Kenya Devolution Support Program (KDSP)

The Kenya Devolution Support Program (KDSP) is a four year program of USD 200M financed by the World Bank to support capacity building and technical assistance at the county level.

The program support capacity building and institutional strengthening in the five key result areas as identified in the national capacity building framework. The NCBF was developed in 2013 to identify the capacity needs of county goverments.it was further revised in 2015 to cover emerging areas of capacity building like technical assistance, on the job learning and knowledge and learning exchange programs.

Performance Based Grants

KDSP is a performance-based grants, from the central government to counties. The 2015 Budget Policy Statement (BPS) states that the national government will design a performance grant framework “to support county governments as the center for service delivery and economic expansion, especially in the areas of public financial management (PFM), good governance practices and supporting the counties to be fully operational,” as well as to enhance fiscal responsibility principles.  The draft 2016 Budget Policy Statement builds on this proposal:

“Counties will be free to ‘opt into’ the grant, which will entail agreeing to prepare and implement a capacity building plan, an annual performance assessment, reporting on grant funds received, among other ‘conditions’. In the first year (2016/17), participating counties will receive a basic allocation shared out as follows: 50 percent using the equitable share formula and 50 percent equally. In subsequent years, well-performing counties will receive an extra allocation shared out using an index combining the equitable share formula and [their] performance scores. Counties will be able to invest proceeds from the capacity/performance grant on a range of eligible development projects as per their approved County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs).”

The Program Development Objective (PDO) is to strengthen capacity of core national and county institutions to improve delivery of devolved services at the county level.