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ACHIEVING THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN KENYA

AN OVERVIEW OF THE MDG PROCESS IN KENYAMr. George Anyango

Ministry of Planning & National Development

November 2005

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Why the MDGs

World leaders including Kenya adopted the MDGs in 2000 to address the challenges of poverty, disease, illiteracy and environmental degradation

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MDGs are now recognized world over as a Vehicle to address poverty, due to their potential in providing:

Compatibility with country development frameworks;

Universal benchmarks/indicators for measuring progress against acceptable standards of well being; and

Coordinating focus for governments, donors, private sector and civil society development frameworks for increased coherence in policy, funding and implementation of development initiatives

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Progress towards achieving the MDGs Significant progress has been

made towards achieving the MDGs between 1990 and 2003, but Sub-Saharan Africa is fairing poorly.

See the comparison below:

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Country Comparisons

Below P. Line %

IMR MMR HIV GER (Prim)

Kenya 56 68 414 7.5 96

Ghana 26.8 56 210 3.4 81

Ethiopia 81.9 99 1400 4.7 64

Tanzania

48.4 100 530 9.3 70

Tunisia 4.2 23 70 0.0 112

Algeria 5 43 117 0.1 108

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Country Comparisons (cont.) It is clear that most countries in

Sub-Saharan Africa are off track on MDG achievement

Kenya still lags behind some countries in the same region, especially on poverty and HIV prevalence

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What is needed for MDG to be achieved Faster economic growth. Kenya’s economic

growth rate is 4.3%, still low to enable MDGs achievement (7%+)

Governance: A lot has been done but more required on: accountability, creating a business environment friendly to investors and allocating more public resources to MDGs

Build capacity to carry out basic functions of government (e.g education, health, water, roads and energy).

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In Short: We need to align our development

strategies with the MDGs, starting with the Economic Recovery Strategy and the MTEF budget;

Maintain high and sustained growth;

Strengthen pro-poor and gender sensitive approaches

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Already, there is a close linkage between the ERS and MDGs

ERS MDGs

Rapid growth with macroeconomic stability

Investments –public and private; foreign and domestic- with strong national facilitation and regulation, needed to meet the MDGs: Goals 1, 7 and 8

Rehabilitation and expansion of infrastructure

Transportation (roads and rails), housing, energy and water and sanitation Goals 1, 7 and 8

Investment in human capital

Education; gender equality; child mortality; maternal health; HIV, TB and malaria; health systems: All Goals

Strengthening institutions of governance

Developing countries’, Kenya included, commitments under the Millennium Declaration All Goals

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Work Done on MDGs in Kenya Progress Report for Kenya launched in

July 2003, indicating a fairly weak policy environment for achieving the goals;

May 2004 the Needs Assessment Study launched and followed by stakeholders consultations to identify interventions for the needs assessment studies;

Sector specific needs assessment reports finalised by end of 2004 and early 2005.

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The Needs Assessment StudyThe objective of the study was to put the country on an MDG- based long term planning and connect to budget process by:

Identifying interventions and investments needed to meet MDGs by 2015

Identifying the resources required to support a scale-up of interventions through to 2015;

Outline a financing strategy to achieve MDGs; Developing a well-researched long term plan

as a basis for realigning ERS towards meeting MDGs; and

Provide a framework for M&E and policy dialogue

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Outputs from the Assessments A Comprehensive Kenya MDG Needs Assessment

Report was published in August 2005; Using information from the Needs Assessment

Report and inputs from stakeholders, an MDG Status Report, 2005 was also published in August 2005;

The Status Report notes the significant change in policy environment and increased financial resources towards the achievement of the MDGs

The two reports were disseminated during the recent MDG+5 Summit in New York

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Participation at the MDG+5 Summit Kenya actively participated in MDG+5

Summit through:1. The participation of H.E. the President,

who also gave a statement;2. A Kenyan Exhibition at the UN – to

disseminate materials and information on the MDG work in Kenya;

3. A meeting of the seven MDG pilot countries: Kenya was the only country in Africa to have produced the Needs Assessment Report.

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Participation at the MDG+5 Summit (Cont.)

4. A Kenyan specific side event that was hosted by H.E. the President and attended by representatives from development partners. The purpose was to share the challenges that country faces towards meeting the MDGs

In short, Kenya made a strong presence at the Summit.

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Outcome of the MDG+5 Summit The world leaders reaffirmed their

commitment to the Millennium Declaration; They reiterated their determination to

ensure timely and full realization of the goals; and

The need for member states to adopt and implement by 2006, comprehensive national development strategies to meet the MDGs;

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Challenges Taking the process to the sub-national

level; Capacity development at all levels and in all

sectors; Alignment of national and sector plans,

strategies, and implementation frameworks to the MDGs

Securing adequate resources for meeting the MDGs – improving aid uptake, filling resource gaps, mobilizing all stakeholders etc.

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THANK YOU