Following the COVID-19 Money Trail

One of the 2020/21 Social Innovation Challenge (SIC) winners, Grassroots Development Initiatives Foundation (GRADIF-K), has launched a web-based digital advocacy platform to track COVID-19 relief expenditures.

The objective of the exercise dubbed “Digital Advocacy Platforms for Social Accountability in Tharaka Nithi county” is to increase citizen engagement, improve their ability to demand accountability, and work with the county government to improve how they allocate and use public resources.

The platform will raise the levels of civic awareness by scrutinizing budget estimates. © GRADIF-K.

The web-based digital advocacy platform will equip the over 300,000 residents in the County with reliable data to enable them to collaborate on whether emergency COVID-19 funds are used prudently. The county is approximately 188 kilometers from the capital, Nairobi.

The platform offers the residents an opportunity to select key areas that they would like prioritized to facilitate an issue-based and people-centered project in light of the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to many losing their livelihoods.

The platform will raise the levels of civic awareness by scrutinizing budget estimates, especially in the health sector.

Over 50 Civil Society Organizations have signed up for the application.

All eight of the Social Innovation Challenge( SIC) 2021/21 winners are currently implementing their scale-up projects, having received $8,000 for research and design support to help in their work.