'Now you see me, now you don't' - a study of the politics of visibility and the sexual minority movement in Kenya

This study explores the varied ways sexual minority organisations in Kenya negotiate their choices, decisions and actions when determining how, when, and why to be publicly visible or retreat from visibility. This they have to do in the context of the threats of retribution on the part of Kenyan state leaders to their efforts to protect sexual minority rights. Sexual minority organising carries the risk of verbal abuse and the threat of arrest and other retribution. In spite of this, sexual minorities have organised themselves into publicly visible social movement organisations over the last ten years. In addition to the hostility of the Kenyan state, these organisations operate within the context of the uneven situation with regard to the constraints or otherwise of organising as sexual minorities between the Global South and North. The situation is further complicated by the role of donors, who bring their own experiences and agendas from the Global North, not always appropriately, into African contexts. Amid such varied responses to sexual minority organising, how, when, and why do Kenyan social movement organizations become publicly visible or retreat from visibility? To recognise the various forces that influence (in)visibility choices that sexual minority organisations have to negotiate, I used sociologist James M. Jasper's (2006) concept of "strategic dilemma". Sexual minority social movement organisations field strategic dilemmas when they strategise around whether and how to become visible, modify their public profile, or forgo political opportunities. To understand the micro-political dynamics of how sexual minority social movement organisations negotiated such strategic dilemmas of visibility and invisibility, I analysed 200 newspaper articles and sexual minority organisational documents and conducted 12 in-depth interviews with staff, members and leaders of sexual minority social movement organisations. Ultimately the findings of this thesis centre on the fluidity of visibility and invisibility as was experienced by Kenyan sexual minority organisations. (ln)visibility was experienced in diverse ways as a process that included a series of steps that do not have absolute values nor are they necessarily coherent in different time and space. My findings advance social movement theorizing by demonstrating the importance of studying social movements in the global South. In addition, my findings contribute to postcolonial feminist and queer theorizing by showing how marginalised sexual and gender minorities in Kenya struggled strategically to assert their democratic inclusion in the state

The Cow in the Room Livestock and Climate Engagement at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27)

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP27) was held November 6-18, 2022, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, and ILRI was there actively telling the livestock sustainability story. Too often, climate discussions focus on the negative aspects of intensive livestock production. The livestock sector is often cited as the most intensive emitter of greenhouse gases within agricultural production systems, contributing to about 18% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from methane and nitrous oxide. However, science shows that sustainable livestock can bring adaptation, mitigation and economic growth benefits to both people and the planet. In addition, sustainable livestock production, especially in developing countries, can contribute to building climate resilience while boosting low-emission development and supporting food security and livelihoods. With food, for the first time, taking centre stage at COP27, the CGIAR Research Initiative on Livestock Climate and Systems Resilience, ILRI and the GLAD Project, along with partners, sought to ensure sustainable livestock is recognised as essential to climate change mitigation. As part of this process, we designed an integrated engagement, communications and media outreach plan. This included the innovative campaign dubbed ‘cow in the room’ #LetsTalkLivestock to drive our participation and narrative to COP27 and beyond

Considerations for Creating the UNFCCC Online Portal for Climate Action in Agriculture & Food Security

A survey was conducted among 52 representatives of the African Group of Negotiators Experts Support. From this survey, the members voted that the UNFCCC online portal on climate action in food security and agriculture should have the following objectives (in the order of the highest number of respondents saying it is an objective) - information sharing, raising awareness of climate action in agriculture, and aiding fundraising. From the survey, the most eligible publishers for the online portal were national focal points, followed by research organizations and UNFCCC observer organizations. It appears the gap is that there is no generally accepted definition of an online portal. Some websites (which, upon inspection, are online portals) classify themselves as dashboards or databases. There’s room to create a shared definition and publicise this for other United Nations bodies and other organisations. Upon evaluation, the African Group of Negotiators Experts Support ought to proceed with the following recommendation areas: Mobile-First: this refers to an expectation to build the online portal to have some features (for example, viewing and manipulating data) compatible with basic Android smartphones. The desired metric is that the online portal scores at least 90/100 in Google’s PageSpeed Insights test. Accessibility: this will be a critical component of the online portal, focusing on ensuring it is compliant for voice-to-text accessibility for website visitors with literacy or usability challenges. Training and Visual Assets: this refers to the capacity building module – giving access to various forms of training and professional development available on the online portal. Visual assets aim for infographics, motion graphics, and data visualisation to market and raise awareness of the online portal and its contents

Safety and immunogenicity of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine in adults in Kenya: a phase 1/2 single-blind, randomised controlled trial

Background: There are limited data on the immunogenicity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in African populations. Here we report the immunogenicity and safety of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine from a phase 1/2 single-blind, randomised, controlled trial among adults in Kenya conducted as part of the early studies assessing vaccine performance in different geographical settings to inform Emergency Use Authorisation. Methods: We recruited and randomly assigned (1:1) 400 healthy adults aged ≥18 years in Kenya to receive ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 or control rabies vaccine, each as a two-dose schedule with a 3-month interval. The co-primary outcomes were safety, and immunogenicity assessed using total IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein 28 days after the second vaccination. Results: Between 28th October 2020 and 19th August 2021, 400 participants were enrolled and assigned to receive ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (n=200) or rabies vaccine (n=200). Local and systemic adverse events were self-limiting and mild or moderate in nature. Three serious adverse events were reported but these were deemed unrelated to vaccination. The geometric mean anti-spike IgG titres 28 days after second dose vaccination were higher in the ChAdOx1 group (2773 ELISA units [EU], 95% CI 2447, 3142) than in the rabies vaccine group (61 EU, 95% CI 45, 81) and persisted over the 12 months follow-up. We did not identify any symptomatic infections or hospital admissions with respiratory illness and so vaccine efficacy against clinically apparent infection could not be measured. Vaccine efficacy against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection was 38.4% (95% CI -26.8%, 70.1%; p=0.188). Conclusions: The safety, immunogenicity and efficacy against asymptomatic infection of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 among Kenyan adults was similar to that observed elsewhere in the world, but efficacy against symptomatic infection or severe disease could not be measured in this cohort. Pan-African Clinical Trials Registration: PACTR202005681895696 (11/05/2020