Build institutional support of OGP (KE0031)

Build institutional support of OGP by ensuring engagement of broader interest groups across Public institutions, Private sector, Academia, Civil Society and strengthen multilateralism with other OGP participating countries.

Objectives • Build resilience through supporting documentation of OGP process • Build resilience through targeted and strategic institutional involvement in OGP • Build resilience through enabling greater institutional ownership of OGP backed processes • Increase the capacity of public and private sectors to deliver on NAP IV commitments.

Status quo The last two years have seen increased participation and ownership by government of the OGP process. However, support systems for Open Government continues to revolve around individual PoCs and lacks high level political support both at the national and subnational levels. As noted in the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) report, the resourcing of OGP commitments continues to impact ownership and collective implementation thus affecting sustainability of OGP beyond electoral cycles.

Ambition Following the impact of the pandemic on government operations, the Open Government Partnership platform provides an opportunity for rebuilding of resilient institutions with greater government openness and inclusion in the design and implementation of the recovery strategies.

No. Verifiable and measurable milestones to fulfill the commitment Status of milestone Start Date End Date 1. Develop policy briefs for each of the commitment areas New February 2021 December 2021 2. Develop an induction program for new players and conduct quarterly review of progress of commitments New February 2021 December 2021 3. Establish an institutional mechanism for open government (Operations and resource mobilization) New February 2021 May 2022 4. Document stories and best practices amongst the Open Government Partners in Kenya/Africa Ongoing March 2021 March 2022 5. Deepening of OGP network within Kenya, more specifically, ensure engagement and active participation of sub-national governments, Independent Commissions and the Judiciary New March 2021 May 2022 6. Convene recurrent OGP roundtables for robust stakeholder engagement New March 2021 May 2022 7. Establishment of OGP technical desks in each of the implementing public institutions New September 2021 May 2022

Action Plan Review

Commitment 8. Building Open Government Resilience

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest

Results Report

Commitment 8. Building Open Government Resiliency

Carried over from the previous action plan, this commitment underscores Kenya’s commitment to the OGP process vis-a-vis its leadership role at the regional level. Kenya was recently elected to the global OGP Steering Committee and the sustenance of this commitment into the current NAP serves to showcase the country’s commitment to attain the high standards set by OGP. As written, this commitment sought to promote the institutionalization of OGP in government activities by onboarding the highest level of political support and engaging relevant stakeholders from CSOs, public institutions, private sector, and the academia throughout OGP process as well as to strengthen multilateralism with other OGP members.

During NAP III, the government onboarded CSOs, high level-political support in parliament, spread the tentacles of the OGP process to the sub-national level, developed an OGP website, and engaged in peer learning activities from other OGP countries in Africa. While this NAP IV commitment was expected to take the OGP process to the next level and entrench its roots in government, there was little evidence to demonstrate meaningful progress in implementation.

Of its seven milestones, the commitment recorded some progress under milestones 2, 5, and 6. In addition to reviewing the implementation status of commitments, the OGP technical team held various meetings with cluster leads to take stock of progress to date and map out next steps. This was achieved at the national level and at the county level—specifically counties participating in the OGP Local program—through peer review learning in order to deepen domestic OGP network as well as ensure engagement and active participation of county governments, independent commissions, and the judiciary. Kenyan government and civil society stakeholders have also co-convened robust stakeholder engagement to accelerate delivery and impact for citizens. Milestone 4 recorded some progress in 2023, which was beyond the period under review. No evidence was presented for milestones 1, 3, and 7.

Similar to other commitments implementation of this commitment was inhibited by a multitude of factors that included the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 election, and political activities which overshadowed OGP action plan. This had a particular impact on this commitment noting that the then-Vice President—who co-led the implementation of this commitment—was a major contender in the presidential race. [115]