15th November,2019 - UN-Habitat undertook the mid-term review workshop in Kajiado county which was the second workshop in the implementing the Joint Work Programme (JWP) for Equitable Economic Growth in cities campaign in two secondary towns in Kenya, Kajiado town being one of the towns. The first JWP was held in September 2018 to get feedback from the local community and county heads.
Both workshops were held to support the projected growth of the county that is to be characterized by inclusiveness and the equitable and environmental sustainability of the cities within the county. The 24 months’ initiative is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) through Cities Alliance, and Kenya is the 4th country to benefit from the programme after Ghana, Uganda, and Bangladesh.
The Programme is currently at the assessment stage of the preparation of the Local Assessment Report (LAR) whose objective is to have a local project that supports economic development.
UN-Habitat and Cities Alliance teams visited Kajiado County for a mid-term review workshop for public participation to discuss and validate data towards the LAR report, as well as facilitate a coordinated and focused effort to promote the creation of an enabling environment so that the counties can tap into agglomeration economies as well as promote local investment and innovation.
Speaking at the workshop in Kajiado, Mr. Keith Tatenda Mudadi, Urban Programme Analyst from Cities Alliance, noted that going forward, Cities Alliance would like to support operationalization of some of the outcomes from the workshop because the aim is not just to have a discussion but to create an avenue for implementation. To this end Cities Alliance is in the process of designing a second phase for the JWP which will focus on actions that can support implementation of recommendations arising from this stakeholder consultation process.
At UN-Habitat, the programme is led by the Urban Economy and Finance Branch supported by Regional Office for Africa; the Urban Planning and Design Branch, Advocacy and Communication department. On his part, the acting coordinator of the Urban Economy and Finance Branch, Mr. Marco Kamiya said: “we would like to integrate this project with UN-Habitat work as well as with Cities Alliance”.
Mr. Samuel Lenku Seki, The County Secretary on his part said, “the biggest resource of Kajiado County is land and this workshop is important for everyone because each one comes from a town and this workshop explains and helps us understand planning concepts that can be used to shape and improve our towns.”
The County representative Mr. Matthew Sululu appreciated UN-Habitat and Cities Alliance facilitation of this workshop and pledged total cooperation to coming up with tangible results that can be of great importance to the residents of Kajiado County.
