Strengthening Public Participation for Accountability In Kisumu County
The project targets Agriculture, Blue Economy and Climate Change sectors with cross cutting issues of own source revenue (OSR) and the pollution of the Lake.
The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 ushered in devolution by establishing national government, 47 county governments, Parliament, Judiciary and independent bodies. The main objects of devolution as provided for in Article 174 were to give power of self-governance to the people of Kenya and enhance their participation in the decisions that affect them, to protect and promote the interests and rights of minorities and marginalized communities. Over the years several programmes have been implemented to address challenges bedevilling devolution such as Kenya Devolution Support Programme, AHADI but some gaps still persist.
As the successor Kenya Devolution Support Programme and AHADI, Act! is implementing the ‘Timiza Ugatuzi’ (Accomplish Devolution) programme which aims to strengthen Devolution by addressing gaps that still exist in the implementation of the principles of devolution in selected counties so as to assist Kenya realize better outcomes from Devolution while strengthening county governance, inclusion and safe guarding, improving service delivery and poverty reduction. The Citizens Engagement Pillar under Output 3 of the Timiza Ugatuzi is being implemented in several counties targeting different areas.
CSO Network is the host in a consortium that comprises of Winam Grassroots and SUCAM as part of the Budget Action Groups (BAGS) consortium, Kisumu County. The objectives of the consortium include:
- Facilitation of articulation of citizens’ voices on key county issues and advocacy on agriculture and food security,
- Strengthening the knowledge and capacity of non-state actors for meaningful contribution to evidence-based policy formulation and implementation and
- Mobilizing non-state-actors through enabling collaboration and partnerships in promoting agricultural transformation and food security in the region.
The consortium is currently implementing an Act! funded pilot project dubbed ‘Strengthening Public Participation for Accountability in Service Delivery Kisumu County’. The project targets Agriculture, Blue Economy and Climate Change sectors with cross cutting issues of own source revenue (OSR) and the pollution of the Lake.
The project focus include:
- Non-implementation and poor execution of the development projects in approved budgets
- Inadequate involvement of marginalized groups such as women, youth, PWDs, and fisher folk in budget-making processes and mis-prioritization of projects in agriculture, climate change, and blue economy
- Poor Own Source Revenue generation by the County government and
- Pollution of Lake Victoria through Rivers Kisat and Auji
The specific objectives of the project are:
To enhance the capacity of marginalized groups
To enhance the capacity of marginalized groups (including the women, youth, persons with disability and the fisher folk) in 4 Wards on the county budget making processes and social accountability with particular emphasis to agriculture, blue economy and climate change sectors.
To map Own Source Revenue (OSR) generation
To map Own Source Revenue (OSR) generation of two (2) key revenue streams in Kisumu County in the selected Wards of Kisumu County focusing on the gaps in collection and allocations of the revenue collected.
To develop a documentary on Pollution of the Lake
To develop a documentary on economic and social impact of the pollution of Lake Victoria, analyze the existing legal framework and share recommendations to the public and lobbying of relevant government agencies for action.
Project Outcomes/Intended Results include:
- Commitments of remedial measures by the county government regarding the gaps of the past and ongoing projects in agriculture, blue economy and climate change sectors.
- Developed and presented citizens proposals from the target wards are considered in the wards development plans
- The shared report and analysis of the two revenue streams from the identified sites is informing own source revenue projections and budget allocations
- Documentary on the pollution of the Lake through rivers Auji and Kisat is informing the review of the existing legal framework and enforcement provisions as well as attitude engagements with communities along the two rivers.
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