Existentialism, the philosophy which accentuates the possibilities of recourse to individual liberty, choice, and responsibility, provides a new outlook for the Kenyan democracy-from-below approach to development. This article states the bottom-up approach and gives instances of failures that the approach can bring about in the context of Kenya. The author then suggests existentialist-inspired strategies that could be essential to develop people-oriented, participatory, and productive multi-sectoral development.
Bottom-Up
Policy Aims for Developing Nation
This model called for participation or a bottom-up approach, as opposed to the prior model of rewards for conformity or the top-down model. These revolutionary systems were inclusive and participatory, hence became the framework for addressing development challenges. In summarising this approach, it is clear that social mobilization is essential for development participation to be accessible in the community. In total contrariness to top-down methods, which are the reserve of the centralized decision-making and promulgation of factors by the external actors, the bottom-up approach represents the ownership and the autonomy of the local actors (Muraya, 2006). It acknowledges that multidimensional communities know what they want and position themselves best to solve it when the context is concerned.
They engage community members to create the much-needed bottom-up approach and community participation. It entails participation in dialogues and collaboration instead of only engagement and surface-level conversations. In this regard, reputable companies strive to thoroughly cooperate with local partners and external sectors through a trust-building process. The community-driven approach wherein people decide on the development interventions is called the bottom-up approach. They can cooperate and have a significant share in policy formulation, establishment of objectives and creation of strategies for implementation (Kiptoo, 2013). The bottom-up approach allows communities to participate in their development and promotes locally-owned initiatives, a feeling of ownership, accountability, and responsibility. This ownership is critical for other crucial reasons, too, such as the fact that interventions are purposeful to suit the specific requirements and aspirations of the community.
On top of this, the participatory approach inspects the value of local information and context-bound solutions. Development problems are usually complicated and multi-faceted, mainly when socioeconomic and environmental conditions exist. With this in mind, community development implies the significance of channelling indigenous creative thinking and skills always present within communities. Local key actors are very knowledgeable about their realities, which allows them to devise recently undiscovered as well as go-to-the-need types of interventions fitting their immediate situations. Bottom-up approaches offer the strength of using local knowledge and mobilizing local resources.
What stands behind bottom-up approaches is that grassroots actors become the ones at the forefront who take care of the agenda and determine the path of development activity. External players – the governments, NGOs, and donors – offer support through material and human resources such as technical assistance and capacity-building activities through their interaction with local stakeholders to benefit the local people. Here is a participatory one that ensures all the relevant stakeholders are involved in the initiative by sharing their experiences and taking ownership of the interventions once tested for desirability and sustainability. By putting the needs of the people in a specific place at the core of the development process, the bottom-up approach not only ensures the efficiency and awareness of the implemented interventions but also breeds people’s sense of power, ownership and agency in the local community (brian-route, 2021). In general, the bottom-up approach conceives a revolutionary paradigm for development practice, which, by embracing inclusivity, participation and context sensitivity, creates a better chance of providing optimal solutions for development problems. Through the uttermost support and contributions of the local populations, this strategy can increase the success of development projects and fill gaps in the existing ones. As a result, such communities will be much better when an economic crisis like this comes again, as they will not rely much on external intervention compared to other communities.
Criticism of Kenya’s Bottom-Up Approach Implementation Process
The community-centric approach used in different development projects like Community-Led Total Sanitation, the CLTS, exhibits this country’s commitment towards seeking out the bottom-up approach, which lies in the philosophy of decentralization and community empowerment. By contrast, however, this approach is criticized not only from a theoretical side but also from a practical side due to different difficulties. One of the criticisms arising from realizing the bottom-up approach in Kenya is the need for genuine participation and empowerment among marginalized communities (Amwai, 2023). In reality, the community-driven development concept is often less extensive, as older people make decisions on behalf of the community or NGO, and government officials appear to be the ultimate deciders. Moreover, this dynamic withholds the actual ability of the one-down approach to create the laying land of the affected locals, as the empowerment remains only at the verbal level.
