I. Introduction

The main objective of this article is to discuss the role that civil society has played in educational development in Kenya in the wake of limited state budgets for education. The significance of civil society as well as its limitations in mobilising funds for educational programmes will be analysed. The paper begins with a critical conceptualisation of civil society in relation to Kenya. It then proceeds to a general and specific discussion of the areas in which civil society has contributed to educational development. Finally, the limitations of "civil society" as an actor in social development are highlighted.

II. Conceptualising Civil Society

The concept of civil society has gained prominence in relation to the dynamics of African political and economic structures, especially from the 1980s. It is usually used to refer to the emergence of new patterns of political and social participation outside of formal state structures (Bratton 1989). The prominence of civil society as an alternative development discourse in Africa is linked to western neo-liberal thinking that considers the one- party state and its machineries as hindrance to political, economic and social transformation. Civil society organisations are, in this regard, seen to be better to accumulate and allocate resources than the government. They are also seen as a kind of buffer against the oppressive state. This thinking about what civil society in Africa constitutes is closely related to the liberal economic reforms and other donor conditionalities that African countries have been forced to implement. One of the conditions was that development aid and policy could be channelled and implemented by non-state, non-individual institutions, in order to deny the state the resources it had misused for patronage purposes at the expense of democracy and development.

In practical terms, what constitutes a "civil society" is varied. In essence, civil society refers to an arena of varied social movements and civic organisations. What define civil society are the common political and economic interests that are pursued. Hence, civil society associations include trade unions, NGOs, women’s associations, professional associations, youth groups, self-help groups, religious societies and the like. All these associations are generally networks for mobilising social and economic capital for development, relatively independently of the state.

Given the above conceptualisation, it is obvious that civil societies in Africa did not emerge with the advent of neo-liberal economic reforms. A feature of the nascent African working class populations in the urban areas during the colonial period was their organisation into ethno-political associations. Such associations were important in advancing the interests of their members and, in more instances, in catapulting their members to political positions. The associations also provided social and economic safety-nets to their members during periods of adversity. The difference between civil society then and now lies in the expanded mandate of today’s associations in that they are not merely supplementing the state, but in most instances, have replaced it in the provision of social service. In a sense, they behave as governments. It is within this context that we now turn to an examination of the extent to which civil society has contributed to educational development in Kenya.

III. The Role of Civil Society in Education Provision in Kenya

Strictly speaking, self-help and other civil society contributions to educational development in Kenya predate the current clamour for the same. Before and immediately after independence, the development of primary education was the responsibility of the community represented by parents associations and the churches. These associations mobilised funds for buildings, teaching materials, equipment and furniture. In terms of secondary school education, the Harambee (‘let us pull together’) movement, with private or local funding, was instrumental in building Harambee secondary schools, furnishing them and employing teachers. By 1983, the Harambee schools had contributed 49.6% of secondary school provision outside the Central Government (Lillis and Ayot 1988).

Ideally, much of the educational expansion that Kenya achieved in the first two decades of independence can be attributed to the investments made by community organisations and churches. And although they were not referred to as civil society then, it is important to point out that they constituted just that in terms of current terminology. Such private financial commitments resulted in Kenya achieving 95% Gross enrolment rate in primary education by 1989 (Republic of Kenya 1996).

The downturn in primary education development that Kenya has faced from 1985 to date may partly be attributed to policies that the government introduced later that led to greater centralisation and control of the education sector by the central government. Part of these policies were the centralisation of primary school management through District Education Boards (DEBs), and government involvement in putting up schools, providing instructional materials, paying teachers’ salaries and taking care of operational costs (Abagi 1997). In doing this, the aim of the government was to equalise the provision of quality primary education to all parts of the country. This was to be done through equal and affirmative distribution of resources for education. While the intentions of the government were positive, it ended up alienating private resources for education that were coming from communities and churches. Communities, in particular, started to develop an attitude that considered primary school as the responsibility of the government except in the provision of school uniforms for their children, which they took as their responsibility. The Church’s role was also reduced to that of sponsor, with no mandatory responsibility of financing educational development. It is the view of this article that whereas the government’s intentions were genuine, resources that were being committed to educational development got reduced.

