KENYA'S IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WOMEN'S JUSTICE AND

UNCLAS NAIROBI 005001

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

INL FOR AMBASSADOR CARL C. CUNDIFF

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID SNAR SOCI PGOV PHUM KE SF BN ZA
SUBJECT: KENYA'S IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WOMEN'S JUSTICE AND
EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE

REF: A. STATE 50186


B. NAIROBI 1819

C. STATE 163442

D. CUNDIFF-POST EMAIL 9/8/06

E. STATE 00178861

F. NAIROBI 4335


1. Summary: Post reiterates our firm commitment to
implementing the WJEI program in Kenya and looks forward to
implementing an effective initiative to bolster Kenya,s
capacity to combat violence against women. Post Mission
Planning Team (MPT),comprised of USAID, DOJ, RSO, Political,
and the Front Office, has reviewed the Assessment Team's
proposed activities (ref A),Post's response to that proposal
(ref B),and the Department's implementation guidance (refs C
and E). Based on this analysis, Post's plan, as requested in
ref C, is outlined below.


2. Post understands that, at this time, Washington's
preference is to accommodate a new full-time ICITAP as well
as a half time OPDAT position. While Post can proceed along
these lines, Post feels a duty to share an alternative
approach. Therefore, for Washington's consideration, this
cable includes proposed alternatives for reprogramming some
OPDAT personnel costs and outlines the advantages of the
proposed alternative, both in terms of programmatic impact,
expedited implementation, and security considerations.


3. There remains an urgent need to articulate an overall
WJEI Kenya strategy, develop an integrated design document
and collect baseline data expeditiously. These overarching
activities must be effectively accommodated to attain the
WJEI goal.


4. Under the leadership of the DCM, post will effectively
coordinate and implement the WJEI program. Post has outlined
critical initial activities. However, a specific timeline
will depend on staffing for the overall program. End Summary.

Securing Host Country Buy-In
--------------

5. Ref C paragraph 10 requests that Post continue to engage
host country governments to discuss expectations and desired
outcomes for WJEI. Post has not officially engaged the GOK
following the Joint Assessment Team Mission. Initially Post
awaited endorsement of its proposal (ref B),which
conceptualized a WJEI program based on the Joint Assessment
Team recommendations. Given the apparent gap between those
recommendations and Washington's priorities, Post did not
undertake further programmatic consultations. Consequently,
while Post has not formally engaged the GOK regarding a final
program, recent experiences suggest that a careful and
deliberate approach is the most appropriate. Of late, the GOK
has expressed concern about over saturation of training in
the criminal justice sector and the heavy commitment of time
of personnel from various agencies.

Outline for Care and Support and Awareness Components
-------------- --------------
As requested in Ref C paragraph 11, the strategic priorities
for care and support and awareness are outlined below.


6. Strategic Priority: Care and Support

Program Element 1: Provision of Care and Support Services

Objective: Create a friendly environment for the management
of victims of gender-based violence in the Kibera community
including rape management and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)
treatment at health facilities. Nairobi's Kibera area is the
largest slum in East Africa. If sufficient funding were
available, this project would expand services in Kibera and
extend them to Western Province, the most appropriate
province for future expansion of the program.

Strategy: To provide both specialized medical and
psychological treatment to victims of domestic violence and
sexual abuse. The activity will target women and children
victims of gender violence and offer emergency post-exposure
prophylaxis (PEP) services. Staff at health facilities and
community health workers will be trained and sensitized to
administer proper care to victims of gender-based violence
and facilitate the development of post-rape support groups.
This activity will further establish a training framework,
with the goal of bringing about behavioral change at the
community level and in health care facilities. One of the
desired residual impacts will be to strengthen linkages with
the police and the public awareness activity focused on

gender-based violence in communities. This activity will also
seek to assist in improving the capacity of community health
workers, institutions, and government agencies to address
sexual violence and offer treatment, referral, and supportive
services to survivors. In addition, this activity will link
to and work closely with organizations of people living with
AIDS in order to further strengthen support groups to deal
with their HIV status.

