Lake Basin - Final.mbagara

The Lake Region
Economic Blueprint
A better life
The Lake Region

Economic
Blueprint A better
life
Supported by:
Figure 1: Counties of the Lake Region
Contents
Acronyms and Abbreviations

Executive Summary
3.1.5
3.2
1 Introduction
1.1
Vision 2030 and Development
1.2
The Lake Basin Economic Blueprint (LREB)
1.3
Approach and Methodology of the Blueprint
1.4
Structure of the Blueprint
10
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11
12
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2 Key Features of the Lake Region

2.1
Physical Features of the Lake Region
2.2
Demographic Features
2.3
Socioeconomic Features of the Lake Region
2.4
Spotlight on Opportunities in the Lake Region
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3 Productive Sectors: Agriculture and Tourism

3.1
Agriculture
3.1.1
The State of Agriculture in the Lake Region
3.1.2
Key Agricultural Challenges in the Lake Region
3.1.3
Economic Opportunities in the Agriculture Sector
3.1.4
Resource Mobilization Strategy
Socioeconomic Impact of the Agricultural Sector
Tourism
3.2.1
3.2.2
3.2.3
3.2.4
3.2.5
3.2.6
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The State of the Western Kenya Tourism Circuit

Current Attractions
Opportunities and Prospective Projects for Tourism in the Lake Region
Key Challenges in the Tourism Sector
Socioeconomic Impact of the Tourism Sector
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4 Social Sectors: Education and Health

4.1
Education
4.1.1
The State of Education in the Lake Region
4.1.2
Key Education Challenges in the Lake Region
4.1.3
Opportunities for Investment in Education
4.1.4
Education Interventions
4.1.5
Socioeconomic Impact of Interventions in Education
4.2
Health
4.2.1
The State of the Health Sector in the Lake Region
4.2.2
Key Health Challenges Facing the Lake Region
4.2.3
Opportunities to expand Quality Health care Services
4.2.4
Socioeconomic impact of the Health Sector
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45
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46
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49
53
5 Enabling Sectors: Financial Services, ICT and Infrastructure

5.1
Financial Services
5.1.1
The State of Financial Services in the Lake Region
5.1.2
Proposed Flagship Project: Creation of Regional Bank
5.1.3
5.1.4
Socioeconomic Impact of Financial Services
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5.2
Information and Communication Technologies

5.2.1
The State of the ICT Sector in the Lake Region
5.2.2
Economic Opportunities in the ICT Sector
5.2.3
Proposed Projects
5.2.4
5.2.5
Socioeconomic Impact of the ICT sector
5.3
Infrastructure
5.3.1
State of Infrastructure in the Lake Region
5.3.2
Challenges in infrastructure in the Lake Region
5.3.3
Summary of Infrastructure Sector Investment Opportunities per Region
5.3.4
Key Interventions
6 Cross Cutting Themes

6.1
Women and Girls
6.1.1
Women in Agriculture
6.1.2
Women and Girls in Tourism
6.1.3
Education Status of Women and Girls
6.1.4
Health Status of Women and Girls
6.1.5
Womens Access to Financial Services
6.1.6
Women, girls and ICT
6.1.7
Interventions Targeting Women and Girls
6.2
Youth
6.2.1
Youth and Agriculture
6.2.2
Youth and Tourism
6.2.3
Youth and Education
6.2.4
Youth and Health
6.2.5
Youth and Financial Services
6.2.6
Youth and ICT
6.2.7
Interventions Targeting the Youth
6.3
Persons with Disability (PWDS)
6.3.1
Persons with Disability and Agriculture
6.3.2
Persons with Disability and Tourism
6.3.3
Persons with Disability and Education
6.3.4
Persons with Disability and Health
6.3.5
Persons with Disability and Financial Services
6.3.6
Persons with Disability and ICT
6.3.7
Interventions targeting People with Disabilities
6.4
The Environment
6.4.1
The Environment and Agriculture
6.4.2
The Environment and Tourism
6.4.3
The Environment and Education
6.4.4
The Environment and Health
6.4.5
Interventions focused on the Environment
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7 Key Risks and Mitigation Strategies
81
8 Conclusion
82
9 Addendum
83
10 References
84
Contacts
Acronyms and
Abbreviations
ADSL
AIDS
CBD
CBK
CIDP
COMESA
ECDE
EDGE
FTTX
GDP
GER
GOK
HIV
ICT
IDP
IFMIS
KARI
KDHS
KEMSA
KIHBS
KWH
LBEBP
LBR
LVKTC
MT
MTP
NER
NGO
PGA
PPP
SACCO
SADC
SONY
TTC
UNDP
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Central Business District
Central Bank of Kenya
County Integrated Development Plans
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
Early Childhood Education and Development
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Fiber to the X
Gross Domestic Product
Gross Enrolment Ratio
Government of Kenya
Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Information and Communication Technology
Internally Displaced Persons
Integrated Financial management and Information System
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute
Kenya Demographic and Health Survey
Kenya Medical Supplies Authority
Kenya Integrated Household and Budget Survey
Kilowatt Hour
Lake Basin Regional Economic Blue Print
Lake Basin Region
Lake Victoria Tourism Circuit
Metric Tonnes
Medium Term Implementation Plan
Net Enrolment Rate
Non-Governmental Association
Professional Golfers Association
Public Private Partnership
Savings and Credit Cooperatives
Southern African Development Community
South Nyanza Sugar Company
Teachers Training College
United Nations Development Programme
Executive
Kenya Vision 2030 is the countrys blueprint that charts

the strategic priorities and interventions for development
between 2008 and 2030 for the country. It aims to
transform Kenya into an industrializing, middle-income
country providing a high quality life to all its citizens by
the year 2030 (Kenya Vision 2020, 2007). The Vision
is based on three pillars: the economic, the social
and the political. The economic pillar aims to
improve
the prosperity of all Kenyans through an economic
development programme, covering all the regions of
Kenya, aiming to achieve an average Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) growth rate of 10per cent per
annum from 2012 onwards. The social pillar seeks
to build a
just and cohesive society where social equity is prevalent
in a clean and secure environment. The political pillar
aims to realize a democratic political system founded
on issue-based politics that respects the rule of law and
protects the rights and freedoms of every individual in
Kenyan society. The Kenya Vision 2030 is planned to be
implemented in successive five-year Medium-Term Plans,
the first of which covered the period 2008- 2012. The
second Medium-Term Plan covers the period 2013-2017
and has already been launched.
Why a Regional Blueprint?
The promulgation of the Constitution 2010 brought
previously non-existent opportunities for regional
growth closer to Kenyan citizens by introducing a
devolved system of government that brings decisionmaking structures and processes closer to the people.
Within the devolved structure, Kenyans can more
actively participate in the planning and implementation
of development plans for their region. However, the
main drawback of devolution is that often counties
are too small a unit to leverage economies of scale
often unable to tap into a robust pool of skilled
labour or funding options required to catalyse positive
change within a given jurisdiction. The Economic
Blueprint for the Lake Basin Region was born out of
the understanding that strategic connections between
counties with shared interests seated in a desire for
mutual benefit can be an effective and intelligent
means of increasing the possibility of creating notable
development impact across several counties. Additional
reasons for a regional Blueprint are:
Access to New & Expanded Markets
Economies of Scale e.g. Large labour force
Comparative County strengths
Youth The Demographic Dividend
Shared Resources i.e. Lake Victoria, River Yala, River
6
Nzoia, Mt. Elgon etc.

Shared values i.e. economic growth as a vital
Development Imperative to support the ailing social
sectors such as Education, Health etc.
The Lake Region is one of the most densely populated
regions of Kenya with over 10 million people which
constitute about 25% of the population in Kenya.
This Economic Blueprint presents the socioeconomic
aspirations of 10 counties in the Lake Basin Region
and seeks to boldly secure and shape the regions
destiny. This Economic Blueprint is designed to guide
development efforts by leveraging existing assets,
addressing constraints and defining key steps that
leaders and citizens of the region can take to transform
the shared vision of prosperity into reality.
The counties that constitute the Lake Region in this
blueprint are Bungoma, Busia, Homa Bay, Kakamega,
Kisii, Kisumu, Migori, Nyamira, Siaya and Vihiga. They
not only have similar ecological zones and natural
resources, they have analogous cultural histories that
date back to historical migrations and trading routes.
Thus a partnership between the counties is both
essential and timely and creates a practical framework
through which county government efforts can be
pooled to harness the abundant natural resources, build
on existing strengths and address challenges.
The Evolution of the Lake Region Economic
Blueprint (LREB)
The LREB has been developed with the support of
Deloitte East Africa in partnership with the county
governments of the aforementioned1010 counties.
During the process of developing the Blueprint, seven
(7) strategic intervention areas emerged as follows:
Productive Sectors: Agriculture and Tourism
Social Sectors: Education and Health;
Enablers: ICT, Financial Services and Infrastructure
The process of developing the blueprint consisted of
rigorous consultative activities in which Deloitte teams
visited all 10 counties and met with county governments
and the citizenry to collect the data herein. The process
also drew on the County Integrated Development Plans
as well as existing data and information on the 10
counties.
How the LREB can Catalyse Regional Growth By

bringing together well researched data and
information in addition to well thought out
interventions and growth strategies, the Economic
Blueprint presents a one-stop shop for investors
interested in investing in the region, particularly in the
seven intervention areas of Agriculture, Tourism, Health,
Education, ICT, Financial Services and Infrastructure.
By facilitating an understanding of the region, the
LREB is a prudent starting point for the region to
secure funding that can create access to new markets
and expand access to existing markets not only in
Kenya but the larger East Africa region. As the Lake
Region is strategically placed in close proximity to
Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, entrance into these
country markets can be easily coordinated through
the Lake Region. Further, the Lake Region has access
to transportation routes into the COMESA and SADC
regions.
According to Kenyas 2009 population and household
census, and in line with the projected population
growth rates, the Lake Region has an estimated
population
of at least 10 million, which is about 25% of the total
population of the country. More than 50 percent of
this population are youth aged between 15-35 years.
This indicates the economic potential of a region with
an active population whose labour can be channelled
into economically productive activities that ultimately
reduce dependency ratios and increase per capita
income.
Rationale for the Selection of the 7 Intervention Sectors
Seven key sectors were selected as points of
interventions on which the development of the Lake
Region can be founded as follows:
Agriculture
The Lake Region has significant agricultural potential
attributed to large amounts of fertile, arable land as
well as healthy rainfall levels and patterns. For example,
the Kisii highlands are highly productive, and counties
such as Siaya and Migori have large tracts of fallow,
arable land suitable for intensive agricultural activity
supported by irrigation. Currently, the main cash
crops of the region are sugarcane, pyrethrum, tea and
cotton whereas dominant food crops are maize, rice,
potatoes, tomatoes, beans and sorghum. Segments of
the population derive their livelihoods predominantly
from fishing from Lake Victoria and the smaller rivers of
Yala and Gucha among others. The presence of lakes in

the region indicates the upward economic potential of
fishing and fish farming in the region. There is additional
potential for intensive livestock farming and ranching.
The main impediments to the optimum agricultural
productivity in the region include subsistence farming
rooted in low levels of education among farmers as
well as the lack of the use of irrigation and modernized
farming methods. These impediments are related to
fact that most agricultural activity occurs on small farm
holdings that limit yields.
Proposed Flagship Project for Agriculture:
Establishment of an Agricultural Commodities
Exchange.
Tourism
The Western Kenya Tourism Circuit has significant
potential that has yet to be tapped into. Key areas of
potential include nature and wildlife tourism; agrotourism; water sports tourism, and cultural heritage
and community based tourism. However, the limited
investment in these areas has stunted the growth of
tourism in the region. Opportunities exist to create
demand-led tourism by expanding the hospitality
industry and undertaking aggressive marketing of the
region to local and international markets.
Proposed Flagship Project for Tourism: Creation of a
Lake Region Tourism Circuit
Health
The Lake Basin Region faces several health challenges
key of which is low levels of skilled medical personnel.
The doctor to patient ratio is 1:40,000 and the nurse to
patient ratio is 1:2,500. The prevalence of diseases such
as malaria and HIV/AIDs are high, and morbidity and
mortality to illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia
remain common. Health facilities are scant with only
one high trauma hospital in the region based in Kisumu
County.
Proposed Flagship Project for Health: Establishment
of Specialist Hospitals in each county.
The Lake Region Economic Blueprint
Education
Less than 50 per cent of the population in the Lake
Region have access to Early Childhood Education and
Development (ECDE) services. At the primary level, the
Gross Enrolment Ratio, which refers to the share of
children of any age that are enrolled in primary school,
is high. However the Net Enrolment Ratio which is the
share of children of official primary school age that are
enrolled in primary school is on average 75-80per cent.
Enrolment in secondary level education is on average
below 40per cent in all the counties; the national
target is 70per cent. Tertiary education enrolment is
very low and this component of the education system
in the region is poorly developed. The quality of
education services in the region is subpar.
Proposed Flagship Project for Education: Creation of
Centres of Excellence in each county.
Financial Services
The Lake Region hosts major banks in Kenya such
as Kenya Commercial Bank, Barclays Bank, Equity
Bank; however access to banking services remains
clustered in urbanised areas and there is limited access
to appropriate business advisory services. There are
numerous Savings and Credit Cooperatives but saving
rates in the region are low.
Proposed flagship project for Financial Services:
Creation of a Regional Bank.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Key mobile phone operators present in the region are
Safaricom, Airtel, Orange, Telkom and Yu. Mobile phone
usage is popular for phone calls, SMS and accessing
the internet. However the ICT infrastructure is not fully
developed and internet connectivity is concentrated in
the central business districts of counties. Further, there
is limited ICT training and education that limits the
extent to which the ICT can enable higher economic
productivity in the region.
Proposed Flagship Project for ICT: Improving service
delivery through ICT.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure here refers to roads, bridges, tunnels,
water supply, sewers, electrical grids and
telecommunications hardware. Transport infrastructure
remains poor, less than 50per cent of the roads are
paved. Only 30per cent of the population have access
to electricity, and the majority of the population have no
access to proper water and sanitation services.
Proposed Flagship Project for Infrastructure:
Creation of a Lake Region Ring Road
Table 1: Summary of Investment Opportunities in the Lake Basin Region by Sector

