Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations (KARA)
The mission of KARA is to represent Kenya
resident associations in achieving progress by defining and demanding
the
highest standards of good governance, transparency and ethical behavior
through
negotiation with public bodies for better service delivery and
accountability. We extensively use ICT, mostly Internet, to achieve
our mission and vision as it is cost-effective, always current and
allows for
faster sharing of information especially through the Internet. We also
use it
to in collecting various views for inclusion in our weekly newsletter.
Over the years, service delivery in Kenya has degenerated to the bare minimum owing to poor governance and limited participation of citizens in shaping their destiny insofar as service delivery is concerned. To date, KARA is keen on advocacy especially on governance, environment, security, water, land and judicial issues. Beyond advocacy, KARA is continually investing in forging working and sustainable partnerships with government, private sector and the larger civil society.
As a facilitating network organization, KARA only works with apolitical members on whose docket lies the gigantic task of inclusively engaging service delivery actors. All registered groups managed by residents themselves are eligible to join KARA’s membership for an annual subscription. Corporate and individual sponsors also support KARA’s programs and activities.
We have effectively used The KARA Weekly e-Newsletter to directly reach over 10,000 subscribers in Kenya and across the world. We have in a unique way taken the lead as the most circulated and consistent weekly journal in the region and Africa. We have been able to bring public service providers, businesses, residents, consumers, government and even development partners in one single forum – an aspect never witnessed before in the history of the region. For example, in one issue we will publish a question from a member of the public, and in the next, an appropriate government official or a renowned expert will answer. We have also introduced a “Public Debate” column where authoritative and divergent views are penned down on topical issues every week. Some debates are often extended.
More so, we have been able to secure some considerable advertising revenue from the KARA online newsletter. Due to the popularity of our e-Newsletter, there has been an increase in cash and in-kind donations - for example, we received a photocopier from Copy Cat Ltd, who knew of us through our e-Newsletter. We have also received cash donations to improve the quality of our newsletter; for instance, from a local renowned philanthropist and leading industrialist Dr. Manu Chandaria, among others. This is because the newsletter has become part and parcel of electronic interaction and culture of the people. If a subscriber misses out on the newsletter due to technical problems, they always write back to ask us to resend it. For them and indeed for us, every Tuesday is never the same without the KARA Newsletter. Such is the brand loyalty that we are proud to be associated with.
Challenges were and are still enormous. The fact that we needed capital to pay for Internet services and the editorial staff cannot be gainsaid. After the first two newsletters, we are glad that AccessKenya, a market leader ISP, came in to sponsor our Internet and related services. Our membership subscriptions have since been able to grow. Over 50% of our current members unbelievably came by themselves after learning about KARA, what we do and how we could help them. They knew all these through our weekly on-line newsletter. The other challenge is that to enhance the quality and give our subscribers what they would like to read, we need a full-time editor and at least five research ad editorial staff. So far we only have one full-time staff with two volunteers.
But either way, we have managed to go on, though we are certainly overwhelmed at the moment. We are indeed hoping to secure partnerships with other leading players that may have an interest in East Africa. We are also reaching out to the private sector and development partners to meet our budget as well as print a monthly hard copy version of the newsletter. We would like to use the Kabissa forum to appeal to other organizations and persons willing to support to come forward to discuss partnerships.
Our advice to organizations with similar objectives is to be motivated and keep going after establishing a niche focus and clientele. We will be willing to provide any support to them in line with our slogan “Together, We Will”. But we must caution them that they must be willing to pay the price of consistency, quality and fine brand management. In the area of ICT, organizations are lucky at the moment as ICT is much less costly than it used to be. Also, there are many organizations such as Kabissa willing to support them to host their Web site at the start-up stage.
Over the years, service delivery in Kenya has degenerated to the bare minimum owing to poor governance and limited participation of citizens in shaping their destiny insofar as service delivery is concerned. To date, KARA is keen on advocacy especially on governance, environment, security, water, land and judicial issues. Beyond advocacy, KARA is continually investing in forging working and sustainable partnerships with government, private sector and the larger civil society.
As a facilitating network organization, KARA only works with apolitical members on whose docket lies the gigantic task of inclusively engaging service delivery actors. All registered groups managed by residents themselves are eligible to join KARA’s membership for an annual subscription. Corporate and individual sponsors also support KARA’s programs and activities.
We have effectively used The KARA Weekly e-Newsletter to directly reach over 10,000 subscribers in Kenya and across the world. We have in a unique way taken the lead as the most circulated and consistent weekly journal in the region and Africa. We have been able to bring public service providers, businesses, residents, consumers, government and even development partners in one single forum – an aspect never witnessed before in the history of the region. For example, in one issue we will publish a question from a member of the public, and in the next, an appropriate government official or a renowned expert will answer. We have also introduced a “Public Debate” column where authoritative and divergent views are penned down on topical issues every week. Some debates are often extended.
More so, we have been able to secure some considerable advertising revenue from the KARA online newsletter. Due to the popularity of our e-Newsletter, there has been an increase in cash and in-kind donations - for example, we received a photocopier from Copy Cat Ltd, who knew of us through our e-Newsletter. We have also received cash donations to improve the quality of our newsletter; for instance, from a local renowned philanthropist and leading industrialist Dr. Manu Chandaria, among others. This is because the newsletter has become part and parcel of electronic interaction and culture of the people. If a subscriber misses out on the newsletter due to technical problems, they always write back to ask us to resend it. For them and indeed for us, every Tuesday is never the same without the KARA Newsletter. Such is the brand loyalty that we are proud to be associated with.
Challenges were and are still enormous. The fact that we needed capital to pay for Internet services and the editorial staff cannot be gainsaid. After the first two newsletters, we are glad that AccessKenya, a market leader ISP, came in to sponsor our Internet and related services. Our membership subscriptions have since been able to grow. Over 50% of our current members unbelievably came by themselves after learning about KARA, what we do and how we could help them. They knew all these through our weekly on-line newsletter. The other challenge is that to enhance the quality and give our subscribers what they would like to read, we need a full-time editor and at least five research ad editorial staff. So far we only have one full-time staff with two volunteers.
But either way, we have managed to go on, though we are certainly overwhelmed at the moment. We are indeed hoping to secure partnerships with other leading players that may have an interest in East Africa. We are also reaching out to the private sector and development partners to meet our budget as well as print a monthly hard copy version of the newsletter. We would like to use the Kabissa forum to appeal to other organizations and persons willing to support to come forward to discuss partnerships.
Our advice to organizations with similar objectives is to be motivated and keep going after establishing a niche focus and clientele. We will be willing to provide any support to them in line with our slogan “Together, We Will”. But we must caution them that they must be willing to pay the price of consistency, quality and fine brand management. In the area of ICT, organizations are lucky at the moment as ICT is much less costly than it used to be. Also, there are many organizations such as Kabissa willing to support them to host their Web site at the start-up stage.
