Kenya adopted a new Constitution and began the process of devolution in 2010. The new Constitution was the institutional response to longstanding grievances over the centralization of state powers and public sector resources, and regional disparities in service delivery and development outcomes. This radical restructuring of the Kenyan state has three main objectives: decentralizing political power, public sector functions, and public finances; ensuring a more equitable spatial distribution of resources between regions; and promoting more accountable, participatory, and responsive government at all levels. The first elections under the new Constitution were held in 2013. Alongside the national government, 47 new county governments were established. Each county government is made up of a County Executive, headed by an elected Governor and works under the oversight of an elected County Assembly. Seven years after the "devolution train" left the station, this report takes stock of how devolution has affected the delivery of devolved basic services to Kenyan citizens. Whereas devolution was driven by political reform, the ensuing institutions and systems were expected to deliver greater socioeconomic equity through devolved service delivery. The Making Devolution Work for Service Delivery (MDWSD) study is the first major assessment of Kenya’s devolution reform. The study was a jointly coordinated effort by the Government of Kenya and the World Bank. The study provides key messages with respect to what is working, what is not working, and what could work better to enhance service delivery based on the currently available data. It provides an independent assessment of service delivery performance in five sectors, namely health, education, agriculture, urban, and water services and includes an in-depth review of the main pillars of devolved service delivery, namely public financial management, intergovernmental finance, human resource management, politics and accountability.

Public entities around the world possess an enormous volume of assets and wealth, which includes land, buildings, historic sites, parks, and infrastructure networks, among many others. Good management of such assets is a catalyst for accelerating development and expanding services; poor asset management generates enormous losses, including lost opportunities to build wealth. Private enterprises increasingly use computerized systems to manage assets such as fleets and buildings. Many city leaders in developing countries, however, are unaware of asset management or feel they lack the time or money to undertake it. Managing County Assets and Liabilities in Kenya: Postdevolution Challenges and Responses can help them begin or maintain their efforts to manage assets sustainably. This book helps readers understand the basic concept of asset management; explains systems, tools, and procedures; and provides models and guidance. Kenya has achieved much since its 2013 devolution of governance and management to new counties. However, counties, which are the local governments in Kenya, are still working toward establishing systems and procedures, creating asset and liability registers, verifying and valuing assets, using assets strategically, and resolving disputes surrounding inherited assets and liabilities. This book provides glimpses into the Kenyan devolution process and asset transfer challenges, draws lessons, and explores options relevant to both Kenya and other nations. Ample studies discuss various aspects of municipal asset management, such as managing infrastructure, fixed assets, water services, building properties, roads, or fleets. This book is unique among asset management studies in three ways: it discusses all sorts of assets and liabilities and their interlinkages, exemplifies the close connection between financial results and asset management of municipalities, and reveals the political economy challenges in transferring assets and liabilities across public entities.

Public Management and Governance is the leading text in international public management and governance and an ideal introduction to all aspects of this field. It combines rigorous insight from pre-eminent scholars around the world with a clear structure and supportive, thoughtful, and intuitive pedagogy. This revised and updated fourth edition responds to the significant changes in the external environment, as well as the field itself. It includes six new chapters covering aspects of increasing importance: Public management and governance developments in non-OECD countries Risk and resilience Innovation in public management and governance Digital public management Digital public governance Behavioural approaches to public policy Throughout the new edition, there is a wealth of new content on emergent topics such as collaborative leadership, diversity and inclusion, complexity theory and evidence-informed policy. Each chapter is supplemented with discussion questions, group and individual exercises, case studies and recommendations on further reading; this edition also includes more international cases. This highly respected text is an essential resource for all students on undergraduate and postgraduate courses in public management, public administration, government, and public policy as well as for policymakers and practitioners seeking an up-to-date guide to the field.

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2019 in the subject Economics - Monetary theory and policy, grade: B, Kenyatta University (Department of Entrepreneurship, Technology, Leadership and Management), course: Leadership and Governance, language: English, abstract: This study aims at analyzing the effect of decentralization frameworks on service delivery by devolved governments in Kenya. Devolution as a system of governance was introduced after the promulgation of the new constitution in 2010. Since then, both levels of governments have been working hard in order to implement all the new structures required for the operationalization of the new system. The statement of the problem shows that the process of implementation has faced many bottlenecks at the political, administrative and fiscal levels hence curtailing the speed of implementation and service delivery as detailed in the literature review. The research objectives have brought out the variables under the study as: to determine the effect of fiscal decentralization framework on service delivery by devolved governments in Kenya; to examine the effect of political decentralization framework on service delivery by devolved governments in Kenya; to investigate the effects of administrative decentralization framework on service delivery by devolved governments in Kenya, investigate the effects of economic decentralization framework on service delivery by devolved governments in Kenya to establish the moderating influence of regulatory frameworks on political, fiscal and administrative decentralization and service delivery in Kenya. The study will be undertaken in 14 counties covering all the main regions of Kenya. Several theories have been explored linked to the various variables considered under the study. These are: The Soufflé theory, The social capital theory, The principal Agent theory and finally the Accountability theory. The conceptual framework outlines the independent variables, as administrative, political and fiscal decentralization while the dependent variable is service delivery. The moderating variable is the regulatory framework. Data will be collected by the use of a questionnaire. The quantitative data will be captured with the help of a likert scale while the qualitative data will be captured with open- ended questions at the end of each variable. Data analysis will be done by both qualitative and quantitative methods, as both types of data will have been collected. Quantitative data will be analyzed by use of the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).

Dissatisfied with centralized approaches to delivering local public services, a large number of countries are decentralizing responsibility for these services to lower-level, locally elected governments. The results have been mixed. The paper provides a framework for evaluating the benefits and costs, in terms of service delivery, of different approaches to decentralization, based on relationships of accountability between different actors in the delivery chain. Moving from a model of central provision to that of decentralization to local governments introduces a new relationship of accountability-between national and local policymakers-while altering existing relationships, such as that between citizens and elected politicians. Only by examining how these relationships change can we understand why decentralization can, and sometimes cannot, lead to better service delivery. In particular, the various instruments of decentralization-fiscal, administrative, regulatory, market, and financial-can affect the incentives facing service providers, even though they relate only to local policymakers. Likewise, and perhaps more significantly, the incentives facing local and national politicians can have a profound effect on the provision of local services. Finally, the process of implementing decentralization can be as important as the design of the system in influencing service delivery outcomes.