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Geographic Information System Needs Assessment Report
Geographic Information System Needs Assessment Report
November 1, 2017
The Council of Governors is spearheading the institutionalization of the County Spatial Plan Framework through the Kenya Devolution Support Programme (KDSP). KDSP is a four-year project funded by the Department for International Development (DfID) through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) whose main objective is to support counties to put in place long term development strategies.
The main goal of this project was to support the Council of Governors in conducting a GIS needs assessment in relation to spatial planning in Kenya by assessing GIS resources (hardware, software, human resources and data) against the existing legislation; and to make recommendations for suitable interventions to enhance spatial planning activities and Climate Change mainstreaming in the County Spatial Planning process.
The assessment covered a total of 30 counties identified through a systematic random sampling procedure, which was informed by the level of urbanization of each of Kenya’s 47 counties. The assessment also covered 12 National Level Institutions in Kenya.
The general findings from the assessment reflect critical GIS needs across the four aspects of hardware, software, human resource and data in the counties, which have to be addressed if counties are going to enjoy the benefits of GIS informed spatial planning.
Proposed Recommendations
- Investment in GIS structures in Counties must focus on all four components of a GIS as opposed to only concentrating around hardware acquisition.
- Counties must allocate resources to hire and support continuous training of GIS professionals. There is need to establish a system through which national institutions can collaborate with counties for data standardization and sharing, as well as knowledge transfer
- Capacity building is the key to successful adoption of GIS in the counties. GIS Guidelines and a GIS Centre at CoG are needed
- Provision of generic GIS lab structure guideline is urgent
- Pervasive partnerships are key to success
