Kituo Cha Sheria (KITUO) is one of the oldest serving legal aid organizations that have positively impacted on the lives of many marginalized communities in Kenya with access to justice in the last forty years. KITUO?s history dates back to over forty years (40) of change through provision of legal aid and education towards the vision of access to justice for all. With a population of over 40 million people of which about half live below the poverty line, many Kenyans (80%) are rural dwellers who cannot afford to pay for justice, including that provided by lawyers/advocates. As such, access to justice remains a pipe dream in Kenya to a majority of the poor and marginalized people since Kenya is still far from achieving this goal due to weak policy, institutional and legislative frameworks. Other factors which inhibit opportunities to access justice for most Kenyans include poverty, ignorance and limited awareness on human rights. KITUO Cha Sheria was established in 1973 by a group of young lawyers who saw the need for the poor to access legal advice and justice. These lawyers volunteered their time in the evenings and weekends to provide legal advice, draft briefs and to direct helpless litigants to the respective courts or tribunals. The efforts by these founders contributed to the establishment and growth of KITUO which was at that time the only organization providing legal aid. Institutionally, advocacy grew as a tool for change when KITUO began collecting and disseminating information to empower communities. KITUO then linked litigation and advocacy together, thereby empowering individuals and communities to demand their rights or seek legal redress. As a result, evictions have significantly reduced and land grabbing does not happen without a fight for justice. Programs are now linked with advocacy and agitation for policy change through Public Interest Litigation (PIL). KITUO has also defined leadership in the NGO sector through recognition as the Civil Society of the Year (CSOYA) award winner in 2010 and 2012, winner of Transparency Cup of ICJ, in 2012 and to the Law Society of Kenya Justice Cup Runners up in 2013. KITUO won the Distinguished Service Award of the Law Society of Kenya as well as the UNDP AMKENI?s best performing CSO in Access to Justice, in 2014. Internationally, KITUO has won several awards and nominations. Key among them was the BBC Radio Documentary Award for the paralegal work in Shimo La Tewa Prison (2014), nomination for the Rockefeller Foundation award (2013), nomination for the Innovative Justice Award by the University of Tilburg (HAGUE) and a recent nomination for the Namati Justice Awards (2015). KITUO was also nominated for the Institutional Justice category Award by the East Africa Law Society in 2013. Our mission is to empower the poor and marginalised people to effectively access justice and realize human and peoples rights through advocacy, networking, lobbying, legal aid, legal representation and research.Our vision is a society of justice and equity for all. KITUO has achieved our successes/goals through our four (4) key programmes namely: Legal Aid and Education Programme (LEAP), Advocacy, Governance and Community Partnerships (AGCP), Forced Migration Programme (FMP), Research, Communication and Documentation (RCD) and the Finance and Administration (F & A). These programmes complemented each other in the execution of KITUO?s mandate. The LEAP provided legal services to walk-in clients as well as countrywide drives. It also offered trainings to community groups and paralegal workers and focused on Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and group cases. It further ensured capacity of individuals to self-represent as well as sensitive sustainable entry and exit strategy for community capacity building and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) with the support of a strong nationwide Volunteer Advocates Scheme, and paralegals. The AGCP coordinated KITUO?s community outreach and advocacy initiatives. It worked to connect the people with the law and institutions. It ensured and will continue to ensure the participation of the poor and marginalized in the promotion of good governance, formulation/enactment of pro-poor policies and laws that are in tandem with international standards. KITUO through the AGCP has established Community Justice Centres which are run in partnership with its community networks and managed by trained community paralegals who offer free legal services to the surrounding communities. The community justice centre model holds that by empowering communities on various aspects of the law, they can in turn use that legal know-how to tackle inherent and emerging human rights in their community. The FMP deals with statelessness, asylum seekers, deportees and refugees under the banner of Urban Refugee Intervention Project (URIP). In partnership with the UNHCR and IRC, KITUO opened the URIP centre to assist urban refugees in need of legal services. The motivation to initiate the programme came when KITUO was unable to turn away refugees and asylum seekers seeking legal advice and therefore monitors implementation of the Refugees Act of 2006, to ensure that refugees? rights under the new laws are respected and promoted. The RCD contributes to the overall mission and vision of KITUO through research, communication and documentation by inter alia; undertaking, publishing and disseminating research studies in KITUO?s thematic areas in order to inform interventions; developing, implementing and sustaining a media/communication strategy to enhance KITUO?s image in its role and work; and enhancing and maintaining the resource centre, website, documentation of KITUO?s work and publication. Last but not least, the F & A plays an institutional support function by providing Human Resources (HR), Administrative and logistical support (ADMIN) and Financial support to programmes. KITUO also hosts local and international interns and offered pupilage and volunteer services.
Our activities are carried out in Kenya.
Nationally we have led commemorations of various UN days and Human Rights relevant activities and celebrations. On the international stage we have received invitations and made contributions on various activities including the International Day of Persons with Disabilities,High-level meeting of the General Assembly on disability and development,Regular Session, Committee on NGOs,Global Launch of the International Year of Cooperatives,Third session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT PrepCom) and the 63rd Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference among others.

