Infrastructure Development
Infrastructure development is increasingly an area of priority for the County and National Government in Kenya as well as the private sector. This is due to its key role for economic growth and development. The players in this sector have a crucial focus on mobilizing infrastructure financing. It is therefore important that equal attention be taken to ensure the quality of infrastructure investments (sustainable infrastructure) given their large economic, social, and environmental impacts.
The policy and institutional underpinnings for delivering on sustainable infrastructure projects are complex, encompassing upstream planning and project prioritization, sound frameworks for procurement and public-private partnerships, institutional capacities and governance, and sound business and policy environment. Meeting these conditions may prove to be difficult if oversight and advocacy is not conducted.
Kenya's EMCA prioritizes sustainable development and bears the responsibility and cost element for ensuring this to developers. Kenyan laws also subscribe to the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) definition on sustainable development as ‘Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’.
The goal of this programme is to accelerate sustainable investment and finance initiative in Africa.Through its Action Plan, NECSA-K seeks to shape the sustainable development debate and move decision making processes at the planning, Construction and Implementation stages of Infrastructure projects. This will ensure policy objectives and recommendations are integrated across sectors and to optimize for social, economic and environmental outcomes. Elements of the Action Plan may form key policy and institutional planning in ensuring sustainability and quality infrastructure projects.
Thematic Areas
NECSA’s advocacy action plan will focus on infrastructural development in the following sectors:
❖ Energy (Wind power, Pipelines, Hydro-power stations and transmission lines)
❖ Water and Sanitation (Dams and sewerage)
❖ Transport (Seaports, roads, railway and airport)
❖ Extractive industry (Oil & Gas, minerals)
Objectives of the Advocacy Plan
The advocacy action plan provides a framework for advocacy for strengthening relevant national policies and supports the engagement of the development partners and civil society organization in advocating for sustainable infrastructure development in Kenya.
The objectives of the infrastructure advocacy action plan are:
- Strengthened legislative and policy framework to support sustainable infrastructure development in Kenya.
- Strengthened capacity of NECSA-K members on effective advocacy on sustainable infrastructure.
- Enhanced oversight by NECSA-K member organizations/associations and local communities over infrastructure projects for sustainable development.
Implementing the Action Plan
The advocacy action planning process was conducted over two stakeholder workshops held in the last quarter of 2022. These provided platforms for NECSA-K members' input and consensus on the advocacy strategies to assist in advocating for sustainable infrastructure development in Kenya based on conservation standards practices. NECSA-K Members developed a detailed work plan with activities identified for each strategy. The work plan identified people/organizations specifically responsible for the implementation of each strategy. The Advocacy Plan is valid from 2023-2026 and can be downloaded here.