Twaweza

A CDC approach

Tags: Civil Society Building
Additional tags: Citizen , Civic , Change

Twaweza, meaning “we can make it happen” in Swahili, is a ten-year initiative (2009-2018) that seeks to enable people in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to improve their quality of life through a bold, citizen-centered approach to development and public accountability.

At core, Twaweza embodies the democratic ideal, implicit in its name, that sustainable change is driven by the actions of motivated citizens. Throughout East Africa it is increasingly clear that public pressure and public debate are more effective drivers of change than expert or policy driven technocratic reforms. When exposed to the ferment of information and ideas, and having access to practical tools, pathways and examples of how to turn these ideas into actions, ordinary citizens can become the drivers of their own development and act as co-creators of democracy. Civic agency, therefore, is both a goal in itself and effective means by which to improve service delivery and public resource management. For this reason Twaweza will promote broad public engagement by creating spaces for ordinary people to improve their situation and compel governments to be more responsive.