Daraja Civic Initiatives Forum-DCIF is implementing a four-year governance project (2022-2025) in partnership with Plan International dubbed Safe and Inclusive Cities within Nairobi City County whose objective is to have a diverse and strong civil society that influences urban governance and development processes and contributes to making cities safe and inclusive for young women and men. This is through the delivery of action oriented civic education and conducting social accountability processes to create a viable environment for the citizens to engage duty bearers for improved service delivery. The project is being implemented in three informal settlements within Nairobi City County namely; Mathare, Huruma and Kibra targeting young women and men aged between 15 – 25years and their organisations.
2011 - 2014Daraja civic Initiatives Forum is implementing a three years project (2022 – 2024) in partnership with USAID, Uraia Trust, and Act Transform Change (ACT!). The project is titled Elections Conflict Mitigation and Voter/Civic Education Support Program with a primary goal of supporting the Youths, Civil Society Organizations, Women, and Persons with disability to effectively participate in democratic processes and governance in Nairobi County. The first phase of this project (2022) that is implemented in Kibra, Mathare, Makadara, Westlands, Embakasi South, and Roysambu sub-counties include interventions like Voter/Civic education, Mas voter/Civic education through theatre performances, voter simulation and peace caravan, and capacity building forums for the sub-county based Civil Society Organizations.
2022 to 2024Daraja Civic Initiatives Forum-DCIF is implementing a four-year governance project in partnership with Uraia Trust titled Safe and Inclusive Cities within Nairobi City County whose objective is to have a diverse and strong civil society that influences urban governance and development processes and contributes to making cities safe and inclusive for young women and men. This is through the delivery of action oriented civic education and conducting social accountability to create a viable environment for the citizens to engage duty bearers for improved service delivery. The project is being implemented in 4 informal settlements within Nairobi City County namely; Mathare, Huruma, Mukuru and Kibra targeting young women and men aged between 15 – 25years and their organisations.
2018 - 2021The project Promoting civic engagement in Nairobi City County’ under the auspices of a project called ‘Rooting for Democracy Phase II’ (RDK). The project’s specific objectives include to increase the knowledge and awareness levels on the constitution, electoral process, devolution, and public participation amongst citizens of Nairobi County by 2019; to facilitate citizen formations to demand for improved service delivery from county government by 2019; to strengthen the capacity of peace committees to promote peaceful co-existence before, during and after the 2017 general elections in 6 sub- counties in Nairobi, and; to strengthen the organizational project implementation process capacity by 2019. The 30-month project was implemented by DCIF between May 2017 – October 2019 with two months no cost extension ending on 31st January 2020.
In the 2018 2019 period to lead/coordinate formative research to inform the design and development of an ECD programme on Strengthening Protection, Education and Care for Children (SPEC) in Nairobi County. The study was to help the partners better understand the integration of child protection in early childhood, care, education & development (ECD) in urban informal settlements of Nairobi; and assess how current early childhood development systems, socio-economic practices, and knowledge affect responsive caregiving, healthy child development, safety and educational achievements of children aged 0-8 years in the Mukuru and Mathare urban informal settlements of Nairobi City County. The research further helped Daraja, MCWC, and their local partners to understand the existing ECCED knowledge, practices, and policies to identify areas where there is momentum for change to catalyze more.
2018-2019In partnership with Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) to test an innovative model of quality, cost-effective, and contextually relevant childcare centers that had the potential to be taken to scale. The project increased access to quality ECD services for over 180 children aged three months to four years. The project was implemented in Baba Dogo informal settlement in Kasarani sub-county, Nairobi County and achieved 3 outcomes; (i) improved knowledge, attitudes, and practices among caregivers, parents, and health workers in support of children’s physical, cognitive, and social development; (ii) improved quality and cost-effectiveness of contextually relevant, sustainable and replicable baby care centers; and (iii) documentation of best practices
2014 - 2018in partnership with Parenting in Africa Network (PAN), whose goal was to improve holistic development of children at ECDE level. Key activities of the project included training of ECD management committees and parents on parenting & child care skills, setting up resource centers and community/stakeholder engagement.
2015 - 2018served to enhance the capacity of basic education providers in the urban informal settlements to realize access to quality education by all children. USBEP targeted 70 complimentary schools in selected informal settlements of Nairobi County, and worked on four main areas; - capacity of school communities; improving teacher competencies; strengthening Boards of Management (BoM); and promoting child participation & protection;
2008 - 2016was a unique public-private partnership between Discovery Alliance and DFID implemented by Daraja in 80 complementary schools in the informal settlements of Nairobi. The project aimed at improving education opportunities for marginalized students in Nairobi County by increasing access, retention, and learning outcomes for students especially girls in targeted schools by empowering marginalized children, their families and their communities to overcome barriers to quality education.
2014 - 2016was part of the Kenya Essential Education Programme (KEEP), implemented by Daraja in partnership with Aga Khan Foundation in 151 complimentary schools in the informal settings in Nairobi ( Mukuru kwa Njenga, Huruma, Mathare, & Kibera), with funding from DFID/UKAID, the project was able to increase access to quality primary education by enrolling out of school children back to schools and ensuring that children at risk of dropping out of school were retained in school. The project also worked towards a) improving effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of school management in selected complementary schools in Nairobi informal settlements b) Facilitate environmental education in schools through the formation of environmental clubs.
2014 - 2016was an initiative of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) made possible by support from USAID. This project was implemented by Daraja in 184 schools within Mukuru, Huruma and Mathare slums of Nairobi. The project aimed at improving teaching and learning environments to increase learner competencies and performance in the informal settlements of Nairobi and to strengthen school management & leadership practices to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of primary schools in target districts. Strategies used include; professional development of teachers, community participation (Whole School Approach), and Education Management Information Systems (EMIS).
2011 - 2014Daraja was part of a 6-member collaborative convened by Uthabiti Africa to Create quality, affordable childcare for all young children especially in the informal settlements within main cities in Kenya. (Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu). Following months of concept design, Uthabiti Africa and World University Service of Canada (WUSC) conducted a series of stakeholder consultations in Nairobi in May and June 2020, culminating in a workshop in Nairobi on 7th June 2020. During this workshop, key stakeholders including ECD Network for Kenya, APHRC, Daraja, Kidogo, Tiny Totos, the Council of Governors, the Africa Women Studies Centre, KEFEADO and the County Government of Nairobi collaboratively identified 6 market barriers that are impeding growth of the childcare sector in Kenya: (1) insufficient coordination (2) inadequate financing for childcare initiatives (3) no systematic approach for workforce development (4) insufficient research and data on childcare (5) uninformed demand for quality childcare and (6) insufficient policy framework. Daraja has since then been focusing on county discussions to identify existing policy gaps as well as financing childcare sector. Preliminary discussions revealed that childcare policies were generally inactive or non-existent in the three counties visited and therefore this presented an opportunity for discussion with potential funders. It was also revealed that most caregivers in the informal settlements preferred day care services as opposed to leaving their children with neighbors or relatives. It was however clear that daycare services were expensive and inaccessible to some caregivers and that there was need to link daycare owners with skills and opportunities that would boost the spaces and also make them accessible for caregivers. Daraja and Uthabiti held discussions with UNICEF who agreed to fund Kisumu and Nairobi counties directly. Further still, Daraja and Kidogo are in discussions to collaborate in implementing an integrated franchising model that will not only ensure quality Care for the children but also boost the caregivers financially.