Final evaluation : rural planning II

Substantial progress was made in refining and institutionalizing a new system for district planning and budgeting. The Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) fulfilled the terms of reference of its contract, and went beyond these to provide critical support for two major GOK policy initiatives: (1) The District Focus for Rural Development, which was announced in late 1982 and which has been the governmental umbrella for all rural development policy since 1983; and (2) Budget Rationalization, which the GOK began in 1984 to control government expenditures and raise administrative efficiency. The intermingling of project objectives with those of District Focus and Budget Rationalization created a situation in which HIID was expected to expand and adjust the original scope of work. HIID responded to these expectations, and so greatly increased the overall impact of the project. HIID succeeded in carrying out the scope of work in the original project agreement by: (1) establishing a viable administrative system for decentralized planning and budgeting at the district level that will continue to operate after its departure, (2) improving project implementation at the district level, including projects specified in the 1979-83 and 1984-88 district plans, and (3) providing training to district level administrative personnel to support the decentralized system of planning and budgeting, as well as postgraduate training to young officers in the Rural Planning Department of the Ministry of National Planning and Development. In respect to the implementation of District Focus and Budget Rationalization, HIID developed important working relationships between the Rural Planning Division (RPD) and the Office of the President, and between the RPD and several central government ministries. HIID also introduced microcomputer technology into the planning and budgeting process, and conducted important research and development work on problems of related interest including urban-rural planning, and the institution of administrative procedures for supporting private sector initiatives at rural development. Finally, HIID successfully planned for the successor project - Resource Management for Rural Development - which began in 2/86. Taken together, there can be little doubt that project accomplishments have improved the "enabling environment" provided by the Kenyan government to promote economic development at the local level. (Author abstract, modified)