Executive Summary

From 9th to 17th March, the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), the SDGs Kenya Forum, and Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF), with support from the European Union, conducted virtual civil society organization (CSO) consultations across six regional economic blocs; Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB), North Rift Economic Bloc (NOREB), Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC), Jumuiya ya Kaunti za Pwani (JKP), South Eastern Kenya Economic Bloc (SEKEB), and the Mount Kenya and Aberdares Region (MKA), as well as Nairobi. The consultations were undertaken to inform the development of the European Union–Kenya Civil Society Roadmap (2025–2027).

The consultative process brought together 474 participants, representing a diverse cross section of civil society actors, including grassroots and community-based organizations, youth and women-led groups, and thematic and national civil society networks. The consultations provided an inclusive platform for capturing region specific experiences, priorities, and perspectives on civic space, development challenges, and civil society engagement in Kenya.

The primary objectives of the consultations were to assess the state of civic space across regions; reflect on lessons learned from previous European Union–civil society engagement frameworks; strengthen understanding of the Global Gateway Strategy and the role of civil society in its implementation; identify capacity needs, partnership opportunities, and areas for collaboration between CSOs and development partners; and generate actionable recommendations to guide the development and effective implementation of the forthcoming Civil Society Roadmap.

Overall, the consultations demonstrated strong consensus on the central role of civil society as a driver of inclusive, accountable, and sustainable development. Participants emphasized that CSOs should be recognized not merely as beneficiaries, but as equal partners and co-creators across the full development cycle, including project design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

A key cross-cutting finding was the limited awareness and accessibility of existing European Union civil society engagement frameworks, particularly the Civil Society Roadmap (2022–2025). Many stakeholders reported minimal exposure to the roadmap or engagement in related initiatives without clarity on their strategic alignment, highlighting gaps in communication, outreach, and decentralized engagement, especially among grassroots and community-based organizations.

The consultations further identified systemic barriers to effective CSO participation, including complex and restrictive funding mechanisms, limited access to timely information on EU programmes, capacity gaps in technical, digital, and policy engagement skills, and inconsistent inclusion of CSOs in early stages of project design and decision making. Participants also expressed concern about the evolving development financing landscape, particularly the shift toward loan and investment-based models under the Global Gateway Initiative which, if not complemented by flexible grant-based instruments, risk marginalizing vulnerable communities and undermining local ownership.