The client
Our client on this assignment was a parliamentary constituency in the Republic of Kenya.
Situation
The Government of Kenya established the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in 2003 through the CDF Act in The Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 107 (Act No. 11) of 9th January 2004. The fund aims to control imbalances in regional development brought about by partisan politics.
The CDF targets all constituency-level development projects, particularly those aiming to combat poverty at the grassroots. The fund comprises an annual budgetary allocation equivalent to 7.5% of the government's ordinary revenue. Planning and administration of the CDF cuts a big difference in the standards of living within local communities in their respective constituencies.
Client requirements
Gatanga CDF committee were looking to work with a professional, reliable, and adequately experienced consulting firm to develop the constituency's development strategy, and to guide them through its implementation. We provided strategic planning advisory for Gatanga constituency between 2003 and 2013, during which period the constituency achieved significant development as a rapidly urbanising rural constituency. During the same period, an independent auditor, in addition to the government appointed fund auditor, monitored utilisation of the fund and reported to the CDF committee.
Our approach
Our work on this assignment has entailed the following:
1. Building capacity for development planning, monitoring and evaluation for the CDF committee, with specific reference to optimisation of the CDF as a development fund;
2. Determination of the constituency’s key development objectives;
3. Extraction of the constituency’s key development indicators (from its development objectives) and aligning these to Kenya Vision 2030 and to the relevant Millennium Development Goals (MDGs);
4. Documentation of the constituency’s periodic annual development work plan;
5. Development of monitoring and evaluation tools to track performance against key deliverables on the constituency development strategy.
Significant outcomes
For the duration that we worked with Gatanga constituency, Gatanga constituency recorded outstanding success in its planning, coordination and utilisation of the CDF. The hallmark of success in Gatanga constituency’s was the transparency with which members of the CDF committee was appointed, development projects in the constituency identified and the fund administered.
Some of the major gains achieved on this assignment included the following, which we specifically tracked as performance indicators in the constituency’s development:
i. Increased access to safe, clean drinking water, sanitation and primary healthcare
ii. Increased food sufficiency and a reduction in nutrition-related ailments
iii. Decrease in infant and maternal mortality rates
iv. Increase in employment opportunities, and subsequent reduction in poverty in the constituency
v. Reduced crime and social delinquency
vi. Reduced production and sale of illicit brews
vii. Reforestation and various other achievements relating to environmental preservation and reclamation
viii. Increase in school enrolment, retention and transition rates
ix. Improved quality of life in the constituency.
ARTEMIS Transition Partners
Please contact us to discuss specific requirements
Development planning for parliamentary constituency