Kenya National Technical Coordination Committee Meeting

Following the launch of the Green Economy Strategy and Implementation Plan (GESIP), Kenya’s transition to a green economy is gaining momentum. From 2014 to 2017, the Government undertook green programmes and projects in collaboration with strategic partners to showcase the huge potential to be realized by greening the economy. The Green Economy Assessment Report for Kenya, produced by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2014, demonstrated important benefits of transitioning to a green economy, such as healthy long-term economic growth, reduced negative environmental impacts and higher productivity.

UNEP, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for Project Services and with funding from the European Union, is implementing the SWITCH Africa Green programme in six countries: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda. In Kenya, SWITCH Africa Green has supported micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the tourism, manufacturing and agriculture sectors in adopting sustainable consumption and production approaches for green business growth. A country implementation plan and policy action plan have been developed for the programme, and from 2018 onwards, SWITCH Africa Green will focus on implementing the policy action plan and scaling up green business development by providing affordable green financing models for MSMEs.

Kenya’s Second Medium-Term Plan (2013–2017) identified the formulation of a national green economy strategy as a priority for the implementation of Vision 2030, Kenya’s development plan covering the period 2008–2030. The Green Economy Strategy and Implementation Plan (GESIP) was launched in July 2017. GESIP is designed to harmonize green economy actions in five thematic areas:

1. Sustainable infrastructure
2. Building resilience
3. Sustainable natural resource management
4. Promoting resource efficiency
5. Social inclusion and sustainable livelihoods

The Third Medium-Term Plan (2018–2022) recognizes the importance of GESIP for achieving low-carbon, climate-resilient development in line with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 of the African Union. The climate change chapter of the Third Medium-Term Plan (2018–2022) considers the following initiatives to support the achievement of GESIP’s target during the period 2018–2022:

• Green Growth and Employment Programme (GGEP)
• SWITCH Africa Green Programme
• Operationalizing the green economy transition at the county level
• Green Innovations and Technologies Programme

The various initiatives need to be effectively coordinated to tap the full benefits of the green economy activities being implemented by the various partners. A SWITCH Africa Green meeting attended by representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, UNEP, UNDP and the European Union on 19 January 2018 led to a recommendation that a National Technical Coordination Committee retreat be held to discuss the implementation of SWITCH Africa Green in Kenya. The retreat would provide an opportunity to finalize Kenya’s SWITCH Africa Green country implementation plan and policy action road map, thus paving the way for the implementation of the recommended activities and policy actions. The objectives of the retreat were thus to:

1. Discuss GESIP operationalization;
2. Review and update the SWITCH Africa Green Kenya country implementation plan document;
3. Review and finalize the policy action plan to be implemented under the SWITCH Africa Green policy support component.