Lessons from the Field

“The Process of developing our Urban Economic Plan for Iten has shown us the importance of working with the private sector to create sustainable development. Our minds have been opened”

_ Elgeyo Markawet’s Governor H.E. Alex Tolgos

Supporting Market Driven growth in emerging municipalities by attracting investment for critical climate resilient infrastructure and value chain projects.

Implementation Period: September 2018- August 2022

The UK Government funded Sustainable Urban Economic Development Programme (SUED) is working with 12 municipalities to develop sustainable urban economic plans and attract investment for critical infrastructure and value chain projects. The programme is doing this by working with the public and private sector to improve urban economic planning, business environment reforms and develop urban investments. The programme aims to create the right economic conditions for these emerging urban areas to grow in a way that is both inclusive and sustainable.

The programme is providing technical expertise in these key four thematic areas:

Urban Economic Planning: SUED is 1 working with local institutional authorities at the county and municipal level to design and implement urban economic development plans.

The urban economic plans integrate market-based approaches into the counties integrated plans emphasizing the potential of value chain development. With SUED’s support municipalities are learning how to assimilate regional corridor development initiatives into County urban economic planning.

As a result, the strategies support; economic corridor planning, agro-clustering, industrial park development, special economic zones and technopole development. The plans are tailor made for each municipality and are responsive to the needs of the local population.

The main programme objectives are to:

Strengthen capacity at municipality level to plan better for urbanisation. Support policy and legislative changes to enable greater private sector led growth. Raise investment for critical bankable, climate-resilient infrastructure and value chain projects. Develop and test capacity at municipality level to maintain key activities after the programme ends. Create climate-resilient jobs. Improve rural links with larger markets that were previously difficult to access. Poise municipalities for climate-resilient and sustainable growth.