’Democracy is decency and fairness’

The word ’democracy’ is enormous. According to MS, main values carrying it are decency and fairness

Robin Griggs

Questions were many and wide-ranging as the new MS strategy focusing on democracy was presented to the MS Kenya Annual Meeting February 16^th.

The presentation was done by MS Kenya director Anne Hoff who was assisted by Robin Griggs, Programme Coordinator with MS Denmark.  

The abundance of questions from the floor may well confirm what Robin Griggs stated at the beginning of his presentation: That democracy is an ‘enormous’ word.

“Democracy can mean anything from national elections to grass root democracy within civil society organizations,’ he said. 

To enhance the understanding of the notion ‘democracy’ which has now become core to MS, he put in plain words that MS has a value based approach to democracy.

“Decency and fairness can be said to be two values that democracy is based upon. Decency is to recognize our common humanity. Fairness is not to favor one group over another,” Robin Griggs explained. 

To add a broader perspective to the democracy focus he stated that ‘good governance’ and ‘democracy’ have been in the forefront of development thinking for the past decade.

You cannot eat democracy

Some questions from the floor revolved around MS’ decision to put a general stop to service delivery as a consequence of the democracy focus.

One participant stressed that delivery of services is necessary to provide communities with essential means to reduce poverty and enhance livelihoods.

“Empowerment is not just to give poor people the knowledge about how to improve their livelihood situation. We must also give people some means so that they are not tempted by corruption. If you are poor and hungry you are more likely to be tempted by corruption. We need to help people stand on their feet” was the reasoning behind the question.

About 75 participants from MS Kenya and partner organisations attended the Annual Meeting in Nakuru Feb 16th and 17 th.

Robin Griggs agreed that ‘you can’t eat democracy.’ He explicated that in certain situations MS will still deliver services, but only in situations where these services will serve as entry points to working with communities.

Generally speaking, MS is not really in a position to deliver services due to limited funds Robin Griggs stressed. He pointed out a few other complications of delivering services.

One is that service delivery is usually not sustainable, as it is based on donor funding. Another problem is that it is too convenient for governments to have NGO’s delivering services that should have been provided by the government.

The effect must be proved

Both Robin Griggs and Anne Hoff agreed to comment from the floor saying that it is essential to prove how the democracy focus has a positive impact on poor people’s lives.

Anne Hoff emphasized that poverty reduction is still the overall goal of MS and that the democracy focus serves a strategy to fulfill that goal.

She highlighted a real life example from MS Kenya partner Kenya Community Paralegal Association (KCPA) in Kisumu.

“The paralegals at KCPA encourage women to get title deeds to ensure their right to inherit land,” the director explained adding that the example shows how MS’ work with human rights enhances poor people’s livelihoods.

“So we have to remind ourselves to link poverty eradication to the democracy focus in a focused way,” she added.