While African civil society seemed a beacon of hope for democracy in the early 1990s, by the end of the decade many scholars had come to view it as extremely weak, lacking a domestic constituency and therefore any significant political or civic impact. Critics have been particularly concerned about urban-based ‘democracy and governance’ NGOs' limited influence on and connection with the rural majority of the citizenry. This article examines this question in Kenya, looking at four NGOs that have used civic education and paralegal programmes to establish a rural presence. Based on a survey of participants, it concludes that although the programmes are relatively new, they have begun to have a measurable impact on citizen understanding of politics, and have given the NGOs a noticeable rural presence. They have done so, however, by relying on ethnic, clan, partisan and other ‘non-civil’ networks to build supporters.