Nanyuki: As the Kenya Devolution Support Program II (KDSP II) gains momentum, county officials across the country have been sensitised towards ensuring efficient service delivery and resource management. The State Department Principal Secretary, Ms. Teresia Mbaika, speaking at a Nanyuki hotel during a three-day conference for the 47 counties chief officers and county program coordinators on Thursday, pointed out that KDSP II was targeting to ensure devolved units were strengthened to improve on their services delivery.

According to Kenya News Agency, Ms. Mbaika highlighted that KDSP II, which is a four-year World Bank-funded program, further aimed to foster sustainable development at the grassroots level. The program is financed at a tune of USD 200 million to support capacity building and technical support at the county level. Additionally, the PS revealed that KDSP II will help address challenges encountered in KDSP I to enhance accountability in the use of public resources.

Ms. Mbaika noted that “KDSP II
builds on the achievement of its predecessor, aiming to deepen the gains of the devolution while addressing the challenges we encountered in the first phase. The primary objectives are to strengthen institutions’ capacities in the county governments.” She urged the county coordinators to foster collaboration by promoting inter-departmental and inter-county partnerships to tackle common challenges and scale up their practices.

The Principal Secretary also challenged the Chief Officers and county coordinators to prioritise innovation by leveraging technology and new approaches to boost efficiency. Laikipia CECM in charge of Administration and Public Service Purity Kendi said the county had met all the perquisite requirements for the kickoff of the KDSP II, which she lauded as being a game changer for the devolved units on promoting development projects.