The Civic Voices Project

Enhancing Inclusivity and Access in Public Participation through Tech


Inclusive and meaningful public participation has been a challenge to achieve in Kenya, resulting into a steep income inequality where less than 0.1% of the population (8,300people) own more wealth than the bottom 99.9% (more than 44 million people),and the richest 10% earn on average 23 times more than the poorest 10%.

In a country where distribution of public good and resources is by law determined through public participation and only 9.7% of its population can access and meaningfully engage in public participation, bills, policies and development initiatives proposed, fail to address the needs of the poor majority, favoring instead those with power and resources. Rural and urban poor are running into deeper poverty, public resources are lost in billions per year in run-away unaccountability and resource-based conflict is brewing every day.

SAD REALITY: Less than 0.1% of the Kenyan population (8,300 people) own more wealth than the bottom 99.9% (more than 44 million people), and the richest 10% earn on average 23 times more than the poorest 10%. Only 9.7% of Kenya's adult population can access and meaningfully engage in public participation.

The Civic Voices Project is working to create a future where every voice is represented in the distribution of public good, and every Kenyan has an equal chance to maximize public resources as tools out of poverty, develop, grow and prosper. It is doing this by digitizing public participation through Civic Voices, an intuitive and easy-to-use mobile platform for public participation.

By digitizing public participation, we aim to complement traditional means, to achieve greater reach with public participation information, more inclusive public engagements, more informed public decision-making based on real public opinion, and easy follow up and accountability at low costs.

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Through the Civic Voices platform, citizens can indiscriminately access information on public participation, learn about proposed policies, laws and development initiatives, and submit their views on them as required. While traditionally disadvantaged communities, including youth, women, people with disabilities and marginalized communities are empowered to meaningfully participate, duty bearers are enabled to make informed decisions based on real public opinion.

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“Digitalization is one of the greatest transformative opportunities of our time. Amid multiple crises – prompted by conflict, climate shocks, COVID-19 fallout -- digital technologies continue to keep people, governments, and businesses connected. In developing countries, they have an enormous potential to drive green, resilient, and inclusive development..”

The World Bank

Digital Development Forum 2022.

The Journey

To date, the Civic Voices platform has undergone testing rounds, gathered and incorporated input, built partnerships and developed to create a mobile platform that best serves the needs of citizens and duty bearer in public participation, in the simplest and most effective way. Here are the highlights.

First Testing
First prototype completed for testing with 50 users in March 2021, after 4 months of development. Inputs collected and improvements incorporated.

Based on the first design, testing focused on inclusion of core features for public participation and usability.

Second Testing
A second round of user testing was carried out, with incorporation from the first testing round.

The testing round focused on efficiency of system processes, streamlining of user design and compatibility with operating systems.

Demonstration in Senate
In July 2022, the Civic Voices platform was demonstrated at the Senate of Kenya.

The demonstration focused getting buy-in of the senate and collecting views to improve the working of the platform from a duty-bearer perspective and align platform systems to parliamentary needs.

Selected for HiiL Accellerator
In July 2022, Civic Voices was selected to the Hague Institute for Innovation in Law East African Justice Entrepreneurship School.

The school and network helped played a critical role in streamlining organizational and operational priorities for best stakeholder value.

Built Partnerships
Partnership building is a continuous process at the Civic Voices Project, with both organizations and communities.

Partnership and collaboration is at the core of our work. We believe that meaningful public participation is a shared responsibility which can only be achieved when we all come together.

County Roll Out
The Civic Voices Project has gained partnership with Nairobi City County for digitized public participation.

The partnership will be pivotal in gaining critical lessons for scaling in other counties in Kenya.

Our goal is to makes public participation easier, more inclusive and more effective.

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Partners

IRI LogoNairobi County LogoHague Institute of Innovation in Law logoFriedrich Ebert Stiftung logo
USAID LogoYALI LCEA LogoKenyatta University logoCenter for Multiparty Democracy Kenya logo

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