The state, as it is envisaged, comprises the government, non-state actors and the citizens. Non-state actors support the government in ensuring citizens enjoy their civil liberties.
They undertake this by holding the government to account in the protection of the bill of rights. The government has this obligation to the citizens in exchange for their individual and collective sovereignties.
The government has a constitutional duty, while Civil Society Organisations have a civic responsibility to the citizens.
Their roles are therefore complementary. However, on many occasions and in the course of their activities, they find themselves antagonistic and hostile to each other.
This scenario creates a toxic and unhealthy environment, unconducive for the success of their work. Both sides of the state exist to promote the rights of the citizens.
Civil society in Kenya has experienced both close and hostile relationships from time to time, depending on circumstances.
It should be noted that CSOs are not the only non-state actors. This space also includes inter-governmental agencies and multinational corporations.
Some are the multi-lateral development organisations that finance significant national projects in countries across the globe. In specific countries, some non-state actors are established by the government and enjoy statutory protection and privileges.
A multinational corporation (MNC) is a company with business operations in at least one country other than its home country and generates revenue outside of its home country.
Multinationals have fundamentally shaped the flow of capital, goods and services in a world they helped connect, perhaps more than any military, during the centuries-long process of globalisation.
They permeate nearly every aspect of our modern lives while wielding significant influence politically and economically. The first multinationals were colonial enterprises.
The East India Company (formed 1600), Dutch East India Company (VOC; 1602) and the Hudson Bay Colony (HBC, 1649) stand out as central to imperialist histories whose rapaciousness still haunts anyone with even a basic understanding of history.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) falls into this category.
Multilateral development agencies are supranational institutions set up by sovereign states, which are their shareholders. Their remits reflect the development aid and cooperation policies established by these states.
The best known are the World Bank and IMF, commonly known as the Bretton Woods Institutions.
The IMF and the World Bank were created in July 1944 at an international conference in the United States (in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire) that established a framework for economic cooperation aimed at creating a more stable and prosperous global economy.
While this goal remains central to both institutions, their work constantly evolves in response to economic developments and challenges.
They share a common goal of raising living standards in their member countries.
Their approaches to achieving this shared goal are complementary: the IMF focuses on macroeconomic and financial stability, while the World Bank concentrates on long-term economic development and poverty reduction.
Other similar institutions, but without similar influence, include the African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Central American Bank of Economic Integration (BCIE) and European Exim Bank.
Then there exists a host of state-led institutions that engage in development initiatives outside of their respective countries. They receive regular funding from their governments to initiate and support projects, mostly in developing nations.
Often, they collaborate to respond to emergency and humanitarian crisis situations globally. Most of their activities are social interventions focusing on the promotion of capacity development and human rights.
They actively promote the political agenda of the political party in power in their country at any given time. Therefore, their funding policies usually shift to varying degrees depending on the ideology of the ruling party. However, due to their statutory regulations, they remain largely committed to the national ideals of their respective nations.
Among them are the UK's DFID (now FCDO), the US's USAID, Canada's CIDA, Norway's NORAD, France's AFD and Germany's GIZ.
State-led development funding agencies ordinarily partner with local national institutions and CSOs to implement their programmes. Often, they undertake programmes that are bilateral.
In such cases, the host country would recommend the implementing institution.
The national implementing institution may choose to further engage other CSOs to fully reach the grassroots.
Occasionally, the funding agencies engage with CSOs directly, either individually or as a consortium. In this case, the CSOs are expected to fulfil the stringent requirements of the respective agency.
Most of the requirements are drawn up entirely by the funding agency without reference to the uniqueness of the recipient and implementing CSOs.
On the other hand, the funding agencies are often constrained to align their policies with the ideologies of the ruling parties of their respective countries.
Therefore, by design and default, local CSOs are often compelled to implement programmes that are not always sensitive to local community needs.
While the projects may meet the requirements of the donor agencies, they may fail to address the felt needs of the communities in which they are implemented.
Sometimes, there are instances where the projects are at cross-purposes with the host government’s development goals.
The respective government agencies then become hostile to local implementing CSOs.
This creates unnecessary animosity within the local communities.
The ensuing tension may escalate to a diplomatic issue between the host country and the state of the donor agency. The benefits of such projects to the communities are lost in the unfolding drama.
Many of the projects that have suffered such unfortunate fates are in the areas of social interventions, including the promotion of civil liberties and humanitarian crises.
Sometimes, CSOs have to challenge their respective governments as they engage in providing necessary information regarding the enjoyment of human rights.
The governments may unnecessarily feel threatened by the civic education given by the implementing CSOs.
On many other occasions, CSOs may overreach themselves in a bid to meet the requirements of the project implementation framework.
They may end up pleasing the funding agencies at the risk of their respective national security concerns.
In these circumstances, the host governments would be justified in intervening in the interest of their national sovereignty.
Unbeknownst to many local CSOs, the funding agencies also receive considerable resource support from multinational corporations. Covertly, these multinational corporations also fund political parties.
This is partly why they exert significant influence on the politics of their headquarters countries. Therefore, the nexus between the MNCs and the donor agencies has a direct bearing on the outcomes of the projects implemented by the local CSOs.
It is only logical that CSOs and the government should create a conducive working environment for their mutual benefit and without undermining respective national integrity.
This would enable them to work consciously for national interests and the overall good of the citizens. Alternatively, they would operate with complementary distrust and impede each other’s efforts.
In developing countries such as Kenya, the citizens would be the net losers.
This is because the economies are still nascent and require substantial external support to deliver on key social services.
The partnership between the donor agencies and the government on one hand and the local CSOs on the other hand, is crucial in this regard. It takes two to tango and both must move towards each other, not away.
The writer is a Political and Policy Analyst
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