“SAY NO TO VIOLENCE” PEACE PROJECT
Elections in Kenya have always been characterized by violence due to issues such as land, tribalism among others. The first national elections under the new Kenyan constitution 2010 were held on the 4th of March 2013. This created a charged atmosphere evidenced by the violence during the party nominations in the 47 counties due to the 2007/2008 post-election violence. Two major media houses reported violence during the nomination process, the Daily nation of January 21st 2013 reported that “demonstrations and pockets of violence in parts of the country as aspirants clash over party nominations.” On the same day, the Standard newspapers reported that sporadic violence, street protests and property destruction was witnessed in parts of the county. The youth have always been used by politicians to carry out acts of violence and destruction.

APSEA wanted to ensure peace prevail in the election period and undertook to send the message to the youth, churches and other community members to “SAY NO TO VIOLENCE ON MARCH 4TH ELECTIONS!  MAINTAIN THE PEACE.”  The project was aimed at avoid a repeat of Post-Election Violence that claimed 1,220 lives, 268, displaced 300 people and destroyed 41,000 houses according to a UN report.During the post-election chaos the youth were consistently used to cause violence and destruction of property, and for this reason APSEA saw the need to engage with the youth to spread the peace message to the people of Kenya. APSEA used its national wide networks as a platform for the youth and churches to own the process of promoting peace in their communities. These networks in the counties effectively helped promote the message of peace to Universities and Colleges and to reach out to churches to promote Peace to their members and community.
APSEA also played a facilitation role ensured that those involved in the project have the necessary materials and support to carry out a successful peace campaign.  This ensured that youth and churches across the selected regions namely MOMBASA, ELDORET and NAIROBI were engaged in spread the peace messages. APSEA was able to use it professional networks to successfully reach out to youth and churches in Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret regions urging them to be ambassadors of peace for the good of our country Kenya. The peace campaigns were very productive with every region sharing varying experiences and solutions.

APSEA used social media accounts, website and KBC radio stations to spread the message of peace nationally. The use of social media and website proved to be ideal and timely as it was noted that youthful Kenya used these social media platform to incite others and spread hatred. Kenyans were encouraged to embrace peace before, during and after the March 4th 2013 electioneering period.
Using the APSEA professional associations network 18 different meetings were held in the following areas;
Rift-valley
1.    Three churches (Total number reached 187; 54 female and 133 male)
2.    Three Colleges (total number reached 231;67 female and 164 male)
Nairobi
•    Three Colleges (total reached 161; 48 female and 113 male).
•    Three churches (Total Reached 180;87 female and 93 Male)
Mombasa
1.    One Church (Total reached 51; 9 female and 42 male).
2.    Two Colleges (Total reached 128; 45 female and 83 male)
3.    Community Youth Groups (Total reached 183;37 female and 146 male)

The youths contributed actively in all these meetings/forums by sharing their experiences during the post election violence of 2007. Most sited that tribalism, ethnicity and pay outs by politicians were major contributors to the violence. The youth also felt that Kenyans had no platforms to vent their frustrations and so taking to the streets was the only way they could express themselves.  They suggested ways to ensure peaceful elections in 2013 by respecting other peoples right to vote and not inciting others to violence.
These meetings were effective as they helped in ensuring that the youth held constructive and participatory discussions helping them own the peace initiative in their unique/special way.

APSEA was able to reach a total of 1,121 youth in the entire campaign which was conducted in 7 churches, 8 learning institution and three community youth groups  in three regions with the message to "Say No! Don’t be used for violence".
These meetings were mainly attended by the youthful Kenyans who discussed and accepted to be ambassador of peace. The youth also resolved to be holding peace meetings frequently to ensure that they are able to reach out more people in order to prevent a recurrence of 2007/2008 post election violence.
IEC materials and T-shirts were distributed to ensure that the peace message is spread to other community members.

The message was also broadcasted through numerous radio spots on KBC English service and Pwani (Swahili) service. The APSEA former Chairman, Dr. Daniel Ichangí and Executive Officer, Grace Injene were hosted on a morning breakfast show to discuss the Peace Project

The message was also posted on the APSEA website for 3 months, and on social media (Twitter(APSEA KENYA) and Face book (Association of Professional Societies in East Africa) ) and among others.

