RANA Kenya Working Group Secures Grant to Strengthen CSO Advocacy on Epidemic Preparedness and Accountability

RANA Kenya Working Group Secures Grant to Strengthen CSO Advocacy on Epidemic Preparedness and Accountability 

With support from Resolve to Save Lives, the RANA Kenya Working Group, convened by the People’s Health Movement Kenya, is launching a catalytic advocacy initiative to strengthen civil society’s role in epidemic and pandemic preparedness across Kenya.

Running from June 2026 to March 2027, the project, “From Evidence to Accountability: Catalyzing CSO Advocacy for Timely Epidemic Detection, Response, and Domestic Resourcing in Kenya,” addresses persistent public health bottlenecks. Despite recent progress in surveillance, laboratory systems, and emergency response, regional outbreaks still highlight critical gaps: delayed detection, uneven sub-national capacity, weak integration between community intelligence and formal systems, fragmented accountability, and inadequate domestic financing.

To address these challenges, the Working Group will use two core tools to turn data into action:

• Epidemics That Didn’t Happen (ETDH): Highlights successful outbreak preventions to build compelling cases for sustained investment.
• The 7-1-7 Target: Helps civil society evaluate delays in detection, notification, and early response, converting operational gaps into clear demands for policy changes, financing, and accountability.

Strategic Priorities

The initiative focuses on four primary lines of action:

1. Translating Technical Evidence: Hosting a national learning session to equip CSOs, community leaders, advocates, and journalists with accessible advocacy language surrounding ETDH and the 7-1-7 target.
2. Building a Unified Front: Establishing a National CSO Taskforce on Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Advocacy. This taskforce brings together civil society organizations spanning health, public finance, climate resilience, gender inclusion, humanitarian response, and social accountability.
3. Driving Policy and Financing: Developing a targeted national advocacy strategy and accountability brief to guide engagements with national and county governments, parliamentarians, budget actors, and technical institutions.
4. Bridging Science and Public Action: Partnering with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and other technical institutions to ground CSO advocacy in scientific evidence while converting research into public trust and political commitment.

Building on the momentum of the April 2026 RANA-RTSL CSO Bootcamp held in Nairobi in April 2026, the Nairobi Declaration on African Health Security and Collaborative Disease Surveillance, and partnerships with organizations like NOPE, this initiative shifts civil society from reactive emergency response to proactive advocacy before crises escalate. Ultimately, the project aims to demonstrate how evidence-informed civil society can track commitments, secure domestic resourcing, and build resilient public health systems in Kenya and across the region.