Sector
Opportunity
Counties
Agriculture
Agricultural Commodities Exchange

Large Scale Irrigation of High Value Crops
Fish Auction
Value Chains
Agro processing Factories
Migori, Bungoma, Siaya, Kisumu,

Nyamira, Kisii, Homabay, Kakamega,
Busia.
Tourism
Lake Region Tourism Circuit

Nature and Wildlife
Culture, Heritage and Community
Adventure
Agro tourism and Ecotourism
Water sports
Health and Wellness
Conference Tourism
Lake Victoria Islands Golf Resorts
All
Education
Centres of Excellence
Schools for children with disabilities
Satellite Campuses
Research Labs
Regional Scholarship Program
All
Health
Regional Specialist Hospitals

ICT/Digitization of Health
International Satellite Hospitals
All
Financial Services
Regional Bank
All
ICT
Regional ICT platform for Services

Regional Data Centre
Revenue Collection
All
Infrastructure
All
Lake Victoria Ring Road

Road concessions
Great Lake Basin Railways
Water Ways
1. Introduction
Kenya Vision 2030 is the countrys blueprint that charts

the strategic priorities and interventions for development
between 2008 and 2030 for the country. The Kenya
Vision 2030 is planned to be implemented in successive
five-year Medium-Term Plans, the first of which covered
the period 2008- 2012. The second Medium-Term Plan
(MTP) covers the period 2013-2017 and has already
been launched. In 50 years of independence Kenya
has made notable strides in development strides. Those
noted in the 2014 Economic Update by the World Bank
include (World Bank, 2014):
Implementation of a devolved governance structure
aimed at realizing equitable development;
Increasing life expectancy by two decades;
Expanding access to primary education to near
universal levels;
Doubling secondary school access, and significantly
increasing tertiary education opportunities;
Reducing infant mortality by half and reducing
fertility rates;
Expanding GDP per capita eightfold; and
Overseeing a steady economic growth.
In addition to these, in 2014 Kenya rebased its economy
and officially became a middle income economy with an
estimated economic output of 4.76 trillion shillings (US$
53.4bn). According to the World Bank Kenyas economy
grew by 4.7per cent in 2014 with a projected growth
of 6.0 per cent for 2015 (World Bank, 2014). Despite
these achievements, there is recognition of the fact that
Kenya continues to face challenges and perform below
potential.
For example:
Over 40 percent of the population still live in
extreme poverty;
The maternal mortality is one of the highest in
Africa; and
Secondary education access remains less than
50 percent and of low quality.
This realisation prompted the development of the Kenya
Vision 2030 in 2008 as a coordinating framework for
Kenyas socioeconomic development.
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1.1 Vision 2030 and Development

Kenya is currently in the process of implementing the
second MTP. The first MTP covered the period 20082012 with the following achievements reported (GoK,
2014):
Repair of damaged infrastructure; a total of 2,200
km of roads constructed exceeding the MTP target
of 1,500 km;
Resettlement of internally displaced people
following the 2007/08 post-election violence;
Increase in enrolment in early childhood education
by 40 per cent from 1.72 million in 2008 to 2.4
million in 2012;
Transition rate from primary to secondary education
increase from 64 per cent in 2008 to 77 per cent in
2013;
Increase in university enrolment by 103 per cent
from 118,239 in 2008 to 240,551 in 2012/3;
Completion of three undersea submarine fibre
optic networks linking Kenya to the global internet
network including 5,500 km of terrestrial fibre optic
network;
An increase of 22per cent to total installed capacity
for generation of electricity; and
Enactment of the Constitution of Kenya (2010).
The following have been identified in the second MTP
(GoK, 2013) as critical issues and challenges to be
addressed in the period 2013-2017:
Low domestic savings and investments: Kenyas
saving rate was 13 percent of GDP during the last
MTP period, just half of the average for low income
countries and less than the 17 percent of the sub
Saharan Africa average;
Low per-capita income growth: Real per-capita
income growth of 7.8 per cent in the last 5 years;
High levels of unemployment and poverty: The
last published rate of unemployment by the Kenya
National Bureau of Statistics was in 2005/6 with
an unemployment rate of 12.7 percent. Recent
estimates by non-Bureau sources puts the youth
unemployment rate at 25 percent;
High energy costs: In Kenya the cost of electricity
is up to 21 US cents per Kwh, compared to
approximately 6 US cents per Kwh in India and
China;
High costs of finance: High bank lending rates and
wide interest rates spread;
Inefficiencies in rail and port operations;
Poor business environment: Prohibitive regulations

and procedures for businesses and investors;
Major economic and social disparities across
regions of the country;
A rapid population growth rate and the
proliferation of informal settlements;
High dependence of the country on rain-fed
agriculture and low agricultural productivity which
is particularly problematic given that the agriculture
sector employs more Kenyans than any other sector;
Slow structural transformation exemplified by low
and declining share of manufacturing to GDP and
low share of export to GDP;
Narrow range of exports and the slow growth in
their value compared to the growth of imports;
Health: Upsurge in non-communicable diseases
across the country and global pandemics;
Governance problems, insecurity and cyber-crime;
and
Environment: Threats emanating from climate
change.
The confluence of these challenges present Kenya
with development tasks that can last well into the
next decade. Priority areas of intervention to address
these challenges have been outlined as follows:
Agricultural modernization: To guarantee food
security for its population;
Raising the GDP growth rate to double digits over
multiple years will be important to ensure there are
adequate domestic resources to address health and
education challenges for example;
Expanding secondary education access and
ensuring that there is high quality learning for those
enrolled in both primary and secondary schools as
an important component of investment in human
capital particularly in scientific knowledge and skills
sets;
Tertiary Education: Investing in relevant research
and innovation centres that exist in tertiary
education institutions while establishing new ones;
Health: Tackling key health challenges such as
maternal mortality in which Kenya performs
abysmally even when compared to other countries
in Africa;
Reducing poverty levels by 2 percentage points
per year as recommended by the World Bank;
Reducing unemployment growth rate;
Tackling inequalities in social and economic
sectors with the creation of social security nets for
the most vulnerable; and

Supporting and encouraging positive
urbanization by addressing the current challenges
of informal settlement, including poor housing and
the related infrastructure. It is estimated that half of
Kenyas population will live in cities by 2050.
These figures are important as they provide the context
within the Lake Region Economic Blueprint, like any
other sub-national development framework, should be
planned and executed.
1.1 The Lake Basin Economic Blueprint (LREB)
The Birth of the Lake Region Economic Blueprint
In January 2014, a meeting was convened in
Kisumu County to discuss the role and use of ICT in
improving service delivery. It is during this meeting that
the Governors of Kisumu, Vihiga, Homa Bay and Kisii
counties discussed the possibilities of not only
expanding this ICT initiative to include the counties of
the Lake Basin region but also expanding the scope of
the initiative to develop an Economic Blueprint through
which shared regional challenges could be addressed.
They therefore resolved to invite the neighbouring
counties to a forum to discuss the development of a
Blueprint for the region. Between February and March
2014 neighbouring counties joined the conversation to
make a total of 10 counties of Bungoma, Busia, Homa
Bay, Kakamega, Kisii, Kisumu, Migori, Nyamira, Siaya
and Vihiga. Led by the Governors, the realisation
emerged that there is a need for multilateral
cooperation between counties in and around the Lake
Region to develop partnerships through which common
challenges could be addressed and development
opportunities seized in a manner that transcends
county frontiers. It is through this discussion that the
idea of
an Economic Blueprint for the counties around the Lake
Region arose. It was agreed that the Economic Blueprint
would form the basis on which the County Integrated
Development Plans (CIDPs) would be implemented
in a manner that reflects county priorities, situational
interests, shared values, and relevant capabilities.
Objectives of the Lake Region Economic Blueprint
The broad objective of the Lake Basin Economic
Blueprint is to leverage economies of scale in the region,
including shared resources such as Lake Victoria, in
order to improve the livelihoods of the people in these
counties. The counties further resolved to focus on the
seven key intervention areas as follows:
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Productive Sectors: Agriculture and Tourism;

Social Sectors: Education and Health; and
Enablers: ICT, Financial Services and Infrastructure.
They further advised that there should be clear
alignment between the LREB and national development
plans such as the Vision 2030 and its Medium Term Plan
II for 2013-2017.
1.2 Approach and Methodology of the Blueprint
The process of developing this Economic Blueprint
included rigorous and consultative activities in which
Deloitte teams visited all the ten counties to meet with
the county governments and the citizenry to collect
data. The resulting recommendations in the Blueprint
have thus been drawn from the County Integrated
Development Plans as well as the views of the county
governments and its citizens.
1.3 Structure of the Blueprint
This Economic Blueprint is divided into 8 chapters.
Chapter 2 explores the physical, demographic and
socioeconomic features of the Lake Region. It also
highlights key opportunities for development in the
region.
Chapter 3 presents the Productive Sectors of Agriculture
and Tourism detailing the state of the sectors in the
Lake Region; key challenges; opportunities for investment
and economic activity for each sector; resource
mobilisation strategies and the potential socioeconomic
impact of investment into each sector.
Chapter 4 explores the Social Sectors of Education
and Health again delving into the state of the sectors
in the Lake Region; key challenges; opportunities for
investment and economic activity for each sector;
resource mobilisation strategies and the potential
socioeconomic impact of investment into each sector.
Chapter 5 goes into the Enabling Sectors of Financial
Services, ICT and Infrastructure. The state of each
sector is analysed, and key challenges and opportunities
elucidated with a conclusion that details the resource
mobilisation strategies and potential socioeconomic
impact of investment into each sector.
Chapter 6 addresses the Cross Cutting themes of
Women and Girls; Youth; Persons with Disabilities and
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the Environment with the view of ensuring that the

special concerns of each cluster are addressed within the
Blueprint and the implementation thereof. The chapter
explores the state of each of these groups in the Lake
Region in each of the Productive, Social and Enabling
Sectors of the Blueprint. The chapter then details
interventions targeted at each group/ issue with specific
elucidation for interventions in each of the Productive,
Social and Enabling Sectors.
Chapter 7 presents Key Risks that may compromise the
success the Economic Blueprint and the creation of a
regional bloc, and details Mitigation Strategies for each.
Chapter 8 is the concluding chapter of the Blueprint.
The Addendum specifies that three additional counties
namely Kericho, Bomet and Trans Zoia have agreed
to and signed up for inclusion into the Lake Region
Economic Blueprint.
2. Key Features of the

Lake Region
This section outlines the social and economic
features in which the Lake Region Economic
Blueprint is contextualised.
2.1 Physical Features of the Lake Region The
Lake Region is made up of territories from the Western
part of the country with a population of an estimated
10 million people of diverse ethnic and cultural
backgrounds. The counties of which the region is
comprised for this blueprint are Bungoma, Busia, Homa
Bay, Kakamega, Kisii, Kisumu, Migori, Nyamira, Siaya
and Vihiga. The region lies between latitudes 10
16N and 10 54S and longitudes 330 55 and 350 51E
and the equator passes across the region. The climate
of the region is generally mild with monthly temperature
ranges between 19 and 25 degrees Celsius throughout
the year. The rainfall is governed by a modified
equatorial climate characterized by long rains (March
to June) and short rains (September to November). The
average annual rainfall varies from 700mm along the
Lake Victoria shores to 2000mm in the highlands.
2.2 Demographic Features
The Lake Region is one of the most densely populated
regions of Kenya with over 10 million people which
constitute about 25% of the population in Kenya.
2.3 Socioeconomic features of the Lake Region

Agriculture
Farming and fishing are the dominant agricultural
activities of the region. In the highlands of Kisii and
Nyamira, farming is the dominant activity with the
cultivation of food crops such as maize, beans, bananas
and tomatoes; cash crops include tea and pyrethrum.
In the lowlands around the lake in Kisumu, fishing is a
dominant economic activity. The main crop grown there
is maize with potential for the production of rice,
sugarcane and cotton. The lowlands also have potential
for livestock farming and an expansion of fishing and
aquaculture activities. In Migori, a blending of fishing
and farming exists. Main crops grown include maize,
sugarcane and sorghum. In the Western regions of the
Region around Kakamega, Busia and Bungoma, farming
is dominated by the cultivation of maize, tea and
sugarcane; there is also growing interest in fish farming.
The climatic conditions and the rainfall in the lake basin
counties tend to support agricultural activity.
Despite favourable ecological features, productivity of
the agriculture sector remains low primarily due to the
use of the traditional farming methods as well as the
cultural practise of generational subdivision of land.
13
This has led to a dominance of small size land holdings

on which limited agricultural activity occurs. Therefore,
despite the fact that the region contains fertile arable
land, the nature of land holdings make it difficult to
use modern agricultural farming methods. A further
complicating factor is that often farmers do not have
title deeds stating their ownership of the land and are
thus unable to use their land as collateral for credit
qualification. In addition, small holder farmers tend
to have low levels of education exacerbated by the
fact that farmers cannot access extension services that
could boost their productivity. As a result, the use of
modern farming methods is marginal and tends to
occur around sugar factories such as the South Nyanza
Sugar Company (SONY) in Migori County, Muhoroni and
Kibos Sugar and Allied Industries in Kisumu County, and
Mumias Sugar in Kakamega County.
Trade
Trade occurs across the region with several trading
markets dotted in small and large town centres across
the region. Some of the active trading centres include
Kisumu, Migori, Kisii town, Oyugis town, Kakamega,
Bungoma and Mumias among others. Existing trade
patterns are a useful platform on which further
economic activity can be based.
Urbanization
There is rapid urbanization in the Lake Region which is
projected to double in the next decade. Urbanisation
in the Lake Region has both positive and negative
consequences. The negative consequences have
included the unplanned growth of urban areas often
driven by young Kenyans migrating from rural to
urban centres, often seeking employment. Positive
consequences include the possibility of enhanced
provision of services, the creation of jobs, and potential
improved quality of life. There has been notable growth
in housing sector in Kisumu, Kakamega, Migori and
Kisii that attracts contract youth labourers. Formal
employment creation in urban areas however remains
grim.
Infrastructure
Transport infrastructure remains poor; less than 50per
cent of the roads are paved. Only 30per cent of the
population have access to electricity, and the majority
of the population have no access to proper water
and sanitation services. Part of the challenge in the
infrastructure sector stems from the fact that the
14
counties are predominantly rural; this often translates

