Kenya Devolution Working Paper Series - Summary Overview

Kenya Devolution Working Paper Series Summary Overview

Publisher	World Bank Centre for Devolution Studies (CDS) Kenya School of Government (KSG)
Year of Publication	2015
Category	Report
County	All/General
Description	Kenya has embarked on a highly ambitious decentralization that seeks to fundamentally change the relationship between government and citizens under the 2010 Constitution. The Constitution seeks to shift government from centralized to decentralized, and from top-down to bottom-up. The Constitution and new legal framework place a strong emphasis on strengthening public participation. Strengthening public participation and governance is a core element in Kenyas strategy to accelerate growth and address long-standing inequalities in economic opportunities, investment, and service delivery in different parts of the country. Global experience with decentralization bears out the Constitutions emphasis on governance, transparency and participation as it indicates that effective decentralization depends on balancing increased discretion of local governments with increased accountabilityboth upwards and downwards. Kenya has a good foundation to strengthen participation in both national and county governments. The space for citizen-state interaction continues to expand, the government and civil society have gained significant experience deploying participatory tools and approaches, and the media is relatively free. As they simultaneously deliver services and build new institutions, counties are seeking to establish effective means to engage the public. To respond to this demand, the working papers distill practical findings and lessons regarding devolution and participation, based on extensive research conducted over the past 2 years on public participation, social accountability, and devolution in Kenya.
Tags	5e15dd2bbba3aa19b31216be29b4c12f, Counties / General
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