KAKAMEGA COUNTY LEADING THE GREEN DISCOURSE

Post by: Edna Kibisu in climate change
Climate change is considered a global agenda for many decades now and various countries have taken the initiative to domesticate and customize its mitigation and adaptation governance to suit their needs. Kenya has been on the forefront in developing climate change policies by signing to be a party to the Paris agreement and coming up with NDCs and NCCAP Having…
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11 Sep 2020
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Since the inception of county government in 2013, Nandi County department for Lands, Environment and Natural Resources had made several attempts to put legislative framework in place to protect its fragile ecosystems. Wetlands, hill slopes and sources of water are examples of such fragile ecosystems that were to be protected. The director of the department was concerned that processes in the county seemed to be moving too slow to yield the desired results within the 5-year term that the county government had to deliver its mandate. According to the director, something needed to be done urgently to influence the process at the county so as to improve the pace of implementation. There was need to change the approach to fasten processes in the county. The Lake Region Economic Bloc Climate Change Governance Project implemented by Christian Aid in partnership with ADS Western under the ADA Consortium with the support of DFID entered the county just at the right time. The county was still struggling with slow rate of work progress; the project identified this gap and realized that for the project results to be attained there was need to identify the cause of slow rate of service delivery in the county. Low levels of knowledge on climate change were identified as one of the contributors to the slow process. Numerous capacity building and sensitization meetings were held and they targeted the MCAs, county planners and technical staff. According to the director of environment and the chief officer with whom the project has been closely working, they observed that the project has positively influenced perceptions and attitudes of staff towards work. “We really thank the LREB CCG project, working with DFID, Christian Aid and ADS Western has made us see great improvement in our staff’s service delivery. Interactions facilitated by the project has led to our staff borrowing best practices across the county departments and from the CCG project staff, we are sure the attitude that has been cultivated by the project will go a long way in ensuring the sustainability of the outcomes of the project. We look forward to strengthened collaborations and support even beyond the climate change governance as far as governance in the county is concerned,” said the director for environment in a meeting held in January 2020 who also thanked the project for the progress made in legislating for Climate Change in the County. He said with the continued support of the project, the county is targeting to have climate change act enacted before the end of this year. Lastly, the project’s role in raising awareness of resident on climate change through the ward level meetings was also appreciated. The director observed that the radio talk shows greatly raised awareness not only on climate change but also on other matters of county governance and this led to increased demand for county services by the citizens. The increased awareness led to change in attitude and the residents became more caring to the environment. It was observed that residents began to voluntarily uproot eucalyptus from fragile areas as a result of sensitization done by the project. Participation of youth women and people with disabilities in environmental management has greatly improved due to unique targeting of the project unlike other players in the past.

Influencing change in attitude through strengthened collaborations and partnership building in Nandi County

Post by: Edna Kibisu in climate change
Since the inception of the county government in 2013, the Nandi County department for Lands, Environment, and Natural Resources had made several attempts to put a legislative framework in place to protect its fragile ecosystems. Wetlands, hill slopes, and sources of water are examples of such fragile ecosystems that were to be protected. The director of the department was concerned…
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11 Sep 2020
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Strengthening working relations between the Executive and the County Assembly for better service delivery to the residents of Vihiga County

Post by: Edna Kibisu in climate change
When Lake Region Economic Bloc Climate Change Governance Project (LREB CCG) made its initiation meeting with the County Executive Committee member (CECM) for Environment, Water, and Natural Resources for Vihiga in February 2019, the CECM portrayed great enthusiasm for climate change governance processes. This enthusiasm was best demonstrated by the fact that the department under the leadership of the CECM…
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11 Sep 2020
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