into higher costs of providing services to the population.
Further, given the low income generating capacity
of these rural households, most are unable to afford
connection costs associated with rural electrification.
In terms of water infrastructure, opportunities exist to
link the counties of Migori, Homa-Bay,Siaya, Busia and
Kisumu through Lake Victoria. Air transport can also
be improved by the rehabilition of airstrips in several
counties including Kakamega, Kabunde in Homa-Bay
County, Lichota in Migori and others in Bungoma
County.
Poverty Rates
A 2014 report by the Ministry of Devolution and
Planning titled Socio-Economic Atlas of Kenya analysed
data from the 2009 Kenya Population and Housing
Census and determined that three counties in the
Lake Region are among the poorest in the country.
According to the report, Kakamega is considered the
poorest county in the nation and contributes 4.8per
cent to national poverty. The countys poverty incidence
stands at 49.2 per cent with more than 809,500
people living below the poverty line. Bungoma is
reported
to contribute 3.8per cent to national poverty with a
poverty rate of 47.3per cent and 643,300 people living
below the poverty line. Kisii contributes 3.4per cent to
national poverty with a poverty rate of 51.4 per cent
and 586,200 people living below the poverty line. Given
poverty rates in the Lake Region, it is important the
Blueprint focuses on pro-poor policies and approaches
targeted at poverty alleviation, equitable wealth creation
and the creation of an environment in which individuals
can be holistically productive.
2.4 Spotlight on Opportunities in the Lake
Region
Key development opportunities for the region lie in
the currently underexploited expanse of the regions
natural resources. For example, in the highlands of
Kisii and Nyamira counties, adequate rainfall and red
volcanic soil exist that can support extensive, high
yield farms. The dormant agricultural potential exists in
Bungoma, Kakamega and Vihiga where sugar cane and
tea farming can be strengthened. Migori County has
greater potential in building on sugar cane and tobacco
farming as well as fishing along its Lake Victoria coast
line. Kisumu and Homabay counties have potential for
rice and cotton farming, as well as the cultivation of
sorghum and sugar cane.
The natural resources of the region can also be

tapped into for energy generation. Numerous rivers
in the region offer opportunities for the development
hydroelectric power in Odino and Nyamira County. This
can be extended to Migori County at Uriri where water
falls are present. Harnessing water energy provides
ample opportunity for the counties to cooperate and
offer sustained electricity supply to the national grid.
The interface between the features of the Lake Region
and the Blueprint exists in the 7 key intervention areas.
Agriculture seeks to build on the regions natural
resources to ensure food security in the region; Tourism
seeks to more effectively market the natural features
of the region to attract investment and inward bound
visitors; Education seeks to invest in human capital to
create productive labour that can raise the counties
out of poverty; Health seeks to reduce the burden of
disease in the region; Infrastructure seeks to create
an interconnected region with adequate transport,
energy and water infrastructure; Financial Services
aims to modernize saving, lending and borrowing
practices in the region; and ICT seeks to support
the operationalization and management of all the
aforementioned sectors using modern technology.
These key sectors, their growth opportunities and
potential projects are detailed in the following
sections of the Blueprint.
15
3. Productive Sectors:
Agriculture and Tourism
3.1 Agriculture
Agriculture is a key sector of the Kenyan economy and
employs the largest number of Kenyans in a single
sector. Agricultural activities include food and cash
crop farming, livestock farming as well as fishing and
aquaculture. Under the new constitution agriculture
functions are devolved and county governments can
leverage public-private partnerships (PPPs) to enhance
agricultural production and productivity. Statistics
indicate that the agricultural sector directly accounts for
about 26 per cent of Kenyas GDP (Herrero, 2010). The
sector accounts for 65 per cent of Kenyas total exports,
and 18 per cent and 60 per cent of the formal and
total employment, respectively (KIPPRA, 2013).
3.1.1
The State of Agriculture in the Lake
Region
The Lake Basin region has the advantageous
environmental features of arable land, good soil, and
consistent water supply from rain as well as several rivers
and lakes. These features have formed the foundation
on which residents have relied on for generations. In the
past these features were adequate to ensure the food
security of the region, however over the past 50 years
Kenyas population, and that of the Lake Basin region in
particular, has grown to a point where existing farming
practices and food supply chains do not meet current
food security needs.
The main farming practices in the region include
small-scale rain-fed farming, small-scale river irrigation,
wetland farming, fish farming and free-range livestock
keeping.
Crop Farming
Key crops farmed in the region are divided into cash
crops and food crops. Key cash crops are sugarcane
tea, pyrethrum and cotton; key food crops are maize,
rice, and beans, and horticultural crops such as passion
fruits, mangoes, and tomatoes. Clear opportunities exist
to enhance the productivity of these crops particularly
sorghum, soy beans and sugar due to the demand
for these crops at national level. The table below is an
illustration of the major food and cash crops.
16
Figure 1: Dominant cash and food crops in Lake Basin Region
Sugarcane
Sugarcane is an important cash crop for the Lake
Region as the sugar industry is a major employer of rural
populations and client to rural farmers in the region.
Sugarcane contributes an estimated 15 per cent to the
agriculture GDP, and that production is dominated by
the Lake Region. Approximately 250,000 small-scale
farmers predominantly from the Lake Region operate
in the sugar industry and supply over 92 per cent of
the cane milled by sugar processing companies (Kenya
Sugar Board, 2010). Further, according to the Kenya
Sugar Board, the industry directly and indirectly employs
approximately six million Kenyans (Kenya Sugar Board,
2010). A study conducted in Nyando zone of Nyanza,
indicated that that over 97 per cent of farmers in the
area are involved in sugarcane agriculture and derive
about 81per cent of their household income from
it. Kakamega County is also an important player in
the sugar industry and hosts one of Kenyas largest
sugarcane processing firms, Mumias Sugar Company.
The sugarcane industry has additional economic impact
due to its contribution to Kenya foreign exchange
through exports as well as providing inputs into other
industries. According to the Kenyan Sugar Board, the
industry saves Kenya over USD250 million in foreign
exchange annually and contributes tax revenues to
the Exchequer (VAT, Corporate Tax, personal income
taxes) (Kenya Sugar Board, 2010). The industry also
provides inputs to other industries such as bagasse for
power generation and molasses for the manufacture
of industrial products such as ethanol, beverages,
pharmaceuticals, and confectionery. The production
potential of the industry is measured at over 1 million
tons of sugar if operated at 89 per cent of industry
capacity. In terms of challenges, the industry struggles
with inefficiencies in both production and the processing
value chains.
Figure 2: Illustrative sugarcane farmer farming in Nyando zone
Soybeans
The Lake Region accounts for over 50 per cent of
soybean production in Kenya. The main soybean
producing counties are Busia, Bungoma, Kakamega, and
Vihiga. Busia and Bungoma alone produce an estimated
80 per cent of the total soybean production in the
Western province of Kenya.
Annually Kenya consumes 400,000 Metric Tonnes (MT)
of vegetable oils of which soybeans are constituents.
Only one third of this amount is produced locally. Animal
feed use of vegetable oil is 150,000; this combined with
human domestic consumption of vegetable oil indicate
ample opportunity to increased soybean production to
meet existing demand.
Sorghum
Sorghum is a staple food crop for most low income
households in Kenya, Lake Region included. According
to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO),
sorghum is the only indigenous crop in the region,
and can grow in many areas including those with
low-agricultural potential (FAO, 2013). Sorghum is also
widely grown in Lake Basin region (see Figure 3). The
production of sorghum fluctuates in that although
production increased by 40 per cent over the past 5
years, there was a 17per cent decrease in production
between 2012 and 2013.
17
Figure 3: Sorghum production (tons) for past five years to 2013
Figure 4: Regional per cent contribution of production and crop area of Sorghum
Figure 5: Annual consumption of sorghum in Kenya
18
Typically the sorghum produced is consumed by rural

households; farmers in Busia County and Homa Bay
reported harvesting between 40kg and 1000 kg per acre
of Sorghum of which up to 240 kg is consumed and the
rest sold to other households (Weber, 2012). Sorghum
not consumed at the household is processed into flour
for commercial marketing human use and animal feeds.
Sorghum production and consumption declined
between 2005 and 2007 following post-election
instability. Figure 5 illustrates the average annual
percentage breakdown of Sorghum consumption in the
Kenyan market.
Another source of increased demand for sorghum
comes from local breweries. In 2012, East African
Breweries Limited (EABL) demanded 25,000 tons of
sorghum of which only 5per cent was supplied by the
farmers in Kenya. The demand is expected to double to
above 50,000 tons. This clearly presents the Lake Region
with an opportunity to invest in sorghum production
and secure significant market share of the sorghum
market.
This is particularly prudent because breweries such as

EABL actively invest in the sorghum value chain in order
to meet their demand. In 2012 alone EABL contributed
US$ 3million to the East African Sorghum Value Chain
Development Project managed by USAID. Other
potential buyers of sorghum include African Breweries
Uganda Ltd, Nile Breweries Ltd, Spectre International
Limited, and Unga Limited which process sorghum for
animal feeding, beer production, and flour production
(Weber, 2012). A clear opportunity for the Lake Region
is to focus on meeting the increasing demand for
sorghum particularly by breweries. The potential is
immense given that Lake Region counties such as Busia
and Homa Bay currently have capacity to supply less
than 1per cent of the demand in 2012.
Interestingly Kenya both imports and exports sorghum.
Thus although Kenya exports of sorghum increased
from 2009, the country still imports sorghum from other
countries particularly Tanzania and Uganda from which
over 90 percent of imports come.
Figure 6: Sorghum imports and exports in Kenya in year 2007 to 2009
Figure 7: Countries importing Sorghum to Kenya
19
Fish Farming
Lake Victoria accounts for about 96 per cent of Kenyas
total fish production. However, pollution and overfishing
is threatening fish stocks and its economic contribution
to the Lake Region. The Lake Victoria Fisheries
Organization (LVFO) states a 55 per cent decline of Nile
Perch in Lake Victoria between 2005 and 2008, and a
9 per cent drop in tilapia catch over the same period
(LVFO). The declining stock has had the domino effect
of a twofold increase in consumer fish prices squeezing
out affordability of fish for some households which then
decreases household income for fish farmers who meet
lower demand due to higher pricing.
Lake Victoria is relatively shallow, with a maximum
depth of 84m and mean depth of 40m, which makes
it susceptible to pollution. Already densely populated,
the population around the Lake is expected to double
by 2028. High population influences increased pollution
from raw waster deposited in wetlands, and the
uncontrolled spread of homes, factories, farms and
hospitals around the basin exacerbate pollution. In
addition, fishermen operating in regions use insecticides
such as endosulfan to catch small fish. All these factors
exert negative pressure on the Lake.
Despite these challenges, the Lake Region still carries
significant further potential for fish farming through its
current water bodies, particularly Lake Victoria, riverine
fisheries and through inland fish farming development.
The fishing sector in Kenya serves as an important
source of food and employment, providing over 50,000
fishermen with a source of livelihood.
3.1.2
Key Agricultural Challenges in the Lake
Region
Declining yields
A key challenge with regards to farming is declining yield
per hectare and the lowering quality of yields. This is
attributed to small farmland size holdings, use of poor
farming methods and the lack of legal title deeds which
then impedes possibilities of farmers getting access to
credit. Interestingly, in certain counties such as Migori
County the problem is the under-utilisation of large
tracts of fertile land. Additional challenges include the
lack of education and agricultural extension services,
as well as the failure to manage the effects of
climate change. All these factors contribute to the
sectors
declining contribution to national development, regional
development, and the food security in the Lake Region.
20
Population pressure and decreasing size of farm

holdings
In counties such as Nyamira and Vihiga, population
density is an impediment to agriculture because the
sheer density of people prevents the uptake of
mechanized farming and growing farms scales to
improve productivity particularly with regard to cash
crops. In Vihiga County for example, the mean holding
in farm size is only 0.4 hectares for small scale farming
and 3 hectares for large scale farming. In Kakamega the
average land holding size is 0.57 hectares, in Kisumu
County the mean holding size is 0.65 hectares and
farm holdings in Kisii range from 0.2 to 2.1 hectares.
Compare this to the average farm size in Sub-Saharan
Africa of 2.4 hectares.
The average size of land holdings will continue to

reduce due to the cultural practice of subdivisions of the
land for each son in the family for inheritance purposes.
The combination of growing populations and reducing
land holdings means that more arable land will be used
for residential purposes. On the land that is used for
farming purposes, yields will continue to decline as ever
decreasing land holdings are over cultivated to feed
growing populations. In addition, key cash crops require
at least 0.8 hectares for good production. Further,
there is a need for land to be designated as residential,
commercial or agricultural land and the creation of
measures that prevents the issuance of title deeds to
parcels of land below a certain size.
Poor agricultural practices
On the other hand, the Lake Region suffers for the
opposite problem as well; counties such as Siaya,
Migori, Busia and Bungoma have large amounts of land
but still record low productivity. The lack of irrigated
acreage, the collapse of agricultural extension services
system, and the continued use of poor agricultural

practices all lead to low yields. In addition, although
there have been efforts to integrate value addition into
the sector particularly for cash crops such as tea and
coffee, the region continues to be a net exporter of
unprocessed produce and importer of finished products.
Lack of title deeds
Related to the size of land holding is the low percentage
of land with title deeds. A review of the information
in the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDP)
indicates that large proportions of land holders do not
have title deeds; the land is simply passed down from
father to son in the traditional spirit of inheritance. In
Homa Bay County, only 48 percent of land has title
deeds, in Kisii this figure stands at 40 percent. There are
numerous reasons behind low title deed issuance. As
the counties are mostly rural, local communities do not
feel the pressure to have rights over transactions related
to the land as they have the view that the land should
be free for use in the most productive manner
possible. There is also a sense of an unwritten
understanding of which households hold each parcel of
land. Another reason behind low title deed issuance is
the associated cost, often prohibitive for most county
residents.
The lack of title deeds has serious implications to the
Countys development. Firstly, the lack of title deeds
prevents most of the population from accessing
credit facilities that could be used to boost
agricultural productivity. Secondly, the lack of legal
title depresses demand for rural land because
potential buyers do
not want to negotiate the complexities of proving
ownership. As a result, the exchange value of some
of the most productive land in the region is low. The
lack of legal ownership also makes it difficult for
owners to come together and combine smaller
pieces of land into a mass that can more effectively
attract capital investment. Lack of title also makes it
difficult for industries that could process farm
produce to be set up in the region. There is a need
for proper land adjudication and demarcation of
public, private and community land to ensure that
the land is properly utilized within the existing legal
framework.
Low uptake of research
Another key challenge is the low uptake of research
and technology in the agriculture sector. Despite the
fact that Kenya has some of the most robust agricultural
research institutes such as the Kenya Agricultural
Research Institute (KARI), research findings often do not

reach small holder farmers (who make the bulk of
producers). Farmers are neither told about new crop
and livestock varieties nor briefed on advanced farming
practices. As a result the uptake of new crops, with
higher returns per acre, such as soya beans, remain
unexplored.
Other Key Challenges
Heavy postharvest losses especially by small holder
farmers;
Unpredictable rainfall/ low rainfall in some areas;
Over reliance on rain fed agriculture;
High inputs cost;
Flooding;
Weak marketing Channels;
Crop diseases and pests;
Accidental fires that destroy farms;
Delayed harvesting by farmers which reduces crop
quality and yield;
Inadequate market infrastructure namely storage,
sales area, loading/unloading facilities; and
No organized access to trading and individual credit
facilities.
3.1.3
Economic Opportunities in the
Agriculture Sector
Despite the challenges, the Lake Region offers numerous
opportunities for expansion and diversification in crop,
livestock and fish farming. The County Integrated
Development Plans as well as the results from the field
visits note the following opportunities:
Flagship Project: Creation of a Commodities
Exchange
Skills development and training on improved farm
management
High Value Crop Farming: Particularly soya beans,
sorghum, floriculture and horticulture
Fish farming
Large Scale Irrigation
Agro Processing and Value Addition
High Value Crop Farming
21
High Value Crop Farming

