Governance, Institutional Frameworks and Leadership and the Role they Play in Kenyan Municipalities
Figure 1: The Iten Municipality Staff and Board Participate in a Breakout Session Discussing the Lessons Gained from the Urban Governance and Leadership Training and How they Can Apply them in their Workstream by Developing Action Plans.
Sustaining Urbanisation by Strengthening Institutional Capability at Municipal Level Municipalities in Kenya post devolution have faced systematic challenges that have hampered their capability to effectively deliver urban services as well as proactively engage with the private sector to attract inward investment into their urban centres. Good urban governance remains one of the keyways in
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which they can respond to these challenges and make their urban centres inclusive and sustainable. Despite the structurisation of the urban governance sector within local government systems in Kenya, there remains a difference in the way roles and responsibilities are articulated on paper and implemented. While particular task areas are easy to assign responsibility within the governance structure particular sectors such as urban planning including infrastructure development prioritisation and public participation remains a key mandate of the local urban administrators. While the national government framework provides structure in how they can carry out that mandate, there are considerations that need to be made with regards to their independence in terms of decision making and financing. To better understand the municipal considerations, the UK Government through the Sustainable Urban Economic Development Programme (SUED) carried out a Capacity Needs Assessment (CNA) to assess the capacity of 12 fast growing municipal boards and staff in Kenya. The CNA was aimed at assessing the capability of the municipal boards and staff (urban administrators) to better plan for urbanisation and develop local revenue generation strategies that would ensure financial sustainability of these urban centres. A key component of the assessment was aimed at better determining the governance and organisational effectiveness of the municipalities and whether they had in place fit-for-purpose governance and management structures and systems. The findings of the CNA showed that there was need to support the municipalities to develop credible governance and leadership structures, frameworks, processes, and systems. In doing so, the programme would be able to help the municipalities strengthen their governance structures to implement the urban economic plans and position themselves favourably to potential private sector investors and other development partners. “As a municipality we are extremely grateful to SUED. When the capacity needs assessment was carried out, we were not sure how the programme would help us respond to the gaps identified. Not only has SUED provided training for us in financial management and revenue enhancement, but it has also gone a step further and helped us identify which governance structures and systems we need to strengthen to better serve our population” Janet Jeruto Economic Advisor to the Governor Elgeyo Marakwet County. The programme responded to the gaps identified in the CNA by tailor-making a three-day training on urban governance and leadership for all supported municipalities. The urban governance and leadership training used a multi-step process. At the onset, the programme utilised a pre-assessment tool on the modules in the training to better understand the knowledge and skill level of the municipal boards and staff, and seconded county staff. The assessment tool played a key role in determining how SUED created the content to suit particular municipalities. This meant that in municipalities where they needed additional knowledge on the various municipal structures and systems that they could leverage for resource mobilisation, the programme customised the training to help them see how they could strengthen them. This customisation played a key role in how the training curriculum was developed. The curriculum helped align the training objectives with the intended outputs and the learning aids that would be utilised to train the municipal board and staff. Prior to the training, the SUED facilitators familiarised themselves with each municipality’s Urban Economic Plan (UEP) to better design the training material to suit specific municipal governance and leadership needs. “What I liked the most about the training was the way the facilitators really broke down the UEP and helped us see where we could as a municipality take lead on its implementation. They took us through its implementation plan and pointed out where our governance systems were a deterrent to investors. As such we have been able to create an action plan to address that.” Shared Ms. Jeruto. During the training, the programme utilised a varied approach in content delivery. It had a mixed sessions which included facilitated sessions, breakout and group discussion sessions, plenary, and case- study discussion sessions as well as the key outcome of the training an action planning session. The training content was geared on enabling the board and senior county and municipal staff to appreciate their roles and gain the skills and knowledge to implement their newly adopted UEPs.
