With new county administrations taking office, the law requires that counties develop County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP). Here are four key features of a CIDP that you need to be aware of:
- It is prepared by the County Executive
The CIDP is prepared by the County executive through the directorate of economic planning which is under the department of finance. All directorates in every department contributes to the process, submitting their priorities to the directorate of economic planning. The directorate of economic planning also receives inputs from citizens and integrates them in the CIDP before it is tabled at the county assembly for approval.
- Citizens must participate in its preparation
The law states that “county planning shall provide for citizen participation” and anticipates that the participation of citizens would be meaningful. While all departments in the county get to make submissions that inform the draft CIDP, the document must be subjected to public participation so that citizens can have an opportunity to input into the plan and determine the priority issues to be included in the CIDP. Citizen participation forums should be conducted in the lowest decentralized units possible so that citizens can be able to attend the forums.
3. It is approved by the County Assembly
After subjecting the draft CIDP to public participation, the executive compiles the final version and tables it in the county assembly for approval. Members of the county assembly are expected to review the CIDP and ensure that the priorities of citizens they represent have been captured before approving it.
4. It informs Annual Development Plans
As a 5-year plan, the CIDP provides the framework within which county annual plans should be developed. In simple terms, the annual development plans that counties are expected to develop every financial year are a breakdown or pull-outs of the CIDPs. This makes it possible to implement the CIDP on an annual basis.
5. It determines how county resources are utilized
A CIDP is a county plan that outlines sector priorities which a county government hopes to address over a five-year period. It contains sector commitments by the county government plans to deliver to county residents and determines how county resources are utilized in order to deliver on those commitments. This means that the budgets prepared by the county executive and approved by the county assembly ought to be aligned to the priorities contained in the CIDP. In this sense, the CIDP informs all development and spending decisions within the county over a period of 5 years with the aim of ensuring that the priority needs of citizens in terms of service delivery are met.