The Ministry of Local Government and The World Bank’s Group’s Investment Climate Program today has launched the Local Government Investment Climate Web Portal (LGIC). This has been developed as part of ongoing collaboration between the Kenya Investment Climate Program and the Kenya Local Government Reform Program to embrace the use of ICT to enhance service delivery to the citizens of Kenya, particularly when it comes to doing business in Local Authorities.

This web portal, currently hosted at www.transformingkenya.org, is a community platform that supports inter-agency communication and peer-to-peer learning amongst Local Authorities officers by providing a secure environment for learning, knowledge development and sharing of experiences.

At the moment, members of this online community are drawn from the 12 Local Authorities namely: Nairobi, Mombasa, Kilifi, Garissa, Isiolo, Nyeri, Thika, Narok, Eldoret, Kakamega, Malaba and Kisumu.  These Local Authorities are part of the Sub-National Doing Business in Kenya project; the aim is to roll-out the portal across all counties as the country – in conformity with the 2010 constitution - transitions to the devolved system of Government.

This portal is to contain knowledge and learning resources on Local Government sector reform and Rapid Results Initiative activities, including resources from the local government investment climate reform programs such as the Sub-National Doing Business and the Local Government Regulatory Reform Toolkit.  It will also allow local government staff to compare their experiences in public service reform, share lessons learned and discuss solutions to common challenges faced.

Speaking during the launch, The Minister for Local Government, Hon. Musalia Mudavadi said, ‘This is a step in the right direction as we strive to make Vision 2030 a reality. The fact that Local Authorities can share a platform whereby they can exchange best practices is amazing.  It is commendable that Mwananchi can now access information about their local authority via the web.  Equally, Kenyans in the Diaspora and investors worldwide can view investment opportunities available”’

Commenting on the new portal, Peter Ladegaard, World Bank Group Investment Climate Advisory Services Regional Program Manager for East and Southern Africa said, ‘This represents a first step towards the use of ICT to aid collaboration between Local Authorities and dissemination of information to their citizens. It is a dynamic resource that can grow with the changing needs of Local Authorities”.

The new portal can be used as a platform to increase the web presence of Local Authorities through the incorporation of features such as customizable websites for each Local Authority, or even additional sub-portals to share key information required by potential investors e.g. availability of commercial real estate.  It also features a resource center, event calendar, blogs and discussion forums.

Through this portal, Local Authorities will have an opportunity to publicize their achievements. This public display of achievements is anticipated to create healthy competition between Local Authorities. Local Authorities officers can communicate with each other directly by sending each other messages directly fostering better working together. Local Authorities officers will also have the ability to upload documents and photographs containing reference material or other beneficial resources for their colleagues from other Local Authorities to learn from.

The Local Government Investment Climate Web Portal benefitted from the support of the World Bank Group’s Kenya Investment Climate Program – financed by the European Union, the United Kingdom Department for International Development and the Government of the Netherlands - which over the past six years has been assisting the Government of Kenya in improving the legal and regulatory framework to facilitate doing business in Kenya.