Legitimacy Status and Capacity to conduct Social Accountability among Community Based Organizations in Kenya. A Survey of Health Civil Society Organizations in Siaya County
Abstract
The study investigated the influence of legitimacy status and capacity to conduct social accountability among community-based organizations in Kenya with a specific focus on health-related Civil Society Organization in Siaya County, Kenya. Since devolution in Kenya, pressure has been put on local Civil Society Organization to engage with county leadership and hold them accountable to communities they serve. As a result of this, local communities and development partners have put a lot of expectations on the Civil Society Organizations. This has been more pronounced in sectors such as healthcare, which were fully devolved under the current constitutional dispensation. Despite this, Civil Society Organizations have not lived to this expectation. They have not been effective as many of them lack the requisite capacities to advocate for policy change. This formed the rationale of conducting the study. The study employed a descriptive research study design and targeted a population comprising of the twenty-eight Civil Society Organization implementing health related interventions in Siaya County. The study primarily made use of the primary data which was collected using a structured questionnaire. The data was grouped, organized and categorized according to specific objectives. Analysis was done using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. A multiple linear regression model was used to analyze the data and establish the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 was used for analysis and data was presented using Tables. The study results indicated there is moderately positive and statistically significant (r=0.395; Sig= 0.03) relationship between legitimacy status and capacity of health Civil Society Organization’s to conduct social accountability. The study concluded that legitimacy of the health Civil Society organization enhances their capacity to conduct social accountability. The study recommended that only duly registered community-based organizations should be empowered to implement funded community projects, including social accountability interventions. The organizations’ governance structures should be regulated such that their composition and structure should not be dominated by family members, but the wider community. The study also recommended that legitimacy could be improved by improving community representation and participation in CSOs activities including management and governance issues.
Keywords: Civil Society, Legitimacy status, Siaya County, Social accountability and Staff competencies
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