1 Introduction
1. In January 2004, the International Development
Committee paid a two day visit to Kenya to learn about the development
challenges which the country faces, and to see first-hand the
work that the Department for International Development (DFID)
is engaged in to support Kenya's development. A comprehensive
series of meetings and site visits gave us a clear sense of the
development challenges which Kenya has to confront. We are grateful
to DFID-Kenya for arranging such an informative, and interesting
programme.
2. The visit began with a meeting with Kenyan members
of parliament. This reinforced the point, which is all too often
overlooked, that parliamentarians have a crucial role in holding
donors, as well as their own governments, to account for the aid
which they both spend. We then took part in an excellent seminar
with civil society and private sector representatives on how Kenya
could make progress towards meeting the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), and how DFID could best assist.[1]
The issue of how to coordinate donors' efforts was raised afterwards
in a discussion with representatives of other donors active in
Kenya. We spent the afternoon discussing the trends in urbanisation
and slum-upgrading measures with the Executive Director of UN
Habitat, the UN's agency for human settlements. Its headquarters,
along with Africa's largest slum, are located in Nairobi. During
an evening with representatives of civil society and the private
sector, the Committee also held a meeting with John Githongo,
formerly the head of Transparency International in Kenya, and
now Kenya's "Anti-Corruption Tsar".
3. The second day began with discussions with the
Hon. David Mwiraria MP, Minister of Finance and Hon. Professor
Anyang' Nyong'o MP, Minister of Planning and National Development.
Afterwards the Committee split into two groups for what could
best be termed a "reality check" on whether DFID's efforts
were being translated into action at the local level. The new
Government of Kenya, elected in December 2002, brought in a policy
of free, universal and compulsory primary education. We visited
two primary schools, one run by the Government, and the other
run in partnership with ActionAid Kenya. Both were located in
the slum areas of Nairobi. The schools were struggling under difficult
conditions and had to teach in shifts to make the best use of
classrooms. Class sizes in both schools were extremely high, with
between 60-70 pupils, many of whom had to sit on the floor due
to a shortage of desks. Despite this, the children seemed happy
to be in school and told us of their hopes for the future. On
the afternoon of the second day, some of us visited a DFID-funded
initiative for small-holder dairy farmers, a project which illustrated
the problems faced by smallholders across the wider agricultural
sector. The rest of the Committee visited a "drop-in"
centre for people living with AIDS. This centre—with a three-fold
focus on empowerment, advocacy and support—was based in
a Nairobi slum and run by the Kenya Network of Women with AIDS
(KENWA).
4. At the time of our visit, DFID was in the process
of developing its new Country Assistance Plan (CAP) for the period
2004-2007. The draft CAP[2]
sets out how DFID will support the Government of Kenya's own Economic
Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation. Progress
towards meeting the MDGs in Kenya will depend to a large extent
on the success of the new Kenyan government in implementing its
Economic Recovery Strategy.
5. As mentioned above, while in Nairobi the Committee
took part in a seminar with representatives of Kenyan civil society
and the private sector. We were extremely impressed by the contributions
which we heard and the insights they gave us into the challenges
Kenya faces. As part of the procedure for producing the Kenya
CAP, DFID-Kenya were consulting widely on a draft text and including
in that consultation many of those who took part in the Nairobi
seminar. We decided that it would be a worthwhile exercise to
encourage these consultees to share their comments on the draft
CAP with us as well as with DFID-Kenya. We would then hold an
evidence session in public with the Head of DFID-Kenya and the
Secretary of State. By doing so we hoped to provide a public forum
for a discussion of the draft CAP and of the responses made to
it. In addition to the responses to the consultation which we
received from DFID-Kenya, we also sought submissions from other
interested parties both in the UK and in Kenya. We are grateful
for the submissions we received. These submissions, along with
those made to DFID-Kenya are published with the transcript of
the oral evidence session held at Westminster on 24 March.
6. It is not our intention to make detailed recommendations
about how DFID should spend its funds. Nevertheless, we do wish
to make some comments about the challenges which Kenya faces,
and about the logic and structure of DFID's Country Assistance
Plan. After outlining the key challenges which Kenya and its development
partners face, we make some observations about the draft Country
Assistance Plan, and, in conclusion, about the global push for
poverty reduction and the Africa Commission.
1 A list of participants in this seminar is included
as an Annex to the Report. Back
2
Printed as an appendix to the report. Department of International
Development (DFID) Kenya, Kenya: Country Assistance Plan; Draft
for Consultation, 12 January 2004. See http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Pubs/files/cap_kenya_draft.pdf Back
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