UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative

Please download the PEI Country fact sheet on Kenya (PDF)

Basic facts of the PEI in Kenya

• The current PEI Kenya programme (2011-2013) builds on the PEI Kenya programme Phase 1 (August 2005 and December 2010). The country programme aims to enhance sound environmental management for sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction, achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and realization of Kenya's Vision 2030.
• The programme contributes to the achievement of Kenya's United Nations Development Assistance Framework (2009-2013) objective of enhanced environmental management for economic growth and equitable access to energy services and response to climate change
• The lead national institution is the Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, and the National Environment Management Authority, Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Ministry of Finance, MDGs Unit, Ministries of Agriculture, Livestock Development, and Fisheries, Ministry of Local Government and Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
• USD 2.2 million was committed to the first programme phase with funding from DFID, the Government of Luxembourg, Government of Norway (through UNEP) and UNDP-Kenya. The second phase has a budget of USD 1.45 million with contributions from UNDP Kenya (USD 600,000) PEI (USD 200,000) and Government of Kenya (USD 75,000).

The context of poverty-environment mainstreaming in Kenya

• Kenya's population is 38.6 million people growing at 2.8% annually with 42% of Kenyans living below the national poverty line. The majority lives in rural areas and depends on the environment and natural resources for their livelihoods. Ecosystem dependent activities namely agriculture, fisheries, mining, forestry and tourism are the economic backbone of Kenya's economy. 80% of Kenya is arid or semi-arid, water is chronically scarce and forest cover has diminished to approximately 1.7 % due to high dependence on biomass. The rate of biodiversity loss has increased and inadequate access to clean water and sanitation in rural and urban areas as well as air and water pollution are serious environmental and health related hazards.
• The Environment Management Coordination Act Bill was enacted by the Parliament in 1999. In 2007, the Government launched a process of formulating an over-arching Environment Policy based on the Environment and Development Sessional Paper (1999). PEI provided guidance on the mainstreaming of environment into development planning and budget processes.
• The Government of Kenya recognizes the importance of the environment in achieving its economic recovery and poverty reduction goals in its Vision 2030 launched in 2008, anchored on three pillars: Economic, Social and Political Governance. The economic pillar aims to achieve an economic growth of 10% per annum by 2012 and to sustain such performance over the period to 2030 in order to address poverty, unemployment and equity. Key growth drivers include tourism, agriculture, trade, business process off-shoring and financial services. The social pillar seeks to create a just, cohesive and equitable social development in a clean and secure environment. Key social sectors include: education, health, water and sanitation, the environment, urbanization, equity and poverty elimination, science and technology, and gender. Furthermore, the Medium Term Plan (2008-2012) includes five flagship projects under the environment sector including Water Catchments Management Initiative; Securing the Wildlife Corridors and Migratory Routes Initiative; the Solid Waste Management System Initiative; the Plastic Bags Initiative; and the Land Cover and the Land Use Mapping Initiative.

Main activities

Strengthened Understanding of Poverty and Environmental Linkages within Government Ministries, Institutions, and Other Stakeholders

• Case studies on poverty-environment linkage to feed into national level stakeholder dialogue on poverty-environment issues as well as support to the Ministry of Planning towards awareness raising and capacity development of District Development Officers, Media and Schools on linking poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. 

Strengthened national Capacity in Economic Valuation of Environment and Natural Resources and integrated assessment methods

• Support to capacity development of planners, economists and senior technical staff in key sector ministries on environmental economics and green accounting as well as support to strengthening the national system of accounts. A comprehensive economic assessment of the contribution of Kenya's Environment and Natural resources to development priorities will be conducted;

Strengthened Capacity of Key Stakeholders to Integrate Poverty -Environment Linkages in Sector and District Development Plans and Budgets

• Development of planning guidelines for integration of environment into sector, district and county plans and budgets and sensitization of sector working groups on their application; 
• Support to enhancing the capacity of Poverty Eradication Committees in monitoring and evaluation.

Strengthened Community Capacity for Sustainable Utilization of Environmental and Natural Resources

• Awareness raising on sustainable natural resource utilization and poverty reduction at community level, training in participatory environmental action planning, and community exchange visits to promote learning from best practices; 
• Support selected community livelihoods activities in sustainable natural resources utilization and better environmental management to demonstrate the links between poverty and environment within the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Coordination and Tracking of Environment Components in District Development Plans and achievement of MDGs

• Strengthen monitoring of environmental components of District Development Plans and enhancing reporting functions of District Development Offices.