In the short term, the government’s move had a positive impact. The number of primary schools increased throughout the country and many children who could not have had a chance to enrol in primary school now got a chance. As has been indicated, by 1989 Kenya had achieved a primary school gross enrolment ratio of 95%. In the long term, however, the government could not afford to continue financing primary school development, given the realities of increased social demand, and high rates of population growth on the one hand, and contracting central government budgets on the other. It is within this context that, from 1988, civil society, with government encouragement got more engaged in the development of education through cost-sharing. While the government provides for teachers’ salaries, curriculum development and inspection, resources from communities and other civil organisations are used to put up classrooms, buy teaching and learning materials and underwrite other indirect costs of education.

Since the aim of this article is to analyse the contribution of civil society to education, an analysis of the percentage of non-government resources to educational development is imperative. In the proceeding section, an analysis of such investments in the areas of early Childhood Education (ECED), primary education, and non-formal education is done. The three are meant to be illustrative of how instrumental civil society organisations have been in educational development in Kenya. The three sectors are also crucial components in the achievement of Basic Education for All (BEFA).

IV. Civil Society and the Provision of ECED

Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED) is a crucial component of any development process. This is in as far as such education takes care of the socialisation and total development of the young. This forms the foundation of children’s later educational achievement. However, compared with other sectors of education in Kenya, ECED, has over the years received the least financial support from the central government.

To fill the vacuum left by the central government, the Ministry of Education has adopted a policy of partnership, which allows the participation of various partners in the establishment, financing and management of ECED centres throughout the country. The encouragement of such partnerships has meant that civil society organisations operating outside the central government have a majority stake in the development of this sector. As a policy requirement, all primary schools in Kenya are supposed to have a unit for ECED. Such units are financed by local communities, in terms of the construction of facilities and payment for teachers. Other organisations that have been instrumental in the provision of ECED include the parents associations, local authorities, religious organisations, welfare organisations, private firms and private individuals. All these constitute a wide array of civil society associations who have been key in the development of the sector.

To appreciate the extent of civil society involvement in ECED, it is worth noting that they have been key to the provision of physical facilities, training of pre-school teachers and their remuneration. They also provide learning materials. The central government’s role here is just co-ordination. In monetary terms, table 1 below summarises the amount of money that some civil society associations have committed to this sector.

Table 1. Civil society financial contributions to ECED
Organisation                                            Amount (K. Shs.)
Action Aid-Kenya AgaKhan Foundation African Housing Fund Catholic Relief Services CARE Kenya AMREF	31,300,000.00 55,000,000.00 44,302,500.00 14,059,688.00 19,422,570.00 11,300,000.00
SOURCE: Republic of Kenya. (2000)

V. Civil Society and the Provision of Primary Education

As has been noted elsewhere in this article, there has been a long tradition of community and church support in the primary education sector. Since 1988, with the introduction of cost-sharing in education, these responsibilities have widened and the number of civil society players increased. For the record, it should be noted that the central government currently allocates 50% of its education budget to primary education. Out of this, 90% goes towards the payment of teachers’ salaries. This leaves only 10% for development expenditure, money that is inadequate to finance a quality primary schooling process.

To cushion central government deficits, various civil society organisations have come into play. For purposes of illustration and estimation of their contributions, this article briefly reviews some of these civil associations, along with their areas of operation.

The first contributors towards education are the communities and community associations. Often the resources that communities contribute through parent-teacher associations, both directly and indirectly, are captured as household resources. Directly, households pay for physical and tuition facilities. Indirectly, they pay for uniforms and other related non-teaching materials. A survey done in 1997 indicated that households were meeting 95% of primary school recurrent expenditure, in the form of textbooks, stationery, furniture, school uniforms, examination fees, transport and meals (Abagi 1997). This is an enormous subsidy to public primary education from private funds.

