Every Voice Matters: An Ushirikiano Mwema Kwa Usalama (UMKU) publication

"Ushirikiano Mwema kwa Usalama (UMKU) Project is the working name of the project submitted to and funded by the European Union which aims at fostering collaborative approaches by civil society as well as state actors to enhance political and socio-economic justice, non-violent conflict resolution, as well as good governance and rule of law. The name was chosen by members of the consortium since it resonates well with both the community and the police in terms of use of local language as well as building trust and relationships between communities and the police. Translated, it means “Better relationships for Safety/ Security”. The two year project which comes to a close in March 2020 was being Implemented by four consortium members, Peace Brigades International, Saferworld, Mathare Social Justice Centre and Ghetto Foundation. This unique combination of International organisations and local grassroots organisations brought together the various strengths of the different organisations to build a formidable team which was able to meet the intended objectives of the project. The four members of the consortium developed and fostered a collaborative working relationship which ensured the smooth running of operations within the project. The project areas covered by the project were Kamukunji, Mathare and Embakasi North Constituencies. The project was able to extensively build the capacity of Grassroots Human Rights Defenders (GHRDs) from the three project areas (Mathare, Kamukunji and Embakasi North) through trainings on topics such as documentation, human rights, participatory action research, digital security, advocacy and networking. This was also in form of equipping of justice centres involved in documentation of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) with computers and printers to be able to carry out the documentation exercise. The Human Rights Defenders also received psychosocial support to help them cope with the emotional toll, the documentation exercise takes on them. A total of 55 cases on extrajudicial killings were documented by the Human Rights Defenders. A key output of this project were the over 60 community dialogues and human rights education workshops within the project areas to engage communities on matters of EJKs and provide safe spaces for expression and learning. Here, community members were able to have candid conversations and recount their experiences related to extrajudicial killings and police brutality. The Human Rights workshops carried out within the project areas empowered community members in terms of information on their rights and steps to take if they feel violated. As a result of this, different members of these communities were able to narrate experiences where they had been confident engaging with the police when they had reports to make or any queries. The project also was able to train journalists from the mainstream and community media stations on conflict-sensitive reporting of EJKs in the informal urban settlements within Nairobi County in a bid to encourage balanced reporting on matters of extrajudicial killings. These conversations were followed up with a meeting with editors from the various media outlets. Editors were sensitised on the plight of victims of EJKs and the importance of giving space to articles on EJKs which may not be popular but essential in terms of shedding light on societal ills. Two successful speaker tours were carried out within the UMKU project in 2018 and 2019 in Brussels, Geneva, Berlin and London. This was to link the human rights work done in the project with international advocacy efforts as well as the UPR process for Kenya. A very crucial component of the project was on engagement with the police and court officials within the project areas so as to have a balanced overview of the subject matter on extrajudicial killings."