Multisectoral Collaboration on Torture Prevention in Africa

Baseline Assessment and Strategic Dialogue with The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR)

During the DIGNITY–NANHRI Partner Review and Workshop held from 25–28 February 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya, representatives from both organisations met to reflect on progress, share knowledge, and refine strategies for their collaborative work on the prevention of torture and ill-treatment in Africa’s criminal justice systems. The opening day introduced participants to the mission, structure, and strategic priorities of NANHRI, followed by an overview of DIGNITY’s organisational work. This session provided a foundation for alignment and mutual understanding, setting expectations for the rest of the week.

The second and third days were devoted to technical workshops on Outcome Harvesting and Stakeholder Mapping. Participants were introduced to Outcome Harvesting as a monitoring and learning tool, and engaged in hands-on activities to document project outcomes and track behavioural change among social actors influenced by project interventions. The stakeholder mapping session identified key state and non-state actors in Kenya’s criminal justice system, assessed their relevance, and outlined criteria for structured engagement. The sessions highlighted the importance of collaborative leadership, strategic prioritisation, and cross-border knowledge-sharing between Kenya and Sierra Leone to enhance systemic reform and prevent torture.

The final day focused on evaluating the week’s activities and finalising project documentation. NANHRI and DIGNITY held a bilateral meeting to review ongoing deliverables and collectively assessed the week’s sessions through a participatory evaluation. Participants reflected on lessons learned, new ideas generated, and areas for improvement. The workshop concluded with a shared commitment to strengthening collaboration, improving monitoring tools, and aligning advocacy efforts for long-term impact in addressing torture and ill-treatment in Africa’s justice systems.

DIGNITY–NANHRI Partner Review and Workshop held on 25–28 February 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya

As part of a broader multisectoral collaboration on torture prevention in Africa, a baseline assessment and strategic dialogue meeting was held with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). The primary objective of the session was to validate KNCHR’s completed baseline and institutional impact assessment tools, clarify the institution’s current capabilities and operational challenges, and identify aligned areas for collaboration under DIGNITY’s detention monitoring and torture prevention programme.

The meeting achieved multiple tangible results. First, KNCHR’s self-assessment was successfully validated, with recognition that the tools facilitated critical internal reflection on the institution’s mandate, constraints, and monitoring practices. The dialogue deepened mutual understanding between KNCHR and project stakeholders and generated insights that contributed directly to project indicators related to institutional coordination, capacity development, and monitoring enhancement. The session also contributed to refining the project’s institutional risk matrix by surfacing structural risks like political appointments, leadership transitions, and funding instability, allowing for early mitigation planning. These outcomes were intended to feed into broader efforts aimed at strengthening KNCHR’s preventive monitoring capacity and ensuring sustainability through targeted institutional support.

One major constraint was the limited access KNCHR faces in police and military detention centers, despite its constitutional mandate. This was attributed to executive interference and jurisdictional tensions with IPOA, which is often viewed as the lead agency for police oversight. Political Additionally, technical feedback on the baseline tools indicated that some questions were repetitive or not tailored to the Kenyan detention context, especially when comparing prison and police

The session revealed important insights about the dynamics of preventive monitoring in politically sensitive environments. A key lesson was the value of pairing formal legal mandates with informal influence strategies. Trust-building with cooperative police officers and frontline personnel was seen as a practical way to strengthen KNCHR’s monitoring role despite institutional barriers.

The use of embedded HROs emerged as a low-cost, high-impact innovation for localized monitoring and early warning. Strategic documentation—particularly KNCHR’s recommendations tracking tool—was recognized as a credible instrument for advocacy and institutional engagement, with DIGNITY suggesting its adaptation in other jurisdictions where follow-up mechanisms are weak.

Together with NANHRI, KNCHR will identify suitable candidates—prioritizing HROs, regional focal points, and reform-minded police or prison officials—for the upcoming Place-Based Leadership Training. The project team will also initiate structured engagement with IPOA to clarify mandates, reduce operational friction, and coordinate oversight efforts, beginning with IPOA’s inclusion in the detention monitoring workshop scheduled for 11–15 August 2025.

NANHRI Participates in the Place-Based Leadership Development (PBLD) workshops– Modules 1–6 (22–23 July, 19–20 August, and 23–24 September 2025, Nairobi Safari Club, Nairobi, Kenya)

The Place-Based Leadership Development (PBLD) Programme was implemented through a six-module workshop series held on 22–23 July, 19–20 August, and 23–24 September 2025 at the Nairobi Safari Club, Kenya. Facilitated by MIDRIFT HURINET trainers with technical support from NANHRI, the sessions were conducted under the DIGNITY–NANHRI Torture Prevention Programme. The workshops convened 30 multidisciplinary participants from key justice and oversight institutions, including the Kenya Prisons Service, Probation and Aftercare Services, National Police Service, Judiciary (Court Users Committees), Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), Witness Protection Agency, Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU), Social Justice Centres, Nairobi City County Law Enforcement, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), MIDRIFT HURINET, and NANHRI. Participants represented a gender-balanced cohort of practitioners working in detention oversight, legal reform, and community-based human rights protection. The PBLD workshops were designed to cultivate transformative leadership skills while fostering cross-sector collaboration to prevent torture and ill-treatment within Kenya’s criminal justice system.

The six modules yielded significant conceptual and institutional outcomes by blending personal leadership development with practical advocacy for systemic reform. During these sessions, NANHRI presented findings from its study on Kenya’s OPCAT context, identifying areas of partial compliance under the Prevention of Torture Act (2017) and Persons Deprived of Liberty Act (2014), and highlighting operational gaps, political hesitations, and opportunities for alignment through ongoing justice reforms. At the end of the PBLD Modules, participants employed design thinking and the Spectrum of Prevention framework to co-create a Multisector Torture Prevention Roadmap (2025–2027). The roadmap outlined short-, medium-, and long-term actions—ranging from OPCAT advocacy to legislative reforms—and consolidated commitments by KNCHR, IPOA, IMLU, and the Judiciary to advance joint monitoring, data sharing, and training initiatives. Collectively, the PBLD series strengthened cross-institutional collaboration, leadership capacity, and strategic advocacy for torture prevention in Kenya.

Workshop on Preventive Prison Monitoring 11-15th August, Nairobi, Kenya

NANHRI, in partnership with the Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY), held a five-day Training Course on Preventive Monitoring of Prisons from 11–15 August 2025 at EKA Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya. The training formed part of a three-year NANHRI–DIGNITY project aimed at strengthening the implementation of legal frameworks to prevent torture and ill-treatment of persons in contact with the criminal justice system in Kenya, Sierra Leone, and across Africa. Facilitated by experts from DIGNITY and NANHRI, the training combined conceptual sessions, group exercises, and practical case studies to build participant competence in detention oversight, emphasising the “do no harm” principle, confidentiality, and evidence-based monitoring. Participants were introduced to preventive monitoring theory, prison realities, and human rights frameworks, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Robben Island Guidelines, and the Kampala and Ouagadougou Declarations, while also exploring ethical considerations, interview techniques, and methods of triangulating data for credible reporting.

By the conclusion of the workshop, participants had developed draft follow-up action plans for KNCHR, integrating health and vulnerability indicators into monitoring tools and reinforcing institutional commitment to continuous preventive monitoring. The course enhanced participants’ capacity to conduct structured visits, apply trauma-informed interviewing techniques, and produce SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented, Time-bound) recommendations linked to advocacy and reform processes. Practical sessions on health monitoring and the inclusion of vulnerable groups—such as women, juveniles, persons with disabilities, and migrants—further enriched their understanding of intersectional risks within detention environments.