The Garissa County Government has launched a County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), a new five-year blueprint, aimed at ensuring sufficient public participation for development projects in the County.
Speaking at the launch, the County Secretary, Abdi Ali, urged the residents to give their input whenever required, underscoring the importance of communication, information sharing and public participation in development.
“We are looking forward to having priority driven projects through all-inclusive community engagement and adequate public participation,” said Ali.
“Communication plays a major role in supporting local communities, strengthening development and building resilience in responding to disasters. We will create proper channels for a two-way feedback between the County Government and the communities,” he added.
The County Secretary urged religious leaders, community elders, media, NGOs and implementing Partners to take an active part in the drafting of the CIDP, county fiscal strategy papers and appropriation bills.
“A greater interaction between the various stakeholders and the County Government will help in addressing the numerous challenges confronting the residents of Garissa in a concerted way,” he said.
Earlier last month, Garissa County Government created Ward Development and Planning Committees to lead community engagement programs and ensure the community is involved from the onset of any development project in the County.
The Committees were further mandated to capture the community voices in a bid to strengthen communication processes and streamline information sharing mechanisms.
Resilience Learning Activity (RLA) convened the meeting in collaboration with USAID, bringing together officials from National and County governments, civil society, religious leaders, women and youth leaders.
RLA’s Communication Consultants, Prof. Levi Obonyo, urged the County government and development partners to consider an all-inclusive decision-making process that will ensure the communities are well informed on the projects and their benefits.
“Information sharing and knowledge management is very key in delivering successful projects. When you fully involve the people in decision making, they become part of that process and give their support to ensure the projects are actualized,” Obonyo said.
By Erick Kyalo
