PRIORITY AREAS

The Ministry immediate priorities are to address what Vision 2030 calls the Foundations for Development. In many parts of the region, but in Northern Kenya in particular, these foundations are not yet in place. This is holding the region back: it deters investment, undermines productive potential, drains resources into prolonged emergency response, and frustrates the many examples of local-level initiative and innovation.

The lack of these foundations has a major impact on human development. In 2005, seven districts in Northern Kenya had a Human Development Index lower than that of Sierra Leone, at that time the lowest-ranked country in the world:

The Ministry immediate priorities therefore include:

• Infrastructure  particularly roads, water, communication systems and energy (and especially renewable energy, given that Northern Kenya is a rich source of both solar and wind power).
  
  
• Human capital  i.e. building an educated and healthy population, and a skilled workforce that can help the region develop.
  
  
• Peace and security, without which development and investment can not take place.
  
  
• Drought management. Droughts take time to develop and can be managed with the right approaches and resources applied at the right time.