Grassroots organising in Kenya and Uganda

Exploring the complex relationships in the chain of protection

The research focused on the dynamics of organising by grassroots actors who are engaged in protection in Kenya (violence against children) and Uganda (sexual and gender-based violence). In the context of weak state support, grassroots and community-based actors as forms of public authority are important constituencies in the provision of services in the areas of protection against violence. Therefore, they collaborate with the state and other non-state actors in protection. They do, however, face challenges in terms of their capacity, and there are enduring power differentials between these actors and the state that have not received adequate attention in research.

Their relationship with the community is complex: they are simultaneously seen as part of the community but also as employees of the government.

When grassroots organisers collaborate with others in the chain of protection, there are fears that they will become co-opted into the agendas of these larger actors, or indeed will be forced to shoehorn their activities to fit into the workings of the NGOs and the state.

Objectives

• The research aimed to explore the lived experience of grassroots actors and their complex relationships with state and other non-state actors including the NGOs, in the chain of protection.
• It explored how these actors come to define their solidarities, and how they engage the unequal power relations in complex ways.
• The research aimed to show how such collaboration and interactions influence their grassroots orientation and their roles in protection.

Researchers

• 

  Dr Eliza Ngutuku| Lead researcher

  Dr Ngutuku is a CPAID researcher at the LSE Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa with a PhD in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her multidisciplinary work investigates children and young people’s lived experience of poverty, vulnerability, citizenship claims and sexual and reproductive health.

  Eliza is a scholar-activist with over 20 years of experience in research and practices on grassroots organising around child protection, and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Africa. She is an associate in the Centre for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights at the Makerere University School of Public Health in Kampala and its satellite centre at Lira University, Northern Uganda.

  Email: E.M.Ngutuku@lse.ac.uk

• 

  Dr Jacqueline Mutua | Co-researcher

  Dr Jacqueline Mutua is a Research Associate at Nascent Research and Development Organization and Lecturer and Program Leader for the Master of Leadership Studies at International Leadership University, Kenya. She has a PhD in Leadership (Public Governance) from the International Leadership University, Kenya. She has done research in the area of volunteerism and child protection.