Spotlight on Soy Beans
Kenya consumes about 400,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) of
vegetable oils including soy bean oil. Local production
only meets a third of this demand. In addition, the
manufacture of animal feeds has increased demand for
soybean cake. Kenya has the potential to absorb up
to 150,000 MT of soybean annually. Further, there are
industrial uses of soybean such as in the manufacture of
anti-corrosion agents, core oils, bio fuel, disinfectants,
pesticides/fungicides, printing inks, paints, adhesives,
antibiotics, and cosmetics
For successful implementation of the listed interventions,

the region needs to secure buy-in from fish farmers
through the following:
Production of high-quality fish feed from local and
easily available ingredients;
Revive/ Create fish farming groups and cooperatives
that can support fish farming activities;
Establish a fish Processing Factory ;
Raise awareness of the economic viability of farmed
fish in rural communities; and
Establish local feed mills and hatcheries to reduce
transport costs for important fish farm inputs.
Fish Farming
The long term sustainability of current fishing output
in Lake Basin is not guaranteed because of overfishing
and pollution. Sustainable practices in fish farming can
result in greater yields and variety of fish from the region
and improve income generation of fishing communities.
Proposed activities in which the region can invest are
detailed below.
Table 2: Proposed Fish Farming Activities in Lake Basin region
Activity
Description of project/intervention
Expected impact
Establishment of Cold Storage

facilities
The facilities can be used for handling,

processing and packing freshly caught fish. The
storage facilities can be made in conjunction
with farmers.
Cold storage facilities allow for better

preservation of fresh fish and increase of fish
shelf-life. As a result, fish can be sold at a higher
price during low season or promoted for export.
Fish ponds that serve as a breeding and farming

location for fish
Higher production of fish in the region
Provision of extension services
Extension services to provide support and

promotion of fish farming among farmers
Increased engagement of farmers in aquaculture

which in turn improves region income and
economy
Partner with animal feed

manufacturing plants
Animal feed plants can use waste from fish fillet Reduces wastage of fish farming by-products
production for animal feed as well production of
fish meal, fish oil and fish skins.
Construction and rehabilitation

of fish ponds
22
Large Scale Irrigation

Large scale irrigation is an important vehicle for
increasing productivity of high value crops in the
counties especially sugarcane, soy beans, tea, rice and
cotton. Large scale irrigation can not only increase
crop production to meet the national and export
demand
by guaranteeing sufficient water supply, land acreage is
used optimally. Counties with high potential for largescale irrigation schemes are areas with underutilized
yield of high value crops, including Siaya, Migori,
Busia, and Bungoma. The irrigation component of the
agriculture strategy falls in line with the Governments
Development Strategy to open up at least one million
acres of new land under irrigation. As the Lake Region
has limited experience in irrigation investments, it is
important to ensure adequate financial and technical
support is secured.
In order to build a vibrant agro-processing sub-sector,

the following ought to be considered:
Government policy reforms and support
Government must continue its efforts to privatize
the existing sugar cane factories to attract private
investment;
Government support of a mandate of blending
ethanol with petrol to promote ethanol production
and use;
Electricity generation would require a connection
to the national grid and a purchase agreement to
enable the sale of excess electricity.
Integration with small scale holder farmers:
Formation of cooperatives with a membership of
smallholder farmers in order to combine land use into
large areas for mechanised agricultural production.
Agro-Processing
Kenya imports approximately KES 12 billion worth of
edible oil alone per year. The Lake Region can establish
new agro-processing factories and invest in the
improvement of existing factories. The region is still a
net exporter of unprocessed produce and an importer of
finished products. Bolstering agro-processing industries
will clearly reduce the cost of imports and enable the
region to meet the national and export demand of
finished products. Illustrative processing projects are
summarized below.
Table 3: Illustrative Agro-Processing Projects in the Lake Region
Project
Description
Edible Oil Processing Factory
Establish a factory that processes sunflower, cotton, soy bean and groundnuts
into edible oil.
Sugarcane Processing
Invest in existing state-owned sugarcane processing factors

Establish a new factory with sugarcane processing technology
Coffee and tea factories
Complete the process of production and add value to the farm produce to be
sold in markets
Juice and Canning factory
Process and can horticultural products such as pineapple, and tomatoes. In

Vihiga, there is potential to increase production of passion fruits into fruit
juices
Milk Factory
To process large quantities of milk and diversify further to production of

powdered milk.
23
Spotlight on Sugarcane
Sugar Processing Factories
At the moment, opportunities exist for investment in privatized state-owned sugar processing factories as well the
construction of new ones. State owned factories in the Lake Region are the South Nyanza Sugar Company (Sony
Sugar) in Migori County, Muhoroni Sugar in Migori and Kisumu Counties. The government of Kenya announced
interest in privatizing these factories after reporting total losses of KSH 6.1 billion in June 2013. Therefore,
opportunities exist for the county to engage private actors in reviving sugar processing factories.
The aforementioned factories are significant employers with plans for improving production. The South Nyanza
factory employs at least 1,800 and plans to increase sugar production by 20per cent to 60,000 tons in 2015. The
company also has plans to diversify its products into processing jiggery, molasses, and sugar syrups. The factory is in
discussions with Cooperative Bank, KCB, and Barclays Bank to receive at least KSH 1 billion to support the renovation
of factory and product diversification.
Energy
Opportunities exist in the region for biogas production from sugarcane. For example, Kisumu that has a potential to
generate between 400600 GWh of electricity per year (approximately 711 percent of total Kenyan demand) using
bagasse (by-product from current sugarcane production). The region also has a potential to produce 20 200 million
litres for power/industrial application of the region.
Table 4: Investment Opportunities in the Agriculture Sector per County

County
Agricultural Opportunities
Bungoma
Food crop farming (maize, beans, finger millet, sweet potatoes, bananas, Irish potatoes and
assorted vegetables)
Cash crop farming (sugar cane, cotton, palm oil, coffee, sun flower, tobacco)
Livestock farming (cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, pigs, poultry)
Bee keeping
Fish farming in fish ponds and dams
Agroforestry ( apiary systems, aquaculture, biomass transfer, boundary planting, fallows, fodder
banks, orchards, hedgerow/alley cropping, home gardens, live fences, ornamental planting
sericulture, terrace stabilization, trees on cropland, woodlots)
Homa Bay
Food crop farming (maize, beans, sorghum, millet, kale, sweet potatoes and peas)
Cash crop farming: Sugar cane in Ndhiwa, sun flower growing in Suba, pineapples in Rangwe
and potatoes in Kasipul and Kabondo Kasipul
Livestock farming
Fish farming
Cotton farming in Mbita, Homa Bay Town, Rangwe and Karachuonyo Sub-counties
Kisii
Food crop farming (maize, bananas, beans, potatoes, tea, sugarcane, coffee and horticultural
crops)
Livestock farming
Fish farming
Cash crop farming (bananas)
Tree seedling production
24
County
Kisumu
Sugar cane farming in Muhoroni, Chemelil, Kibos

Rice in Nyando and Awach, Chemelil, Miwani and Kibos.
Livestock keeping
Fishing in Kaloka Beach, Ndere Island, Kisumu Port, Dunga Beach, Sango Beach and Kusa Beach
Agroforestry
Soya bean farming
Sorghum farming
Rice Mill
Food crop farming (maize, sorghum, millet, beans, cowpeas, cassava, sweet potatoes, groundnuts and finger millet)
Cash crop farming (cotton, rice, sugar cane and groundnuts)
Emerging crops (irrigated rice, palm oil, chilli, passion fruits and grain amaranth)
Livestock farming (zebu cattle, up-grade and pure dairy cows, dairy goats, poultry, local goats, sheep, pigs, rabbits,
donkeys)
Bee keeping
Fish farming in Lake Victoria, Lake Kanyaboli, dams and fish ponds
Agroforestry: Tree nurseries, fruit trees and establishment of woodlots
Rice production in Yala swamp
Siaya
Vihiga
Food crop farming (maize, beans, millet and sweet potatoes)

Cash crop farming (tea and coffee)
Livestock farming (dairy cattle, poultry, rabbits)
Bee keeping
Fish farming in fish ponds in Emuhaya
Expansion of Mudete tea factory
Busia
Food crop farming (maize, cassava, finger millet, beans, sorghum, rice, sweet potatoes, cowpeas, groundnuts, bananas,
green grams, sesame, soya beans)
Horticulture farming (pineapples, tomatoes, kale, cabbage, water melons, indigenous vegetables, papaya, amaranth, onions
and, mangoes)
Cash crop farming (cotton, tobacco, sugarcane, oil palm, and pepper)
Fishing in Budalangi and Funyula
Promotion of oil crops, root tubers, indigenous vegetables, tissue culture
Migori
Food crop farming (maize, sorghum, beans, cassava, finger millet and sweet potatoes)
Cash crop farming (tobacco, sugarcane, potatoes (Kuria) and maize (Kuria))
Sunflower and Sisal farming in Nyatike sub-county
Irrigation schemes along the rivers
Livestock farming (traditional breeds such as the Zebu cattle, East African goat, indigenous chicken and bee)
Accelerated Bamboo Farming and Utilization Project in Suba East
Increase area under rice farming in Uriri, Rongo, Migori, Kuria West & Awendo sub counties
Nyamira
Cash crop farming (tea, coffee, pyrethrum and banana)

Food crop farming (maize, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, vegetables, millet and sorghum)
Horticulture
Livestock farming (dairy cattle, beef cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, poultry, rabbits)
Bee keeping
Upgrading of indigenous livestock breeds
Construction of tea buying centers
Rehabilitation of the coffee factories
25
County
Kakamega
Food crop farming (maize, beans, cassava, finger millet, sweet potatoes, bananas, tomatoes, tea
and sorghum) maize and beans are usually grown on large scale.
Cash crop farming (maize, tea and sugarcane)
Livestock farming ( cattle, chicken, goats, pigs)
Forest farming in Lugari Constituency
Fish Farming
3.1.4
The Resource Mobilization Strategy for the Agriculture
sector in the Lake Region requires a three pronged
approach i.e. Public Sector Financing, Private Sector
Investment and Public-Private Partnerships:
Public Sector Financing
The County Governments in the Lake Region have
budgets for various agriculture projects. However, it
is clear this funding is limited and cannot fund both
development and recurrent costs of the sector. The
blueprint proposes a regional pooling of funds by the
county governments to support agriculture. A flagship
project that would be financed by pooled funds is the
Agricultural Commodities Exchange.
Private Sector Financing
Private investment is key to agricultural development,
but is currently limited. While public investment is
necessary to create the infrastructure and environment
for agricultural investment, a large proportion of
the required capital is often made by private actors. In
order to boost private investment in agriculture,
incentives must be provided and constraints minimised.
The blueprint proposes the following types of private
investment:
Foreign Direct Investment;
Guarantees Agricultural Lending: These can be
supported by private sector as well as donor
funding. Similar existing funds that provide
guarantees include the Africa Agriculture Trade and
Investment Fund;
Public Warehousing System;
Collateral Management; and
Diaspora Remittances.
Public-Private Partnerships
There are several innovative ways to stimulate private
sector investments in rural infrastructure. The blueprint
proposes PPPs that leverage funds from the private
sector to invest in agricultural infrastructure or services
26
benefiting small holder farmers in the Lake Region. The