The second group of civil society associations is the religious groups and NGOs. These have been instrumental in the provision of facilities and resources to primary schools in marginal areas of the country. Such areas include slums, and the Arid and Semi-Arid districts of the country. Within the Kariobangi slums of Nairobi, ActionAid-Kenya, provides school facilities and learning materials to four primary schools, viz., Korogocho, Maruru, Ngunyumu and Baba Dogo. The Christian Children’s Fund has similar projects in Samburu. In Embu, Plan International and Compassion International operate similar projects. In Kajiado and Baringo, the Semi-Arid Developments Programme (SARDEP) operates. These are just a few of the civil society organisations. It is important to note that besides providing school facilities, all these organisations have adopted a holistic approach, where nutrition and community income-generating projects are initiated to ensure sustainability. Secondly, projects encourage partnerships with local community organisations to ensure a rich interface of civil society networking in primary education provision.

Lastly, there has been a significant individual private investment in primary education in Kenya. By 1998, there were 242 private primary schools in Kenya, amounting to 2% of the total number of primary schools (Republic of Kenya 1999). Given that private schools do not receive any subsidies from the central government, they form a significant civil society contribution to primary education in Kenya.

VI. Civil Society and the Provision of Non-Formal Education

Non-formal education refers to a range of educationally specific activities which fall outside the formal school system. Programmes within this category include non-formal basic education, vocational training and skill improvement courses. Other related programmes in this category are political and trade union education and various kinds of educational activities linked with development initiatives such as agricultural extension and training programmes and health education. Non-formal programmes are important to the development of a country like Kenya. Given the high levels of poverty coupled with the fact that some groups such as pastoralists occupy economically marginal areas, these forces create conditions that make it difficult for children to access the formal school system. Non-formal programmes therefore provide the recipients a second chance of achieving literacy and basic learning needs.

Like other education and social service programmes, NFE programmes have suffered from the effects of budget cutbacks. In fact government financial allocations to this sector have been negligible as the sector attracts little political clout in government circles.

The role of the government in the provision of non-formal education has basically been that of co-ordination and advice (Republic of Kenya 2000). This means that in actual practice, the government has not been involved in establishing non-formal schools and the remuneration of staff. Consequently, the sector has been perceived as peripheral in the education set up by policy makers, educationists and researchers in the education sector. It is because of this that individuals, communities and organisations (civil society) have taken a lead in providing non-formal education programmes. Information on the number of schools, their exact location and cash outlays committed by civil society to this sector is, however, not readily available. This has been due to the unattractiveness of the sector to educational researchers, the ephemeral nature of the schools, and the fact that being outside the established formal system of education, the sector is not accounted for in the statistics of the Ministry of Education (Thompson 2001).

The civil society organisations involved in the development of non-formal education are varied. In urban centres, churches and NGOs cater for the education of street children and youth, poor urban children and pregnant girls. In poor rural and pastoralist communities, community-based organisations (CBOs), churches and NGOs provide a variety of the programmes. The importance of these civil society initiatives to development can be appreciated from the package of activities in the various centres. The activities include:

i) Rehabilitation programmes which aim at settling the street and other disadvantaged children; provision of shelter, meals, health, guidance and counselling;

ii) An educational programme which offers academic subjects;

iii) Skills training programme which offers practical and vocational training that develops skills in knitting, carpentry, metal work and home science;

iv) A socialisation programme which deals with the inculcation of appropriate socio-cultural and moral values, norms and attitudes (Achola 1998).

The four components above are important in national development. They therefore are indicative of the role that civil society has played in achieving national development goals. A survey carried out in the urban centres of Kisumu, Mombasa and Nairobi shows that over 80% of the informal centres are provided by civil society organisations. Table 2 shows the owners and proprietors of NFLE centres in the three urban areas.

