Development of a Sector Wide Approach to Planning for the Ministry of Water and Irrigation as part of implementation of the water reforms under the Water Act 2002
The Government of Kenya (GoK) is implementing far reaching reforms in the water sector to restructure and improve sector performance and address the problems associated with the management of the resources and delivery of water and sewerage services. The sector reform is widely supported by the Development Partners’ community. However, investment needs in the sector to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) exceed by far the resources availed through the Government of Kenya and its Development Partners. This gap can only be overcome by increasing resource mobilization through improved sector performance by enhancing the planning and implementation efficiency of investments for infrastructure and service delivery. A prerequisite for this is the establishment of a Sector-Wide Approach to Planning (SWAP). A Sector-Wide Approach (SWAP) can be defined as “pooling of resources to support a single sector policy and expenditure programme, under Government leadership, adopting common approaches across the sector and progressing towards relying on Government procedures to disburse and account for funds”. Our firm was subcontracted by PEM Consult of Denmark to assist in collating information necessary for the establishment of a SWAP including developing a road map for its establishment.