Africa Agriculture Trade and Investment Fund (AATIF) by
KFW and Deutshe Bank provide loans, guarantees and
to a limited extent equity, to experienced private sector
enterprises and farmers located in Africa. It encourages
the engagement of private investors that look for more
risky investment opportunities.
3.1.5
Socioeconomic Impact of the
Agricultural Sector
The potential impact of interventions in agriculture are
as follows:
Giving smallholder farmers access to better-quality
seeds, training and fertilisers has been seen to
increase their yields often doubling or even tripling
yields (Unilever);
Skills development and training on improved farm
management creates a change in attitude towards
farming as a business, creating employment and
contributing to food security (IFAD, 2003);
Providing access to up-to-date knowledge on good
farming practices such as selection of crop varieties,
crop rotation soil management and irrigation
technology help farmers to mitigate and adapt to
climate change (Unilever);
Irrigating no-till fields could increase maize yields by
67 percent in 2050 (Immenschuh, 2014);
Public investment that makes market centres broadly
available to farmers improve farm productivity
because great distances from market centres
reduces farm yields (Evenson, 1998);
The creation of a cooperative will provide practical
experience to farmers, encourage them to talk
about common problems, find solutions and to
identify sustainability best practices all of which can
improve farmers profitability and increase their tea
yields by an average of 5-15%. (Unilever);
Incorporating sustainability practices in farming
allows farmers to qualify for certifications such as
the Rainforest Alliance certification that helps boost
their incomes (Unilever).
3.2 Tourism
The tourism industry has been a critical contributor in
Kenyas economic growth. In 2014 the sector contributed 10 percent to GDP, was the 2nd highest foreign
exchange earner and accounts for 11 percent of total
employment (Ministry of East Africa, Commerce and
Tourism). Kenyas main tourist appeal is found in the
countrys natural features, the safari experience as well
as beach attractions. Traditional tourist attractions have
become routine thereby providing an opportunity for
the creation of non-traditional attractions unique to the
Lake Region. Kenyas Vision 2030 identifies tourism as
one of the sectors poised to make significant contributions to the socioeconomic growth of the country.
This mandate however, will require efforts to address
constraints facing the sector such as declining tourist
numbers due to security threats posed to Kenya by Islamic militant groups. It is important for the Lake Region
to be part of the conversation around how to overcome
the challenges the sector faces, improve the quality of
Kenyas tourist offerings and above all market itself as a
new tourist destination and experience.
3.2.1
The State of the Western Kenya Tourism
Circuit
Although still relatively unknown the Lake Region
tourism sector, commonly known as the Western Kenya
Tourism Circuit, is growing particularly through private
tours that focus on tourists seeking novel experiences
that have a direct socio-economic impact to the communities. The Western Kenya Tourism Circuit is, a new
concept of tourism that seeks to move away from game
safaris. Beach visits and partying that has taken root in
Kisumu and is fast extending to other parts of western
Kenya. (Stella Chirono, Business Daily)
The Dutch Government signed a 10 year agreement
with local tour operators to market tourism activities in
14 counties of the Western Circuit including Kisumu,
Siaya, Bungoma, Migori, Kakamega, Busia, Kericho,
Vihiga and Homa Bay. According to the Kenya Bureau
of Standards (2012), the Lake Region has a total of
695 hotel rooms available with an occupancy rate of
31per cent (KEBS). Beds available stand at 958 with an
occupancy rate of 26 percent. This region is typically
been referred to as the Western Tourist Circuit although
stakeholders propose this be changed to Lake Region
Tourist Circuit.
Figure 9: Hotel Occupancy in Nyanza Province and Western Province 2006 2010
Figure 10: Number of Visitors to Attractions in Western Tourist Circuit 2006 2010
Source:
Economic Survey 2011
27
3.2.2
Current Attractions
The Lake Region hosts a wide range of tourist
attractions with landscapes that range from lush
green highlands and tropical forests to lake beaches
and islands. Tourist attractions of the Lake Region are
categorised as follows in this Blueprint: Nature and
Wildlife, Culture, Heritage and Community-Based
Tourism, Adventure, Agro-tourism, Eco-tourism, Water
Sports Tourism, and Health and Wellness Tourism.
Table 5: Existing Tourism Activities in the Lake Victoria Region
Category
Name Of Activity
Attractions
Comments
Nature & Wildlife
Game viewing, bird

watching,
Kakamega Forest, Ruma

National Park, Ndere
National Reserve, Mt.
Elgon National Park, Simbi
Nyaima , Gogo Falls,
Manga Escarpment etc
Minimally established
Culture, Heritage and

Community Based
Cultural events and

festivals, traditional music
and dance
Thimlich Ohinga, Kisumu

Museum, Got Ramogi,
Cultural Festivals, Kit
Mikayi etc.
Adventure
Visits to sacred places,

waterfalls, forests and
other wildlife areas, scenic
viewing
Lake Victoria, Yala Swamp, Moderately established

Manga Ridge, Homa Hills,
Odino Falls etc.
Agro and Eco-Tourism
Education and Research
Sugarcane Plantations,
Rice Fields, Tea and Coffee
Farms, Eco-lodges etc.
Highly established
Water sports and Health &

Wellness
Boat riding, water rafting
Boat racing sites, Bala hot

springs, Lake Victoria,
Water rafting on River
Nzoia etc.
28
Nature and Wildlife

This category targets those interested in wildlife, forests
and scenic places of natural origin. In This category
includes Kakamega Forest with an area of approximately
23,777.3 hectares and is the eastern-most rainforest in
East Africa and the only one in Kenya. Other attractions
in this category include, Ruma National Park, Ndere
Island National Park, Mt. Elgon National Park, Lake Simbi
Nyaima Bird Sanctuary, Mbusi Rakuena Bird Sanctuary,
Mbasa Island and Otok Bird Sanctuaries and Impala
Animal Sanctuary in Kisumu. Additional attractions
include water features such as Gogo Falls, Webuye Falls,
Odino Falls, Manga Ridge and Escarpment, Ndano Falls
and the Lake Victoria beaches.
Culture, Heritage and Community Based Tourism
Culture and heritage tourism attracts enthusiasts of
different cultural and ethnic experiences. Although this
is a new concept in the tourism sector some of the
counties in the Lake Region are developing different
products such as cultural festivals, cultural centers,
cultural sports activities, such as, bull fighting events
and ceremonies such as the circumcision rituals
among the Bukusu of Bungoma County. Additional
attractions are museums where cultural materials are
displayed, mausoleums, archaeological and
paleontological sites and a number of built heritage
facilities like Thimlich Ohinga Cultural Landscape.
Community Based Tourism also falls under this category
as cultural and heritage
events involve close engagement with local communities
and can be structured in a manner that ensures
communities benefit.

Agro-tourism involves any agriculturally based operation
or activity that brings visitors to a farm, ranch or
plantation. Eco-tourism refers to responsible travel to
natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains
the well-being of the local people, and involves
interpretation and education. Sites for this category
include forests, sanctuaries, swamps as well as organic
farms; sugar cane growing areas of Mumias, Chemelil,
Muhuroni and SONY; rice growing areas of Ahero
Irrigation Farms; Dominion Farms in Siaya County as well
as tea and coffee plantations in Kisii and Nyamira.
Water Sports and, Health &Wellness
Water sports tourism and, health & wellness tourism
are new concepts within the Lake Region and have not
been explicitly developed to the standards that can be
exploited by visitors Attractions include Homa Hills hot
springs and the vast Lake Victoria waters.
Adventure
Adventure tourism involves exploration or travel to
remote areas and includes activities such as hiking and
mountaineering, trekking, rafting and rock climbing. The
Lake Regions has multiple attractions such as the falls
previously mentioned, Yala swamp and Manga ridge.
29
Category
Attractions
County
State Of Use
Nature & Wildlife
Kakamega Forest
Kakamega
Highly utilized
Ruma National Park
Homa Bay
Moderately utilized
Ndere National Reserve
Kisumu
Minimally utilized
Mt. Elgon National Park
Bungoma
Moderately utilized
Simbi Nyaima Bird Sanct.
Homa Bay
Minimally utilized
Mbusi-Rakuena Bird Sanct.
Homa Bay
Minimally utilized
Mbasa Is. Bird Sanctuary
Homa Bay
Minimally utilized
Otok Bird Sanctuary
Homa Bay
Minimally utilized
Dunga wetlands
Kisumu
Minimally utilized
10
Kusa wetlands
Kisumu
Minimally utilized
11
Nyando wetlands
Kisumu
Minimally utilized
12
Odino Falls
Kisumu
Minimally utilized
13
Gogo Falls
Migori
Minimally utilized
14
Webuye Falls
Bungoma
Dismally utilized
15
Manga Escarpment
Nyamira
Minimally utilized
16
Impala Park animal Sanct.
Kisumu
Moderately utilized
17
Remba Island Bird Sanctuary
Homa Bay
Minimally utilized
Category
Attractions
County
State Of Use
Culture, Heritage and

Community Based
Tourism
Kisumu Museum
Kisumu
Moderately utilized
Kit Mikayi
Obama Kogelo Cultural heritage.
Abindu Cultural site
Kisumu
Siaya
Kisumu
Minimally utilized
Moderately utilized
Moderately utilized
Got Ramogi
Siaya
Minimally utilized
Thimlich Ohinga Cultural Landscape
Migori
Minimally utilized
Archaeological and Paleontological sites
Homa Bay and Migori
Minimally utilized
Abasuba Peace Museum
Homa Bay
Minimally utilized
Teso Cultural Festival
Bungoma
Minimally utilized
Samia Cultural Festival
Busia
Minimally utilized
Maragoli Cultural Festival
Vihiga
Minimally utilized
10
Migwena Cultural Festival
Siaya
Minimally utilized
11
Bukusu Circumcision Ceremony
Bungoma
Minimally utilized
12
Chetambe Ruins
Bungoma
Minimally utilized
13
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Mausoleum
Siaya
Minimally utilized
14
Tom Mboya Mausoleum
Homa Bay
Minimally utilized
15
Achieng Oneko Mausoleum
Siaya
Minimally utilized
16
Elijah Masinde Mausoleum
Bungoma
Minimally utilized
30
Category
Attractions
County
State Of Use
Adventure
Lake Victoria
Kakamega Forest
Kakamega
Moderately utilized
Got Ramogi
Siaya
Minimally utilized
Yala Swamp
Siaya
Minimally utilized
Lake Simbi Nyaima
Homa Bay
Minimally utilized
Manga Ridge
Nyamira
Minimally utilized
Homa Hills
Homa Bay
Minimally utilized
Plantations
Busia, Kisumu and Migori
Minimally utilized
Odino Falls
Kisumu
Minimally utilized
10
Gogo Falls
Migori
Minmally utilized
11
Webuye Falls
Bungoma
Minimally utilized
12
Bala Hot Springs
Homa Bay
Minimally utilized
Moderately utilized
Category
Attractions
County
State Of Use
Sugarcane Plantations
Busia, Kisumu, Migori,

Kakamega, and Bungoma
Minimally utilized
Rice Fields Ahero & Dominion Farms
Kisumu and Siaya
Minimally utilized
Tea and Coffee Farms
Nyamira & Kisii
Minimally utilized
Eco-lodges
Ndunga wetlands
Minimally utilized
Category
Attractions
County
Water sports and Health

& Wellness
Boat racing sites
Migori, Homa Bay, Kisumu, Minimally utilized

Siaya and Busia
State Of Use
Bala hot springs
Homa Bay
Minimally utilized
Lake Victoria
Migori, Homa Bay, Siaya

and Busia
Minimally utilized
Water rafting on River Nzoia
Bungoma and Busia
Minimally utilized
31
3.2.3
Opportunities and Prospective Projects
for Tourism in the Lake Region
The Lake Region has clear potential for becoming an
attractive tourism site in the country but there is a clear
need to take measures to develop the industry. Existing
tourist attractions are underdeveloped and underutilized
and this need to be addressed urgently. This section
proposes key projects unlock the regions potential in a
manner that bolsters the socio-economic development
of the region.
At the macro-level the following tourism related projects
are planned:
Flagship project: Development of a Lake Region
Tourism Circuit
Development of high-end hotel and Conference
facilities in each of the 10 Counties;
Development of Community-Based Tourism activities
and attractions at selected sites in each of the 10
Counties;
Development of a 3-Star 100-Bed capacity tourist
lodge at Thimlich Ohinga Cultural Landscape;
Marketing Initiatives to enhance visibility of the Lake
Region Tourism Circuit;
Development of Wildlife Conservancies to promote
tourism and solve wildlife-human conflict;
Establishment of standards for tourism products and
services in the Lake Region Tourist Circuit; and
Development of road network within Kisumu City
for city tours targeting unique heritage facilities and
sceneries around and within the city.
32
There are already indications of interest in developing

specific projects in the region as follows:
Kakamega National Reserve: The creation of a 60Bed forest eco-lodge and a 40-Bed Luxury Tented
Camp;
Ruma National Park: The creation of a 60-Bed EcoLodge;
Ndere Island National Park: A 60-Bed Eco-Lodge or
a 40-Bed Luxury Tented Camp;
Kisumu Impala Park: 24-Bed Luxury Tented Camp;
Lake Victoria: High end hotels and conference
facilities;
Kakamega Town: A 100-Bed high class hotel in
Kakamega town;
Rusinga Community Lodge on Rusinga Island;
Yala Swamp Nature Interpretation Centre at Lake
Sare in Usigu;
Siaya, Mwibale Rock Eco-Lodge and Cultural Centre;
and
Kakamega Forest Visitor Centre at the entrance to
Kakamega Forest.
Table 7: Summary of Investment Opportunities in the Tourism Sector in the Lake Region
County
Bungoma
Current Tourism Features and Attractions
Opportunities
Mt. Elgon Forest Reserve, Mt Elgon National Park

Scenic hills such as Chetambe, Sangalo and Kabuchai
Man-made attractions such as dams as well as the cultural
centre at Sangalo, dini ya msambwa headquarters at Maeni in
Kimilili and Mfunje-ropes Bridge in Webuye
Conference, eco-tourism and cultural heritage tourismespecially the circumcision ceremonies, songs and
dances practiced in the County
Hotels found in Bungoma include; Elegant Hotel, Sarasa Resort,
Greenvalle Hotel, Ross Wood, Happy Moments, West gate,
Bustani, Cool Base and Tourist hotel in Bungoma Town, Guest
House, Webuye Motel, Golf Hotel, Minata and Park Villa in
Webuye, Elgon View in Misikhu, Mount Crest, Lencante and
Barasa Park hotels in Kimilili Town
Home to Ruma National Park which is the only park where the
Roan antelope can be found
Tom Mboya Mausoleum, the Mfangano Rock Art, Homa Hills
Hot Spring and Simbi Nyaima
There are over 18 islands, peninsulas and bays some with
unique fauna and flora
Homa Bay County has only three classified hotels: Homa
Bay Tourist Hotel, Rusinga Resorts and the Governors Camp
(Msaria) Mfangano with bed capacity of about 120
Intensify ecotourism and sports tourism.

