Deep Dive Analysis: Bridging the Gap Between Policy and Practice in County Planning

Examining common implementation hurdles—and how to overcome them in Kenya’s devolved system

Great plans, modest outcomes

Kenya’s devolved framework gives counties everything they need—CIDPs, County Physical & Land Use Development Plans (CPLUDPs), Annual Development Plans (ADPs), Programme-Based Budgets (PBBs), plus enabling laws like the County Governments Act (2012) and Physical and Land Use Planning Act (2019). On paper, it’s robust. On the ground, projects stall, priorities drift, and spatial frameworks get sidelined.

The cost of this policy–practice gap is real: duplicated investments, under-serviced settlements, climate-exposed infrastructure, and eroded public trust. If counties are to deliver Vision 2030, the National Spatial Plan (2015–2045), and the NCCAP, implementation must become as rigorous as planning.

This deep dive reframes the problem—and lays out practical fixes that county executives, assemblies, technocrats, and partners can deploy now.

Stalled Project  - abandoned market stalls

The planning “stack” — and where execution breaks

Well-functioning counties align four moving parts:

1. CPLUDP (spatial logic): Where growth happens and what must be protected.

2. CIDP (strategic logic): What outcomes the county will pursue in five years.

3. ADP (annual discipline): Which projects move this year, with realistic scope.

4. PBB (fiscal truth): What gets resources—and what doesn’t.

   
   

Break any link (e.g., sector plans not checked against zoning; PBB not tagged to spatial priorities), and delivery fragments. The fix isn’t “more planning”—it’s stronger integration and harder governance around execution.

Why implementation falters (and how to fix it)

1) Institutional & political barriers

Symptoms: Siloed departments (Lands vs. Roads vs. Water), informal coordination, plans reset with political cycles, high-visibility “legacy” projects crowding out essentials.

What works:

• County Planning Coordination Unit (CPCU): A formal, minute-keeping body chaired by the CECM Finance/Planning that clears CIDP/ADP/PBB for spatial conformity before tabling.

• Continuity clauses: Assembly resolutions that protect core plan priorities from mid-term shifts; require written variance justifications with cost-benefit notes.

• Portfolio review, not project hunting: Quarterly reviews by sector portfolios tied to CPLUDP zones/corridors, not one-off pet projects.

  
  

2) Financial & resource constraints

Symptoms: Unpredictable transfers, weak own-source revenue, cashflow shocks that stall works, capex raided for O&M.

What works:

• Rolling 12-month cashflow + phased scopes: Right-size contracts to actual disbursement patterns; structure deliverables in independent, usable increments.

• PBB budget tagging: Every development line item tagged to a CPLUDP policy area and CIDP outcome; non-tagged items require exception memos.

• Revenue modernization: Digitized billing, enforcement incentives, and widening the base (land value capture around growth nodes, market fees linked to serviced sites).

  
  

3) Technical & data gaps

Symptoms: Sector plans ignore zoning; projects sited in risk zones; M&E units report activities, not outcomes; consultants leave, momentum fades.

What works:

• GIS as the single source of siting truth: A countywide, version-controlled GIS registry with land-use layers, hazards, servitudes, and wayleaves. All siting happens here; exceptions are logged and public.

• Implementation M&E, not paperwork M&E: Fewer, better indicators (access, reliability, equity, resilience) with baseline + target + geolocation.

• 50/50 delivery model: County staff lead; consultants coach, codify, and build documentation. Require handover packages, SOPs, and skills transfer logs.

  
  

4) Intergovernmental misalignment

Symptoms: National projects land where counties didn’t plan for them (or vice versa), duplication ensues, O&M unfunded.

What works:

• IGRTC facilitation with spatial checks: Mandatory CPLUDP/CIDP alignment notes for all national projects below the equator of “strategic importance.”

• Joint monitoring cells: County–national field teams with shared dashboards and issue logs; escalate conflicts early, not at commissioning.

  
  

5) Participation that ticks boxes (instead of shaping choices)

Symptoms: Late, rushed barazas; marginalized groups unheard; pushback during construction.

What works:

• Ward-level citizen forums with feedback loops: Inputs recorded, responded to, and published; reasons for acceptance/rejection documented.

• Digital channels: USSD/SMS polls, simple map pins for proposed sites, vernacular summaries; quarterly “you said, we did” briefs.

  
  

The operational playbook: from plans to projects

A. 90-day “reset” counties can run

• Week 1–4: Spatial conformity audit. Map every live project to the CPLUDP; flag off-plan, at-risk, or duplicative investments.

• Week 5–8: Budget retagging. Align PBB lines to CPLUDP policy areas and CIDP outcomes; re-scope projects to fit cashflow.

• Week 9–12: Governance hardening. Constitute the CPCU; adopt continuity and variance rules; publish a simple execution dashboard.

  
  

B. One-year delivery roadmap

1. Corridor & node packages: Bundle roads, water, street-lighting, market sheds, and drainage into spatially coherent packages along growth corridors.

2. Resilience mainstreaming: Flood and drought risk screening is non-negotiable; add nature-based solutions where they lower lifetime costs.

3. Capacity loops: Quarterly clinics (GIS, procurement planning, M&E). Staff retention via recognition, rotations, and exposure.

   
   

C. Dashboards that matter

• Access: % of households within 30 minutes of water/health/markets.

• Reliability: Days of service continuity per quarter.

• Equity: Share of development spending in underserved wards.

• Resilience: % of projects with climate screening + protective works.

• Execution: Contract award lead times; scope delivered vs. plan; variation orders trend.

  
  

Case snapshots (illustrative)

• Lake ecosystem preserved, tourism expanded (Nakuru): Zoning protected riparian buffers; investments shifted to eco-compatible nodes, sustaining revenue without degrading the asset.

• Flood risk cut in informal settlements (Busia/Kisumu): GIS-led siting + drainage and permeable streets reduced flood days and kept schools and clinics open.

• Compact growth with services (Kiambu): Mixed-use nodes near transit curtailed sprawl, improving land values and service efficiency.

(Where attribution is sensitive, share outcomes, not names; let the evidence speak.)

What counties—and partners—can do next

• Adopt a “policy-to-project” (P2P) rule: No project without a CPLUDP/CIDP/ADP tag and a map pin.

• Bake in continuity: Protect the top 20 county priorities across political cycles; make deviations transparent and justified.

• Fund the doers: Ring-fence a modest but stable implementation support budget (design reviews, supervision, M&E). It pays for itself.

• Invite scrutiny: Publish dashboards; empower Assembly committees and citizens to question variance early.

  
  

How Lybrae Spatial Solutions helps

• Integration & governance setup: We establish CPCUs, author variance rules, and align CIDP/ADP/PBB with the CPLUDP.

• GIS & siting discipline: We build the county’s spatial registry and run conformity checks for every project.

• Cash-aware phasing: We re-sequence scopes to fit realistic disbursement patterns and reduce idle contracts.

• Outcome-based M&E: We design lean indicators, baselines, and public dashboards tied to service access, equity, and resilience.

• Capacity that sticks: 50/50 delivery with county staff, backed by SOPs, templates, and targeted clinics.

  
  

Implementation is a choice, not a mystery

Kenya doesn’t need more plans—it needs plans that get built right. Counties that institutionalize coordination, protect continuity, align money with maps, and keep citizens in the loop are already outperforming their peers. The path is clear; the discipline is the differentiator.

If you’re ready to convert policies into projects—and projects into outcomes—Lybrae Spatial Solutions can help you hard-wire implementation into your planning cycle.

Let’s close the policy–practice gap.