Nairobi, December 15, 2020 at the Strathmore Business School (SBS), 52 trainees successfully graduated with a certificate in Public Policy Making Processes (PPMP). PPMP is an initiative designed and delivered by Global Communities’ USAID-funded CLEAR Program in collaboration with the Strathmore University Business School.
The capacity-building program was created to support County Executive Committee Members (CECM), Chief Officers, County Cooperative Commissioners as well as County Cooperative Directors and Officers to increase their abilities to work with cooperative stakeholders to set the policy agendas for their counties. This PPMP 3 cohort’s participants are drawn from county governments of Bomet, Tana River, Vihiga, Nakuru and Bungoma and the Council of Governor (CoG).This follows a successful training and graduation of 95 cooperative leaders drawn from county governments of Narok, Kiambu, Nandi, Homa Bay, Nyeri. Mombasa, Kilifi, Taita Taveta, Makueni, and Kericho.
Participants underwent 40 hours of training to enhance capacity in the areas of policy and legislative design, formulation, implementation and monitoring and evaluation; negotiation and advocacy upskilling as well as stakeholder mapping and engagement and agenda setting in the context of gender mainstreaming and cooperative development.
While addressing the graduands, Bomet Governor, Dr. Hillary Barchok noted: “I applaud the efforts by the Global Communities’ USAID-funded Cooperatives Leadership Engagement, Advocacy and Research (CLEAR) Program, Global Communities, The council of Governors, the County Governments in championing for the cooperative movement, which is the vehicle for economic growth.”
Dr. Brachok added: “Through the first MOU signed with USAID CLEAR/Global Communities and Bomet in 2018, the County has strived to improve the cooperative business enabling environments through policy legislative and regulatory reforms. Bomet has supported the Review of Co-operative policy and development of Bomet County Cooperative development Bill, 2018, The Rules and Regulations 2018, documents with Consultant in collaboration with Council of Governors awaiting consideration by the County Assembly.”
The USAID/ CLEAR Program’s Chief of Party, Kristin Wilcox Feldman said: “The Cooperative policy and legislation drafted will set the tone for the Kenyan cooperative movement’s growth for the next generations. It is of critical importance to get it right and represent the interests of Kenyan cooperators.”
The Managing Director of the Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (KUSCCO), Mr. George Ototo, M.B.S remarked: ”We all know that devolution of the co-operative function under the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution of Kenyan 2010 was a noble idea for the sector. However, this presented significant challenges especially around setting up of a responsive legal framework and technical capacity gaps, which are critical for optimum performance of cooperatives at the county level. We appreciate the role that development partners such as you, the Global Communities, are playing in bridging these important gaps.”
The PPMP was developed after the USAID/CLEAR program conducted a baseline in 33 Kenyan counties. They survey sought critical information to better understand the status and levels of policy formulation skills, understanding and appreciation of the county officer role in creating an enabling business environment for cooperatives to thrive. The findings of the survey revealed a significant gap in stakeholder engagement, policy development, and drafting skills. Global Communities therefore went ahead to develop a Policy Legislation Affairs (PLA) strategy that would provide for a wholistic approach. This approach included the formulation and competitive bidding for a public policy making process training institution to partner with to conduct this training.
Prof. Robert Mudida, Academic Lead, PPMP Program- Strathmore Business School noted: “We urge the graduating class to utilize the knowledge and skills gained through this training to champion for better policies that will drive co-operative development at the county level.”
After this executive training course, Global Communities will be engaging with each of the participating counties to support the drafting and public commentary period of cooperative policies in order to achieve a more inclusive policy reflective of cooperative imperatives. .
For further information, please contact USAID/CLEAR’s Communications and PR Specialist, Stephine Ogutu through hellosteveogutu@gmail.com
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