Technical support for subnational administrations in Kenya

The issue

Kenya’s 47 county governments are uniquely placed to plan and allocate resources to meet the needs of their poorest and most vulnerable constituents. Often, however, they lack the technical capacity to make the best use of the data they have – which means that they can struggle to identify the areas where need is greatest.

The purpose of our work

We began working with the government of Elgeyo Marakwet County in western Kenya in 2017. County officials approached us to provide the technical support that they needed to draft their second County Integrated Development Plan, which covers the period from 2018–2022. In particular, we worked with them to develop a framework of indicators for tracking the implementation of projects captured in the plan. We also answered data support requests from the county’s Department of Agriculture, helping them to address existing data gaps and adopt more evidence-led policy.

With the support of the SDGs Kenya Forum, we have also led a number of dialogues in counties across Kenya to sensitise marginalised communities to the SDGs and empower them to play a role in implementation.

Our impact

Our contribution to the County Integrated Development Plan review process was recognised by the Elgeyo Marakwet county government in the published version of the plan, as well as in feedback from officials, and our support led directly to changes in the development priorities of the county. Our work with the Department of Agriculture has led to the planning of further projects around agriculture data collection and use that has the potential to support job creation and poverty eradication in the region. It has also changed the way that the Department of Agriculture works, strengthening the department’s focus on evidence-informed policymaking both internally and in published policy documents.

Future priorities

In the future we will expand our subnational technical support project to cover other devolved administrations, either at the county or city level. We will also aim to establish and maintain continuous collaboration with key government agencies, as we have with Elgeyo Marakwet’s Department of Agriculture, so that we can provide technical support that is ongoing, suited to the context, and will be best placed to encourage evidence-led policymaking. Our ambition is that this approach will demonstrate and embed a demand for data, ultimately encouraging actors who lack technical capacity to build it within their own organisations.