According to Garissa, county secretary Abdi Sheikh Ali the beneficiaries will come from women, youth and people living with disability.
Sheikh said that the three constituencies that hosted the refugees for over 20 years will have an expanded economic opportunity, access to basic social services and enhanced environmental management.
Speaking when he hosted the state department for Development of ASAL Principal Secretary Micah Pkopus, the county secretary said that the refugees caused massive environmental degradation and pressure on the dwindling natural resources in the three sub-counties.
He said that 120 community groups benefited from the kitty last financial year with each group receiving Sh500,000 towards economic empowerment.
The PS also disclosed that Sh3.5 billion has been set aside this financial year for Garissa, Wajir and Turkana counties to improve access to basic social needs, economic empowerment and environmental management.
Pkopus expressed optimism that the programme that has dragged in the recent past will be successfully implemented adding Garissa County would receive Sh760 million towards improving the agricultural, education, health and water sectors in the three constituencies.
He said the county government should mobilize effectively and efficiently the technical supporting teams required to support KDRDIP projects throughout the implementation process. “The facilitating partners should stick to their terms of reference of community mobilization and capacity building. They should not compromise the implementing role of the County Government at the community levels,” the PS said.
Pkopus noted that the core objective of KDRDIP project was to align all proposed projects with devolved functions and CIDP for sustainability. He stressed the need for the County Government to play its key role in the project implementation through its Focal Person Project Implementation Support Teams (PISTs) and structures (County Technical Committee and County Steering Committee) to align all proposed projects with the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) and biannual and annual work plans.
“All sub projects and community groups (CGs) proposed for funding in the 2020/2021 work plan and budget need to be appraised and evaluated by the County Technical Committee and approved by the County Steering Committee for ownership by the County Government,” he noted.
The meeting was also attended by the County Project Coordinator Mohamed Farah and the county project focal person Aden Bille.
By Jacob Songok