The Professional integrity and Ethics Committee was established in 2003 in response to the public outcry following a series of events that put professionalism and in particular professional integrity and ethics into question. It was mandated to investigate and address such concerns as a long-term measure. This committee addresses issues relating to ethics, codes of conduct and supporting legislation. It also consults with member associations seeking to know the legal framework and codes of conduct of each and the enforceability or otherwise of the same.

As part of the ongoing efforts of the Association of Professional Societies in East Africa (APSEA) to influence reforms in Kenya following the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, we have developed several policy documents to act as guides for the constitution implementation process, these include:

• The APSEA Policy Brief on the Role of Professionals in the Implementation of the Constitution
• The APSEA County Government Model
• The APSEA Policy Paper on the Role of Professionals in Devolution.
• A Policy Paper on Natural Resource Management is currently being developed

The Professional Centre Building on Parliament Road was built in the early seventies to provide a focal point for various professionals in the Country. It is a building wholly owned by the Association of Professional Societies in East Africa (APSEA)

The Professional Centre is a company wholly owned by the Association of Professional Societies in East Africa (APSEA) was incorporated on the 3^rd day of March, 1972 and established by the Companies Act (CAP 486). Among the many objectives of the Professional Centre include but are not limited to promoting the interests of professionals in East Africa and to own and operate property for the purpose of assisting professional bodies in East Africa.

The management and distribution of Natural Resources is critical to the country. APSEA began to engage with stakeholders to address the issue of equitable distribution and management of resources in the counties. Resources that are available and are being discovered (such as oil in Turkana) should benefit the whole nation but also provide benefits to the community where the resources are discovered.

There was no policy or legislation addressing the equitable distribution and management of resources and this would be a challenge when the counties are formulated. As such, APSEA  created a Technical Committee on Natural Resource Management and has developed a Policy Paper and Draft Bill to address the issue of equitable distribution of resources and ensure they are properly managed for the benefit of the country as a whole.

The Natural Resources Management revenue sharing from Natural Resources within the devolved system of Government Programme was a project undertaken by the Association of Professional Societies in East Africa (APSEA) with support from UKaid and the Embassy of Sweden through ACT Kenya for 6 months as a target of opportunity project.

Kenya subsequent need of devolution implementation after 2013 elections saw county development through the county assemblies as key areas to focus especially that the discoveries of the massive Natural Resources  like the oil in Turkana County , coal in Kitui, Titanium in Kwale just to mention but a few were being made . These discoveries raised Concerns about the sharing formula since different experts from the Natural Resources field came up with a Formula as follows: 80% to the national government, 15% to the county government and 5% to the local community that had not been discussed. While the formula was still being discussed the concerns raised by various Kenyans more so professionals became loud since the professionals themselves couldn’t understand the formula. These sentiments yielded a platform that the contractual agreements needed to be handled transparently .This situation then identified the fact that Kenya is vulnerable to resource- based conflicts and exploitation of Resources, if this policy vacuum is allowed to continue.

APSEA with these took the initiative to consider the current issues and unfolded the questions on revenue sharing as follows so as to come up with an overarching Policy and Bill that would answer the questions raised:
i.    The importance on how to deal with existing binding frameworks which join the community and government in co-management of resources. Do these frameworks provide communities adjacent to certain resources access to the same for subsistence and Commercial utilization?
ii.    Management of the resources in regard to the principal of valuation of the resources not being applied that’s to say do we have a clear mechanism to clearly determine the true value of the resources and therefore the cash flow they can generate. The principal of profit maximization factor, business models being evidence to site of discovery used to manage the natural resources which are prevalently bloated and a major drain of revenue.
iii.    The benefits derived from the Natural Resources for both the current and future
Generation.

The main objective of this programme is to support public policy and legislation and thus improve the quality of service delivery of professionals in the region

APSEA continues to represent Corporate Members on crosscutting issues at higher levels. To provide a unified advocacy platform for APSEA members to address issues that affect professionals and Kenyans in general.  Such issues may include government policies, political issues e.g. Constitution making, corruption, etc. and regional integration and trade in professional services.

Some of the Advocacy areas include: