This year’s ‘Mashariki Innovations in Local Governance Award Programme’(MILGAP) awards gala took place on the 20th of September 2006 under the auspices of the AfriCities 4 Summit.

As principles of civic engagement, sustainable and equitable development take root nationally and regionally in East Africa, there has been a concerted effort to employ ‘best practices’ in local governance. In recognition of this and to promote non-traditional linkages, UN-HABITAT initiated in 2002 the ‘Mashariki Innovations in Local Governance Award Programme’(MILGAP). Currently the program is run in three East African countries i.e. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with support from the Ford Foundation. It operates along internationally agreed norms on good governance. UN-HABITAT seeks to use this process as an additional mechanism of disseminating information, facilitating networking, encouraging community participation in projects and replication of innovations.  

MILGAP is a two tier event involving a National and Sub-Regional stage. Implementation of the national award cycle involves a preparatory stage where sensitisation campaigns are conducted; a review stage where applications received are evaluated and validated. On conclusion of the national round the best three projects proceed to the sub-regional level. During the sub-regional awards, the nine projects drawn from the three countries compete for first, second and third positions. This year’s project assessment criteria during the national and sub-regional stages was based on eight key areas i.e. innovation, impact, partnership building, sustainability, replicability, gender sensitivity, youth involvement and participatory leadership.

The National MILGAP process during this round was a dramatic success. Thanks to national media campaigns, 62 nominations were received in Uganda; 44 in Tanzania and 61 in Kenya. MILGAP applicants included: Local Authorities, Community Based Organizations, Faith Based Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations and Research & Training Institutions. The primary project scope varied widely. It for example included: environmental sustainability and ecology; participatory governance; poverty reduction and economic empowerment; infrastructure, communication and transport; social services, gender and inclusion.

In line with the theme of the of the AfriCities 4 Summit , participating projects in the Sub-Regional round evidenced a clear linkage between the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the program ethos of this initiative. Local challenges in line with the MDGs addressed by MILGAP participants for example include: Tackling poverty and food security as evidenced by the Nyumbani Village project in Kitui – an area in Kenya synonymous with drought and famine; Ensuring environmental sustainability as seen in the Tanzanian project – Lake Zone Intercultural Centre

MILGAP demonstrated practical examples of ways in which local governments and their citizens are forging new alliances to achieve the goals and targets. This is for example seen in the Community Empowerment through Cooperative Financial Services (CECOFIS) a project by the Mbale District Local Government (UGANDA). CECOFIS was started in January 2003 as a result of a deliberate move by the district council to eradicate poverty through the formation of savings and co-operative rural financial institutions in all sub-counties in the district. Innovations resulting from the project include integration into the District Development Plan to meet recurrent expenditures of the District Planning Unit who play co-ordination and advisory roles.

In the main, the projects showcased during MILGAP exhibited remarkable determination on the part of the local community with regards to creatively employing scarce resources to address local challenges.   Field visits and project exhibitions and presentations revealed that tremendous work is being done by a dedicated few. In most instances, the projects were initiated with meager resources but grew into a forceful presence in their localities.

The winning project of the Sub-regional MILGAP 2006 was People United for a New Korogocho; situated in the sprawling Korogocho slums; one of the most densely populated and unstable slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Set against this challenging backdrop, the project has created economic empowerment and skills development among the marginalised in the society. The project evidences creative and innovative thinking in addressing poverty alleviation at the local level for example through the Dandora dumpsite program which has organized scavengers to harvest and resell garbage thus earning a living. Additionally, to creativity and encourage use of talents, one of the sub-projects initiated is Artists United For A New Korogocho. These artists are all drawn from the Korogocho slums and display a noteworthy use of plays, songs, mural and paintings to depict life in the slum. Other autonomous initiatives include Korogocho Street Children Programme (street children and glue sniffing children), Bega Kwa Bega (for women particularly former commercial sex workers), St. John Informal School, St. John Sports Society, Alcoholics Anonymous project etc.

