially around building the capacity of the women cross-border traders. He attributed these efforts to the able leadership of Mr. Masheti Masinjila, the Executive Director of CCGD, and Prof. Wanjiku Kabira, Director University of Nairobi Women Economic Empowerment Hub (UON-WEE Hub).

The PS noted that the Ministry of East African Community and Regional Development in partnership with development partners have embarked on transformation agenda of engaging the women cross-border traders in the border counties with a view of building their capacities so that they can benefit from the gains of the EAC integration process.

“Towards this end, we will continue to train and capacity build women cross-border traders on the EAC trade rules, regulations, and procedures,” remarked the PS.

He said the training has been informed by the reports from the Regional Women in Business Conferences that took place in Kigali Rwanda and Nairobi Kenya in 2011 and 2015 respectively.

Adding that during the two conferences, the women cross-border traders complained that they struggle to find and understand information on goods and services allowed for trade in each partner state, the standardization process, the authorization of certificates required, the taxes and tariffs applicable in each country, import and export laws, the rules of origin and customs procedures among other details that are important for trade within the EAC region.

In addressing some of the issues raised by the women traders, Dr. Desai pointed out that Kenya in partnership with the International Labor Organization (ILO) initiated the process of developing a simplified guide to EAC trade rules, regulations, and procedures for cross-border trade to enable women traders to access all the relevant information regarding cross border trade.

The training he said will boost the business of 16 Million traders in the EAC region of 70% are women dealing with primary stable and agricultural commodities.

Unpaid care work
Dr. Desai noted that despite the efforts put toward women’s economic empowerment, there still existing gaps that need urgent attention, saying that a lot of work done by women are not rewarded.

“A lot of work done by women for example the care work is either not paid or underpaid,” he said.

Adding: “If women must meaningfully participate and benefit from the economic endeavors then the skills must be home and targeted for wealth creation and their well-being and that of the Nation.”

He called on the country not to see women as passive recipients of women’s support but as active abled partners in this human economic endeavor.


On his part, CCGD Executive Director, Mr. Masheti Masinjila noted that the study focused on women simply because of the number of women in business not only in the EAC region but in Africa.


“Africa is unique in the world having more women actively involved in the informal business which serves the biggest majority of the people in terms of the population,” said Masheti.

He called on the stakeholders to support businesses done by women saying that such businesses have a direct impact on the greatest part of the population and such a population will be directly affected if women’s businesses are not supported.

The ED noted that the findings of the study on Increasing Salience and Strategic Engagement for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), Women Empowerment Collectives (WECs), and Gender Integration (GI) will be shared with stakeholders and other policymakers to enable them to understand the obstacles women in the business face in Kenya.

Adding that the study will also provide an opportunity for the stakeholders to directly engage the women traders in terms of information enhancement, capacity building of the skills, involving them in dialogues where they will gain knowledge about different kinds of resources and sometimes contribute towards the
formulation of the policy framework that assists them in doing their work


“As we speak, important development partners are exchanging information about the prospects available to women, particularly those in lower businesses who require associations to learn more about business,” said Masheti.

The EAC Secretariat
Also present was Generose Minani, the EAC Principal Gender and Community Officer who thanked the organizers for extending the invitation to the EAC Secretariat saying that was an indication that Kenya
cares about the EAC integration.

On women’s economic empowerment, Ms. Minani said at the Gender Department of the EAC Secretariat deals with a component of women in business.

Further, the EAC Gender Policy component five of the policy focuses on trade, business and economic empowerment with a key emphasis on women to bridge the gender gap.

“If it is gender policy, women are highly considered because we all know that this group of the population still lags in spheres of development,” she said.

She urged the stakeholders to put a mechanism that will see the women in business being upgraded from informal trade to formal trade and from small scale to large scale.

Others present during the two-day stakeholder’s forum included East Africa Civil Society Organizations’ Forum Chairperson, Mr. Morris Odhiambo, UON -WEE Hub Research Expert, Dr. Reuben Waswa, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) Public-Private Dialogue Specialist, Mr. Patrick Maingi, Linet Otieno and Chikanne Ezeigbo of African Development Bank, Consultants; Felix Otieno and Mwangi Kahenu, representatives from government Ministries and State Departments/Agencies, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Action Aid Kenya, KU-WEE Hub, County Government of Kajiado, Bungoma, Busia and Makueni, Nairobi Metropolitan Services, Kenya Association of Manufacturers.

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Youth Highlight Challenges to their Participation in Elections

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By Maurice Goga

With only six months to the general elections, Kenyans are still grappling with a worrying trend of voter apathy witnessed among the youth who have lost interest in matters of leadership and governance which they can influence through the ballot. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has failed twice to reach its target of registering 6 million new young voters due to youth apathy.

The Citizen Agenda Pillar of the Multi-Sectoral Forum on Corruption organized a webinar on Youth and Election February 17, 2022, to provide a platform for over 70 youth drawn from across the country to articulate their issues and come up with recommendations on how the challenges can be addressed to bring about positive behavioral change among the youth towards more participation in elections.

