Inception Report – Action plan – Nandi, Kenya, 2021 – 2022
- Action Plan: Action plan – Nandi, Kenya, 2021 – 2022
Overview
Name of Evaluator
Mr. Misoi Jonathan, Felix Maiyo, Robert Kirui
Member Name
Nandi, Kenya
Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... Title
Action plan – Nandi, Kenya, 2021 – 2022
Section 1.
Compliance with
co-creation requirements
1.1 Does a forum exist?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The County Government of Nandi organized an inception meeting that was very well represented by the non-governmental organizations based in the county. The meeting was successful, where the co-creator, National Taxpayers Association, took the attendees through the coming up of the mission and vision and the actual action plan. The facilitator, Mr. Maritim, who is a point of contact for Elgeiyo Marakwet County made it very clear to the attendees the benefits that come with openness in government. Key among the benefits is accountability in government transactions. The stakeholders were also interviewed, where they gave their comments, urging the county government of Nandi to embrace the idea of going open in providing government services. They also asked the residents of Nandi to be supportive of the government’s bid to open up services to them. The non-governmental organizations then endorsed the final action plan.
Provide evidence for your answer:
1.2 Is the forum multi-stakeholder?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
From the evidence in the attachment, the forum is such that all sectors are involved. The team ranges from community-based organizations, civil society organizations, People Living with Disabilities, the youthRecognizing that investing in youth means investing in a better future, OGP participating governments are creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate in government processes. Technical ... More, and women’s organizations. The business community was also represented through the Chamber of Commerce – Nandi Chapter among other small and micro business organizations.
The forums provided an opportunity for the co-creators to be more realistic in the formulation of the action plans and the best approach in the implementation of the action plan was also discussed and reached. Among the deliberations was that the community should be involved at every level of the implementation of projects and be able to monitor and evaluate through social audit tools.
Provide evidence for your answer:
- Attendence lists
1.3 Does the forum hold at least one meeting with civil society and non-governmental stakeholders during the co-creation of the action plan?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Among other meetings the civil society has had an engagement with the county Government of Nandi and the co-creators, National Taxpayers Association. The meeting focused on empowering the community in areas such as:
1. Budget-making process
2. Public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... and its importance
3. Advocacy
4. Social accountabilityTransparency of public service delivery is not enough on its own; giving citizens opportunities to monitor progress on the ground and hold their governments accountable improves the quality of these s...
The organizations agreed to structurally engage the government in ensuring whatever is decided in public forums is carried through to its conclusion without mutilations to suit the interests of a few individuals in leadership. The importance of public participation was also emphasized, they agreed to have a more targeted approach during public participation so that diversity is embraced in the decisions on projects and government programs.
Provide evidence for your answer:
- List of Nandi County’s Civil Society Organizations
1.4 Has the action plan been endorsed by the stakeholders of the forum or steering committeeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru.../group?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The County Government of Nandi did a convention that was an opportunity for all the stakeholders to not only discuss the details of the action plan but also to endorse the action plan. In the details is that the county is keen on engaging and empowering citizens to directly influence and shape government plans and policies. It’s achieving this through the establishment of openness and citizen engagement platforms. These platforms include the toll-free County Call Centre (1548), digitization of government processes, and enactment of the Nandi County public participation & civic educationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ... Act. The leadership of the county Government of Nandi led by the Governor committed themselves to ensuring that the planned action areas get the necessary support through financing in partnership with other organizations who have initially shown interest in fostering the intentions in the action plan among them Mzalendo Trust, HIVOS among others.
Provide evidence for your answer:
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
Section 2.
Recommended practices
in co-creation
2.1 Does the government maintain a Local OGP website or webpage on a government website where information on the OGP Local process (co-creation and implementation) is proactively published?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The County Webmaster was added a role to ensure all OGP matters are uploaded to the website as and that information is available. From the inception report to stories of activities that foster OGP, all was always uploaded to the system. The OGP Convention attracted a lot of attention from the media fraternity and other stakeholders who graced the occasion. A lot of experience sharing was conducted and the day’s activities were live streamed for partners who did not manage to attend the meeting. The video coverage was uploaded to enable a wider view of the activities of the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More Convention.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
2.2 Did the government provide information to stakeholders in advance to facilitate informed and prepared participation in the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive...?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The involvement of the public in their development agendas and programs has been well addressed through prior sharing of the documents way ahead of the public participation through the platforms that exist like the website, and using the call center to push information to the public before they come for public participation.
