MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND PLANNING ROLE OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT IN CAPACITY BUILDING TO ENHANCE ACCOUNTABILITY IN SERVICE DELIVERY Presentation by Micah Pkopus Powon, CBS Principal Secretary State Department of Devolution 15th December 2017

Background The success of devolution can only be measured by the effectiveness of service delivery to our citizens effective service delivery emerges from institutional relationship in which the actors are accountable to each other At its center, the concept of accountability is the checking and balancing of potential abuse of power by public officials accountability requires that: entities are given known objectives (such as the big four) there is an agreed, impartial and reliable way of assessing perfromance achievement and failure both respective action The political notion of accountability in this case corresponds to the economists’ concept of incentives.

Background The notion of oversight creates sharp divisions in the devolution sphere: with those who would benefit from devolution largely in support those who are likely to lose out politically or economically make every effort to undermine the process. However, oversight is an imperative if we are to continuously improve on the level of service delivery to our citizens. The desire for improved quality of life, prosperity of the citizen and the overall development of our nation as embodied in Article 174 of our Constitution should be the single greatest incentive to subject our institutions to oversight. The oversight function of national government ministries therefore should simply be the review of performance devolved function to inform policy and strategic action to imporve service delivery. It is not an attempt to undermine the constitutional integrity of county governments

The Capacity Building Role The National Government responsibility for capacity building is given pursuant to Article 190 and the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution This mandate is further elaborated under Section 121 of the County Governments Act which places responsibility on the ministry or government department responsible for matters relating to intergovernmental relations to provide support to county governments to enable them to perform their functions.

The National Capacity Building Framework outlines the strategy for implementation modalities of this core function through identification of focus areas; priority actions; participating actors; and resources to implement Capacity building. Its rationale is to provide a mechanism for facilitating and coordinating capacity building initiatives; Leverage and build on the foundation of on-going appropriate capacity building initiatives; Provide a structure for a package of support based on government wide existing policies and local priorities; Provide basis for monitoring and evaluating capacity development.

Implementation Framework Implementation of the NCBF is premised along the following four pillars targeting the individual, organization and environment: Training and Induction Technical Assistance to Counties Inter-governmental sectoral forums Civic Education and Public Awareness Institutional Support and Strengthening

Objectives and Priority Areas Following the implementation of The NCBF in the first two years, The State Department of Devolution commissioned a Medium Term Intervention (MTI)study The MTI defined the following are the five key result areas as priority capacity need areas: Public finance management; planning, monitoring and evaluation; human resources and performance management; devolution and inter-governmental relations; and civic engagement and public participation

Conceptual Framework of the NCBF :

Approaches to Capacity Building Training and inductions Development of guidelines (Standards and Norms) Technical Assistance – Demand driven Development of systems, processes and procedures Knowledge Sharing- (Peer to peer) Equipment (Tooling and re-tooling)

KENYA DEVOLUTION SUPPORT PROGRAMME (KDSP) One of the programs through which the NCBF is currently being operationalized is the KDSP a) Objective: strengthen national & county institutions to improve devolved service delivery b) $200 m World Bank credit to supplement existing NCBF resources $160 m to counties through new Capacity & Performance Grants $40 m to national government to strengthen devolution support (guidelines, training, in-county TA) c) Covers four years – FY16/17 to FY19/20 d) Complements existing devolution capacity building e) Designed in consultation with CoG

80% of Funds will go to Counties Kenya Devolution Support Program $200 million $40m for National government results such as completion of: Guidelines, systems Training modules In-county TA Audits OBJECTIVE: Strengthened institutions for devolved service delivery $160m for County government results - via Capacity & Performance Grants transferred to counties - for capacity building and investments Public Financial Management Planning and M&E Human resources management Civic education and public participation

Uses existing government systems KDSP Key Features Results-based. Disbursements based on results at county & national levels. It is therefore an incentive based capacity building process. Uses existing government systems Funds flow from Treasury to county revenue funds Independent firm assesses perfromance Supports National Capacity Building Framework

Recommendations Establish a system by which counties may request for specific capacity building support Establish a standard performance assessments framework to inform both levels of government of emerging capacity building needs Strengthen knowledge sharing platforms including such forms as this one, the maarifa center, the devolution conference etc.

Recommendations Strengthen popular participation in governance with free flow of information between public institutions and the public establish a standard framework for development planning that integrates citizen priorities, eliminates deficit budgeting, strengthens financial discipline and expands the fiscal space at both the national and county levels Facilitate and strengthen a sector wide approach to development planning with emphasis on joint programs where the two levels of government have concurrent mandate to ensure joint allocation of resources

Thank you for you attention