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By utilising this newly acquired skills, the municipal team would be able to create an enabling environment for private sector growth while providing suitable platforms to proactively engage with key stakeholders to fund the projects identified in the UEPs. By having in place investor ready governance structures, processes and policies, the municipality would have eased the way in which the private sector conduct business. It was imperative that the programme demonstrate the importance of urban governance to the municipal team, by working with them to identify the critical part that they played in deciding how they planned, financed, and managed their urban areas, SUED was able to show them how they would work with a range of actors and institutions to advance their economic vision. “What really helped put things into perspective was when we discussed what our urbanisation challenges were as a municipality and how the UEPs captured our aspirations to address them. By collectively discussing the UEP with fellow team members, we have been able to identify quick wins that we can implement to achieve sustainable results” Ms. Jeruto stated. The UEPs that the municipalities have provide a roadmap that they can utilise to spur economic growth if implemented. Trainings such as the governance and leadership one, bring to the fore front the oversight role that the board and municipal staff have to play to implements and contribute to not only their wider county economic growth but to the national economy through increased revenue generation and economic opportunities for the private sector. Further by learning about the elements of good governance and how they are enshrined within the Kenyan law, the staff are encouraged to efficiently and effectively position themselves to provide urban services in a way that is responsive to the needs of the population. The training not only centered on governance aspects but delved deeper into the functions of the board and how they could utilise the board processes and instruments to better service their population. “By talking about the roles and responsibility of the board, the team has been able to put into action what has been captured in legislature. Knowing what you need to do versus learning about how to carry out the role have very varied outcomes. Team members are better placed to administer their roles and avoid duplicating efforts.” Elaborated Ms. Jeruto during the Iten Municipal urban governance and leadership training. With SUED’s support, in the training, the municipalities were able to see how they could strengthen their legal and institutional frameworks to facilitate their access to various financing instruments. By learning what they need to do, the programme has better positioned them to enhance their economic competitiveness and determine how they can be more innovative in the way they raise funds to implement their infrastructure projects. The training additionally delved into how they could strengthen their stakeholder management by increasing transparency and accountability in the decision-making process which would help the municipal key actors and stakeholder understand how the municipality carried out its mandate. In doing so, they would increase the confidence with which external parties can engage with the municipal leadership and invest in the municipality. By articulating the principles of good governance as shared in the Urban Areas and City Acts (UACA) 2011, the programme helped the municipality determine how they would institutionalise good governance while providing strategic leadership in the provision of municipal urban services. “One of the sensitive topics that we’ve always had at the county and municipality has been on performance management. The training has shed light on how we as a municipality can create an enabling and supportive performanceoriented culture. It no longer looks like a fault-finding approach rather one that creates an environment where we can all perform our roles to the best of our abilities.” Shared Ms. Jeruto at the training. SUED ensured that the training included a broad session on performance management to help the board understand its role in institutionalizing a strong performance management culture and how that impacted municipal urban governance. Further, it helped showcase why it was important to eliminate the siloapproach in the management of public affairs by promoting collaboration in the implementation of similar workstreams. The training also included a session on risk management to support them to develop a risk management and corporate financing reporting framework that would enhance their risk management practices. “The risk management session helped us determine what risks we were facing and
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collaboratively discuss how we could mitigate against them. By discussing it as a team, we’ve been able to see that everyone is a risk owner. The mandate doesn’t only lie with the Municipal Manager or Board Chair but all of us in our respective areas of expertise and responsibility. This has helped create a sense of ownership in the implementation of the UEP and in the provision of urban services.” Ms. Jeruto explained. By training over 150 county, municipal staff, and board members, SUED has positioned them to engage more effectively with counties, development partners and existing and potential investors to fund the projects within their respective UEPs. The training acts as a catalyst for change aimed at bringing the public sector and private sector to implement interventions that unlock the economic value of sustainable urbanisation. Effective governance and leadership frameworks of institutions at municipal level provide a way that a shared economic vision can be implemented to ensure that critical infrastructure and value chain projects are prioritised in a way that strengthens sub-national capacity to contribute to the national economy.
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