The Listening Project - Field Visit Report Kenya

The Listening Project organized a two-week field exercise in Kenya in September and October 2007. Local Capacities for Peace International (LCPI) collaborated with CDA in organizing the effort, and together with other local and international agencies, carried out the field visits in several regions of Kenya.

Listening Teams visited 5 regions of Kenya in order to hear a diversity of opinions from people who have had different experiences with international assistance. In Western Kenya, teams went to areas where there is a high HIV/AIDS prevalence and that have been affected by land clashes and violent conflict between different tribes and clans, where several hundred people have been killed and thousands have been displaced (before the post-election violence in 2008 when these numbers drastically increased). Another group of Listening Teams visited Lokichoggio, which has been the logistical hub for international assistance to South Sudan for over 20 years, and the Kakuma Refugee Camp, also in Northwestern Kenya, to hear the perspective of refugees and host communities. Listening Teams also visited the lower parts of Eastern Province, which has been relatively stable and which has received international assistance from a variety of sources— churches, NGOs, international donors, government, etc. for years. A final group of Listening Teams visited the Rift Valley area (bordering the Maasai Mara game reserve), several of the slum areas of Nairobi, and academics and aid workers in the capital city, Nairobi.