Budget Scenarios: Under a year one low-budget scenario
(USD400,000),essential services for care and support would
only be provided in the Kibera informal settlement area of
Nairobi. Under a higher-budget scenario (USD2,050,000),more
comprehensive services would be offered in Kibera and
extended to one province. Demographic and Health Survey data,
including information on gender-based violence, suggests that
Western Province, which has the highest rates of violence
against women in the country, would be the most appropriate
region for inclusion into the program.

Desired Output: Increased numbers of facility and community
health workers with the skills to provide medical and other
services to victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse,
and increased number of individuals participating in support
groups.

Outcome to be Measured: Number of victims receiving care and
support services. We expect to experience an ever-growing
demand for services, including critical medical services with
a special focus in obstetrics and gynecology. This would
measure the number of individuals receiving PEP and other
referral for other services such as family planning and STI
treatment.

Expected Long Term Impact: Create a friendly environment for
the management of victims of gender-based violence in the
community, including rape management and post-exposure
prophylaxis (PEP) treatment at health facilities.


7. Strategic Priority: Awareness

Program Element 1: Increasing Awareness

Objective: Increased public awareness of the importance of
combating gender-based violence and the availability of care
and support services.

Strategy: To increase awareness of gender-based violence and
victims, knowledge of how to access care and support
services in Kibera through an integrated media campaign and
community mobilization program. Implementation will be
sequenced in two phases.

Phase I ) Assessment and Awareness of Victims, Care and
Support Services

Phase 1 will begin with an assessment of gender-based
violence in Kibera. Data will be collected and analyzed to
assess all aspects of the issue including the current
attitudes towards gender-based violence; the presence and
effectiveness of community police and the access and
availability of victim care and support services; as well as
awareness of victims, rights under the newly enacted Sexual
Offences Act. The assessment results will serve two critical
functions. First, they will be the basis for designing the
content of the Phase II awareness component outlined below.
Second, the assessment will establish baseline data from
which targets will be identified to measure the impact of the
awareness component.

To ensure timely implementation of the overall WJEI program,
the first elements of the awareness campaign will commence
concurrently with the assessment activities. The initial
focus will be limited to increasing knowledge of the services
available for victims of gender-based violence and locations
where victims can access treatment (including information of
HIV/AIDS prevention).

Phase II )Awareness of Community Policing, Victims, Rights,
and Changing Attitudes towards Gender-based Violence

Under phase II, awareness activities will increase in scope
and depth. The scope will expand to publicize community
policing efforts, increase awareness of victims, rights
under the newly enacted Sexual Offences Act, and seek to
change the attitudes of targeted segments of the community
towards gender-based violence. Awareness activities would
have a comprehensive mass media campaign effectively

saturating the target audience with key messages. Moreover, a
civil society program would complement the media campaign by
integrating a community mobilization and individual behavior
change focus. Post would award two to five grants to local
organizations through a competitive process. These
organizations would design and implement programs that:

utilize community and school-based education and
information campaigns about the availability of medical and
legal services and the existence of community policing
programs aimed at redressing and preventing gender-based
violence;
address gender-based attitudes, relations and violence
that focus on men, particularly young men;
use community-wide meetings, knowledge-building
workshops, peer group discussions, and possibly theater/drama
to challenge gender inequities related to
gender-based violence; and
raise awareness though seminars and workshops with
students, parents, teachers, government officials, religious
leaders, and NGOs in relation to gender-based violence in
the work place and schools.

Such activities would incorporate young celebrity musicians
and athletes, as well as respected religious and political
leaders.

