Aid, civil society and the state in Kenya since 9/11

This paper draws upon fieldwork in Kenya carried out on several trips between July 2006 and June 2007. The research is based on a review of primary and secondary sources including government and donor documentation and media reports as well as qualitative interviewing with aid and donor agency staff, government officials, democracy and governance NGOs, humanitarian organisations, human rights activists, Muslim community leaders and journalists. A total of 56 interviews were carried out in Nairobi and Mombasa. Further, a roundtable was organised in Nairobi with donor agency officials, civil society activists and NGO representatives to scrutinise important themes arising from the interviews and to assess the wider context of donor – civil society relations in Kenya.