News Kenya

From Fragmentation to Collective Action: How MUHURI Is Strengthening Community-Led Human Rights Protection in Garissa and Tana River

Workshop participants discussing and working together around a table with a MUHURI banner in the background.

Across Garissa and Tana River Counties in Kenya, Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) is supporting communities to move from fragmented responses towards stronger, locally led action for human rights, accountability and peaceful coexistence.

In the vast and diverse counties of Garissa and Tana River, communities face complex human rights and governance challenges, including limited access to justice and public services, inter-community tensions, insecurity, conflict and restricted civic participation. For people living in remote areas, often these challenges are compounded by limited access to support and redress mechanisms.

A Citizen TV Kenya news insert about increasing gender-based violence in Garissa County.

For Human Rights Defenders (HRDs), the challenge has also been about working in environments where support systems and coordination mechanisms are often weak.

With the support from the Haki Ni Yetu project, MUHURI has taken a different approach: investing not only in individuals, but also in the local structures and relationships that enable communities to protect their rights collectively.

A person speaking during a workshop, with a MUHURI banner in the background.
MUHURI Programmes Manager Fredrick Okado during an engagement activity held as part of the project implementation. Photo: MUHURI.

When you invest in individuals and build their knowledge of civic space, it is a noble, but without a strong network and a unified structure, it’s all futile. At MUHURI, we have invested in strengthening local civil society structures.
– MUHURI Programmes Manager Fredrick Okado.

Strengthening Community Leadership Through Training, Mentorship and Local Action

In Tana River, many communities are geographically dispersed and face recurring challenges including farmer-herder tensions, inter-clan disputes, human-wildlife conflict, gender-based violence and barriers to accessing justice. While community members were often willing to advocate for their rights, many lacked the practical knowledge and networks needed to document violations, engage duty-bearers and connect affected people to appropriate support.

MUHURI responded by identifying and training 406 emerging Human Rights Defenders across the county. The training covered human rights, civic engagement, advocacy and lobbying, digital advocacy, personal and digital security, conflict-sensitive programming, organizational development and referral mechanisms.

But the intervention did not end with the training sessions.

Through Human Rights Defenders Reflection Meetings, participants continued to share experiences, analyse emerging challenges and learn from one another. MUHURI also strengthened referral pathways linking defenders with civil society organisations, county institutions, justice actors and other stakeholders.

As a result, trained defenders have increasingly become trusted local first responders, documenting human rights concerns, supporting affected community members, facilitating referrals and contributing to community dialogue and conflict prevention.

Rebuilding a platform for collective action in Garissa

Participants attending a MUHURI workshop, with a speaker presenting at the front of the room.
Project participants during a meeting convened by MUHURI as part of the project implementation. Photo: MUHURI.

In neighbouring Garissa, the challenge was different.

Although MUHURI had strengthened the capacity of emerging Human Rights Defenders, many continued to operate independently. The Garissa Civil Society Network, which could have provided a platform for coordination, mentorship and collective advocacy, had become fragmented and largely inactive. MUHURI therefore focused on strengthening the network itself.

Through consultations and coordination meetings, MUHURI supported members to rebuild trust, identify governance gaps and develop a shared vision for the network. The organisation supported improvements to leadership structures, governance guidelines and operational systems, alongside capacity-strengthening in leadership, advocacy, fundraising and resource mobilisation.

The network was subsequently organised into six thematic workstreams covering Land; Governance; Religious and Cultural Rights; Security; Gender and Youth; and Education.

The new structure has created clearer spaces for organisations to share expertise, coordinate interventions and collectively respond to emerging human rights and governance concerns.

For us, revitalizing the network was about creating ownership among civil society actors and giving organizations a practical structure through which their different strengths could contribute to addressing the challenges facing communities in Garissa.
– MUHURI Programmes Manager Fredrick Okado

Building a pipeline of local leadership

One of the most important changes across the two counties has been the emergence of local leaders who are increasingly able to take ownership of human rights work.

In Garissa, some of the Human Rights Defenders trained through MUHURI’s project have moved into leadership roles within the network’s thematic workstreams, particularly in areas such as Gender and Youth and Governance.

In Tana River, trained defenders continue to use their knowledge and networks to support communities, facilitate referrals and contribute to dialogue around conflicts and human rights concerns.

This represents a shift from capacity-strengthening as an activity to capacity-strengthening as a pathway to leadership.

The numbers at a Glance

  • 406 emerging Human Rights Defenders trained and mentored in Tana River County, 164 of them women (40 %).
  • 6 thematic workstreams established within the revitalised Garissa Civil Society Network.
  • Human rights movement in 2 counties strengthened through community-level capacity-strengthening, institutional strengthening and stakeholder engagement.
  • Multiple referral pathways strengthened between Human Rights Defenders, civil society organisations, public institutions and justice actors.

A stronger foundation for lasting change

The experience of Garissa and Tana River demonstrates that protecting civic space requires both capable people and resilient local institutions.

MUHURI’s work has helped create stronger community-based mechanisms through which human rights concerns can be identified, documented and referred; communities can engage public institutions; civil society organisations can coordinate their efforts; and emerging leaders can take on greater responsibility.

The result is more than a series of trainings or meetings. It is a growing ecosystem of Human Rights Defenders, civil society organisations and community actors who are better connected, more confident and increasingly able to lead.

For communities in some of Kenya’s most geographically and socially complex environments, that local ownership provides a foundation for human rights protection, accountability and peaceful coexistence that can continue beyond the life of the Haki Ni Yetu Project.

MUHURI received funding through the Rights, Governance and Accountability Grants (Large Grants) of the Haki Ni Yetu project. The Haki Ni Yetu project is funded by the EU Delegation to Kenya. You can learn more about the project here: https://kios.fi/en/haki-ni-yetu/

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This page is funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the KIOS Foundation & The Haki Ni Yetu project and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.