County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP)

The County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) is usually one of the first tasks of a newly elected government and arguably one of its most critical tasks. It is the core five-year development plan that integrates the long-term spatial, sector and urban plans with inputs from the Governor’s manifesto, national government plans and programs, past county development performance and the views and expectations of other development actors and the public at large. The CIDP sets the priorities and guides all county government spending until the next elections.

Linkages

Upstream: National Vision 2030, County Long-Term Strategic Plan, Spatial Plan, Sector Plans, Urban Plan(s), Governor’s Manifesto, (past) CIDP Review

Downstream: Departmental Strategic Plans, Annual Development Plan, Annual Budget, Annual Work Plan

Description

Under the guidance and coordination of a CIDP preparation committee (CIDP secretariat) usually led by County Finance and Economic Planning, the process alternates between joint sessions and technical work conducted in parallel by all the Sector Working Groups. It begins with a stage of data collection and analysis, which combines the review of the previous CIDP with the analysis of: (a) public participation and CBEF inputs; (b) priorities listed in spatial, sector, and urban plans and (c) priorities and investments expected in the county by the national government and other key actors. In a first joint session the County defines the key priorities and development strategies that might require a multi-sectoral approach, the criteria for spatial and sectoral allocation of resources, as well as any joint approaches to incorporate cross-cutting issues (such as climate change, gender, etc.) into the CIDP preparation. Sector Working Groups (SWGs) then incorporate these priorities and approaches into their respective programmes and sub-programmes and adjust and refine key performance indicators and targets. The CIDP secretariat brings together all SWGs outputs, reviews them to ensure cross-sectoral consistency with the agreed priorities, approaches and resource allocation criteria, and produces the draft CIDP for validation. Once adopted by the County Executive Committee, the CIDP draft is submitted to the County Assembly for their review and final approval as required by law.

For a more detailed description follow this link: CIDP Process Step by Step Description

The CIDP is formulated in a delicate time of transition for county governments. Together with the inductions of newly elected and/or appointed officials, the formulation of the CIDP should be the first major task of a new county administration as it should guide all public spending for the five-year term. In 2013 it was so as it was considered pre-condition for exchequer releases and counties rushed to approve them. In 2017, several counties delayed the formulation of the CIDP, in part to ensure it was participatory and carefully formulated. Most counties approved the CIDP after the ADP, some even after the Budget. This is far from optimal.

Some of the major steps of the CIDP formulation could be anticipated to make the process smoother:

The final review of the previous CIDP could be done prior to the elections through a highly participatory and independent committee (politically neutral)
During the review, the same committee could capture the inputs of the public towards the next CIDP.

This would represent an opportunity to assess outgoing leaders based on an objective record and would allow the public priorities to shape and influence the manifestos of political leaders running for office (rather than the opposite). Right after the elections, the incoming administration – be it led by a returning or new governor – could right away focus on the strategies and programmes of the new CIDP to ensure a smooth formulation and approval.

The PFM Act states that every fiscal year the ADP must be submitted to the County Assembly by September 1st. The law should make an exception for election years as by that date most county executive and assemblies have not been appointed and/or inducted. After elections, the ADP should be approved after (or together with) the new CIDP.

Within reasonable limits, a CIDP should include provisions to complete unfinished projects from the previous term, regardless of political ownership, as abandoning projects before completion is a waste of public resources

Resources