The project - Provision of Affordable Sanitary Pads to the Disadvantaged Primary School Girls in Uganda, emerged as the first runners up. The project conducted research which revealed that many girls were not attending school on the days they were menstruating due to lack of affordable protection materials. Lack of protection meant that girls feared stigmatization due to soiling themselves while at school. Some girls were already using unhealthy materials such as banana fibers, grass, leaves, old newspapers, and old pieces of cloth. In response to this, the project now manufactures sanitary pads which are 75% cheaper and thus more affordable to the rural primary school girls who have started their menstruation. In addition to producing safe and cheap sanitary pads, other project achievements include developing of simple cottage machines which are locally manufactured and that use more than 95% local materials. The project has also seen skills and knowledge transfer and thus allowing for decentralization in its out sourcing of services.

Emerging as the 2nd Runners up during the sub-regional MILGAP awards was the Tanzanian project Kiroyera Tours. In the last 4 years, Kiroyera Tours has made a previously unknown region international recognition and contributed to the diversification of Tanzania’s traditional wildlife based tourism. It has done this by promoting Cultural tourism, Water based tourism, Community based tourism, History and Wildlife tourism. The project has also invested heavily to create the infrastructure required in the area for good tourism, including running a museum and coordinating a tourism working group.

The Mashariki Innovations in Local Governance Award Programme’(MILGAP) has allowed for peer learning due to creation of a forum for exchange of best practices. Other outputs of the award process also include, establishment of a database on “innovative and best practices in local governance”; promotion of relevant discussions on issues of global campaign on good local governance and strengthened visibility, advocacy and lobby for good local governance and decentralization in the sub-region. The program continues to institutionalize principles of good local governance.

CATEGORY WINNERS FOR THE SUB-REGIONAL MILGAP 2006
INNOVATION 
1.   Provision of Affordable Sanitary Pads to the Disadvantaged Primary School Girls by Makere University (UGANDA)
2.   Ecotourism Development in Kagera Region by Kiroyera Tours (TANZANIA)
3. Blacksmith Project by Kinsangani Smith Group of Njombe (TANZANIA)
4. People United for a New Korogocho by St. John Catholic Church, Korogocho (KENYA)
 
IMPACT 

1. People United for a New Korogocho by St. John Catholic Church, Korogocho (KENYA) 
2. Provision of Affordable Sanitary Pads to the Disadvantaged Primary School Girls by Makere University (UGANDA) 
3. Community Empowerment through Co-operative Financial Services, CECOFIS, by Mbale District Local Government (UGANDA)
   

PARTNERSHIP BUILDING 

1. Provision of Affordable Sanitary Pads to the Disadvantaged Primary School Girls by Makere University (UGANDA)
2. Ecotourism Development in Kagera Region by Kiroyera Tours Ltd. (TANZANIA) 
3. People United for a New Korogocho by St. John Catholic Church, Korogocho (KENYA)
   

SUSTAINABILITY
1.   Community Empowerment through Co-operative Financial Services, CECOFIS, by Mbale District Local Government (UGANDA)
2.   Ecotourism Development in Kagera Region by Kiroyera Tours Ltd. (TANZANIA)
3.   People United for a New Korogocho by St. John Catholic Church, Korogocho (KENYA)

REPLICABILITY
1.   Maize Marketing Movement by Sacred Africa (KENYA)
2.   Community Empowerment through Co-operative Financial Services, CECOFIS, by Mbale District Local Government (UGANDA)
3.   Biogas Fuel from Livwestock Waste as an Alternative to Firewood and Charcoal at the District Level by Makere University (UGANDA )

GENDER SENSITIVITY
1.   People United for a New Korogocho by St. John Catholic Church, Korogocho (KENYA)
2.   Community Empowerment through Co-operative Financial Services, CECOFIS, by Mbale District Local Government (UGANDA)
3.   Provision of Affordable Sanitary Pads to the Disadvantaged Primary School Girls by Makere University (UGANDA)

YOUTH INVOLVEMENT
1.   Lake Zone Intercultural Centre by Lake Zone Intercultural Centre (TANZANIA)
2.   Blacksmith Project by Kinsangani Smith Group of Njombe (TANZANIA)
3.   People United for a New Korogocho by St. John Catholic Church, Korogocho (KENYA)

PARTICIPATORY LEADERSHIP
1.   People United for a New Korogocho by St. John Catholic Church, Korogocho (KENYA)
2.   Nyumabni Village Kitui by Children of God Relief Institute (KENYA)
3.   Provision of Affordable Sanitary Pads to the Disadvantaged Primary School Girls by Makere University (UGANDA)