Natural Resource Management
The Danida-Funded Natural Resource Management (NRM) Programme
The Governments of Kenya (GoK) and Denmark have agreed to jointly implement the Natural Resource Management (NRM) Programme. It will be implemented over the period 2010-2014 and will have a Danish grant of DKK 375 million corresponding to approximately K.Sh 5.3 billion.
The NRM Programme has been designed in line with Denmark’s commitment to the Kenya Joint Assistance Strategy (KJAS), involving alignment with GoK systems and harmonisation with activities of other development partners. It is a successor to the Environment Programme Support that was also implemented in NEMA (among other institutions) from 2006- 2010
The framework is aligned to the national planning framework, including Vision 2030 and the first Medium-Term Plan (2008-2012) and the strategic plans of the participating institutions. Specific support within this framework will be based on the annual plans and budgets of the respective institutions and the performance contracts signed between the heads of the institutions and the Head of Public Service, countersigned by the Ministers and endorsed by the Prime Minister.
The programme has three components as follows:-
1. Component 1: Environmental Policy Management
2. Component 2: Support to Arid Lands Resource Management
3. Component 3: Civil society and private sector management of natural resources
Component 1: Environmental Policy Management
This component will support the policy, strategy and institutional framework at national level for natural resource management in three key institutions.
1. Environmental policy and coordination (MEMR)
2. Environmental management (NEMA)
3. Sustainable Development (Office of the Prime Minister)
Component 2: Support to Arid Lands Resource Management
The component will support ALRMP together with the World Bank and other donors. This will be implemented through the Ministry of Northern Kenya. The four expected interventions are;
1. Natural resource management
2. Drought management
3. Community-driven development
4. Support to local development
Component 3: Civil society and private sector management of natural resources
This component addresses the civil society and private sector roles in natural resource management. It supports community-based environment and private sector NRM initiatives in providing investment services in, especially ASAL areas related to renewable energy, water and natural resource management and market chain development. The two subcomponents are:-
1. Civil society and management of natural resources (CDTF)
2. Private sector participation in natural resource management
NEMA sub-component linkage to strategic plan
The NEMA NRM sub-component is aligned to the NEMA Strategic Plan (2010-2013) of 2010. Three out of the six strategic objectives in the NEMA strategic plan have been proposed for support under the DANIDA funded NRMP. The strategic objectives for support are:
Strategic objective 1: Act to protect, conserve and improve water, land, air and biodiversity for all
Strategic objective 4: Domesticate and implement multilateral environmental agreements for the benefit of all
Strategic objective 6: Build and strengthen NEMA’s capacity to undertake its mandate
The annual subcomponent workplans are developed by individual institutions and negotiated with Danida before approval. In the case of NEMA the workplan inputs are generated by departments and discussed at the NRM taskforce meeting subsequent to which they are presented to management. After concurrence from management the workplan is presented to the board for adoption before implementation. We are presently in the second year of implementation of the programme. The programme is managed according to NEMA’s systems.
Technical Assistance (TA) facility
A technical assistance package is designed as part of the programme document to assist in implementation. This takes the form of either long-term/ short term; local/ international. The current TA facility is administered by NIRAS consulting company from Denmark. At the moment we have three long-term TAs as follows;
Mr Troels Bruun Jorgensen TA team leader stationed at NEMA
Mr Alex Alusa: Policy advisor at the Office of the prime Minister
Ms Isabella Masinde: Advisor at the Ministry of environment and Mineral resources
In addition to the above, subcomponents have benefitted from short term TAs (both local and international) based on request
NRM Annual forum
An annual forum is hosted at the beginning of each year for the programme implementing institutions as well as relevant stakeholders. This provides an opportunity to share experiences and brainstorm on how to tackle cross cutting issues or even deal with emerging issues
Financial management (tax exemption, revenue system, audit etc)
The programme is to be managed in accordance with NEMA’s financial management systems and be subject to audit by the Kenya national Audit office. According to the government- to- government agreement, all procurements under the project are tax exempt
Programme management team (NEMA sub-component)
The Director General: Provides overall policy direction and is the programme sponsor
NRM component manager: (currently Mr David Ong’are, Deputy Director Environmental Education) responsible for the overall running of the programme. He/she is involved in the development of the programme document. The manager consolidates the annual workplan, negotiates the same with the Royal Danish Embassy and gets it approved by NEMA management and board. Together with the NRM team tracks the implementation of programme activities and recommends corrective action, as appropriate. The manager, who chairs the NRMP team also acts as liaison with other NRM components and with the royal Danish Embassy
Technical Advisor (TA) team leader (Mr Troels Bruun Jorgensen): Stationed at NEMA. In charge of all technical assistance input (long, short, international and local). Manages the other Long Term TAs (at the MEMR headquarters and at the Office of the Prime Minister). Provides expert input into all the NRM components.
Administrative Assistant (Mr. Joseph Tuikong): In consultation with the NRM component manager, the Administrative Assistant is in charge of the day-to-day running of the NRM programme activities
NRM taskforce members: Drawn from all NEMA departments. Assist in generating inputs to the annual NRM workplan. Part of the programme Monitoring and Evaluation team
