KEPSA CEO Ms Carole Kariuki held a consultative meeting with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Representative Mr Anthony Ngororano on 17^th November 2022 at KEPSA offices. The meeting discussed areas of institutional partnerships and complementarities.

Present during the meeting was Ms Gloria Ndekei - KEPSA Foundation Executive Director, Mr Harrison Ngatia – KEPSA Head of Projects and SME Development, Mr Timothy Odongo-KEPSA Business Hub Manager and Mr Benjamin Musungu - KEPSA PPD Officer. The UNDP delegation included Mr Julius Coredo -Program Analyst, Inclusive Growth and Ms Lilian Njoro - Head of Experimentation, Accelerator Lab.

“KEPSA seeks to revive engagement with UNDP with specific focus on the Tree Planting initiative, operationalization of Public Private Dialogue Platforms and Implementation of the County Competitiveness Index (CCI),” said Ms Kariuki. Further, she noted the need to deepen cooperation in implementing the Private Sector Devolution Support Program (PSDSP), Inclusive digital transformation and mentorship/capacity building of other BMOs in Africa on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) dividends.

In a rejoinder, Mr Ngororano noted with appreciation the convergence of KEPSA and UNDP programs that can yield mutual institutional benefits. He noted the need to explore the multiple touchpoints between KEPSA’s CCI initiative and the complementary set of instruments that UNDP has developed. Importantly, he noted that UNDP has developed the Human Development Index (HDI), Multi-Dimensional Property Index and the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) which they seek to pilot, before a full-scale roll-out. He further noted that the additional potential areas of partnership include co-creation of the Integrated County Financing Framework (ICFF) to enmesh the CCI toolkit and joint piloting of the HDI in Nairobi County.

To spur digital transformation, UNDP Country Representative noted that UNDP will be rolling out Digital Readiness Assessment and Market Advisory Platforms in selected counties, which can potentially embed CCI in order to give it a multi-layered and dynamic outlook. In order to adequately resource the proposed areas of actions, he noted the need to explore innovative funding mechanisms such as partnerships with SACCOs to advance matching grants for tree planting, and co-creation of a Resilience pond-a blended concessional financing instrument which has access to international markets.

In his remarks, Mr Julius Coredo noted the need to leverage on the existing synergies between the ongoing KEPSA and UNDP projects. Particularly, he pointed out the need to explore areas of complementarities between KEPSA’s Ajira Digital Project and UNDP’s digital horticulture platform as well as the nexus between KEPSA’s CCI initiative with UNDP’s SDG Investor Maps.

Ms Lilian Njoro spoke emphatically on the primacy of digital transformation in creation of pathways for youth employment. She further noted the need to explore areas of collaboration between KEPSA’s E-commerce projects and UNDP’s Accelerator Labs which provides an e-commerce space targeting the informal traders and boda boda riders among others.

Ms Gloria Ndekei lauded UNDP for their remarkable initiatives in advancing the climate agenda. She further reiterated the need to remodel the KEPSA-UNDP Tree Planting Agenda, as not only a climate-focussed agenda but also an income-generating activity, in order to infuse sustainability at the community level. To achieve this, she noted the need to undertake a value chain and investibility analysis of the various tree species and the need to capacity build local communities on inherent investment opportunities available in tree planting.

With the renewed government focus on MSME growth, Mr Harrison Ngatia pointed the need for the UNDP-KEPSA partnership to mainstream SMEs growth as pathways for jobs creation and wealth generation.

Moving forward, the meeting agreed to further review the PSDSP document and the draft KEPSA-MoU to capture the aspirations of both institutions, prior to the MoU signing slated for next month.