The government is set to assess whether a Ksh21 billion World Bank-backed project to improve living conditions in informal settlements delivered value for money and benefited its intended communities.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The State Department of Housing and Urban Development, in a notice on Tuesday, August 18, revealed it is seeking an independent consultant to evaluate the Second Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project (KISIP2), which is financed by the World Bank and Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

According to the notice, the assessment will examine the overall performance of the project and determine whether it achieved its development objectives, according to a government procurement notice.

“Value for Money Assessment, Beneficiary Assessment and End of Program Evaluation covering interventions financed by both the World Bank and AFD,” the notice said.

📌 What You Need to Know

Under the audit, the government also wants to establish whether KISIP2 generated benefits for target communities and strengthened institutional capacity for upgrading informal settlements.

The review comes as KISIP2 approaches the end of its implementation period.

The project was approved by the World Bank in 2020 with a $150 million (about Ksh19.4 billion at the current exchange rate) International Development Association credit, while the government was expected to provide $15 million (Ksh1.9 billion) in counterpart funding.

AFD later provided an additional €45 million(about Ksh6.9 billion at current rates) in co-financing.

The project was designed to improve access to basic services and tenure security in participating informal settlements while strengthening the government's capacity to undertake settlement upgrading.

KISIP2 built on the first Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project, which began in 2011 and targeted 15 urban centres in 14 counties.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke