In early 2020, ten Arid and Semi-Arid counties of the Frontier County Development Council (FCDC) faced significant shocks that threatened the livelihoods of their constituents. COVID-19, floods, drought, locust invasions, and a global recession tested the counties’ resilience and their ability to respond effectively.
Scaling the Impacts of USAID Resilience Programming through Local Systems, a Feed the Future activity that develops and supports economic opportunities, determined that planned tasks needed to be altered to reach the activity’s goals more effectively in this new environment.
“We need this project’s support to conduct virtual public participation activities, especially during the PFM [Public Financial Management] cycle.”
Roble nuno, CEC, Finance & Planning, Garissa County
In a co-creation session with the County Executive Committee Members (CECs) for Finance, the parties brainstormed approaches to addressing the shocks and stresses. Together, they reviewed the activity’s current workplan and the programmatic, operational, and logistical issues that would hinder its implementation. The activity, with the support of the counties, added the following initiatives to the workplan:
- E-government and virtual solutions. To support the counties in the use and expansion of virtual meetings, the activity will support the revamping of county websites and the introduction of mobile public participation and educational campaigns.
- Implementation of Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The activity will support the counties in understanding and implementing the tax bill, and responding to its impact on operations, revenue generation, and the ability to attract investment.
- Regional Investment Plan. The activity will develop a plan that provides enabling environment, capital demand and supply, and sectorial information for the region. It will include summaries on each county, which will later be expanded upon to develop County Investment Plans (CIPs). The plan will highlight micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) and public private partnership (PPP) investment opportunities in each county.
Learn more about Scaling the Impacts of USAID Resilience Programming through Local Systems (USAID Kuza) here.
Learn more about our work in Kenya here.