Budget Scenarios: With funding levels of USD950,000 Phase I
and Phase II would be sequenced, but both would begin in year
one. Under a lower budget scenario, with a budget of
USD400,000, awareness activities in the first year would be
limited to those outlined in Phase I. Simultaneous with the
assessment, the implementation of the initial awareness
campaign will begin. A more limited radio and print mass
media campaign will be utilized and there will be no
complementary civil society element in year one. Phase II
activities will begin in year two applying the same approach
outlined in the high budget scenario.

Outputs to be Measured: An integrated multi-media awareness
campaign addressing gender-based violence.

Desired Outcome: Increased awareness of the levels of
gender-based violent crime in Kibera, increased awareness of
key provisions of the Sexual Offenses Act, increased
awareness of community policing efforts as well as increased
awareness of medical services available to victims of
gender-based violence.

Expected Long Term Impact: An increase in the percentage of
gender-based violent crimes reported in Kibera and an
increase in the number of Kibera residents, who have been
victims of gender-based violence, seeking care and support.
At the higher level of funding, over time, Post would also
expect to realize a decrease in the number of gender-based
violence offences committed in Kibera.

Proposal for Reallocation of Budget for
Additional OPDAT Personnel
--------------


9. While Post would accommodate Washington's preference for
a 50 percent OPDAT RLA, as noted in ref F, Post reiterates
its proposal to use OPDAT staff/expertise on a TDY basis
rather than engage a 50 percent RLA. This recommendation is
grounded in our desire to optimize program impact, our
ability to maximize existing personnel and programmatic
economies of scale, and office space and security constraints
that limit the number of additional full-time/PCS staff that
post can accommodate.


10. If the budget to support additional personnel were
reprogrammed for technical assistance and training, the WJEI
program activities would gain, conservatively, USD300,000.
This additional savings would translate into the following
tangible gains for the program:

An additional 30 specialized training programs for up
20 prosecutors, per year. Each of these programs would be 3-4
days in length. These costs would include those incurred
for procuring experts who would serve as instructors as well
as acquiring equipment like video cameras to assist in
skills development.
The training sessions will be critical in that Police
Prosecutors (lay prosecutors),who prosecute 90 percent of
the criminal cases in Kenya and virtually all of the
crimes that would be the focus of the WJEI program, will be
incorporated into these training sessions. The lay

prosecutors are roughly 4-5 times the number of the
professional prosecutors of the Department of Public
Prosecutions (DPP).
These additional 30 programs would be essential in
skills development, which in turn would have a direct and
measurable impact on the ability of the prosecutors to
assess evidence and effectively prosecute cases.
More intensely and comprehensively trained prosecutors
will be more effective in using the judicial system to
protect the rights of women victims, i.e., seeking
protective orders to safeguard victims.
The additional training will translate to 25-35 percent
increase in successful prosecutions in the designated region
of focus.
Finally, the additional funding can be used to build
the DPP,s institutional capacity (i.e., the development of a
database that would track prior offenders and prior
case dispositions) to effectively and efficiently deal with
rape cases.


11. Not only do we believe it is advantageous to the WJEI
objectives to redirect the current budget towards technical
assistance and training, but Post is concerned that the
estimated personnel budgets submitted may be conservative.
The OPDAT proposed budget raises several concerns:

Do costs associated with post differential, cost of
living adjustment, office furniture, IT equipment, etc. need
to be added to the budget?
Is ICASS under budgeted? Post estimates increasing the
ICASS costs by USD5,000 based on projected FSN salary
increments.
Has transportation been adequately considered? Given
Post's critical threat status for both crime and terrorism
and current motor pool constraints, a vehicle
and driver would need to be budgeted.

Thus, we are concerned that already scarce technical
assistance and training budgets could be further depleted if
a new OPDAT half-time RLA was assigned to Nairobi.


12. Post appreciates the valid concern regarding the current
RLA funding source. Post reassures Washington that CT is our
first priority as reflected in our MPP. We would not suggest
the current RLA cover the WJEI portfolio if we felt there was
a significant risk that his involvement would diminish his
effectiveness in Post's CT initiatives. Three factors
support our position: the overlapping nature of the training
needed for successful rape prosecutions; the current USAID
support to professionalize prosecution, and the ability to
tap OPDAT expertise when needed on a short-term basis.


