Role of the UN in Kenya's Socio-Economic Development

The Role of the United Nations in Kenya's Socio-Economic Development: A Historic Assessment (1964-2003)

BACKROUND

Next year the United Nations (UN) will be forty years old in Kenya. In those long forty years it has played an important role in the social and economic development of this country right from its immediate post colonial era. The UN still continues to play that important role and we may ask the question, "which way from now?" To answer that question intelligently we must throw an eye backwards to see the ground laver and identify the strong points and the not so strong points to serve as a
basis for the future contribution the world body will make to improve the quality of life of Kenyans.

The focal part of the UN's action has been the UNDP but other agencies have also played a role in the story. This historical assessment will serve two-pronged purpose: First, to appreciate critically what has been achieved and second, to contribute to the intellectual history of the UN in its wider global context. In this proposal we shall highlight the theoretical framework, statement of the problem and rationale, the methodology and hypotheses and finally the tentative budget.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Institutions are like living things. They are born, they grow, mature, get old and die or survive through mellowing. The UN in Kenya has a definite date of birth and it has now matured. It is important that its life history is assessed. As an institution it has its own dynamic and raison d'être and can be studied as such. It has generated ideas and actions, which also have their own dynamics that need to be traced from the ethereal substance to actual concretization of developmental activities.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND RATIONALE

The UN has played an important role in the socio-economic development of Kenya over the last forty years, yet there is no comprehensive and in-depth study of that role. It is a gap in our knowledge of the world body's work in this part of the continent and Kenya in particular. Two IDS students gathered valuable information concerning programmes and projects, but this work is incomplete and needs to be recast into a full historical analysis. That analysis will fill the knowledge gap and
inspire similar studies elsewhere.

HYPOTHESES

We propose only two hypotheses. That:

Without the UN in this country, certain aspects of socio-economic development would not have taken place.
A people's participatory approach has been a more successful module than any other in the socio-economic development of Kenya over the period under study.

METHODOLOGY

The work done by the IDS students will be both a starting point and a key reference for this study. To fill the information gap, a multi-source methodology will be applied. This will be divided into two major components: Primary sources and secondary sources.

DATA SOURCES

PRIMARY SOURCES

Primary data sources for this study includes archival material that will exploited from the National Archives, Kenya Government Ministry archives, the UN publications, and any personal documents. Primary sources will also involve the use of structured personal interviews with certain key personalities in Kenya, and probably elsewhere. In order to elicit as much information from the field as possible, the study will also employ structured focus group discussions with the project beneficiaries.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Secondary sources will basically be any published material, either in book form or articles. All the above methods are used to bring out as much information as possible for a critical analysis. The overall framework is historical perspective combined with thematic in-cuts, as may be contained in the following periods:1963-1970;1970-1980;1980-1990;1990-2004. Larger chronological framework could be suggested: 1963-1985; 1985-2004

The study will be guided by the following broad themes:
1. Expanding Opportunities,
2. Empowerment,
3. Guaranteeing Security, and
4. Ensuring Sustainability.

In addition, certain cross-cutting themes, such as gender, will be explored. Finally, a sample of districts will be selected for an in-depth study, as representative cases, guided by the UN's concentration of project activities. However, the study will greatly be based on the geographical representation of the UN activities in the country. In this regard, the study aims at isolating four provinces, (Central, Eastern, Rift Valley, and Nyanza) out of which four districts will be earmarked for study. In each of the selected districts, the study will select four projects. That gives the study a total sample of 32 projects, (see the appendix for the project population). Other districts, in the light of actual U.N activities' geographical representation could be made.

PARTNERSHIPS

The project is a partnership between the United Nations Country Team in Kenya in cooperation with the Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi. A team of seven has been constituted, that will be involved in the study. The study has two components i.e. collection of primary and secondary data as well as interviewing of key informants and project beneficiaries. The team comprises of:

1. Prof. Dorothy McCormick, UON
2. Prof. Njuguna Ng'ethe, UON
3. Prof. Vincent Simiyu, UON
4. Mr. Samuel Kiiru, UON
5. Mr. Basil Omutsotsi, UON
6. Mr. Cleophas Torori, UN
7. Ms. Jane Mbagi, UN

The overall project contact person is: Cleophas Torori, UNDP Kenya, E-mail: cleophas.torori@undp.org