The Parliamentary Centre in Kenya

The Parliamentary Centre’s Staff Training Project in Kenya has achieved excellent results since its inception in August 2004 and has contributed immensely to the professional development of the staff in the Kenya National Assembly (KNA), which has in turn enhanced their effectiveness. The project contributed not only to the development of a Training Needs and Strategy document, but also it spearheaded commencement of the implementation of the Training Design produced by the Parliamentary Centre. Initial implementation of the training included imparting skills to staff at all levels, including in the Constituency Offices.

Training of staff of parliament helped to increase the institutional capacity of the KNA and remains an integral part of the strengthening of democratic governance in Kenya. The specific importance of staff training is that the quality of the work individual MPs and committees depends considerably upon the quality of the output of the technical staff upon whom the MPs and their committees rely for advise and facilitation.

One important point that merits mention is the contribution made by the KNA to this particular project. Recognizing that the project did not have a large budget over its three year life period, but also aware of the immense impact the project was having on developing a staff capacity development strategy, the KNA stepped in as a full partner, making considerable contributions (in terms of financial support to training activities) to supplement the project budget. This point is important to highlight because all too often parliamentary institutions in Africa depend to a great extent on external funds for their development and desist from taking ownership of their own programs. The Kenya parliament has demonstrated, through its contribution, both the political will and desire to excel, and we hope that partners will take this aspect into consideration when reviewing program plans for the future. The current program ended in August 2007.

For additional information, please contact Charity Wakaba

Constituency office staff after training