Governor Mung’aro At Maono

This week was massive for us at Maono and the community of Changemakers we host! We were delighted to welcome H.E Gideon Maitha Mung’aro, OGW, the Governor of Kilifi County, together with his team, notably Lynn Farah, the Chief Officer for Trade and Acting Chief officer for the Office of the Governor and Chief Lerine, Chief Officer for ICT and E-Government. He had primarily come to receive data on all health facilities and education centres collected by the Open Institute, as well as data on all businesses across the County, collected by change-makers and the County Department for trade. Importantly, he was familiarised with what Maono is and he met with young change-makers with whom he engaged on various issues, ranging from governance, youth involvement, waste management and peace and security.

We had two major highlights of his visit – the first one is his commitment to banning muguka in Kilifi, after watching ‘Story Za Jaba’ docu-film co-produced by Maono and Thellesi Trust on the effects of muguka on women in Kilifi. “I will ban muguka in this County. It is ruining our children,” stressing that, “there is no room for muguka and education in Kilifi County. One has to go!” He promised to make his pronouncement on the matter soon as after Easter. The second highlight when he committed to “employ a young individual from Maono CBO consortium to serve as liaison between the County and the change-makers.” This was in response to a question about how best youth leaders would reach him. He appreciated this idea as he saw it as a way to have better coordination of activities between his administration and youths. The Governor was impressed by the quality of conversations and how young people are organising, saying “I had said I would be having such open forums with citizens from next year but with the way this one has gone, I think I will bring it sooner.”

This visit by the County’s highest office is the climax of our first quarter of this year! In just 3 months, we have hosted: the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and their partners (more than 20 large Civil Society Organisations), The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA), Hon Yaye Soshi who is the County Executive Committee Member for Public Service, Special Programmes and Disaster Management, as well as several other important people drawn from both the government and development sector. They all engaged with leaders and members of various civil society and community based organisations that we host here.

Community based organisations and organisers (we call them community change-makers) are best placed to effect change in their communities. In a real way, they are of the people, by the people and for the people. Since they experience the community’s challenges first hand, they can articulate them more clearly. These change-makers play a crucial role in helping community members get involved in getting their area better. They provide citizens with knowledge, tools, courage and support to actively engage in public process.

We believe that when local changemakers are supported and well-equipped, they stand a better chance of achieving their goals and causing real change. To this end, not only do we provide a physical location where changemakers can do their work, but we also cultivate an environment that fosters collaboration and innovation. This includes fostering connections among the Change-makers themselves, journalists, creatives and other key stakeholders. Additionally, we facilitate partnerships with the government, larger Civil Society Organisations and donors. We recognise that all these entities are partners working towards the same mission: to improve society’s well being.

We shall continue to bring more people to engage with our local change-makers. We never get tired of hosting guests over a cup of tea and Swahili snacks. If you have not been here, we welcome you. We are based in Malindi, Kilifi County, in Kenya. If you have been here, do come again.

We would also like to wish you Happy Easter Holidays! 

Enjoy!