What has been achieved to date? 

Improved collaboration and understanding between environment, planning/finance agencies, non-government actors and key donors on poverty-environment mainstreaming

• Two studies on poverty and environment linkages at district and national levels – "Poverty and Environment Issues: Governance, Institutions, Institutional Frameworks and Opportunities" and "Voices from the Field: Bondo, Murang'a and Meru South Districts" helped improving the understanding of poverty-environment linkages.
• 5,000 copies of a Briefing Note titled "Making the Connection: Economic Growth, Poverty and the Environment was distributed to all District Environment Officers, District Development Officers and PEI-Kenya institutional partners. As an indication of improved understanding of the role of environment in economic growth and poverty reduction, PEI's contribution was sought in the Vision 2030 process.
• Policy Brief on Achieving the MDGs and Vision 2030 through Sustainable Development. The brief examines national commitments to environmental sustainability and makes recommendations for enhancing national capacity for economic valuation of the environment and natural resources, harmonisation of legislative frameworks including economic instruments and strengthening the national system of accounts in order to meet Kenya's long term development objectives.
• As part of the South-South cooperation, the Kenyan PEI team visited Tanzania in September 2006 to learn from the Tanzanian experience of mainstreaming environment. The key elements in the Tanzanian success in mainstreaming environment were identified and a list of follow-up actions for Kenya was agreed on.
• PEI played a central role in achieving improved donor-stakeholder coordination mechanism, including facilitating donor harmonisation workshops. PEI and the Danida/Sida Environment Sector Support Programme are working closely together, demonstrating how two programmes can complement each other and achieve real synergies.

Improved capacity for the integration of poverty-environment issues in key planning frameworks for poverty reduction and growth and in relevant sectoral policies, plans and implementation processes

• Development of an environment policy for Kenya: PEI supported the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MENR) to elaborate a "Road Map" to prepare an Environment Policy. PEI supported the work of seven thematic taskforces and the National Steering Committee in the production of the Environment Policy Paper that fed into the Draft Environment Policy (June 2008) that covers sustainable management of ecosystems, sustainable use of natural resources, environmental stewardship, enhancing environmental quality, environmental research and monitoring, linkages with other sectors, and implementations strategies and actions. 
• Improved elaboration of District Environment Action Plans and District Development Plans for new Medium Term Plan (2008-2012): Three District Environment Action Plans (Bondo, Murang'a North and Meru South Districts) were completed. The District Environment Action Plans processes have served to raise the profile of environmental services and natural resource management in district planning processes, and the need for multi-sectoral planning. Draft Guidelines for Mainstreaming Environment in the Development Planning process were prepared drawing lessons from the District Environment Action Plans process. PEI also supported the finalisation of new District Development plans for all districts in Kenya.
• Integration of poverty/environment indicators in national and district planning and monitoring: A study to support the Government of Kenya in developing a set of indicators linking poverty and environment was completed in 2009. The study has identified contributions of poverty and environment linkages to the achievement of national and sub-national development objectives and developed a core set of PE indicators, baselines and protocols for data collection. This indicator development process fed into the ongoing review of national indicators for monitoring the implementation of Kenya's Vision 2030 and Medium Term Plan.

Lessons learned

• It is important to demonstrate the links between poverty and environment at the national and local levels in language familiar to planners and policymakers in order to engage effectively with sectors to influence sector plans and budgeting processes; 
• Restrained Government capacity at sub-national planning levels needs to be addressed in moving the mainstreaming processes forward whilst ensuring full Government leadership and ownership of the process;
• With limited financial and time resources, there is a need to have a clear programme focus and clearly prioritise activities linked to ongoing national and sector priorities and policy implementation.

 Way forward

• The Joint Programme currently under implementation has taken on board the recommendations from the review of the PEI Program in 2008 including the need to strengthen national ownership by including a broader range of stakeholders and enhancing the integration of the PEI Kenya interventions with the main activities of the Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 including the MDG Support Program; 
• A strong focus is now on capacity development at sector level and support to the planning and budgeting process. PEI is responsible for the component on strengthening capacity in economic valuation and assessment methods through training economists and planners in key sector ministries in environmental economics, supporting a comprehensive economic assessment and pilot economic valuations of key ecosystems, strengthening the national system of accounts to include environmental resources and strategic environment assessment of a key sector policy and implementation plan.