Protecting Rights, Openness and Transparency Enhancing Civic Transformation (PROTECT) Project - Kenya

PROTECT works to deliver holistic and mutually reinforcing solutions involving collaboration between multiple stakeholders. In particular, it seeks to create lasting change in the following five areas:

1. Reforming and strengthening our laws so they reflect citizens' goals and aspirations;
2. Making sure journalists and human rights defenders are safe so they can work without fear, which includes addressing the sexual harassment of journalists;
3. Helping the media be more financially sustainable so everyone can access high-quality, independent information;
4. Fighting the stigmatisation of journalists, women, ethnic minorities, young people, LGBTQI+ people, and other marginalised groups so that everyone has a fair chance to participate in society; and
5. Demanding better public data and information to improve transparency and accountability.

Some of the project activities to date include:

• Addressing workplace sexual harassment - This initiative involved the development of both a model sexual harassment policy for media houses and an online reporting tool to monitor sexual harassment. It also identified, recruited, and trained male ambassadors to speak out against sexual harassment in the media. For more information, see this case study report "Going upstream: A holistic approach to ending sexual harassment against journalists" [PDF].
• Working with community radio stations to become more sustainable - PROTECT worked with community radio stations in Kisumu (a long-underserved city in western Kenya) to improve their reporting, enhance their digital presence, strengthen their commercial potential, and become more financially sustainable. One of the community radio stations PROTECT worked with was Sky FM. Activities involved: training and mentorship on data-driven journalism; a grant to enable the development and publishing of data-driven stories about issues affecting the local community; and efforts to strengthen the digital skills of Sky FM's journalists to enable them to grow their audience and attract more revenue, thereby becoming financially sustainable. For information on the project's work with Sky FM, see this case study report "Of, by, and for the community: Unleashing the potential of local radio in Kisumu" [PDF].
• Fostering citizen participation in governance - To ensure citizens can access and participate in governance, PROTECT coalition members brought local communities, civil society, and county government officials together in a tailored, holistic, multi-pronged programme. This work involved training of: county government officials in how to present information relevant to the local community, community residents in how to use this data to meaningfully engage in the county government processes and projects that affect them, and civil society organisations, including local women's and youth groups whose focus was advocating for greater participation of women and young people in local governance, in how to understand county government data and communicate it to the communities they represent. To find out more, see this case study report "The power of participation: Uniting residents and government officials in Kisumu County" [PDF].

Rationale for PROTECT:



As ARTICLE 19 explains, in many countries around the world, the past ten years have witnessed an erosion of civic rights, particularly freedoms of expression, information, assembly, and association. Increasingly, authoritarian power-holders have begun a concerted and deliberate fight against democratic progress and the rising influence of civil society. As a result, unequal and closing societies are failing to deliver tangible positive change in their people's lives. The PROTECT project is designed to address these challenges with a particular focus on some of the key challenges identified in the Kenyan context. They include:

• Abuse of weak laws: The government in Kenya abuses weak laws, including colonial-era laws that were explicitly designed to stop people from questioning the authorities.
• Police brutality: 1 in 3 Kenyans have experienced police abuse or harassment, and officers who are violent towards the people are rarely held accountable, leading to high impunity and little chance of justice for victims of police violence.
• Targeting journalists and human rights defenders: The government targets the very people who monitor their performance and report back to the people, including through deliberate smear campaigns to undermine people's trust in them.
• Stigmatising marginalised groups: Politicians and the media spread damaging narratives that stigmatise women, ethnic minorities, young people, LGBTQI+ people, and other marginalised groups.
• Withholding public information: Despite having a legal obligation to do so, the authorities often do not release public records and information, which makes it difficult for citizens to hold governments accountable.