Accountability
Understanding CBOs in Kenya: What They Are and How They Are Governed
The certificate does not merely permit a CBO to exist. It defines what it may do.
By the Lift A Life Foundation team · · 6 min read
Most people in Kenya have heard of NGOs. Fewer could say what a CBO is, or how it differs. Since we are one, and since anyone considering supporting us deserves to understand what that means, here is a plain explanation.
What a CBO is
A Community Based Organisation is a group registered at county level, through the county's department handling gender and social services, to carry out specified activities within its community. Registration produces a certificate naming the organisation, its location and the activities it is permitted to undertake.
Ours is certificate RSC/3811/CBO/2024, issued by the County Government of Kiambu on 22 February 2024, covering Ruiru Sub County, Gitothua Ward. It names three activities: caring for orphans and vulnerable children, the elderly and people with disabilities; advocacy; and networking and community building.
That last point is worth dwelling on. The certificate does not merely permit a CBO to exist, it defines what it may do. An organisation advertising work well outside its registered activities is worth a question.
How it differs from an NGO
The practical differences matter more than the legal ones.
Scale and geography. A CBO is local by design. An NGO registers nationally and can work across the country.
Registration route. A CBO registers with the county. NGOs go through a national regulatory process that is longer, more demanding and more expensive.
Oversight. This is the important one. CBO obligations are real but comparatively light: annual renewal, a maintained diary, quarterly statistical returns to the county. National NGOs face heavier reporting and audit requirements.
What that means for a donor. Nobody should assume a CBO is subject to the same scrutiny as a large registered NGO. It is not. Which is exactly why a CBO asking for public support should over-explain rather than lean on the certificate.
What our obligations actually are
Printed on our certificate are two conditions: the certificate must be renewed every year, and we must maintain the enclosed diary and file regular quarterly statistical returns.
Beyond that, our own constitution sets out how the organisation runs: monthly meetings, an annual general meeting where the treasurer must report on accounts, loans and repayments, elections every three years, an auditor appointed after each calendar year, and rules for expelling an official who abuses their position.
Our officials are Eunice Wangari Muthoni as Chairperson, Judith Muthoni Wangari as Secretary and Peter Minja Macharia as Treasurer. Any two of the three sign on the bank account, which is a simple and effective control: no single person can move money alone.
What to check before supporting any CBO
Ask for the certificate number and the issuing county. Then verify it. A genuine organisation will give you both without hesitation.
Check the activities. Does what they advertise match what the certificate permits?
Check the account. Funds should sit in an account in the organisation's name with more than one signatory. A personal M-Pesa number is a serious warning sign.
Ask when the certificate was last renewed. Annual renewal is a condition. A lapsed certificate says something about how the organisation is run.
Ask who the officials are and how they were chosen. A constitution that provides for elections, and elections that actually happen, is a meaningful difference.
The honest trade-off
A CBO gives you proximity. We work in one place, with people we know by name. If you give something, we can tell you which household received it and you could go and see.
What a CBO cannot give you is the assurance that comes with heavy external audit. There is no national regulator watching us closely. The check on us is the county, our own constitution, and whether we are willing to answer questions.
So ask. Ask what your gift did. Ask to see the certificate. Ask the treasurer how the accounts are kept. The willingness to be asked is, for an organisation of our size, most of what accountability consists of.
Our details are on the about page, and you are welcome to contact us for anything we have not published.
The willingness to be asked is most of what accountability means. Ask what your gift did. Ask to see the certificate. Ask the treasurer how the accounts are kept.