Handbook on County Planning, County Budgeting and Social Accountability

This handbook aims to provide an easy read to citizens as well as leaders on public finance under Kenya’s devolved governance, planning and budgeting at the county level and highlights some social accountability tools and mechanisms. The book has been developed in recognition of growing appreciation among governments, the donor community and civil society that local communities have a significant role to play with regard to enhancing accountability of public officials in the management of public funds, reducing corruption and leakage of funds and improving public service delivery.

Citizen Handbook on Taxation in Kenya

This handbook attempts to break down Kenya’s complex tax system into a user friendly form for consumption by the average person. It among other issues discusses design of various tax heads, their purposes and differences and also how they are administered. Taxation is the key source of revenue that the government of Kenya uses to provide public services to its citizenry. Over the last decade tax  performance in Kenya has significantly improved in nominal terms averaging about 24% of the size of the economy.

This has enabled the government to finance 60% of the budget. Due to its importance, tax policy debates and decision making becomes a critical issue to the public, to businesses and the economy at large owing to the varied impact that it will have on each of these entities. Therefore the design and performance of the tax system has implications for inequality and as such it is the role of the government to ensure that it pursues an fair tax system for equitable distribution of income and welfare of the citizens. The other important benchmarks for assessing the tax system include simplicity, adequacy and neutrality

Biodiversity, Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property in Kenya

While it is acknowledged that the Kenyan Government has put in place initiatives to deal with the biopiracy menace, there is evidence that the country has lost several biological resources which have ended up in foreign hands, without any benefits accruing to the local community where the resources and knowledge was extracted.

This, therefore, raises the questions: What is the missing link? Why has the government put in several initiatives that should enhance biodiversity use, yet these initiatives have not resulted in tangible benefits to the community and the country as a whole? This Book “Biodiversity, Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property in Kenya: The Legal and Institutional Framework for Sustainable Economic Development” attempts to answer these queries by examining the legal and  institutional framework for biodiversity conservation and intellectual property and its impact on livelihoods and development

Youth Research Compendium

That Kenya has a large and growing youthful population is an indisputable matter. The salience of this demographic feature found empirical confirmation during the National Population and Housing Census held in 2009. With the established fact of a youthful population come a number of certainties and uncertainties in the medium to long term for the country. Because Scenarios building provide a useful methodology for examining and holding conversations during periods of uncertainty, the opportunity opened up for the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA-Kenya) to undertake its second Scenarios project based on examining the question of a large and growing youthful population.

Applied Budget Work: Training of Trainers’ Manual

This is a Training of Trainers’ (TOT) manuals intended for civil society organizations that work around budget issues supposed to demystify the budget and also encourage these organizations to understand that the budget can be used as a tool of accountability. As such it is intended to equip them with skill and techniques to undertake budget analysis as well as apply other budget work skills in order to effectively participate thoughout the budget cycle.

Existing Mechanism for the Public to Engage in Budget Making Process in Kenya

The objective of this manual is to raise awareness of the existing opportunities and avenues for the public to engage throughout the national budget cycle of Kenya as well as provide an overview of the principles underlying participatory budgeting and further outline best practices in participatory budgeting. It is expected that cumulatively through this manual civil society and generally public participation in the budget making processes would increase and the degree of inclusivity in decision making processes enhanced. Ultimately civil society members and local citizens would be well equipped with information and knowledge to be able to fully participate in budget making and be able to meaningfully influence public service delivery, planning and allocation of public resources. Additionally, it is assumed that CSOs representatives who participate in training on this manual would in turn pass on the skills and knowledge so gained to empower their constituents and the ripple effect is expected to bear inclusitivity in budgeting practices.

UNICEF Youth Review Investment

This report is an attempt to assess the youth situation in Kenya by reviewing various Government of Kenya policy documents as well as United Nations (UN), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and World Bank publications. It also seeks to outline investments on youth by various actors

“KEYS” – short form for Kenya Youth Scenarios – is a project by young people aimed at extrapolating what that conversation might look like. IEA-Kenya used the scenarios building methodology to conduct research and analysis in order to understand various forces at play in the youth sector, how they interact and what they may produce in the future. This booklet is therefore a documentation of what Kenya’s youth perceive to be the possible scenarios Kenya will have to face by 2031

“KEYS” –   short form for Kenya Youth Scenarios – is a project by young people aimed at extrapolating what that conversation might look like. IEA-Kenya used the scenarios building methodology to conduct research and analysis in order to understand various forces at play in the youth sector, how they interact and what they may produce in the future. This booklet is therefore a documentation of what Kenya’s youth perceive to be the possible scenarios Kenya will have to face by 2031

KEYS Youth Scenarios Booklet 2011

“KEYS” –   short form for Kenya Youth Scenarios – is a project by young people aimed at extrapolating what that conversation might look like. IEA-Kenya used the scenarios building methodology to conduct research and analysis in order to understand various forces at play in the youth sector, how they interact and what they may produce in the future. This booklet is therefore a documentation of what Kenya’s youth perceive to be the possible scenarios Kenya will have to face by 2031.