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Making Devolution Work for Service Delivery in Kenya
TABLE A.4
Service delivery oversight, management, and systems
Promote devolution beyond counties. Devolve responsibility toward the point of service delivery and deliver predictable finance. IMPLEMENTATION RESPONSIBILITIES
KEY ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
CONSIDERATIONS
POLICY OPTIONS
Centralized management structures within counties concentrate decision-making and resources at county headquarters, undermining service delivery.
Counties need to delegate responsibilities and authority to the subcounty level, urban boards, and facilities.
Counties and sector ministries need to jointly agree and clarify respective roles and responsibilities (potentially as part of the proposed SDF process), which involves appropriate delegation to the following subcounty structures and facilities:
Lead: MoDA MoTIHUD MoH MoE MoALF CoG
- Urban boards - Subcounty health offices and health facilities - Subcounty education offices and boards of management for ECDE centers - Subcounty agriculture offices.
Involved: MoPSYGA
Counties have not delegated enough operational responsibilities to their “agents.” County departments have not delegated operational autonomy to their frontline service delivery units to the degree necessary.
TIME FRAME
Next 12 months
This means that local service delivery can be paralyzed or cumbersome. This is the case in: - Health, where health facilities do not have budgets for operations - Water supply and urban development, where the principal-agent relationship between county governments and various “semi-autonomous” subcounty institutions is not always clear (for example, water supply companies, urban boards) Data and performance monitoring systems are not functioning effectively in many sectors. Poor information management is a threat to county service delivery. It weakens the basis for decision-making, programming, and resource allocation, makes it difficult or impossible to assess service delivery results, and undermines intracounty and intergovernmental coordination. Good information management underpins good service delivery.
National government departments need to take a more proactive role in supporting information management systems.
Establish or strengthen information management systems in all sectors and across counties.
Lead: NT&P National ministries County departments National government MDAs need to consult with counties on KNBS MIS and survey data that will both meet counties’ management needs as well as national government.
Next 12 months
Sector MIS need to be developed or strengthened to meet agreed-on data needs and rolled-out with training for counties in each sector. Survey instruments, including the household survey, are strengthened to provide periodic countywide data on service delivery outcomes and socioeconomic indicators.
Counties do not appear to ensure enough in the way of oversight, supervision, quality assurance, and on-the-job support for frontline service delivery units.
Oversight, supervision, and quality assurance of service delivery need to be strengthened at the county level.
Lead: CECs
Next 3 years
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