As a signatory to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Kenya remains
committed to the sustainability agenda particularly for new projects. This is a
developing country with very poor indicators on the Human Development Index
(HDI). Over-dependence on tourism and foreign aid has meant that Kenya was in
danger of over-exploiting its resources as late as 2014. It is from this
background that the government and partner agencies agreed to engage in
sustainable development as a means of achieving the dual objectives of
improving the welfare of Kenyan citizens on one hand and ensuring that there
was something left for the future generations on the other. From an executive
policy point of view, sustainable community development is underpinned by a
number of “Sessional Papers”; the government’s preferred consultative and
policy development instrument. In particular Sessional Paper No. 1 of 1986
differed from its earlier counterpart Sessional Paper No. 10 of 1965; in as
much as it emphasized the role of the community in achieving development and
sustainability.
Beyond Five Year Plans and
Budget Speeches
One of the criticism of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) like Kenya is
that lofty sustainability ambitions are rarely operationalized through concrete
projects and initiatives with measurable success. To some extent that has been
the story in Kenya, however there are some notable successes that are pushing
the country towards achieving many of its MDGs. For example in 1983 the
District Focus for Rural Development Strategy established District Development
Committees which were designed to increase the grassroots participation process
in development initiatives. Of recent such committees have been criticized for
not being truly representative of the communities that they serve. Moreover
sustainability has been ignored at the expense of pure economic development. The
Kenya Rural Development Strategy of 1998 sought to readdress the balance by
focusing on the inclusion of rural communities in development programs. Since
then the Kenya Community Development Trust has empowered different communities
to engage in productive activities whilst simultaneously protecting the long
term viability of the available natural and human resources. As recently as
2005, the Constituency Development Fund has been used to offer financial and
technical support to those people that wish to implement innovative ideas for
lifting themselves out of poverty. However political interference by MPs has
limited the scope of these funds.
Active and Passive
Participation
It is
necessary to consider the successes and failures of specific sustainable
development community projects in Kenya in order to properly assess the overall
impact of these philosophical ambitions. One of the key issues that is
peripatetic to almost all projects is the distinction between active and
passive participation by members of the communities. In Kenya there is an
effort to reconfigure the traditional perceptions of citizens as passive
recipients of government policy and donor funds. Instead innovation and
self-help are used to lift people out of poverty as well as allowing them to
exploit the resources that are available to them in a responsible/efficient
manner. A number of flagship projects have highlighted these challenges,
opportunities and achievements:
1) Soil and Water Conservation Projects: The Ministry of Agriculture has been very
successful at mobilizing citizens on a community level to enhance their ability
to store water during the rainy season in ways that are both safe and
efficient. This has been directly linked with the productivity of semi-arid
areas like the Laikipia Plateau so that communities have been able to achieve
the dual objectives of a sustainable water supply and better agricultural
output (Manyasa, 2009) . In this case the
functional ministry sends out professionals to sensitize and empower local
communities so that they can design and implement specific strategies for
surviving the long dry season. One of the additional benefits of the project is
a greater level of diversity in terms of the developmental activities that
rural communities engage in.
2) Sustainable Development for All Kenya: The SDFA Program is an NGO initiative that
focuses on the poorest members of communities who are normally excluded from
community development programs within existing bureaucratic structures. It
engages in a form of community action for the purpose of improving the welfare
of the entire community whilst also protecting the resource base. Since 2006,
SDFA has achieved a number of strategic and local objectives. For example the
“Use Solar, Save Lives” campaign has speeded up the process of rural
electrification in a way that is far more affordable and sustainable than
anything that the Kenyan National Grid has ever achieved. Members of the
community can also supplement their income through the selling energy efficient
locally designed solar lanterns. Over 120,000 people have so far directly
benefitted from SDFA programs with many more getting indirect benefits such as
education.
3) Maasai Community Development: This program has concentrated on the
semi-nomadic people of the Maasai tribe. Its main achievements include the
development of new farming methods that are both more productive and less
harmful to the environment. The outreach projects that contribute to the
overall program have been updated to incorporate education in areas such as
personal hygiene, water conservation, sanitation, food security and value
addition on agricultural output. The program is noted for its cultural
sensitivity and contextual relevance to the people that it serves. In
particular, this type of development activity has been critical for
gender-mainstreaming and the inclusion of young people/children in the
agenda-setting process. It is anticipated that in the future, the organic farming
strand of the program will lead to exports to other countries in order to
further enhance the livelihoods of the Maasai.
In
conclusion, these three projects demonstrate how the impact of sustainable
community development in Kenya has been successful on many different fronts.
Not only has it impacted on the lives of individuals but it has also shifted
the focus of policy-making away from national objectives towards community-led
development. Ultimately the combination of these initiatives will push Kenya
towards Middle Income Country status without causing lasting damage to the
natural resources of the nation.
References
Manyasa, E. O., 2009. Social Capital and Rural
Economic Development in Western Province of Kenya: An Emperical Analysis, Nairobi:
Kenyatta Universty.
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