Popular versions of the world large documents like the County Integrated Development Plan, and the Annual budget, among others, have been made easier for the citizenry.
Provide evidence for your answer:
- Public Participation Report on Budget 2022-2023 –
Description and List of participants.
2.3 Did the government ensure that any interested member of the public could make inputs into the action plan and observe or have access to decision-making documentation?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The public has continually been involved in a wide range of decisions that needed public participation. Public participation has been a very integral part of running the affairs of the county Government of Nandi. The County Government of Nandi has created a Public participation unit that is headed by a Director. A public participation act was passed in the year 2021, which has anchored public participation at the center of all operations of government. All departments in the County have a deliberate link to the public participation unit which coordinates and conducts all public participation and structurally reports for documentation and implementation. All public participation reports are uploaded for the public to access and be able to take government in case of any attempt to alter the results of the public participation.
Provide evidence for your answer:
- Public Participation Report on Budget 2022-2023 –
Description and List of participants.
2.4 Did the government proactively report back or provide written feedback to stakeholders on how their contributions were considered during the creation of the action plan?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The stakeholders were adequately provided with the agenda in all deliberations in advance for their adequate preparations in order to contribute qualitatively. The data collected from the public and the stakeholders were reported and validated by the stakeholders. Forums were also held towards sharing the final documents with the stakeholders.
Provide evidence for your answer:
2.5 Was there an iterative dialogue and shared ownership between government and non-governmental stakeholders during the decision making process, including setting the agenda?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Since the OGP principles call for openness, integrity, and accountability, the practice of openness was exercised through the consultative nature of the approach towards setting up the priorities for the commitments. During the consultative forums, the stakeholders were put into working groups, given assignments towards coming up with priorities and later one of the team leaders reported to the forum on what they have come up with.
A lot of the content was fine-tuned to be in tandem with the overall mission and objectives. Plenary sessions were also held to air views on the feelings and the expectations of the participants on the commitments towards being an open and inclusive government.
The final documents were unanimously adopted by the team. The final document was presented and ratified by the team as the final document.
Provide evidence for your answer:
2.6 Would you consider the forum to be inclusive and diverse?
Moderately
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The targeted approach towards stakeholder engagement has changed the quality of engagement since the people engaged are appropriately selected to represent the various sectors. At least the diverse nature of the stakeholders is considered when the invitations are made for the stakeholders to attend the forums. The women, youth, PWDs, and other groups were considered. The sectors were also a consideration so that there is a well-represented base of participants with vast and diverse ideas in the co-creation process.
The county Government of Nandi, sent messages to all stakeholders and reminders towards the day of the forums so that attendance for the forums is assured.
Provide evidence for your answer:
Section 3.
Initial evaluation
of commitments
1 CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... :
Public Participation and Civic Engagement
1.1 Is the commitment verifiable?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Commitment 1: Expand and restructure the participatory structure to promote greater equity and responsiveness of the budget and economic policy priorities to meet the needs of citizens.
The commitment in summary is clear to its objective of promoting equity and responsiveness in matters of budget and economic policy. The need to make the citizenry aware of matters concerning their prioritized programs during public participation forums is at the center of it. Clearly articulated is the inclusive approach in ensuring that every concern brought forward by the citizenry is not mutilated at any level. Among the concerns in the past have been that, they participate and contribute through public forums but they do not find it anywhere in the budget for purposes of implementation. The commitment ensures the process of involvement is end-to-end in nature; That the citizenry is not dropped along the way because of political interests or otherwise.
The commitment also brings out very clear activities toward achieving the commitment. In the activities are key players at every level who should be involved and informed in case of any changes in their initial priority list.
In the deliberations towards settling on the commitment, any alterations should be structured. They set out the structure of alterations of any of the proposed priorities.
