Responsive Government

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Policy Brief: Maternal Mortality in Kilifi County – Counting the Deaths, Auditing the Response, and Reading the Ratio Correctly
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Maternal mortality remains a significant public health concern in Kenya. While progress has been made in maternal and reproductive health, continued maternal deaths point to areas where health system performance, access to care, referrals, responsiveness and the use of evidence can be strengthened. Understanding when, where and why maternal deaths occur is important for identifying…

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Heard, Not Just Counted: Moving Beyond the Dashboards…
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Author: Rachel Juma There is a moment in many data-for-evidence projects when a number becomes a lived reality. It is the moment a spreadsheet becomes a face-to-face conversation with a community member in Tinderet, explaining why their water tastes different from their neighbour’s in Aldai. It is the moment a “60% positive perception score on…

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Making Numbers Matter: How to Get Data Moving at the County Level
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Part Two of a two-part series on data at the subnational level  |  By Christine Ajulu, Deputy Director – Open Institute Earlier this year, I wrote about why data so rarely moves at the county level. That first article sat with an uncomfortable set of obstacles: data that clashes with political agendas, county staff with…

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Beyond Access: Why Good Governance Requires Information That People Can Understand
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Across East Africa, governments have made significant investments in public participation processes. Constitutional provisions, county forums, digital platforms, and citizen consultations have become increasingly common. Yet despite these efforts, participation often remains procedural rather than meaningful. Citizens are invited to meetings, budgets are published online, and draft laws are shared for comment. But an important…

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When the Pump Runs Dry on Trust: Kenya’s Fuel Crisis and the Case for Transparent Governance
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By The Open Institute | 19 May 2026 Kenyans woke up this week to near-empty roads and stranded commuters. On Monday, 18 May 2026, a nationwide transport strike brought cities to a standstill. Four people were killedand more than 30 injured as protests erupted across several towns.  A further 348 people were arrested. The immediate…

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From Voice to Action: How Grassroots Citizens are Shaping Democracy in Kilifi
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Every year on 15th September, the world pauses to mark the International Day of Democracy, a day to reflect on the state of democracy and celebrate the people and institutions working to uphold it. This year, as the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) celebrates 20 years of advancing democratic values, UN Secretary-General António Guterres reminded…

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Devolution Conference 2025
How Open Data Is Powering County Success – Reflections from The Devolution Conference
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The Devolution Conference 2025 convened in Homa Bay marked a key milestone in Kenya’s political and development calendar. It was a moment to reflect on over 12 years of county-level transparency since the 2013 Constitution. For us at Open Institute, it marked more than a decade of collaborating with counties to build open, responsive institutions…

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