The creation of county governments by theConstitution of Kenya 2010, is one of the mostsignificant changes introduced to Kenyas governanceframework. Under the Fourth Schedule, theConstitution spells out the functions that have beendevolved to county governments with the objective ofbringing services closer to the people and ensuringpublic participation in defining and charting out thedevelopment agenda at the grassroots level.The foundation for the preparation of the first KisiiCounty Integrated Development Plan is provided for inthe Constitution of Kenya, 2010; the CountyGovernment Act, 2012; and the Kenya Vision 2030,and its Medium Term Plans. Specifically, Section104.(1) and 108.(2)(b)(iii) of the County Government Act, 2012 states that the countygovernment shall prepare all projects, plans and programs to be implemented by any organ ofstate within the county, and that no public funds shall be appropriated outside a planningframework developed by the county.Integrated development planning has been understood as a process through which efforts atnational and devolved levels of government and other relevant public institutions arecoordinated at the local level. It is through this process that economic, social, environmental,legal and spatial aspects of development are brought together to prepare a plan that meets theneeds and aspirations of the local communities for poverty reduction and sustainabledevelopment. The process allows for allocation of scarce resources to priority projects andprogrammes as determined by county stakeholders. The Kisii County IntegratedDevelopment Plan therefore provides the baseline information which will guide the executionof all county functions during the next five years.The identification of the projects and programmes in the CIDP was done through publicparticipation sessions at each of the nine sub-counties, and during two consultataive forumsin Kisii and Nairobi where Kisii County professionals were given an opportunity to maketheir contributions to the development program for the county. In view of the high quality ofsuggestions received from participants, this approach will be institutionalized and appliedagain during the annual budgeting exercise in determining priorities for funding for each yearof the Plan.It is expected that increased participation by a wide cross section of the people duringidentification, planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of projects andprogrammes will help in realizing the objectives of devolution which is to empower citizensin exercising their democratic rights at all levels of government.As a nascent county, we have faced the arduous task of trying to balance the numerousdemands of the public against limited available resources and timeframe. It is our expectationthat the requisite resources will be availed on a timely basis, both from the nationalgovernment and from local sources, to implement the proposals contained in this document.

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