Provide evidence for your answer:
1.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevanceAccording to the OGP Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should include a clear open government lens. Specifically, they should advance at least one of the OGP values: transparency, citizen partic... to OGP values?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The OGP values of transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More, openness, and responsiveness are coupled into every activity. For instance the milestone activities of:
- Formulating policy guidelines to implement Nandi County Public Participation and Civic Education Act 2020.
- Designing and integrating interactive digital platforms into the participatory structure.
- Timely publishing of all budget and economic policy documents and avail simplified versions online.
- Implementing Open Days to create formal forums for engagements with CSOs and other stakeholders on social auditsInstitutional and legal frameworks are necessary for providing assurance of the integrity of financial information and of compliance with budgetary rules and procedure. Technical specifications: These... of public projects.
- Disclosing records of Call Centre including response rates and action taken.
- Carrying out continuous civic education to improve the capacity of citizens to participate.
- Incorporating OPG commitment milestones into staff contracts.
Clearly, it resounds the pursuit of transparency, openness, and responsiveness in all matters pertaining the public inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... More in matters relating to their development.
A case in point is the utilization of a digital platform, the call center,r and associated capabilities of reaching out (outbound) by the county government and reaching (inbound) the public to inquire about services and directions on how to access them.
This has changed the imagination that the Government of the day can not proactively reach out to its people to inform, create awareness, and alert its people in case of emergencies, especially looming disasters. The calls that have come in show that people have a lot of confidence in the Government.
1.3 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:
a continuation of ongoing practice in line with existing legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r..., policies or requirements.
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
On a minimal scale, the county has been implementing a consultative participatory model which consists of offline open forums at the sub-county and ward levels to receive public views and input from its citizens on the county’s budget and economic policy priorities at the formulation stage. The participatory structure provides minimal participatory opportunities at the implementation and evaluation stages of the budget. Because participatory spaces provided at sub-county and ward levels are centralized, travels over long distances to the public participation venues and hours wasted on the road create barriers and limitations to the participation of citizens, especially women, and PWDs. The existing interventions have inadequately addressed the challenges of public participation.
Notwithstanding the bottlenecks, the leadership of the County Government of Nandi has willingly tried to address the issues of public participation in ways that have completely impacted positively on the participation of the citizenry in their matters development.
The Nandi County Public Participation and Civic Education Act, 2021 has provided clear engagement structures with the public, outlining the roles of each stakeholder in the process of participating in issues of development.
1.4 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:
will result in a change of the rules, practices or policies that govern a policy area, public sector and/or relationship between citizens and is binding or institutionalized across government or specific institution(s).
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Government departments currently have understood the importance of involving the public in their development affairs. At the very least is that the community members are called to forums and meetings to discuss development in their jurisdictions. The use of a targeted approach/delegate system has bored a lot of fruit since civic engagements currently seem to be more technically approached than before. The understanding of issues of budget and processes towards better services are better understood too.
1.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?
- Increase the frequency of engaging the public:
This is by way of increasing votes towards public participation and continually reporting on progress to the public so that they are able to build confidence with the government of the day. - Digital Engagement:
With the rise of technology and social media, public participation models are evolving to incorporate digital engagement. This includes online forums, virtual town halls, and social media campaigns to encourage public involvement and input. - Collaborative Decision-making:
Public participation has shifted from traditional top-down decision-making to more collaborative approaches. This includes co-designing solutions with community members, creating partnerships between stakeholders, and involving the public in the decision-making process. - Empowerment of Marginalized Communities:
Public participation is increasingly focusing on empowering marginalized communities who may have been historically excluded from decision-making processes. This includes actively seeking out the input of diverse voices and ensuring that decisions made are inclusive and equitable. - Continuous Engagement:
Rather than relying on one-time public meetings or consultations, public participation should increasingly use ongoing engagement strategies to foster ongoing dialogue and input from the public. This can include online feedback platforms, community outreach efforts, and ongoing town hall meetings. - Greater Transparency:
This includes providing clear and accessible information to the public, creating opportunities for public input, and involving the public in the monitoring and evaluation of decisions made.