In addition, there are limitations to the Kenyan model of the bottom-up approach due to ineffective capacity building and resource allocation; this is at the grassroots level. Often, there are challenges in terms of the lack of technical know-how, support materials, or technical design that can aid in implementing and diffusing the desired development. Eventually, interventions will show restraint regarding durability and reach out to communities, especially when they attempt to sustain and intensify the initiatives past the initial stages (Brian Oruta, 2021). Another critical matter relates to the discrepancy between national-level policies and local goals. Even though the initiatives to make the decision-making process non-centred and give authority to local communities, the highest level of directives and nationally imposed funding priorities are sometimes dominant. The gaping difference between the national policies and the (real) needs of the community may cause this development approach to be misleading and impose a development agenda that does not appeal to the local community priorities.
The bottom-up approach may also demonstrate some concrete perks related to sustainable development in Kenya. Therefore, The locals’ participation creates a sense of ownership and agency, reinforcing the developmental interventions and their consequences (Amwai, 2023). The communities in charge can identify and fix their problems. In turn, this approach improved self-reliance and resilience and eventually became a catalyst that brought on long-term development.
The participants can speak out about their concerns and determine where and how the resources are devoted, enabling a more inclusive and equitable approach. Bottom-up projects show their placing ability and fairness, representing the equitable distribution of development benefits and taking care of participation in the decision-making of disadvantaged communities. Firstly, bottom-up developments can set into motion the stringing of local businesses and the growth of entrepreneurship (Keter, 2021). Through capitalizing on such small-scale enterprises and community projects, the bottom-up approach can foster the development of the local economy by offering income generation, job creation, and poverty alleviation in the periphery, which inescapably contributes to the whole economy’s growth.
Additionally, this bottom-up approach empowers and builds the capacity of local implementers, allowing them to develop strategies that work best for their contexts and priorities. Through engaging communities as active partners in the development processes, these initiatives put in place measures that produce context-specific interventions and are responsive to local dynamics, enhancing the effectiveness and sustainability of such initiatives. Lastly, the bottom-up strategy enhances a participatory democratic culture and encourages active citizenship through its self-governance policy and community-led economic activity (brian-route, 2021). Through active engagement of citizens in decision-making processes, the ordinary people lead the bottom-up initiatives essential in democratizing development and improving the transparency and accountability inherent in governance at the national level, strengthening the social fabric in the broader society.
In a nutshell, people in poor communities might need help to cope with the construction of a bottom-up approach. However, these constructions have significant benefits for the sustainability of these communities. Addressing questions such as “Why does being an individual make one empowered?” or “How can capacity be developed?” or “How can laws be aligned with the local priorities to actualize the hidden strength of the bottom-up approach at the Kenyan development landscape (Keter, 2021) is compulsory. Involving the local populace as well as the miser use of resources and policy-making would be the suitable methods that will enable Kenya to utilize a bottom-up strategy to build an integrated and peaceful development for all its inhabitants.
Weaknesses of the Micro-Level and Grassroots Solutions of the Bottom-Up Approach
The best of all is the bottom-up approach to development. It focuses on community participation and community empowerment for identifying and extending the community practical solutions that promote the effectiveness and sustainability of the strategy. However, there are many hurdles, such as failure to recognize the existence of effective evaluation methods and techniques that could be essential to assess institutional support and capacity needed to maintain and replicate the success achieved. CBOs and grassroots efforts face a specific challenge: they must compete for limited resources, which involves money, technical expertise and standardized support to enable them to operate past the initial phase. This element significantly impacts projects that cannot be elsewhere, so these projects fail, undermining their strategy to achieve sustainable livelihoods.
The second limitation is that grassroots groups with the elites can take over, and there is political interference in the leadership of this organization. The group becomes vulnerable in the community. Power concentration destroys the community’s faith in the judgement of the community as most of the decision-making concentrates on the agendas of the ruling few instead of considering the entire community’s demands (Keter, 2021). Such a mechanism only worsens pre-existing power asymmetries and social imbalances, thereby turning down the brilliant stage of civic discourse that pursues social justice.