13. First, the current reality in Kenya is that, whether CT
or other criminal activity, effective prosecution requires
basic training in prosecutorial skills as a first step. For
that reason, while CT-centered, the current RLA has been
authorized to focus on the development of these basic
prosecutorial skills. The bulk of the current RLA,s work
therefore has been to identify the gaps in training and to
design effective training programs to fill those gaps. As we
conceptualize the OPDAT component of the WJEI program, ninety
percent of the first year training will focus on the very
same basic skills.


14. The current RLA,s proposal for skills training for
2006-07, highlights the necessity to incorporate police
prosecutors into the training programs to truly be effective.
Under the WJEI objectives, it will be also be essential to
ensure that police prosecutors receive this basic training
since they would be handling more than 50 percent of the
criminal prosecutions on behalf of the DPP. Thus at the
current stage of the WJEI initiative, its goals are virtually
identical to those being pursued by the current RLA at Post.
No new training designs for basic prosecutorial skills are
necessary. In addition, current work plans which outline this
basic training by USAID/OPDAT for the year 2006-07 have been
reviewed an approved by the DPP and the GOK.


15. Second, USAID currently manages a program to
professionalize public prosecutions, which pre-dates the
OPDAT program. USAID employs a rule of law advisor to
oversee this assistance and has established a Program
Coordination Unit within the DPP. This unit is equipped to
provide support to USG activities and will be fully engaged
with the WJEI related training activities. Thus, we can
ensure that the current RLA is not inundated with
programmatic responsibilities for the WJEI activities.


16. Third, for the additional 10 percent of training and
other specific activities related to the DPP and gender-based
violence, Post can and will reach out to OPDAT specialists on
a short-term basis.

Given these factors, Post feels confident that involvement
with the WJEI activities will not be substantial or dilute
the current OPDAT RLA,s efforts on CT initiatives.


17. In addition to having the staff to manage the DPP work,
Post also reiterates its concern on overall staffing
increases. Post currently has a number of pending NSDD-38
requests. It is clear the New Embassy Compound does not have
the physical capacity to accommodate all of these new
positions. In fact, the resident RLA and DOJ FSN waited six
months for the assignment of permanent dedicated office
space. The current assignment of a single block of space
will have to be subdivided for the RLA and the program FSN.


18. In summary, given scarce resources available to the WJEI
program, programmatic benefits of realigning resources, the
correlation between current program support to prosecutors
and that proposed under WJEI, and the space and security
constraints on staffing levels, Post strongly recommends the
operation of the prosecution component under the current
staffing structure.

Additional Design and M&E Activities
Not Addressed in Specific Components
--------------


19. Post feels a well-integrated WJEI proposal was submitted
in April. However, now four separate program descriptions
(police, prosecution, care and support, and awareness) exist.
Going forward, we will require significant flexibility from
Washington to the field to develop the details of an
integrated and effective program if we are going to have
measurable results in three years. Two activities, not
specifically identified in any current component proposals,
must happen immediately. First, a strategy and design
document is critical. A strategy that reintegrates the
component parts and articulates the cumulative impact of the
program must be drafted. Given the importance of time, this
document should also include a design for integrating all
component (police, prosecution, awareness, and support)
activities in Kibera and obtaining GOK bu-in. Second,
baseline data must be collected. Post cannot overstate the
need to collect credible baseline data in order to monitor
and evaluate performance under the initiative. While each of
the components addresses some specific monitoring and
evaluation needs, there is a critical need for baseline data
that will measure the overall impact of the WJEI program. It
will be essential to collect the following statistical data,
or reliable proxies, for Kibera:

men's perception of gender-based violence;
levels of knowledge of victim's rights under the Sexual
Offences Act;
the level of knowledge of care and support services
available to support victims and the perceptions of such
services;
the level of awareness of community policing efforts
and the perceptions of these community police officers;
the number of rapes perpetrated in Kibera;
the number of rapes reported to police;
the number of reported rape cases investigated by the
police;
the number of investigations completed;
the number of cases opened by the prosecutors;
the number of cases the victims declined to pursue;
the cases filed in court;
the number of cases reaching final judgment; and
the number of victims, resident in Kibera, receiving
emotional and physical support from Kenyatta National
Hospital.