Promote cultural day celebrations.
Construction of an Eco-lodge and Conference facility
in Bungoma.
Reclamation of Chetambe, Sangalo, Kabuchai, Mt.
Elgon and Nabuyole falls for tourism
Kisii
Geological sites such as Nyangweta Forest, Ritumbe Forest and

Ibencho offer good tourist sites
Kisii County does not have tourist class hotels/ restaurants
Set up tourist hotels to attract tourists from Masai

Mara in the Narok County and Ruma Park in Homabay
County.
Protect and gazette Nyangweta Forest, Ritumbe Forest
and Ibencho.
Reclaim recreational areas that were earmarked in the
1971 Kisii Town Master Plan. This includes the riparian
reserve from Daraja Moja to Makutano Junction.
Registration of cultural groups in the county ie
herbalists, choirs, dancers, drummers, artists and
Documentation of various aspects of culture.
Establish a County Cultural Centre. (Kisii Township)
Construction of Museum in the county
Kisumu
Tourist attractions in Kisumu include the Ndere Island National

Park and the Kisumu Impala Sanctuary
The National Museum, Historic sites such as Songhor
Paleontological Site situated in Muhoroni, the viewpoints in
Nyabondo, the legendary Luanda Magere site, Kit Mikayi.
Recreational sailing and sport fishing on Lake Victoria
Hotels of a competitive standard in the county are mainly
found in Kisumu City. These includes; Kisumu Hotel, Sunset
Hotel, Imperial hotel, Jumuia Guest House, Great Lakes Hotel
and Lasavana Hotel.
Construct a 10,000 seat convention centre on the

beach front
Resort city
Establish hospitality facilities.
Beautify the county
Preserve eco-sites
Homabay
Development of Regional Sports Stadium.

Initiate an annual Community Cultural Festival in the
county.
Construction of Cultural Centers in all constituencies.
33
County
Siaya
Current Tourism Features and Attractions
Opportunities
The County has only one gazetted game reserve; Lake

Kanyaboli Game Reserve
Alego Nyangoma Kogelo Village, a place of international
attention because it is the birth place of Barack Obama
Senior.
Cultural sites in the County include; Olua Sacred Trees,
Holy Got Adodi, Bullock of God Podhe, Rambugu hills,
Got Ramogi, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Mausoleum,
Achieng Oneko Mausoleum, Mageta Island, Odera
Akango office and cells in Yala and several island lakes
along River Yala (Sare, Nyamboyo)
The County currently does not have any classified hotel.
The sites in the county include forests, Mungoma cave,
birds sanctuary and Wagevere rocks.
Rich cultural Maragoli festivals observed annually.
There is only one tourist class hotel, Sosa cottages with a
bed capacity of 56.
Construction and equipping of cultural centers.

Undertake and develop a business and conference
tourism initiative.
Fence Lake Kanyaboli conservation area.
Develop sports tourism (boat, racing, water skiing,
swimming competitions and a floating restaurant,)
Busia
The county has tourist attraction sites such as Kakapel

Rock Art Museum, captivating Kakapel caves, rock
paintings found at the Kakapel National Monument in
Teso North, rocky hills of Kisoko, Lake Victoria Viewpoints,
Beaches such as Marenga and Busijo in Funyula Subcounty.
The main types of wild life found in the County include
hippopotamuses, wild pigs and velvet monkeys.
Establish a 3-star and above hotel and resorts within

the County
Construction & equipping of Community Cultural
centers countywide
Migori
The county has no game parks and game reserves

Cultural and historical sites include Thim Lich Ohinga
museum, Godkweru religious site and the Mugabo caves
Wildlife in the county include hippopotamus and variety
of birds
Existing hotels have not been classified.
Map and protect all the potential tourist sites.

Establish a cultural centre with modern theatre and
cinema facilities
Documentation of the various Intangible cultural
heritages (ICH) and artifacts within the county.
Upgrade Migori Stadium to National stadia status.
Establish museums Art Gallery
Protection of cultural and historical sites.
Vihiga
Nyamira
Kakamega
34
Establish Tourists sites at Maragoli hills, Bunyore hills

and Kaimosi forest
Tap into the rich cultural heritage as a tourist target.
Establish Tourists sites at Maragoli hills, Bunyore hills
and Kaimosi forest
Upgrading of cultural sites-Mulutia shrine, Maragoli,
Mungoma, Tiriki
Construction of cultural/recreational centers in
Sabatia, Vihiga, Hamisi, Emuhaya and Luanda,
Maseno disabled, mwibona, Wemilabi,Luanda South,
Emabungo.
Nyamira
Kakamega
There are no national parks or game reserves within

Nyamira County
There are potential tourist sites like the hilly nature
referred as Gusii highlands, the Orotuba Manga ridge,
Kiabonyoru, Nyabisimba, Nkoora and Kemasare hills
The county has no main wildlife but there exists several
other fauna and flora species
Nyamira County has no tourist hotels and camping sites
for any high class services but there are 24 unclassified
hotels with a bed capacity of 575.
Kakamega County has one national park, no game reserve
and two camping sites.
Natural attractions such as Kakamega Forest
Cultural attractions such as bull fighting in Khayega and
Ikolomani, cock fighting in Shinyalu, the dog market in
Lubao, Malava, the crying stone in Ilesi, Lukova in Matete
and Mawe Tatu in Likuyani.
The main wildlife in the county are monkeys, birds,
snakes, baboons, hares, hippos, monitor lizards and
coloured butterflies.
The County has a three star hotel- Kakamega Golf Hotel
with a bed capacity of 102, and 24 established bars and
restaurants. It also has 540 unclassified hotels.
The discussion will now turn to a more detailed
exploration of some of the opportunities that can
be exploited in the Lake Region:
Creating Access to Regional and International
Destinations through Kisumu International Airport
Access to and from the Lake Region is crucial and
forms the foundation on which tourism can occur.
Kisumu International Airport is currently only
international in name as no international flights land or
take off from
the airport. The airport also lacks basic services such
as fuelling facilities and thus cannot serve international
airlines. One project proposed is to establish facilities
at Kisumu airport that allow for international flights
to land and take off at Kisumu so that the airport can
be the hub that connects to other parts of the Lake
Region. The project seeks to expand the runway, air side
plane parking and loading area, create fuelling
systems, storage facilities, lounge facilities, health
facilities as well as airport police and fire departments.
Cultural education, information and research centre

Visual arts through preservation of indigenous
knowledge.
Organize cultural festivals county wide and
registration of cultural groups.
Establish cultural centre Keroka, Nyamaiya, Nyamira
Refurbish traditional caves at Manga Sub county
Establish a botanical garden at the county
Headquarters
Gazette some of these attractions such as the crying
stone.
Build cultural centers to promote cultural tourism
Enhance the capacity of the County as a centre for
conference tourism.
Development of Boating/Water sports and Cruise

Tourism in Lake Victoria
The objective of this project is to enhance the use of
Lake Victoria as a premier cruise, boating and water
sports attraction. The choice location for these activities
will be informed by the development of partnerships
with the five counties that border the lake, namely;
Migori, Homa Bay, Siaya, Kisumu and Busia. Once
routes have been determined, suitable beaches will be
identified and jetties constructed to support sporting
and leisure activities. Relevant organizations and
stakeholders will be engaged to moderate the use of the
lake for the stipulated tourism related activities.
Development of an International PGA level Golf
course and Holiday Homes on Nyakagera and Imra
islands
There is robust tourism activity that accompanies high
end sporting events such as golf. Nyakagera (150 acres)
and Imra islands (90 acres) provide a unique opportunity
to develop Kenyas first golf course on an island. The
proposed plan will include high end holiday homes and
villas.
35
3.2.4
Key Challenges in the Tourism Sector
Lack of capital
The Western Tourism Circuit has not been marketed as
a tourist attraction in Kenya and therefore has not
attracted financing and is not considered an investment
destination in the sector.
Poor government support
The Lake Region is not viewed as a tourist destination
that warrants government support and investment and
thus does not feature in activities and allocations related
to tourism.
Poor infrastructure
The infrastructure within the Lake Region as well as
to and from most tourist attractions is dilapidated and
needs rehabilitation. For example, Thimlich Ohinga
Cultural Landscape does not have an adequate allweather road network.
Security Issues
These stem both from political instability and tribal
tensions as well as threats from the militant group AlShabaab.
Natural disasters
The region is often subject to flooding at various tourist
sites which creates reluctance to visit the region.
Disease and Illness
Tropical diseases such as malaria which is endemic
in the region are deterrents. Further, health scares in
neighbouring regions such as Ebola in West Africa
reduce the appeal of travel to the country.
Poor facilities
The region lacks social services such as hospitals and
most of the tourist sites are located in the remote
areas of the country far from access to medical
facilities. In terms of accommodation, the region
lacks
internationally competitive facilities. For example, Ndere
Island National Park does not have the capacity to
cater for overnight stay. 1 Kit Mikay does not even have
amenities to cater for day visitors.
36
Poor communications infrastructure

The area has limited communications and technology
services which reduce the appeal of the region as
business activities cannot be hosted there. Further,
visitors often want to but cannot maintain touch with
family and friends as most no longer have the mentality
of leaving it all behind; this lack is a deterrent.
Environmental damage
Environmental threats exist in national parks and game
reserves particularly poaching. Further, Kenyans often
engage in activity in and around tourist attractions that
fails to sustain the wildlife of the region. In addition, the
increasing population in the region has led to human
encroachment into wildlife habitats such as forests
and grasslands. This has led to human-wildlife conflicts
resulting in the migration of some animal species to
other areas.
Given these challenges, it is important to for each
county to pursue strategies aimed at revamping the
sector. County Governments should be committed to
pursuing the following:
1. Establishing an attractive tourist circuit that makes
the Lake Region a destination of choice;
2. Developing and improving products, minicircuits and source markets within a sustainability
framework and ensuring maintenance of standards;
3. Refurbishing hotels and other accommodation
facilities while actively involving members of the
community in developments;
4. Promoting domestic tourism by providing incentives
and establishing an information dissemination
system to alert domestic tourist of attractions,
promotions and deals; and
5. Providing skilled labour to establish excellent service
delivery dependent on informed policies, clear
tourism development plans, supportive legislation
and regulatory framework.
A plan to develop a golf course and holiday homes on

Nyakagera and Imra Islands, neighbouring Ndere Island
National Park is currently underway
3.2.5
Tourism products require development, packaging
and marketing before any meaningful returns can be
realized. Thus there is a need for clear strategies for
resource mobilization to meet the required threshold
for the development of successful tourism packages in
the Lake Region. The strategy can consists of different
components as follows:
Create a Fundraising Team: Develop a fundraising
initiative tasked with capital raising responsibilities
specifically for the Lake Region.
Improve Investment Environment: Incentivise
investment into the sector.
Short term funding: Focus on national and county
government allocations for quick fixes that can get
key projects up and running as well as fund marketing
activity.
Long term funding: Develop partnerships with NGOs,
international donor organizations and private sector
resource mobilisation purposes.
3.2.6
Socioeconomic Impact of the Tourism
Sector
The following are the potential impacts of investment in
the tourism sector:
A 20% increase in tourism demand results in an
increase in real GDP of 0.1% (Njoya);
A 10% increase in tourist expenditure can lead to a
0.3% increase in rural household consumption and
in a 0.02% increase in welfare (Njoya);
10% increase in tourism results in an increase in the
domestic consumption of agricultural commodities;
tourism growth in Kenya is pro-agriculture (Njoya);
Economic activity created by tourism expansion
increases real wage rates by 0.8%.(Njoya);
Inbound tourism increases the output of agricultural
products, decreases its prices and increases
employment. (Njoya);
Tourism can serve as a powerful incentive to protect
natural resources (UNEP, 2011);
Tourism generates revenue to support conservation
and management of natural environments (UNEP,
2011); and
Tourism has larger multiplier effects, with revenue
spreading from hotel accommodation, food and
beverages, shopping, entertainment and transport
to income of hotel staff, taxi operators, shopkeepers
and suppliers of goods and services (UNEP, 2011).
37
4. Social Sectors: Education

and Health
4.1 Education
Kenya Vision 2030 articulates the ambition to create an
education system that is responsive to the critical role of
Science, Mathematics, Technology and Communication
in the development of the human resources of the
country. In August 2010, Kenya promulgated a new
constitution which enshrined Free and Compulsory Basic
Education as a basic human right to every Kenyan child.
As part of the decentralisation of Pre-primary Education,
Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) and Youth
Polytechnics became components of the education
system to be devolved to the county level.
Inadequate training for mid-level technicians and
artisans in Kenya contributes to youth employment
in the country. There is an estimated gap of 30,000
engineers, 90,000 technicians and 400,000 artisans in
Kenya; a shortage that hampers the countrys economic
growth prospects. The Kenya Engineers Registration
Board estimates the ratio of engineers, technicians and
artisans required by the country to achieve middleincome status is at 1:12:60. However, Kenyas ratio was
estimated at only 1:3:13 (2012).
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics
2014 Economic Survey:
Total number of education institutions in Kenya is
80,172; an increase of 2.7 per cent from 2012.
Industrial
and Vocational
Educational
Technical,
Training (TIVET)
institutions
rose by 6.7
per cent in
2013
22 Public universities
Pre-primary school enrolment rose by 2.5 per cent
from 2012 to stand at 2,465,605 in 2013.
Enrolment at primary level rose by 1.9 per cent to
10.2 million in 2013
Enrolment at secondary level increased by 9.9 per
cent to 2.1 million in 2013
Number of teachers in public primary schools
increased by 4.5 per cent to 199,686 in 2013
Teachers in public secondary schools increased by
1.8 per cent.
Enrolment at teacher training institutions, TIVET
institutions and universities increased by 20.6, 15.9
and 34.9 per cent, respectively.
The Lake Region population with primary education
stands at 68 per cent average across the 10 counties
and 12 per cent for secondary education.
38
4.1.1
The State of Education in the Lake
Region
The Lake Region houses some educational institutions
of past repute in the country. These include secondary
schools such as Cardinal Otunga, Homabay, Mbita,
Musingu, Kakamega, Lugulu, Butere, St, Marys Yala,
and training institutions such as Kitale Technical Training
Institute and Bukura Agricultural Training Institute. These
institutions once produced national and global leaders
but have since failed to produce high calibre graduates.
The table below summarizes the state of education in
some of the counties in the Lake Region.
Table 8: Education Levels for the 10 counties
County
None
Primary
Secondary
Total Population
Kisumu
17.7
56.9
25.4
844,752
Kakamega
20.6
60.9
18.5
1,449,141
Bungoma
17.9
60.9
21.2
1,195,784
Busia
22.7
61.8
15.5
647,461
Kisii
17.1
55.2
27.7
1,010,601
Nyamira
16.1
53.6
30.3
528,317
Siaya
20.5
63.8
15.7
736,992
Migori
20.3
64.6
15.2
786,472
Homa Bay
Vihiga
19.8
17.6
62.9
62.8
17.3
19.6
836,555
491,499
Source: Exploring Kenyas Inequality National Report (KNBS & SID), 2014
In the data recorded in Exploring Kenyas Inequality
compiled by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and
the Society for International Development (SID),
Migori County is leading in the population with
primary education at 64.6 percent followed by Siaya
County at 63.8 percent and Homa Bay County at 62.9
percent. The bottom three counties in terms of primary
education are Nyamira County with 53.6 percent, Kisii
County with 55.2 percent and Kisumu County at 56.9
percent. In terms of the percentage of the population
with secondary level education, Nyamira leads with 30.3
percent followed by Kisii at 27.7 percent and Kisumu
at 25.4 percent; the lowest county is Migori with 15.2
percent.
In terms of literacy, disparities exist between genders

and counties:
Figure 11: County Distribution of Literacy by Gender (percent)
Kisumu has the highest numbers of literate males at

