About CEDGG – CEDGG

Centre for Enhancing Democracy and Good Governance (CEDGG) is a non-political advocacy civil society organisation that works to empower vulnerable and marginalized citizens to claim their rights in local development and governance processes.

History

The Centre for Enhancing Democracy and Good Governance (CEDGG) was founded in 1995 by Mr. Charles Kamuren and other human rights defenders from the Endorois community in then Baringo District. It was first formed as a Community Based Organization to advocate for socio-economic rights of the marginalised groups and ethnic minorities in Baringo and Koibatek districts. However, with time, due to the greater needs of the bigger Rift Valley region and opportunities for driving a change and accountability agenda, it expanded its work to other districts.

Operations

We have a strong programme presence in seven counties in the former Rift Valley region namely: Nakuru, Baringo, Kericho, Laikipia, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot and Turkana.

The core problem that we seek to address in society is the low capacity of the marginalised and vulnerable groups to engage with and participate in the decision-making processes around the constitutional reform agenda and the development process in general.

Work

Our work is centered around 2 thematic areas:

Human Rights & Access to Justice

CEDGG promotes respect for human rights and dignity by ensuring that the rights of the vulnerable and marginalized communities are respected, protected, fulfilled and their justice is guaranteed.

The Nakuru Legal Aid Centre set up by CEDGG with Support from the European Union through the UNDP –Amkeni Wakenya Project under the PLEAD Program, seeks to facilitate provision of legal aid to the marginalized to enable them to engage meaningfully with legal processes.

Governance & Devolution

Governance and Devolution employs an advocacy strategy that ensures policies, laws and priority development initiatives are in favour of these vulnerable and marginalized people in both the counties and national government. The objective of the programme is to promote participatory issue-based decision-making processes in both the national and devolved government programmes within seven counties.

Work

Our work is centered around 2 thematic areas:

Human Rights & Access to Justice

We have established ourselves as an avant-garde civic education provider and capacity-building organization in the democracy, governance and human rights sector in target counties.

The organization enjoys support from local government agencies and a wide network of Civil Society Organization (CSOs) from this region. Collaboration with these institutions has often resulted in greater synergies that ensure minimal replication and maximum realization of results.

Moreover, the organization has established a number of issue-based citizen/CSOs networks across the target counties. These networks are integral in undertaking continued civic education and spearheading community advocacy efforts to address governance issues as may arise from time to time.

Governance & Democracy

On the governance front, CEDGG is a pioneer and leader in social accountability work where we have successfully facilitated local communities to participate in county budget processes as well as monitor service delivery using various tools such as social audits, participatory budget analysis, and community scorecards.

Through our human rights and access to justice program, CEDGG plays host to the Nakuru County Human Rights Defenders Network. The network has been instrumental in supporting survivors of human rights violations through documentation/reporting and referrals of cases to oversight institutions such as the Office of the Ombudsman, Kenya National Commission for Human Rights and local Court Users Committee.

With the support from UNDP, we have established a model legal aid clinic in Nakuru town. The Nakuru Legal Aid Center has been instrumental in providing free legal advice to the victims of human rights violations in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic i.e. Preparation of court documents for online filing, self-representation coaching, case tracking services and promotion of alternative dispute resolution.

Our Vision

A society that respects protects and promotes the rights of vulnerable and marginalized people.

Our Mission

To develop the capacity of marginalized and vulnerable communities in Kenya to demand, adopt and implement sustainable best practices in democratic good governance through advocacy, information dissemination, research and networking.

Our Values

Professional excellence.

Teamwork.

Tolerance.

Social justice.

Integrity.

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