Counties up skills in policy drafting for cooperative sector

NAIROBI, KENYA: Five counties have an upper hand in drafting better policies for cooperative sector growth.

This follows the completion of a capacity-building programme which targeted County Executive Committee Members (CECM), Chief Officers, County Cooperative Commissioners as well as County Cooperative Directors and Officers drawn from County Governments of Narok, Kiambu, Nandi, Homa Bay, and Nyeri.

At the Strathmore Business School (SBS), 55 trainees successfully graduated with a certificate in Public Policy Making Process (PPMP).

The programme was designed and delivered by Global Communities’ USAID-funded CLEAR Program in collaboration with Strathmore University Business School.

The training, which ended on September 14, was officially opened by Governor Tunai from the County Government of Narok on September 1.

While delivering his remarks, Governor Tunai thanked Global Communities for providing support for his team in their ongoing process of developing draft policies for the cooperative sector. He also thanked Strathmore University for teaching and hosting the course.

The capacity-building program targeted County Executive Committee Members (CECM), Chief Officers, County Cooperative Commissioners as well as County Cooperative Directors and Officers drawn from County Governments of Narok, Kiambu, Nandi, Homa Bay, and Nyeri.

Participants underwent 40 hours of training to enhance capacity in the area of policy and legislative design, formulation, implementation and monitoring and evaluation; negotiation and advocacy upskilling as well as stakeholder mapping and engagement and agenda-setting in the context of gender mainstreaming and cooperative development.

The Chief of Party, USAID’s CLEAR Program, Kristin Wilcox Feldman remarked: “The Cooperative policy and legislation drafted will set the tone for the Kenyan cooperative movement’s growth for the next generations. It is of critical importance to get it right and represent the interests of Kenyan cooperators.”

Kristin added, “Global Communities’ partnership with Strathmore Business School has been a strategic win for all involved. Our co-created cooperative focused PPMP curricula will bring SBS’s leading-edge strategies to the county specialists and technocrats who are charged with the creation of these drafts. Our goal is to see those best practices play out across all USAID/CLEAR partner counties.”

The PPMP was developed out of a baseline survey conducted by Global Communities in 33 counties seeking critical information to better understand the status and levels of policy formulation skills, understanding, and appreciation of their role in creating an enabling business environment for the cooperatives to thrive. The findings of the survey revealed a significant gap in these areas.

Global Communities, therefore, went ahead to develop a Policy Legislation Affairs (PLA) strategy that would provide for a holistic approach.

This approach included the formulation and competitive bidding for a public policymaking process training institution to partner with to conduct this training.

Representing the Strathmore University Executive Dean, faculty member Martin Mbaya stated, “The Strathmore Business School is happy to partner with Global Communities to deliver the PPMP training which is critical in advancing evidence-based public policies especially around the co-operative sector” After this training, Global Communities will be engaging with the five counties to provide technical assistance in the area of inclusive and enabling county cooperative legislative drafting.