The Amkeni Wakenya is the new name of the Civil Society Democratic Governance Facility, a multi-donor facility set up to support civil society organisations that work to spread the message of democracy and good governance. The Amkeni Wakenya was established to support those organisations that operate at a grass root level and often with marginalized groups. The facility places particular emphasis on organisations working with women, youth, vulnerable groups and people living in rural areas. The work Amkeni does in the field of capacity building for these organisations is very important, as these organisations does not always have the longest experience and greatest institutional capacity.
The Quick Response Fund is established to answer the emerging needs of the civil society organisations. In the field of governance there are constant changes and often issues that need to be dealt with immediately. The Quick Response Fund will therefore enable the organisations to take up activities on a short notice without being held back by lengthy application processes which is often the case for other funding mechanisms.
In her speech Ambassador Jacobsen highlighted the need for the people of Kenya to rise up to promote democratic governance in Kenya and urged the organisations to do good work and be role models for the larger society.
You can read the whole speech here.
To read more about Amkeni Wakenya visit their homepage at: http://amkeniwakenya.org/