An example of our work as reported by NAMATI(Innovations in Legal empowerment)
Kenya ? Integrating Goal 16 into existing legislation and reprioritizing the legislative agenda

Organized in partnership with the legal empowerment and access to justice NGO, Kituo cha Sheria, the International Commission of Jurists Kenya and the Law Society of Kenya, the National Justice 2015 meeting had an ambitious agenda. It was looking create an action plan for improved national justice that would cover: access to legal services; access to information; legal participation in the delivery of basic services; legal identity; rights to land and property; and the role of justice and legal empowerment in increasing security in Kenya. This meeting took place in the aftermath of the attacks in Garissa and within Kenya there was a renewed interest for how justice sector reforms could increase security. Those who attended the meeting were keen to ensure that the attacks did not allow for kneejerk policies to be passed which would hinder the rights of citizens and their ability to access justice. As Goal 16 covers justice, peace and security, it provided the necessary framework to discuss these issues in tandem.

Over the course of two days the Kenyan Parliamentary Human Rights Association, the Attorney General, Chief Justice and Human Rights Commission listened to and discussed at length justice issues being faced in Kenya.

Initially, civil society had proposed a new, standalone, Justice Plan to incorporate the SDG justice targets and existing National Justice Priorities. Government stressed such a policy could take several years and suggested instead that civil society and government work together on existing legislation that could be revised and passed quickly. The National Human Rights Policy and Action Plan was agreed as the obvious legislation to tackle. This Policy has been in draft form since 2008, and participants saw the opportunity to use the momentum of the SDGs to bring this policy to the top of the legislative agenda.

The passing of this legislation would push forward related including: the Legal Aid Bill; Right To Information Bill; and Community Land Bill.

In addition, the National Human Rights Policy already has many relevant national indicators to track progress ? however they only included data gathered by the National Statistics office. Civil society argued that perception and third party data should be included. The Human Rights Commission agreed.

In the short period since the meeting the National Legal Aid Bill has moved into the next stage of law making, and is set to be finalized before the end of this sitting of parliament. YES>>>http://kituochasheria.or.ke/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Annual-Report-2013-final.pdf - Annual-Report-2013-final1.pdf Mr. Ken Nyaundi-Kenyan
Mr. John Chigiti-Kenyan
Dr. Linda Musumba-Kenyan
Ms. Joy Asiema-Kenyan
Mr. Odenda Lumumba-Kenyan
Ms. Hannah Kamau-Kenyan
Ms. Sally Mbeche-Kenyan
Prof.Saad Yahya-Kenyan
Mr. Anthony Mulekyo (Chairman) -Kenyan
Ms. Gertrude N. Angote (ED/Secretary) -Kenyan
KituoChaSheria-Constitution1.pdf