Ms. Judith Oyoo, Women President at Kiriri University and a young political aspirant in Korogocho North called for voter civic education among youth on the need to participate in the elections.

“There are more than 50,000 university students in Kenya majority of who are youth that have not registered as voters because they say they are tired of voting yet this election offers them their first chance to vote,” she said.

According to Ms. Gabrielle Lorere, founder of Samburu Well-being Initiative for All (SWIFLA) noted that youths from the northern frontier counties do not take part in elections simply because they lack national identity cards which is a key requirement for one to register as a voter.

“Youth from the northern frontier counties do not actively participate in the elections because they are subjected to numerous vetting processes that make it hard for them to obtain national identity cards which is viable for voter registration,” said Lorere

The youth cited a lack of youth inclusion in decision-making and leadership roles in governance processes, lack of cross-sectoral approaches that deepen organized youth participation, lack of role models and mentorship in political leadership, lack of resources to mount serious campaigns, inexperience in competitive politics, and lack of meritocracy in elective politics in communities like among the Somali community where members of a majority clan hold sways one’s ability to lead as some of the challenges that hinder them from actively participating in leadership and governance in Kenya.

The webinar was also attended by Mr. Suba Churchill of Civil Society Reference Group and convener of the Citizen’s Agenda Pillar and Ms. Bancy Kabutha, Director for Centre for Transformational Leadership.

The webinar was supported by CCGD/EACSOF as hosts of the Secretariat of the pillar.

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KENYA LEADS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EAC CONSULTATIVE DIALOGUE FRAMEWORK

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By Maurice Goga

Kenya is said to be leading in the implementation of the East Africa Community (EAC) consultative dialogue framework, this came out during the National Dialogue Committee (NDC) meeting convened by the Ministry of East African Community and Regional Development. The meeting was attended stakeholders from civil society organizations (CSOs),private sector organizations (PSOs), other interest such as Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and the government aimed at identifying national issues that will be discussed during the national dialogue forum.

Speaking during the meeting held on 10th February2022, Mr. Masheti Masinjila, the Chair of the NDC lauded the stakeholders who have been implementing the East African Community (EAC) consultative
dialogue framework (CDF) since its inception. He noted that Kenya was the first country to implement the CDF as stated in the EAC law thereby creating space for the CSOs and PSOs to write issue papers and have a structured discussion with the government on the issues.

Masheti also noted that the Secretary General’s Forum has not been convened for the past 2 years owing to the break out of COVID-19 which had a major impact on the member states. However, he mentioned that this year EAC Secretary General’s Forum (SG’s Forum) will be held.

Mr. Masheti said Kenya has been very strong with youth participation during the SG’s Forum. He called upon the youth to put their agenda on the paper so that they can present it during the upcoming SG’s Forum.

Mr. George Barasa, Assistant Director of Social Affairs in the Ministry of East African Community and Regional Development attributed the collapse of EAC to a lack of participation of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) as the partnership was viewed as the head of state affairs. However, Article 127 of the Treaty establishing EAC resolved the issue by allowing the participation of CSOs, Private Sector Organizations (PSOs) to be part of the integration agenda in the EAC.

“Through CSOs and PSOs participation in the EAC integration agenda, some policies such as the EAC Youth Policy and Youth Ambassadors Forum were established through a forum such as the National Dialogue Committee and National Dialogue Forums,” he said.

Mr. Barasa also mentioned that one of the major challenges facing the integration was the outbreak of COVID-19 which had a major impact on the business community, and women cross-border traders while other challenges include – harmonization of taxation policies in the region and disparities in terms of development of infrastructures.

The Chairperson of the East Africa Civil Society Organizations’ Forum, Mr. Morris Odhiambo noted that National Dialogue Committee (NDC) was extremely important, due to the fact, that it is at the NDC where the agenda-setting process begins.

Adding that the CDF structure recognizes the existence of the NDC which sets the agenda for the National Dialogue Forum (NDF) which is convened every time there is a need for dialogue or presentation on issues that have been agreed on by the NDC.

Mr. Odhiambo further stated that the issues from specific countries are escalated to the Regional Dialogue Committee (RDC) which picks up the issues and ends up becoming the agenda at the RDC. From the RDC the issues are further discussed at the SGs Forum which is the final stage of the dialogues.

“The CDF is like a one-stop shop where policy issues are discussed and rationalized, decisions are made in terms of policy issues as well as the administration issues which are then handled by the EAC Secretariat,” he said.

The CDF is meant to ensure that the integration process proceeds with the involvement of the citizens of East Africa Partner States. It is undertaken in the context of multi-stakeholder partnerships to ensure that the objectives of widening and deepening cooperation among the partner states in political, economic, social, cultural, health, education, science and technology, defense, security, legal and judicial affairs is achieved for the benefit of the people of East Africa.