Once a baseline survey is completed, Post Mission Planning
Team, chaired by the DCM, will identify performance targets
for each year of the program for presentation to Washington.
This survey will be conducted on an annual basis.


20. Unfortunately, the question of how such overarching
activities will be funded is unclear. Given the evolution of
this program, funding was allocated per individual
components, rather than for the overall initiative. There
will be ongoing elements of the program that are cross
cutting. We urge Washington to consider future funding for
such activities. While Post is agnostic as to what Agency

budget these funds are allocated to, we feel that recognition
of the importance of such funds is critical for program
success.


21. For the three activities identified above, Post suggests
the following approach. A lead consultant, with expertise in
program design in this field, be contracted to work with
representatives from all Agencies to draft the strategy and
design documents. Post estimates such a consultancy would
require four weeks in the field and cost approximately
USD60,000. Post suggests that funding from the Care and
Support component be utilized for this purpose. The initial
baseline survey will likely cost approximately USD75,000 -
USD150,000. Post suggests that this be funded by the
Awareness Component, since this information will be vital to
developing an effective awareness campaign. If additional
resources are not identified in the future, the Post suggests
that the annual survey be funded by other components in the
second and third year of the program.

WJEI Mission Management, Coordination and Timelines
-------------- --------------


22. Post welcomes Washington's request for a statement
defining Post's intended management structure of the program
as well as initial responsibilities, initial activities, and
timeline as outlined in Reftel C, paragraph 11. The Mission
Planning Team, comprised of USAID, DOJ, RSO, Political, and
the Front Office will immediately initiate monthly meetings
chaired by the DCM. The DCM will assign roles and
responsibilities as they arise. Initial responsibilities
will include assigning a Coordinator and Team Leaders. A
WJEI Coordinator will be responsible for overall program
coordination and will report on the program directly to the
DCM. This individual will oversee development of the
integrated WJEI strategy and ensure overall program
monitoring and evaluation to assess the impact of the WJEI
program. The DCM will also designate three Team Leaders for
the program components: Care and Support, Legal/Judicial, and
Awareness. These individuals will oversee implementation of
the various components. They will also be responsible for
reporting on program progress and will work with the
Coordinator to ensure compliance with all reporting
requirements.

23. Initial activities will include:

1. Develop an integrated strategy and design for the
integrated Kibera program.

2. Develop SOW and award contract for baseline data
collection.

3. Award contract for Phase I awareness activities.

4. Develop effective strategy to integrate police
and DPP prosecution elements.


24. The question of a timeline will depend on Washington's
decision on Post staffing. Given the importance of
evidencing impact under this Presidential Initiative Post
feels the need to be candid. If Post's experience is the
most reliable indicator, implementation would be delayed
significantly if new ICITAP and/or OPDAT staff were
designated to implement this program.


25. Utilizing current staff and one immediate virtual team
member for ICITAP, Post feels that the two activities,
identified above, could commence immediately with the fourth
occurring in January. However, Post is not able to outline a
concrete timeline for any police assistance without further
consultations with ICITAP. This will also affect the
timeline for implementing Kibera activities that integrate
health workers, police, and prosecutors.

26. Post trusts that this plan provides Washington with a
road map of how we propose to move forward with the WJEI
program. We look forward to your response and any queries
you may have in the near future.
RANNEBERGER