Overall, the changes to public participation should be to create more inclusive, transparent, and collaborative decision-making processes that incorporate the perspectives and input of diverse communities.
2 Commitment :
Open ContractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C... More and Public ProcurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... More
2.1 Is the commitment verifiable?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
We will increase and strengthen the participation of special interest groups in the procurement process by reforming the procurement procedure to simplify the bidding process and support fair competition among suppliers and contractors. We also commit to increasing the transparency and accountability of the procurement system by disclosing all procurement records including
contract information (Beneficial OwnershipDisclosing beneficial owners — those who ultimately control or profit from a business — is essential for combating corruption, stemming illicit financial flows, and fighting tax evasion. Technical... More, Bills of Quantities, and project implementation updates) and tender evaluation outcomes. We will innovate the publication of procurement documents to increase access to procurement opportunities and enhance the capacity of contractors and suppliers through training and access to credit facilities. To assess the effect of these reforms to open up the procurement system to marginalized groups, we will begin with a competitive training program for a select 50 representatives of enterprises owned by youth, women and persons with disabilities by the end of the Action Plan period Over the long-term, we aim at inspiring a change of mindset and attitude and build trust in the procurement system that will eventually stimulate positive public perception of the procurement system and increased participation.
2.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevance to OGP values?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The intent of the commitment is to open up the government and give equal opportunity to all the residents of Nandi. That no self-centred interests will be advanced by the procurement team and procedures at any one moment.
The principles of openness, accountability, and transparency are clearly set out in the commitment.
2.3 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:
a continuation of ongoing practice in line with existing legislation, policies or requirements.
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Government departments currently have understood the importance of opening up information to the citizenry. At the very least information about tenders and opportunities that exist are shared in county platforms that can reach the county residents.
PPIP which is being implemented by the national government has since helped in minimizing the closed-up information on the owner of the companies bidding and the awarded companies after evaluations.
2.4 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:
is a positive change to a process, practice, or policy but will not generate a binding or institutionalized change across government or specific institution(s).
2.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?
- Strengthen Stakeholder Engagement:
Encourage active participation and engagement of all relevant stakeholders, including civil society organizations, private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More actors, and the public. This can be done through consultations, feedback mechanisms, and involving stakeholders in the decision-making process. - Enhance Transparency:
Ensure that the contracting process is transparent at every stage, from procurement planning to contract execution and monitoring. Publish comprehensive and easily accessible information on tenders, contracts, amendments, and performance data. This includes making information available in open, machine-readable formats to enable analysis and monitoring. - Foster Collaboration:
Promote collaboration between government agencies, civil society organizations, and the private sector to build trust and address implementation challenges. Encourage joint initiatives, partnerships, and sharing of best practices to leverage collective knowledge and resources. - Capacity BuildingEnhancing the skills, abilities, and processes of public servants, civil society, and citizens is essential to achieving long-lasting results in opening government. Technical specifications: Set of ac...:
Invest in capacity building programs to enhance the skills and knowledge of government officials, civil society organizations, and private sector actors involved in the contracting process. This includes training on open contracting principles, data management, contract monitoring, and enforcement mechanisms. - Monitor and Enforce Compliance:
Establish robust mechanisms to monitor compliance with open contracting requirements. Implement effective sanctions and penalties for non-compliance to ensure accountability. Additionally, establish mechanisms for reporting and investigating irregularities or corruption in the contracting process. - Technological Solutions:
Leverage technology to streamline and automate the contracting process, ensuring efficiency and reducing opportunities for corruption. Explore the use of e-procurement platforms, digital signatures, blockchain, and other innovative tools to improve transparency, accountability, and data management. - Learn from International Best Practices:
Stay updated with international best practices and experiences in implementing open contracting. Engage with international organizations, such as the Open Contracting Partnership, and learn from countries that have successfully implemented open contracting initiatives. - Continual Improvement:
Regularly assess the effectiveness of the open contracting commitment and its implementation. Seek feedback from stakeholders and conduct evaluations to identify areas for improvement. Adapt and update the commitment as needed to address emerging challenges and incorporate lessons learned.
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