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InformAction : A Story of Change

InformAction : A Story of Change

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InformAction : A Story of Change InformAction (IFA) is a field-based social justice organisation that takes a practical and dynamic approach to political, economic and social injustices in Kenya www.information.tv It has evolved rapidly since 2010, when it took a unique approach to campaigning for the new ‘people powered’ constitution, screening a film specially tailored to provoke debate among ordinary Kenyans in rural areas - ‘Clearing the Air: on Kenya’s draft Constitution’ (https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/ 10082393). A road show with a huge inflatable screen toured the country, alongside community teams with basic projectors for showing in public meeting places. When the new…
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Telling the Kenyan Story Better

Telling the Kenyan Story Better

Some Struggle to Find Their Place in the Homeland - It's a Story Well Told. 13th February 2013. Kenya’s first presidential debate aired on Monday February 11. Reports say it was easily the most watched local TV event of recent years in Kenya. I guess it would not have been a genuine Kenyan debate if, as it did, it didn’t linger a little long on the question of ethnicity/tribalism. But maybe that also gave it authenticity. Ethnicity is also the staple of mainstream media, and the star of most discussions by the chattering classes on how political goods, including election…
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Realities Of Devolution

Realities Of Devolution

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The allure for devolution, and the advantages brought by devolution, fails to question the factors that ensure devolution as a form of governance is effective and successful. Defined as the decentralization of power in a country from a centralized governing system, to one where power is assigned to a subnational–local or regional administration, the desire for a decentralized government assumes that decentralization is in itself an endogenous solution to societal ills. This turns a blind eye to the disadvantages of devolution which are: That devolution could reduce the ability a national government has to re-distribute resources to a less developed…
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The Death Of An ‘Ordinary Person’

The Death Of An ‘Ordinary Person’

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My friend Dorothy died while we were battling to save her. Her life since 2007 had been all about the trauma and resilience of being a victim of post-election violence — brutally gang-raped in Naivasha, followed by a life of poverty in Kisumu as an unrecognized IDP. She was HIV positive and brave enough to talk publicly about it. But Dorothy didn’t die because of that. Her story is probably familiar to thousands of abandoned post-election violence survivors. It will be told this time from the end, not from the beginning. Dorothy, 32, had been admitted to Kisumu District Hospital…
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