Table 2. Owners and proprietors of NFLE centers, 2001
Town	L.A.1	Church	Muslim	Community	Government		Group4	Individuals	Total
					DAE2	MIN3
Kimusu Mombasa Nairobi TOTAL	1 1 2	4 2 12 18	1 1 - 2	14 10 8 32	1 1 2 4	1 2 - 3	1 3 6 10	2 4 6 12	24 24 35 83
SOURCE: Thompson (2001)
Notes:	1L.A. = Local Authority
	2DAE = Department of Adult Education
	3MIN = Ministry of Home Affairs
	4Group= Includes NGOs, CBOs, women's groups, school communities, and Board of Governors

Table 2 is illustrative of the fact that provision of NFE in Kenya, especially in the urban centres, is largely a civil society affair. This is illustrated by the fact that in the three urban centres studied, central government agencies, that is, Department of Adult Education and the Ministry, had only seven centres. All the other centres were initiatives of a broad consortium of civil society associations. These ranged from local authorities, churches, and women groups, to school communities.

The work of civil society in NFE is that of providing literacy and advocacy to the marginalised groups in the form of civil education. This has emerged out of the realisation that literacy – defined as reading, writing and numeracy – is too restrictive, may create new forms of elitist exclusivism, and may not be empowering sufficiently. Instead, civil society organisations in Kenya have adopted an approach where the development of people’s abilities to express their needs and make choices is critical. This approach looks at learning to read and write as a means not an end in itself. The association of this kind of education with forms of liberation and empowerment makes the government shy away from its provision, even if funds were to be available. Such a fear stems from the fact that a literate and informed population can challenge the legitimacy of the incumbent government. This is what has necessitated the prominence of civil society organisations in NFE programmes.

VII. Limitations Faced by Civil Society in the Provision of Education for Development

 

Although civil society has actively participated in educational development in Kenya, the level of its participation faces certain limitations. Two of these limitations are key to the concerns of this article.

First, civil society works within the framework of central government co-ordination. This often implies that matters of curriculum design and supervision are left to the government. Civil society is in most cases welcome to give financial support only. This limits their space to mount programmes they think may be more transformative and empowering for the communities they deal with. This has especially been the case with civic education programmes.

Two, most financially endowed civil society associations are still urban and elite-based. In some instances, civil associations take ethnic cleavages. This denies most rural communities and certain ethnic groups the much-needed funds for the development of their schools. In essence, therefore, civil society activities end up creating social polarities, which they set to address in the first place.

VIII. Conclusions

Despite the limitations, civil society has been able to fill the gap left by the government in education development in Kenya. An analysis of the three sectors above reveals that funds from civil society for the development of education account for 70% of the development budgets of some education sectors. This in sense is an enormous contribution to the development process.

References

Abagi, O. 1997. Public and private investment in primary education in Kenya: An agenda for action. Institute of Policy Analysis and Research. Nairobi, Kenya.

Achola, P. P. W. 1998. The activities and performance of initiatives targeting wastage in primary education in Kenya: Some observations from evaluation studies. Paper presented at a staff seminar of the World Bank, Washington, D.C.

Bratton, M. 1989. Beyond the State: Civil society and associational life in Africa. World Politics 41 (3): 407-30.

Lillis, K., and H. Ayot. 1988. Community financing of education in Kenya. In Community financing of education: Issues and policy implications in less developed countries, edited by Mark Bray and Kevin Lillies. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Republic of Kenya. 1996. Social dimensions of development: Revised approach to human-centred development and targeted poverty interventions. Nairobi: Government Printer.

_____. 1999. Education for all.

_____. 2000. Assessment of Progress. Kenya Country Report.

            Thompson, E. J. D. 2001 Non-formal education in urban Kenya: Findings of a study in Kisumu, Mombasa 

            and Nairobi. The Commonwealth Secretariat.

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