communication

BOX 6.1

Digital technology and social media: New opportunities for citizen communication

The increasing use of social media and mobile phones are providing opportunities for citizens to engage with county governments on issues of service delivery. All county governments are leveraging social media platforms (such as WhatsApp groups, Facebook, and Twitter) to connect with their residents, respond to feedback, and identify issues that require attention. In some of the counties, governors have Twitter accounts and Facebook pages with hundreds of thousands of followers; at least one governor has about 2 million followers. They use these platforms to respond to criticism, showcase the county’s performance, illustrate ongoing projects, or inform county residents about new government policies.

The use of social media platforms is enhanced by mobile phone penetration and growing internet use in the country. The 2019 population census shows that about 47 percent of Kenyans own a mobile phone, including 63 percent of city dwellers and 43 percent of rural residents. Mobile phone ownership increases with age: 86 percent of the population age 25 years and older owns a mobile phone. This is an important figure because this is the group of residents likely to use phones to discuss service delivery accountability. About 23 percent of the population uses the internet, while 10 percent has access to a computer. These figures, combined with ownership of mobile phones, suggest a growing opportunity for nontraditional civic engagement through the use of social media.

Sources: Nyabola 2018; Omanga 2019.

communities and negatively affects the quality of citizen participation. There is therefore a need for action at both the national and county level when it comes to transparency and access to information.

At the national level, the government needs to strengthen the requirements and systems for collecting and regularly publishing comparative information on basic county service delivery performance across the core devolved sectors. This could include reinvigorating the Kenya Open Data portal by requiring all sectors and counties to update core service delivery data annually.

At the county level, the governments must focus on ensuring that information provided to the public is published in plain, simple language (translated into local languages as necessary) and with sufficient lead time to provide citizens the opportunity to examine the information in advance of such mechanisms as participatory budgeting. There is also scope to more systematically use digital tools, including social media, to communicate relevant information to citizens.

Participation

County governments have made progress on implementing citizen participation mechanisms across the service delivery results chain. The annual capacity performance assessment (ACPA) synthesis report led by the Ministry of Devolution and the ASALs (Arid and Semi-Arid Lands), which looks at county performance in five Key Results Areas (including civic education and public participation), shows progressive improvement over the past few years.

Counties have improved performance on all seven indicators relating to civic education and participation (table 6.2). They achieved the highest average scores (above 90 percent) on three of the civic indicators: (1) the establishment of civic education units (CEUs), which are required by law; (2) the establishment of