94 percent followed by Kisii at 92 percent; Homa Bay,
Nyamira and Siaya tie at 91 percent. Migori has the
lowest number of literate males at 77 percent followed
by Busia and Kakamega at 85 percent and 87 percent
respectively. Migori County has the highest number of
literate females at 92 percent followed by Kisumu and
Nyamira with 84 percent and 83 percent respectively.
The lowest female literacy rates are in Busia, Siaya and
Homa Bay with 66 percent, 69 percent and 74 percent
respectively. These statistics indicate the continued need
to emphasise the importance of girl child education in
the counties lagging behind.
39
Table 9: Population attending School by Highest Level of Education Reached

Bungoma
Busia
Homa Bay Kakamega
Kisii
Kisumu
Migori
Nyamira
Siaya
Vihiga
Preprimary
84,738
50,100
89,450
105,312
84,873
81,361
80,132
32,638
57,592
31,821
Primary
425,597
221,071
281,471
468,437
349,499
246,582
272,953
130,756
232,691
161,190
Secondary 64,214
30,107
50,495
72,834
93,486
51,871
41,267
36,231
35,780
28,763
Tertiary
6,243
2,270
4,658
7,240
8,371
9,724
4,229
3,027
2,759
2,831
University
2,997
1,226
2,195
5,594
4,065
6,909
2,075
1,268
1,847
1,199
(Source: Statistical Abstract 2014, KNBS)

These statistics indicate varying transition rates from
primary to secondary school between the counties
and this is where the largest drop-out rates happens.
Evidence indicates significant benefits exist when
levels of secondary education are widespread in the
population and can be the tipping point towards
tapping into the transformational role of education in
improving health, employment and wealth. Most of the
interventions detailed in this Blueprint will not come to
fruition with the existing levels of secondary education
in the population.
In terms of populations with tertiary education, Kisumu
leads with 9,724 followed by Kisii with 8,371 and
Kakamega with 7,240. The counties that lag begin
in terms of tertiary education are Busia (2,270), Siaya
(2,759), Nyamira (3,027) and Vihiga (2,831). The
education provision in Kisumu County, especially at
tertiary level, seems well developed with 3 universities,
5 university colleges, 1 medical training college, 1
national polytechnic and several commercial private
colleges. Kakamega County has one fully fledged
university- Masinde Muliro University and several
university campus branches. Vihiga County has
mobilized its resources to set up Kaimosi University of
Science and Technology which opened in September
2014. Twin workshops in the county are under
construction at Karandini and Kitulu Polytechnics and
the county government will be collaborating with
NINGBO Polytechnic in China. Siaya County has 1
technical institute, 1 medical college and 1 Constituent
University (Bondo University College, a constituent of
Maseno University) and a University campus (Odera
Kango Campus of Moi University).
40
4.1.2
Region
Key Education Challenges in the Lake
Poor funding
The sector is subject to chronic underfunding that
does not adequately support the physical and human
resources required to ensure the quality of education
delivered is high.
Low transition and completion rates
The transition rate into secondary and tertiary education
is especially low. Females are at particular risk due to
early marriages, child labour and pregnancies.
Poor and declining education standards
Even for those who complete their education, they
are not skilled and often unable to create or gain
meaningful employment and improve their standards
of living. This seems to be linked to poor teacher
supervision and low expectations by teachers. This
may be due to low levels of motivation on the part
of teacher, high workloads and teacher absenteeism.
In effect the low quality of education translates to
gross amounts of malinvestment that fail to boost and
improve the human capital of the region.
Poor facilities and learning resources
The physical educational infrastructure is abysmal with
many learning in dilapidated buildings with no
electricity, adequate seating or learning materials.
Further, the lack of learning resources such as text
books, library books, wall maps and the exercise books
impedes performance as well as the learning and
teaching environment.
Poor infrastructure
There is a poor network of road and transport
infrastructure which can make it difficult for pupils and
teachers to get to the schools.
4.1.3
Opportunities for Investment in
Education
The opportunities for investment in the education sector
in the region include:
Flagship Project: Developing Centres of Excellence
that link industry and research
Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Early Childhood
Education
PPPs for the development and maintenance of
educational infrastructure
Development of regional centres of excellence.
Some institutions such as Kisumu Polytechnic can be
targeted as a hub for specific skills training relevant
to key industries in the region
Development of regional centres of Technical
training in key economic areas; doing so will avoid
duplication at county levels
Development of Research and Technology parks that
create and incubate ideas for implementation and
support by the County governments.
A university that serves the region.
41
County
Current Education Situation
Opportunities
Bungoma
80.5per cent of the population in the County aged

15 and above are literate
The County has 651 public and 200 private primary
schools. With eligible primary school age population
of 376,032 (187,645 boys and 188,387 girls)
The County has 229 public and 12 private secondary
schools
Homabay
Homa Bay County has over 1,183 ECD centers. The

teacher pupil ratio at this level stands at 1:40
There are over 905 primary schools in the county
catering for the educational needs of the over
229,431 children with over 5,385 teachers
The literacy rate in Homa Bay County stands at 64 per
cent with males account for 66 per cent and females
at 54 per cent
There are over 180 secondary schools in the county
catering for the secondary education needs of the
63,400
Homa Bay has two public technical training
institutions: Mawego and Wanyama and one public
Teacher Training College at Asumbi
Kisii
There are 904 Early Childhood Development centres in

the County with 1,184 teachers
There are 467 primary schools in the County with
6,278 teachers
The literacy level among adults in the County is 71.5
percent against the national level at 79.2 percent
There are 334 secondary schools both private and
public in the County staffed with 3,940
There is only one full-fledged university in the county
and seven satellite campuses
Construction of ECD centers in all public primary schools

and recruit teachers
Establish a feeding programme for ECD
Construction of laboratories in schools and upgrading
public primary schools to boarding schools
Establishment of a Bursary Fund in all sub-counties
Establish adult education centers in all sub-counties
Kisumu
Total enrolment in primary schools in the county is

236,334 with a teacher population of 6,081.
Of the population above 15 years of age 90.8 percent
can read while 83.4per cent can write.
Total enrolment in primary schools in the county is
113,314 with a teacher population of 1,647.
The county has two universities Maseno and Great
Lakes University.
The introduction of feeding programmes in needy

institutions
Issuance of sanitary towels among the adolescent school
going girls
Recruitment of additional teachers
Establishment of centers of excellence.
Rehabilitation of existing schools.
Establishing ICT labs in identified institutions in all the
sub-counties.
Give incentives to potential investors in the private
education sector
42
Construction and rehabilitation of at least one boarding

school per constituency
Establish Secondary school centers of excellence
Support and invest in Early Childhood Development and
Education (ECDE).
Invest in Adult and Continuing Education (ACE)
Support and construction of youth polytechnics in each
sub- county.
Construction and provision of equipment of libraries,
computer and science laboratories
Establishment of a Bursary Fund
Subsidized secondary education
Improve School Infrastructure
Increasing Subsidies to Youth Polytechnics
Expansion of Centers of Excellence
Construction of Model Workshops in Youth Polytechnics
and upgrading of Youth Polytechnics
Up-scaling of Constituency-Based Bursary Schemes
Establish Early Childhood Development centers
Develop School Inspection Improvement Programme.
Siaya
There are 636 primary schools, 179 secondary schools,

six tertiary institutions, 12 special education schools,
one public university and 13 special units in regular
primary schools.
Literacy rate stands at 80 per cent.
School enrolment is 57,592 pupils at pre-primary
level, 232,691 pupils at primary school level, 33,780
students at secondary school level, 2,759 at tertiary
level, 1,847 in the university and 104 in the youth
polytechnics.
There are currently 636 primary schools in the county,
192 public secondary schools and 2,759 tertiary
institutions.
The County had 754 pre-primary schools.
Majority of the population 82.1 per cent aged 15
years and above are able to read or write while 15.2
per cent of the same category is unable to neither
read nor write.
The County had 114 secondary schools by 2012 and
no fully fledged University.
Recruitment of more teachers in Primary and secondary

and more instructors in Polytechnics.
Establish ECD feeding program
Subsidized youth polytechnic tuition (SYPT) scheme.
Establish a university in the county

Improve and equip youth Polytechnics.
Establish more special schools
Establish more science laboratories and libraries
Establish centers of excellence in all the constituencies
Develop a school feeding programme for ECD.
Develop a Bursary Fund
Install electricity to all schools
Establish Education Manangement Information System
(EMIS )
Busia
The county has 459 Early Childhood Development

Centers, 450 Primary schools and 105 Secondary
schools, 17 Youth Polytechnics and 3 University
constituent colleges
Install electricity to all schools

Provide water to schools
Establish new tertiary institutions
Restructure existing Special schools in the County
Construction of school libraries and laboratories.
Migori
The County has more than 816 primary school, 217

secondary schools, 1 University College, 2 public
university campuses, 1 public and 1 private teachers
training college and 13 youth polytechnics
The county has 1,149 ECD centers and 1,785 teachers
Construction of ECDE classroom in all wards, equipping

them and recruit more teachers
Establishment of a Bursary Fund
Support for special needs teachers and provision of
counsellors
Construction of school libraries, laboratories and
classrooms in primary and secondary level
Provision of sanitary towels
Upgrade Rongo University college to a University
Nyamira
The county has 553 ECD centres, 545 primary schools,

173 secondary schools, 2 public university campuses,
2 science and technology colleges, 15 youth
polytechnics and 8 accredited private colleges.
Construction of libraries, laboratories, classrooms, toilets,

dining halls, administration blocks and dormitories in
schools around the county.
Install electricity and water supply to schools.
Construction of workshops in youth polytechnics.
Establish adult learning center
Establish special schools in Borabu and Manga.
Vihiga
Kakamega
Literacy rate of 83.1 percent
43
The County has 1943 ECD centers, 2,463 primary

schools with 24,362 teachers, 807 secondary schools
with 7,444 teachers
One public university, Masinde Muliro University of
Science and Technology
Satellite campuses of other universities such as Mt
Kenya University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Science
and Technology and the University of Nairobi
The county has who can read and write.
4.1.4
Education Interventions
This Blueprint looks to elucidate synergies that exist
between the 10 counties so as to pool resources
and efforts towards ending subpar performance in
education. It seeks to answer questions such as: How
can graduates of higher learning be attracted back to
the counties?; To what extent are training curricula
aligned to the economic needs and opportunities
in the region and, what are the supply and demand
bottlenecks in the education sector in the region?
As mentioned the county can directly intervene in the
following segments of education: Pre-primary Education,
Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) and Youth
Polytechnics. But coordinated and concerted efforts can
also be directed at improving transition from primary to
secondary school and raising the quality and relevance
of these segments of education. The national target of
a literacy rate of 80per cent and enrolment rate of 95
percent set out in Vision 2030 should also be a regional
target. Vision 2030 also seeks to increase the
transition to technical institutions and universities from
3 to 8 percent.
Opportunities that align with Vision 2030 in which the
Lake Region can participate are as follows:
A national target to build 560 new secondary school
Employ 28,000 teachers nationally
Build one boarding primary school in each
constituency
Creation of Centres of Excellence
The following section looks at aligning educational goals
with the productive sectors of agriculture and tourism as
well as suggesting other sectors for consideration.
44
Construction of ECDE centers in every public primary

school.
Construction of 24 County Polytechnics and hiring
instructors.
Establishment of a bursary scheme for needy students.
Construction of computer labs in each school in the
county.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the back-bone of the Lake Basin Region
county governments should focus on investing in
Agricultural Training Institutes geared towards training
students in modern agricultural knowledge and the
use of modern technology and equipment. Both the
youth and farming population should be targeted.
Emphasis should be placed on how to manage climate
change. There should also be a focus on partnering
with mechanical and electrical training institutes in order
to ensure the repair and maintenance of agricultural
equipment and machinery. In addition specialist training
in value chain management, value addition as well as
the sales and marketing of agricultural produce can be
included.
Tourism
The development of hospitality, tours and travel,
catering and leisure management training institutes
is crucial for the region if it is to become a tourist
destination of note.
Sports
Kenya excels in sports such as athletics, rugby and
soccer and a significant number of famous professionals
of these sports in Kenya are from the Lake Region.
Soccer players such as Dennis Oliech, Macdonald
Mariga, Victor Mugubi Wanyama, Allan Wanga and
Arnold Origi come from the region. In rugby, notables
such as Humphrey Kayange, Collins Injera, Andrew
Amonde, Lavin Asego are from the region as well.
The county governments of the region can therefore
consider establishing sports talent academies to identify
and nurture talented youth who can then be introduced
on the national, East African and global sports industry.
Spotlight on setting up a university for the Lake Region