On this, these bottom-up efforts could face problems in their sustainability and scalability as these projects are mostly externally funded and support-based, which is only sometimes constant and can only provide short-term help. Lack of support from institutions and solidarity funding mechanisms means such initiatives can survive only as long as external funding continues. They cannot stand for themselves, and the phenomenon is not sustainable in the funding cycles (Kiptoo, 2013). The centralization of power, the development of decentralization, and the emergence of distributional issues are the key factors accompanying the bottom-up initiatives, posing a significant risk to their sustainability and effectiveness.
Besides this, the most critical concern of the grassroots strategy is the opposition from traditional governmental institutions and donors who have gotten used to command and control development techniques. The governmental bodies and donors feel that bottom-up moves might not fit or need to be compatible with the prevailing development models, limiting the support or resources allocated. Thus, only one of the reasons leads to the ultimate failure of promotion and taking into account bottom-up approaches through slowing down the mainstreaming and formalization of these approaches, which should be essential to deliver system changes and favourable outcomes of sustainable development.
First, the possible drawback of the grassroots strategy is that it may result in fragmentation and overlap, in which multiple organizations deal with similar programs without coordination or collaboration. This disunion ensures inefficiency, overlapping, and holes in service provision, undermining bottom-up development initiatives’ overall effectiveness and impact (As cited in Parliament Office, n.d.)—poor integration results in a lack of cooperation and difficulties in community-based projects. Thus, the effects of their interventions and the wastage of resources are low.
Suppose the conclusion is a judgement of a bottom-up approach’s effectiveness in local development as a part of a policy of social participation. In that case, despite it, this type of approach could be more flawless. Effective measures require institutional support mobilization, checkmate elites’ appropriation, ensure lasting fund provision and the involvement of government and donors, and devise means of coordination and collaboration of the stakeholders to counteract these weaknesses (Amwai, 2023). From the bottom-up approach, it comes to realize its importance in this way that it is influential in driving inclusive and sustainable development that helps to meet the diverse needs of the communities and promote social justice and equity. Creating an advisory body to scrutinize government investment plans in connection with sustainable development goals is necessary. Also, improving the mechanisms of participation by citizens in decision-making and simplifying their access to information is of significant contribution.
Recommendations for Bottom-Up Approach Improvement
I wish to forward various existentialist-inspired recommendations to the Kenyan government to promote a bottom-up approach that will be more people-centred, participatory and responsive to the local needs of Kenyan citizens (Kiptoo, 2013). These suggestions effectuate the involvement of a real community with the regional leadership, funding institutional capacities and empowering them, joint efforts of representatives from all sectors, gender equality and social inclusion without neglecting these components and creating a culture of long-term learning and flexibility.
Prioritize Authentic Community Empowerment: The basis of the local communities-driven approach is that local societies have the right to manage everything themselves. This objective can be achievable by providing the leading role in the local inclusive and participatory governance structures. Community meetings/issues resolution forums may create space for citizens’ deliberation, decision-making participation, and department performance monitoring (Parliament Office 2019). These institutions should be such that the concern for the equity of all voices, regardless of social status or background, is guaranteed to nurture “ownership” and “agency” among the wider community.
Invest in Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening: The support system for many local community organizations and grassroots initiatives has limits from the need for appropriate skills, resources, and institutional capacity to do strategic planning, implementation, and monitoring of development projects. The government must create capacitated and designed programs to address the local communities’ unique needs. The programs can provide technical support, training, and resources to improve the capacity of the communities. These programs can be crucial in empowering the communities. By enhancing the abilities of local people, the government can guarantee that bottom-up activities are correct and sustainable, which will have a significant influence in the long run and bring much success.
