Participatory planning in Kenya’s drylands: The ward development planning model
This policy brief summarises key learning from the Ward Development Planning model, an innovative approach to local participatory development planning being implemented in Kenya’s drylands. There is great potential to take a bottom-up approach to development planning in the drylands that includes the knowledge, input and support of dryland communities. To date, pastoralists have had limited participation in government planning processes, which has resulted in misguided development interventions in the drylands that undermine livelihoods and increase vulnerability. In this policy brief, and accompanying summary, researchers describe the Ward Development Planning (WDP) model, a participatory planning approach currently implemented in five counties in Kenya’s drylands.
Drawing on research carried out by Mercy Corps in Garissa, Isiolo and Turkana Counties in October and November 2021 in wards where the WDP model is being implemented, and on supplemental interviews with key informants and a review of programme documents related to WDP, our findings show that:
- The WDP model deepens Kenya’s devolution to the ward level and addresses the chronic political and economic marginalisation characteristic of dryland regions;
- The ward-level planning institution fills a disconnect between community and government planning institutions and devolves decision-making to the lowest appropriate level;
- WDP empowers communities to directly engage in development planning through participatory and deliberate processes;
- WDP prioritises development action at the local level according to community-identified needs to ensure investments are contextually relevant and locally appropriate.