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Kenya

The Roads 2000 Strategy

In the early nineties, the Roads 2000 strategy – a rehabilitation and maintenance strategy based on a network approach to planning and the use labour-based methods of work – was formulated with support from the ILO. The Roads 2000 strategy was further endorsed by being incorporated into the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) 2001- 2004, which highlights employment creation as central to achieving poverty reduction.

The key objectives of the Roads 2000 strategy are cost effective maintenance of the classified road network of the country to an economic level of serviceability using local resources and labour-based methods wherever these are cost effective. The main features of the concept include:

Planning to focus on an integrated network basis rather than prioritized areas;
Focus on routine maintenance and spot improvement works;
Use local resources as much as possible;
Use of employment-intensive methods of work where applicable;
Partnership with private sector.

The Ministry of Roads and Public Works and the Kenya Roads Board with support from several development partners, including the Governments of Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden, the European Union, and the Africa Development Bank are involved in implementation activities in various districts in the country, which include capacity building and involvement of small scale contractors. ASIST is part of a national coordination committee reviewing and re-defining the strategy, and developing a national framework and systems to rejuvenate and streamline the programme.

A coordination mechanism under the Ministry of Roads and Public Works and the Kenya Roads Board has been set up, and includes representatives of Roads Agencies and Development Partners. The Roads 2000 Strategic Plan 2004-2008 has been drafted and is awaiting discussion.

Creating jobs through infrastructure project – ASIST/United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

The Government of Kenya, in its attempt to reverse the increasing poverty and unemployment, has formulated a Policy Paper entitled “Strategy for Economic and Social Recovery”. The strategy advocates the creation of employment and expansion of economic employment as key components. The Government has publicly committed itself to the creation of about 500,000 new jobs per year. UNDP and other development partners are supporting the Government’s efforts to achieve this goal.

Employment-intensive approaches present opportunities that the Government seeks to exploit to achieve its ambitious goal. ASIST and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have initiated a project, seeking to review and standardize labour-based road works procedural and technical manuals, contract management procedures and materials; as well as the curriculum used for training practitioners involved in the implementation of Roads 2000 strategy – a road rehabilitation and maintenance strategy which incorporates labour-based methods of work. The purpose of this is to support an increased use of employment-intensive approaches and local resources for infrastructure delivery.

Minor Roads Programme/Rural Access Roads Programme

The ILO has had a long history of involvement in Kenya, dating back to involvement in the execution of the large scale labour-based Rural Access Roads Programme (RARP) and its successor, the Minor Roads Programme (MRP). The RARP began in 1974 and by its conclusion in 1985 over 8,000 km of road had been constructed by labour-based methods. The MRP added a further 4,500 km. ILO played a role as donor coordinator for programme until 1994 when the donor secretariat was established with a broader mandate to coordinate all donor-assisted road sector work in the country. ASIST continued to provide support to the Ministry of Roads and Public Works in formulation of policy and strategies for the road sector.

Rural Transport and Accessibility Planning

Over the past years ASIST has continued to support the National Forum Group on Rural Transport and Development (NFG). This is a group of stakeholders from government, academia and development agencies lobbying and working towards better rural transport policy development and planning. One of the key lobby issues has been pro-poor transport planning, particularly recognition and incorporation of Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) into transport policy and strategy. The Government of Kenya has recently draft an integrated national transport policy and a road sub-sector policy, both containing policy statements on implementation strategies facilitative to NMT.

Labour-based Roadworks Training at the Kisii Training Centre, Kenya

The Kisii Training Centre (KTC) of the Kenya Institute of Building and Highways (KIHBT) of the Ministry of Roads, Public Works and Housing (MRPWH) developed the first national and international courses for labour-based roadworks in the early nineties. These courses were developed with support from the ILO, the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

ILO/ASIST has for many years continued to provide KTC with support in curriculum development and quality control. KTC runs both national and international courses, including tailor-made in-country courses, for engineers and managers in labour-based road technology independently, and have recently developed an international course on supervising labour-based contracts with support from ASIST.

Over the years, several hundred Kenyan engineers and technicians have been trained in the use and management of labour-based roadworks, in addition to over 300 engineers and technicians from 18 different countries

Labour-based low-income settlement urban upgrading course material

In response to a growing interest in applying labour-based techniques for upgrading low-income urban settlements, KTC in collaboration with the Kenya Water Institute and ASIST developed and successfully piloted two courses for managers and for site supervisors. The training materials were published by the ILO and are now available and being widely disseminated.

Study tours

KTC organises study tours in collaboration with ASIST for the purpose of creating awareness and orienting decision makers, planners and managers involved in infrastructure development on labour-based approaches for roadworks. Several tours have been hosted for participants from around the globe including from Asia and the Pacific.

See the Training Diary for dates of forthcoming courses at KTC. For further information contact:
Kisii Training Centre (KTC), PO Box 2254, Kisii, Kenya. Tel/Fax: +254 58 30699/31440. Email: courses@kihbt-ktc.com

Urban Infrastructure Development

ASIST is working with the Ministry of Local Government (MOLG) to create awareness on methods to upgrade low-income settlements, using local resources and community participation. The Ministry proposes to formulate an employment-led policy for infrastructure development and service delivery.

ASIST has supported the Ministry to build up it’s capacity to gather and manage information resources on and related to urban issues, including local level planning and employment-intensive approaches to infrastructure development, and to disseminate and provide access to this information to stakeholders. The Ministry’s Urban Development Department’s library’s capacity is being built-up to act as a focal point for the dissemination of information on employment-intensive approaches for rural and urban infrastructure development.

Collaboration with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)

The collaboration with the Jomo Kenyatta University to introduce labour-based technology into their civil engineering courses was initiated in 1995. Currently modules on labour-based technology are offered at under- and post- graduate levels.