Promote Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration and Partnership: The bottom-up initiatives are greatly enhanced when collaboration and partnership among the different players in the conflict, such as the government agencies, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and the realization of other relevant stakeholders. Therefore, the partnerships can be effective and sustainable through synergy, which combines strengths and resources. The government must stimulate contact and cooperation among multiple parties, including developing trust, respect, and mutual responsibility regarding a shared mission. Taking joint action allows relief providers to spend money more economically and tackle intricate situations more cohesively.
Mainstream Gender Equality and Social Inclusion: Building sustainable development is impossible without gender equality and social inclusion. The authority should absorb gender equality and social inclusion in every aspect of planning, implementation, and surveys to ensure that grassroots approaches are respectful of others and fair. Such involves actively getting these women, youth, persons with disabilities and other excluded groups in decision-making processes and task implementation (Parliament Office, n.d.). The positive effect of the bottom-up initiatives’ emphasis is their focus on diversity and inclusivity, which ensures the needs and preferences of all the community members are taken into account and achieves the target of sustainable development.
Foster a Culture of Learning and Innovation: The development-oriented at the local level should promote a culture of learning, evolution, and creativity. The government should establish itself as a knowledge-sharing medium where stakeholders can impart their views and learn from past experiences. Risk-taking and experiments should be an essential part of the process, building the creativity we need to explore new paths. (Amwai, 2023). Openness of decision-making principles and creating the basis for trust among stakeholders is critical. Through a learning and innovation consciousness-building culture, bottom-up initiatives stand a better chance of evolving with time to achieve more satisfying results.
Generally speaking, the Kenyan government, by adopting direct community empowerment, encouraging capacity building, promoting the spirit of collaboration among stakeholders, mainstreaming gender and social inclusiveness, and creating a learning-friendly atmosphere, can indeed turn the bottom-up approach into a people-centred, participatory and responsive development strategy (Kiptoo, 2013). These existentialist-inspired recommendations, focused on more excellent individual and community responsibilities in development processes, highlight the importance of empowering all the stakeholders to assume control of the development processes that become agents of a sense of agency, autonomy and responsibility in the communities.
Conclusion
To round it up, the bottom-up approach by the Kenyan government for development is a step in the right direction, catalyzing the empowerment of local communities and enhancing people-centric development. Nonetheless, this strategy would require addressing central governance dilemmas, capacity-building obstacles, and sustainability and scalability issues. Through the implementation of the authentic empowerment of communities, their capacity building and institutional strengthening, multi-stakeholder collaboration and partnerships at all levels, the mainstreaming of gender equality and social inclusion, and the development of the culture of increasing the skills as well as improving the quality of service, Kenya can harness the full potential of a bottom-up approach to achieve sustainable development and enhance the welfare of its citizens.
References
Amwai, B. (2023, December 14). The struggles of small businesses in Kenya’s bottom-up economics. Pan African Review. https://panafricanreview.com/the-struggles-of-small-businesses-in-kenyas-bottom-up-economics/
brian-oruta. (2021, July 7). Ruto defends the bottom-up approach amid criticism. The Star. https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2021-07-29-ruto-defends-bottom-up-approach-amid-criticism/
Keter, G. (2021, July 30). DP Ruto: This is what the bottom-up economic model means. The Star. https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2021-07-29-dp-ruto-this-is-what-bottom-up-economic-model-means/
Kiptoo, T. (2013). THE EXISTENTIALIST FOUNDATIONS OF LAW A THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN PHILOSOPHY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI. http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/52988/Tunoi%20Philip%20Kiptoo_The%20ExistenTialist%20Foundations%20of%20Law.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y
Muraya, P. W. (2006). Failed top-down policies in housing: The cases of Nairobi and Santo Domingo. Cities, 23(2), 121-128.
Parliament Office. (n.d.). PARLIAMENT OF KENYA PARLIAMENTARY SERVICE COMMISSION. http://parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2022-11/ASSESSMENT%20OF%20THE%20COST%20IMPLICATIONS%20OF%20THE%20BOTTOM-UP%20ECONOMIC%20TRANSFORMATION%20PLAN%202022-2027.pdf
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