ROUNDTABLES AND CONFERENCES

It was never the goal of the Adélia Foundation to restrict its activity to the capital, where – as the saying goes – decisions are made in air-conditioned offices. 

Quite the contrary: the Foundation aims to act in close proximity to the population, where the cases occur, and to work with the local and tribal communities even where this reality is defended as a practice.

To that effect, and to gain a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the problem, the first initiative of the Adélia Foundation was to set up roundtables across the country, in various counties, to learn about their specificities. 

These roundtables were held with the collaboration of Strathmore University, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the offices of the regional Governors.

They took place in Costa, Mombaça, Meru and in the city of Kisumu and were moderated by two Strathmore Law professors and the Chairperson of the Adélia Foundation.

We sought to select representatives of the various professions that deal directly with the cases, such as police officers, hospital staff, psychologists, teachers, other associations working in this field and the courts. Survivors also took part in the roundtables, sharing their testimony and discussing the topics at hand.

Exercises were presented and discussed jointly. 

Participants were invited to present the conclusions of each roundtable, in person, at the International Conference held at Strathmore University on 6 and 7 July 2017 on the topic of “Gender and Transitional Justice in East Africa: exchanging experiences and expertise”. 

It was concluded that this is a reality that must be tackled, despite it being a delicate matter and there still being a long road ahead, given the structural nature of the problem and the fact that it requires a shift in mindset. It is, nevertheless, a problem that has been diagnosed. 

The matter is far from settled within society and a multidisciplinary approach is crucial. 

At the Conference, an analysis of the information gathered from the regional roundtables was conducted during the third session of the second day. This session was chaired by Prof. Ambani and included oral addresses by a representative of each region and the Chairperson of the Adélia Foundation.