Reports from a research organisation, Foundation Mark, have shown that grants to civil society groups in Kenya will drop by 4.8 percent, from last year’s Sh84 billion to Sh80 billion due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result of these findings, civil society groups are discussing the potential job losses from projects that they might have to freeze. The chairman of the National Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (NCNGO), Stephen Cheboi, stated that the drop in funding will hurt community projects, as some stall and organisations trim their workforces.

Cheboi said, ‘It will definitely affect us since most of our members do not have alternative sources of funds expect from these donations’. He added that the NCNGO was developing a programme to enhance local funding for sustainability, just as they ’are lobbying the government to partner with them on specific areas and expertise to maintain some projects afloat’.

The USAID-Afya Uzazi Programme has sent home about 20 percent of its employees as they struggle with low funding. Only its technical staff are left to manage its few remaining projects. Reports gotten from Kenya’s NGO Coordination Board showed that organisations received Sh165.9 billion in funding in 2019, compared to Sh153.2 billion in the preceding year. It was observed that Nairobi, Kiambu, Kisumu, Nakuru, Kajiado and Mombasa counties have the highest concentration of non-governmental organisations while Elgeyo-Marakwet, Nandi, Tharaka–Nithi, West Pokot and Bomet counties have the least number of non-governmental organisations.

Source: Business Daily Africa

Photo source: GotCredit