The structure:

The Rift Valley Budget Hub is led by 12 Budget Facilitators. These are individuals drawn from civil society
organizations operating in Baringo, Nakuru, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kericho, West Pokot, Bomet and
Nandi Counties; who have been trained on budget content and advocacy and work with communities
within their counties to engage with national and county budget processes to improve their livelihoods.

Each budget facilitator works with a minimum of 15 Budget Champions and thus there are more than 180
Budget Champions linked to the hub. For effective policy level advocacy, the Budget Facilitators work with
coalitions of Civil Society Organizations at the County level. Some of the CSO networks are further
organized into thematic groups that are aligned to public/sectors – Education and Vocational Training,
Health, Agriculture, Climate Change and Community Resilience etc.

The budget champions have gone further to form networks below the ward level referred to Community
Budget Cells. A budget cell comprises of up to 30 local development animators who push the community
budget agenda throughout the budget cycle. These include i.e. Local development Committees (representatives of
Health Facility Management Committees, Water Project Committees, Cattle Dip Committees, Climate Change Committees etc)
networks of local business persons, religious leaders, traditional leadership structures (council of elders), Self-Help Groups etc.

To amplify the voice of vulnerable and marginalized the hub has also incubated special budget cells for
women, PWDs and youth. This is based on the learning that women and PWDs in their own spaces are able
to deliberate budgets at their own pace and in their own ‘language’; as opposed to conventional spaces, where
their voices are drowned in the voices of the other more influential groups. These spaces improve their
knowledge, confidence and skills to negotiate on budget matters. They also come up with budget priorities
that address their unique needs. Even where, these priorities are similar to those identified by the larger
community, their experiences in service delivery provide stronger justifications.

Why the hub?

In the year 2010 Kenya’s governance took a positive leap through promulgation of a new constitution.
Citizen participation was augmented as national value and principle of governance. The constitution requires
government to facilitate public participation in all matters of public finance management.

The budget-making process is a complex with multiple actors and multiple decisions taking place either
concurrently or feeding into each other. There are also systemic budget issues that restrain credibility of
budgets i.e. revenue underperformance, unsustainable public debt, low budget transparency, slow implementation among
others.

This means that for meaningful participation in the budget process, citizens need to understand the stages
involved in budget-making, the decisions being made at every stage, the key factors being considered
for each decision, the actors involved, the timelines and the opportunities for public participation in
every stage.
Devolution

To this end, Uraia Trust and IBPK initiated a programme dubbed, the Kenya County Budget Facilitators
Programme. The programme trained 72 Budget Facilitators across the country, in 4 cohorts.

However, it was observed that upon completion of the training, there was very minimal collaboration among
the budget facilitators thus limiting the impact of the advocacy. Even where there were good practices emerging from citizens-led budget engagement, there was no platform for cross-learning among the budget
facilitators and budget champions.

Therefore, the hub was established to address low capacity among citizens to engage in budget decisions
sustainably. It was also meant to expand spaces for information sharing, inclusive budget deliberations and
leaning among actors in especially given the dynamic nature of budget spaces

Our interventions

 Budget Training, Analysis and Engagement

 Collaborative Budget Research

 Monitoring Budget Implementation

 Incubation of innovative spaces for public deliberations & engagement

 Developing knowledge products on citizens-led budget engagement

 Supporting exchange learning

Our key Achievements

Capacity Building: The hub has trained 12 Budget Facilitators, over 180 Budget Champions and over
1,000 members of the community Budget Cells on the budget processes i.e. Budget decisions, the key
timelines, the key actors and the key considerations. As they conduct joint budget analysis and engagement,
Budget Facilitators, Budget Champions, and Community Budget Cells continue to grow their budget
knowledge, skills, and influence. In addition, our engagement with Government MDAs employs a capacity
building approach thus a number of government officials have had their capacity strengthened. The focus has
been to equip the duty bearers with knowledge, information and skills needed for them to exercise their
obligation to engage citizens in budget decisions e.g. pillars for effective public deliberations, the principles/ tenets of
budget transparency etc

Amplified community voice in water sector budget decisions: Since its inception, the hub has organized
budget deliberations involving CSOs, media, County Governments- Departments responsible for water
service delivery, Water Service Providers (government-owned water companies) and the Central and North
Rift Water Works Development Agencies on water sector budget priorities, water sector budget
implementation and promoting equity in water access. The hub also supports citizens, from the target
counties, to engage in the National Government budget spaces including Environmental, Protection, Water
and Natural Resources Sector Hearings, National Assembly Budgets and Appropriation Committee Hearings
and roundtable with SAGAs in water sector. The hub has influenced budget decisions in the sector, the key
gains being progressive allocations and implementation water projects in the Rift Valley Region and more so
water scarce locations to promote equitable development.

Development of infopacks: Information generated through budget analysis, budget implementation
monitoring, and budget research has been consolidated into infopacks (data base) which are key reference for
budget analysis and advocacy. The infopacks are rich with data on historical performance, emerging systemic
issues, and possible solutions. Beyond keeping communities informed, the infopacks inform both citizens-led
and government-led budget deliberation and builds strong justifications for budget decisions.

Budget Transparency: The target counties has performed relatively well in subsequent County Budget
Transparency Survey. For instance, County Budget Transparency Survey 20221 show an improvement in the
Counties of West Pokot from 71/100 to 78/100 , Baringo from 30/ 100 to 57/ 100 points, Nakuru from
44/100 to 51/100 , Kericho from 12/100 to 34/100, Nandi from 57/100 to 62/100 and Bomet from
46/100 to 53/100.
All these are attributed to continuous advocacy on budget transparency through highlighting in transparency
issues in all our budget memorandum, monitoring the county websites and proferring feedback to the
relevant county offices and direct engagement including and not limited walk-in, calls in and sending emails to
demand for budget information and sensitization of duty bearers on their obligations to facilitate access to
budget information.

Media engagement: The hub has informed media content around county and national budget decisions.
Budget stories in print and social media have highlighted budget concerns in the region. Media constantly
reaches out to the Rift Valley Budget Hub for views on topical budget and related policy issues.