The team with education stakeholders in Samburu, Kenya

Robert Petri, the director in charge of the sub-department for civil society within the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department for Social and Institutional Development, visited SNV in East and Southern Africa between 7^th and 11^th June 2010. He was accompanied by Annemiek Jenniskens, SNV Managing Director for international operations, Worku Behonegne, SNV Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, and Stuart Worsley, SNV Director in Kenya. The team toured the Kenya programme and met staff, clients and local organisations that provide capacity development services. Robert and Annemiek left Kenya truly inspired by our work.  

Mr. Petri and Mrs. Jenniskens visited to review progress in realising the dreams of SNV’s strategy to make real impact on the poor. The visit was timely given new calls in The Netherlands for accountability for development results.

The visitors were treated to a rich flavour of SNV work. Beginning with an overview of the country programme and major breakthroughs, the team illustrated that a steady multi year strategic focus is essential for capacity development. This takes time because capacities develop through a continuous search for solutions, learning and growing.

The visitors were taken to Naivasha, Eldoret, Nanyuki and Samburu to meet clients and local capacity development service providers. In Naivasha, the water company showed how they had been able to connect private boreholes, local residents, and water vendors into a system that delivered safe water for 10,000 slum residents. Water for here and other towns was secured through sound catchment management, and the visitors met the many actors that worked to ensure this. Also present, other water companies and regional government regulators told how SNV’s work in their areas linked with this piece of work. They described how SNV had helped them increase water delivery and revenue collection, and decrease wastage. The national water service provider association told how this was now a national phenomenon.

In Eldoret, the Lessos Farmers Cooperative described how they had increased membership and production by more than 10 times. The Kenya Creameries Cooperative told how their daily holding tanks were now full compared to a year back when they held 20% of capacity. Farmers told of increased income and services, and the reality of their children now being confident to continue family dairy enterprise after 10 years of disillusionment. A little way up the road, passion fruit farmers sat amidst mountains of fruit being bagged for export to Uganda. Service providers, lenders, cooperative leaders and buyers milled around as the visitors were told of the explosion in seedling cultivation and market services.

In Wareng High School, the visitors witnessed the complexity of schools, teachers, students, computer supply services, cell phone companies, software sellers, bloggers, district regulators and low cost laptops, all coming together to show how we now can reach 350,000 children with e-learning solutions. 

In North Kenya, the visitors saw another example of connected water supply services and catchment management. Here, water in the Nanyuki River had ceased to flow in the lower reaches until four years ago when, with SNV’s help, the local water resources users association tackled the issue head on. Bringing together riparian actors, collective solutions were found that have now become an inspiration for the 12 other associations on the catchment. The Laikipia Wildlife Forum described how SNV was helping to unlock local potential through tourism. In the dairy sector, a youth run company described how they had formed to tackle animal feed shortages. Turning the disaster of drought into commercial opportunity was an unseen gap that enabled them to prevent loss of dairy productivity, and make money.

At the site of the recent IOB evaluation, the visitors viewed the sheer scale of the Lolkuniani market, and engaged with buyers, sellers, the county council, local capacity development service providers, and counselors from far away markets who were intent on replicating the experience. All actors told of the explosion in business following the facilitation of this new market model, the increase in access to services, and more money into the pockets of the poorest. Of significance was the thirst by other councils to take this to their areas.

In all these stories, it was clear that SNV Kenya had ignited a fire that was glowing bright from local energy, and was spreading across the nation. SNV was deft in the way that it used different instruments and positions to fan these developmental flames, using local capacity builders, policy level clients, and platforms where all stakeholders could engage. Key to all of this was a sense of local ownership. An evening meeting with some of SNV Kenya’s 55 local capacity builders demonstrated the extent to which we were able to leverage excellent local talent.

Mr. Petri was satisfied with the achievements of SNV and its clients and was very impressed by the professionalism of SNV staff. He posed the challenge to SNV to make these good results visible outside SNV “in a way that any ordinary person would understand and appreciate”. He highlighted the changing development scene occasioned by the financial crisis and the dwindling public support for development work as some of the issues that have consequences on development aid. He emphasised the urgency to act in fulfillment of accountability for development results towards tax payers, “its 5 minutes before 12”.