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Explore our work with partners, globally and locally, to tackle social and economic injustice using a human rights lens.

GI-ESCR at the People’s Dialogue Festival 2026

GI-ESCR at the People’s Dialogue Festival 2026

On 6 March 2026, GI-ESCR, in collaboration with  Hakijamii and The Institute of Social Accountability (TISA), convened a breakaway session titled “Closer to the People? Rethinking Debt, Devolution and Accountability in ESC Rights” during the People Dialogue Festival 2026, which had the theme "Building a Collaborative Democracy for Kenya’s Sustainable Future.” The session provided a dedicated platform for advancing dialogue on economic, social, and cultural rights in Kenya. Something that has been missing in previous PDF sessions.
 
Designed as an interactive forum, the discussions aimed to deepen participants’ understanding of how governance systems, service delivery models, financing structures, and accountability mechanisms that shape the realisation of these rights, while elevating community perspectives and lived realities from the grassroots.

 

Key Discussions from the Panel

The session opened with Joakim Simiyu, the Secretary General of the Safina Party, who reminded participants that “Kenya does not have a money problem but a problem on how the money is spent,” encouraging participants to follow the money channels to hold elected leaders accountable.  
 
Opening remarks were given by Diana Gichengo, the Executive Director at TISA, who also highlighted how debt affects the provision of ESC rights. “When people are dying because of a lack of food or hospitals without medicines. It would be immoral for the State to focus on debt repayment. The country's national interest should always be the people first.”
 
The panel sessions opened with Tom Ogada from TISA, who unpacked the implications of Kenya’s rising debt on the financing of ESC rights. He highlighted how growing debt obligations and political prioritisation of budget allocation risk constraining fiscal space for equitable public investment in critical sectors such as education, health, food security, and water and sanitation.
 
Turning to education financing, David Karani from the Elimu Bora Working Group, convened by the Kenya Human Rights Commission, highlighted that the discontinuation of the Edu Afya Programme has reduced students' access to healthcare services previously provided under the programme. The programme, which cost the government about Ksh. 4 billion annually, was discontinued without meaningful public participation. He further raised concerns about the deeper challenges of accountability and transparency in education financing, highlighting how governance gaps continue to directly affect students' access to quality education.
 
On the health sector and its financing, Vivian Ng’ang’a from the Institute of Public Finance (IPF) raised concerns about the adequacy and sustainability of Kenya’s health financing reforms under the Social Health Authority (SHA). She noted that while health is a devolved function and devolution has improved access to healthcare by bringing services closer to communities, persistent delays in the disbursement of funds from the National to the County government continue to undermine quality service delivery at the county level.
 
On the right to food, Eve Maathai from Budget Talk Global emphasised the need to move beyond recurring emergency responses to natural calamities and instead strengthen long-term resilience, climate adaptation, and accountability mechanisms that protect food security and livelihoods, particularly for vulnerable communities.
 
Issues of water and sanitation were highlighted by Fredrick Odhiambo from Hakijamii, who emphasised the responsibility of people to take care of their environment to support the integration of sustainable water and sanitation systems for all. He also highlighted the need for national and county governments to shift from reactive emergency aid to proactive climate-resilience.
 
The panel concluded with reflections on accountability mechanisms for the realisation of economic, social, and cultural rights. Roselyne Onyango from GI-ESCR highlighted regional and global accountability mechanisms for monitoring State compliance with economic, social, and cultural rights obligations, explaining how these processes operate and the avenues for public participation. Building on this, James Mwenda from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) emphasised that at the national level, the most fundamental accountability mechanisms remain the people themselves, through how they elect their leaders and hold them accountable using the Constitution and the oversight laws and policies available to them.
 

 

Participants Reflections and Recommendations

A central feature of the session was its interactive nature, with participants sharing reflections and recommendations grounded in lived experiences and community perspectives.  
 
One key reflection raised a critical question: Are Kenyans unintentionally cushioning the government from pressure to deliver public services? While the State has the obligation to progressively realise ESC rights, many citizens have increasingly organised private alternatives to meet their needs. From enrolling children in private schools, to purchasing private health insurance, to organising for privatised water systems within residential estates, individuals and communities are often stepping in to fill gaps in the provision of public services. Participants and panellists alike questioned whether these coping mechanisms, while a personal choice, may inadvertently reduce pressure on the government to strengthen and adequately fund public systems.
 
Another concern raised during the discussions was that reporting does not automatically translate into accountability. While numerous reports document the misuse or mismanagement of public funds, participants noted that monitoring alone is insufficient. Accountability only becomes meaningful when findings lead to concrete action and when those responsible face real consequences.
 
Building on these reflections, participants proposed several recommendations. Among the key proposals was the idea of developing a People’s Manifesto on ESC rights to be presented to political aspirants ahead of the upcoming election cycle, ensuring that commitments to education, health, food, water, and other social rights are clearly reflected in political platforms.
Participants also emphasised the need to simplify discussion around public debt and fiscal policies to make them accessible to ordinary citizens. Strengthening public understanding, they argued, would empower communities to engage more meaningfully in governance and accountability processes.
 
The discussions further underscored the role of citizens and CSOs, through democratic participation and sustained civic engagement, in holding the State accountable for the realisation of social rights.  

 

Looking Ahead

As Kenya moves closer to another election cycle, participants stressed the importance of sustained dialogue and collective advocacy to ensure that fiscal decisions and governance reforms prioritise the realisation of ECOSOC rights. The session reaffirmed the need for continued collaboration among civil society, government institutions, and communities to translate policy commitments into equitable access to essential services.
 
GI-ESCR and partners expressed commitment to building on the momentum generated during the session by advancing public awareness, strengthening accountability mechanisms, and fostering inclusive dialogue that keeps the realisation of social rights at the centre of Kenya’s development agenda.
 
To read more on the issues of debt and its impact on the Financing of Health and Education in Kenya, read our latest report here.
 
 

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.