Establishing a new university or upgrading a polytechnic into a fully-fledged university is a multi-year process.
The information below was obtained from an expert in the matter, Rev. Dr Anthony Mutuiri. The costs related to
university establishment are as follows:
Administration: The applications to government agencies such as the Commission for University Education
which costs approximately USD 60,000.
Infrastructure: Required in the first year and often includes administration buildings and lecture halls; can
amount to USD 6 Million.
Curriculum: Courses and programmes to be taught must be developed, designed and specified by experts
in academia. Programme architecture determines the number and types of degrees to be conferred and for
which the institution needs to apply and pay. Once designed, programmes are reviewed by peers and the
industry, and an inspection conducted by the Commission for University Education completed. These costs are
several million USD.
Staffing: Hire anchor staff who establish the systems and processes of the institution. For example they
support the first students to settle in, find their way around the institution, and familiarise them with rules,
code of conduct and course outlines.
Vice Chancellor: Ideally a person of repute in academic and scholarly circles. Vice Chancellors normally come
with their own teams of professionals such as registrars all of whom have to be remunerated in monthly
salaries plus benefits. The Vice Chancellors remuneration and allowances often add up to USD 24,000 per
month. S/He is responsible for representing the institution at local and international events, all of which are
catered for by the institution.
This process takes five years or more and costs approximately USD 15 million.
4.1.5
Socioeconomic Impact of Interventions
in Education
The impacts of a better education system are as
follows:
Early childhood education is associated with
substantial effects for both cognitive and socioemotional outcomes. (Melhuish, 2014)
Studies have associated attending a pre-school with
increased qualifications, employment, and earnings
up to age 33 (Melhuish, 2014)
State-collected data in some countries reveal that
pre-school helps children succeed in school and
obtain higher wages in the labour market (Melhuish,
2014)
Pre-school reduces socio-economic inequalities,
as children from less advantaged backgrounds
benefitted more than the more advantaged
(Melhuish, 2014)
Pre-school expansion is associated with improved
inter-generational educational mobility (Melhuish,
2014)
Formal schooling is one of several important
contributors to the skills of an individual and to

human capital (UNESCO, 2005)
More schooling means higher lifetime incomes
(UNESCO, 2005)
A more educated society may translate into higher
rates of innovation, higher overall productivity
through firms ability to introduce new and better
production methods, and faster introduction of new
technology (UNESCO, 2005)
There is a strong impact of differences in school
quality on economic growth: a difference of one
standard deviation on test performance is related to
a 1% difference in annual growth rates of GDP per
capita.
The quality of the labour force, a measured by
mathematics and science scores, appears to be an
important determinant of growth, and thus of the
potential to alleviate poverty (UNESCO, 2005)
Those with more years of schooling tend to
have better health and well-being and healthier
behaviours (Feinstein, 2005)
45
Education is an important mechanism for enhancing

the health and well-being of individuals because
it reduces the need for health care, the
associated costs of dependence, lost earnings and
human suffering (Feinstein, 2005)
Education helps promote and sustain healthy
lifestyles and positive choices, supporting and
nurturing human development, human relationships
and personal, family and community well-being
(Feinstein, 2005)
Those with more education are also more likely to
take advantage of health care provision (Feinstein,
2005)
Education reduces the likelihood that individuals
will work in the most hazardous jobs
There is evidence of a causal relationship between
education and civic participation (Feinstein, 2005)
4.2 Health
The health sector plays a pivotal role in economic
growth and poverty reduction exemplified in the fact
that three of the eight Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) pertain to health. A healthy nation means a
more productive nation. The health sector in Kenya
operates within and is influenced by several policies
and frameworks; Kenya Vision 2030 Sector Plan for
Health, Kenya Health Policy 2012 2030 and global
initiatives such as the Global Fund and the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). Kenya has made
improvements in some of the health-related MDGs
as per the latest reports: infant mortality decreased
from 58 per 1000 live births in 2008 to 52 in 2011
and under-five mortality decreased to 74 per 1000 live
births. However, maternal mortality increased from 414
to 488 during 2008-11, compared to the MDG target of
147 per 100,000 births. This is largely attributed to poor
access to functional health facilities in rural areas, high
malaria prevalence, HIV/AIDs, and high cost of
maternal health care.
4.2.1
The State of the Health Sector in the
Lake Region
Health indicators in the Lake Region are a cause for
concern and pose serious challenges to the regions
development. Health challenges include high rates of
infant and child mortality ranging to highs of 12 to
15per cent in some Counties; HIV/AIDS
prevalence- Homa-Bay, Kisumu and Migori counties
have the highest HIV prevalence rate in the region;
high rate of HIV infections which contribute 54
percent of
46
new HIV infections in the country and high under

five mortality rates. With regards to malaria, the Lake
Region, particularly around Lake Victoria, is classified
as an endemic zone with a malaria prevalence rate of
38 percent. In terms of HIV, 75 percent of new HIV
infections among children occurred in 5 of the 10
counties in the Lake Region: Homabay, Kisumu, Siaya,
Migori and Kisii. Counties with the highest adult HIV
prevalence in 2013 included Homa Bay 25.7 percent;
Siaya 23. 7percent; Kisumu 19.3 percent; Migori 14.7
percent and Kisii 8 percent. In Bungoma, malaria
alone accounts for 40 percent of morbidity. Additional
diseases such as upper respiratory tract infections and
diarrhoea account for 26 percent of the morbidity in the
region; pneumonia and skin diseases account for about
20 percent of morbidity.
Health personnel challenges are also dire in the Region:
Homa-Bay County has a doctor- population ratio of
1: 40,000 and nurse-population ratio of 1:1,500; in
Kakamega the doctor- population ratio is 1:34,916
and a nurse- population ratio of 1:2,658; in Kisumu
the doctor- population ratio is 1:44,634 and the nursepopulation ration is 1:2,383.
Further, health facilities are inadequate and those that
are available have poor infrastructure that are in urgent
need of maintenance and upgrades. The limited capacity
of these health facilities pose a greater challenge than
the distribution of facilities.
Table 11: Health Statistics in the Lake Basin Region

Indicator2
Bungoma
Busia
Homa Bay
Kakamega
Kisii
Kisumu
Migori
Nyamira
Siaya
Vihiga
TB cases in every 199

100,000 people
(2012)
255
453
185
202
433
462
145
389
236
HIV Prevalence
(percent, 2013)3
3.2
6.8
25.7
5.9
19.3
14.7
6.4
23.7
3.8
Population per
Nurse (2012/13)
17,406
12,609
9,543
13,612
7,386
9,689
N/A
6,346
13,586
13,527
Population per
458,354
doctor
Health Facilities4
247,982
327,265
276,775
162,483
322,970
N/A
179,650
421,752
554,622
Total number of
facilities
141
80
180
229
140
154
169
114
155
87
Hospitals
11
13
16
18
17
13
Health centre
20
15
40
37
31
34
27
39
37
18
Dispensary
79
47
99
96
68
70
93
42
90
26
Medical clinic/
Stand-alone VCT
26
23
67
17
21
26
18
15
32
Maternity/
5
Nursing home
Health Financing
13
12
10
Health budget
allocations
(approx.)
(2013/14)5
29%
30%
8%
20%
1%
18%
N/A
6%
5%
10%
National Health
Insurance Fund
(NHIF) coverage
(2012)6
13.1
24.1
21.0
2.4
34.5
24.9
15.0
27.7
22.4
18.8
CRA, Kenya County Factsheets, 2013

NACC, Kenya HIV Estimates, 2014
4
MOH, Kenya Service Availability and Readiness Assessment Mapping Report, 2013
5
County Health Budget Analysis, Health Policy Project, 2014
6
Government of Kenya, MOH, County Health Factsheets, 2013
3
47
4.2.2
Key Health Challenges Facing the Lake
Region
Infrastructure
The number of physical health facilities available is
limited. In the country, Bungoma has the lowest facility
density of less than 1 facility per 10,000 persons; all the
counties in the Lake Region have a facility density of less
than 2 facilities per 10,000 persons.
Medicine
There is a chronic lack of adequate levels of essential
drugs particularly for mothers and children. The SARAM
2013 Report found that primary healthcare facilities
(nationwide) have critically low availability of health
commodities.
High disease burden

HIV/AIDS prevalence is a particular challenge HomaBay, Kisumu and Migori counties have the highest HIV
prevalence rate in the region (SARAM, 2013). Several
counties in the region are clustered and have HIV
infection rates and contribute 54 percent of new HIV
infections in the country; these are Homabay, Kisumu,
Siaya, Migori, Busia and Kisii. The prevalence of malaria
in the region is also high with the region having a high
prevalence rate of 38 percent.
High mortality rates
High rates of infant and child mortality in the area range
from 12 to 15per cent. 1 in 9 children born alive in the
Lake Region area are at risk of dying before reaching
the age of 5 years.
The table below summarizes the health sector situation
in the Lake Basin region and opportunities for improving
the health sector
Figure 12: County Health Facility density per 10,000 people
48
4.2.3
Opportunities to expand Quality Health
care Services
Since diseases are common the possibility of a regional
strategy in health exists. The following are opportunities
in the health sector in the Lake Region:
Flagship Project: Specialist Hospital in each county:
Build, operate and transfer 10 specialist hospitals each
serving a specific clinical area.
Establish a regional National Health Trust: This can
be contracted by the regional governments to lead in
cutting edge management and expansion of existing
health facilities and services, including seeking ways
of attracting and retaining health personnel in the
region. There are examples from countries such as India
and Tunisia that can be referred to in terms of how to
develop and manage an effective and affordable health
care system
Partnership with Insurance organisations: Done in
order ensure that every individual in the county has
health insurance and access to health provision. The
health insurance organisations will work across the
region to enable the affordability at point of access/
use, but to also work towards providing incentives for
providers of health services in the region. This might
include setting up major health Centers at central points
in the county, and leading in air ambulance provision for
remote regions of the county.
Community Health: Set up community health
dispensaries that are more cost-effective in terms of
diagnosis and preventive measures. These community
dispensaries will need to be equipped to develop health
messages that can lead to prevention, as well as be an
easy to reach source of health personnel in cases of
emergence and everyday health care.
Infrastructure
County governments to develop primary care
infrastructure terminating at what are currently
health centers. Former sub-district hospitals can act
as filter and referral centers for specialized clinics.
A complete emergency care system based on the
University of Baltimores emergency care service to
be developed for the entire region with both
land, sea and air capabilities.
A robust communication system based on the
regions ICT platform to be implemented
Personnel
Staff performance management system to be
centered around the specialist hospitals.
Oversight to be provided by these hospitals which
will also develop standard care packages that will be
used by all
Staff training to be centered around specialist
hospitals. These are to provide continuous
professional development to all staff in the region.
Logistic systems
Automated procurement systems for medical
supplies based on a shared ICT infrastructure.
Reduction in number of players in the supply chain
(get KEMSA to be efficient or outsource the services
to a KEMSA look alike)
Strategic information
Medicine is evidence based thus a single system to
manage all patient records, supplies and administration
is required. This system should have clinician decision
support capability as well as organizational oversight
capacities.
Health Governance
Move away from current top heavy management
structures.
Lean leadership relying on ICT to provide data for
decision support.
Clinical leadership to be ceded to the Specialized
hospitals
Main function of county medical leadership would
be supervision to monitor adherence to policies,
standards, emergency response to outbreaks,
financial management, logistics management
Move away from specific disease focus to disease
groups.
Clinical systems
These should be benchmarked to the best in the world
as follows:
Emergency services with Japan, state of
Maryland, Israel
Preventive care against japan
Primary care against France
Specialist services against India
All aspects of clinical services to be accredited
Community strategy should be linked to targeted
services for citizenry
49
Table 12: Health Status in the Lake Region and Opportunities for Improvement
County
Current Health Status and Activities
Opportunities
Bungoma
The County has 136 health facilities of which 11 are

hospitals, 4 nursing Homes, 16 health centers, 78
dispensaries, 27 clinics and 134 community units.
The five most common diseases in order of prevalence
in the County include; malarial fever (40 percent),
respiratory tract infection (19 percent), skin diseases (7
percent), diarrhoea (4 percent) and typhoid (3per cent)
Immunization rate of 68.55 percent
Homabay
Homa Bay County has 211 health facilities including

nine tier 3 hospitals and 4 mission hospitals
These facilities are manned by 941 personnel mostly
nurses with a doctor- population ratio still at 1: 40,000
and nurse-population ratio at 1:1,500.
The County has a bed capacity upwards of 2,190 in
public facilities and 12 in mission facilities
Malaria is the most common disease in the county
Immunization rate of 68.5 per cent.
Access to family planning services estimated at 54
percent
Kisii
There are 71 level 2, 18 level 3, 8 level 4 and 1 level

5 hospitals in the County which include private and
mission hospitals.
The five most common diseases in the County in order
of prevalence are malaria, diarrhoea, urinary tract
infections, skin diseases, pneumonia and respiratory
diseases.
The County has a proximately 15 percent of children
with stunted growth due to low nutrition
The immunization coverage rate is over 90 percent
The current acceptance rate for family planning is
estimated at 70 percent.
Upgrade health centres

Construction of maternity wards construction, outpatient,
inpatient, lab block, staff houses, Incinerators, X-ray,
Surgical theatre, Laboratories, waiting bay, wards and
Mortuary.
Electricity installation
Recruitment of medical staff
Upgrading Kisii Level 5 to a Teaching and Referral Hospital
Construction of new health facilities
Kisumu
The county has 1 provincial hospital, 2 sub-county

hospitals, 16 public health centres, 27 public
dispensaries, five private hospitals, 4 Nursing homes
and 5 dispensaries managed by private sector.
Malaria is the most common cause of sickness in
the county with 44.7 percent of the sick population
having suffered from malaria
3.3 percent of children are severely underweight, 17
percent are moderately underweight
Immunization rate of 53.6 percent
Contraceptive prevalence rate of 27percent
Rehabilitation of rural health facilities

Integrated Management of Childhood Illness county wide
Mobilize resources and promote intersectoral
collaboration.
Maintenance of health infrastructure (Buildings, medical
and laboratory equipment etc) county wide.
Construction of male and female wards at Ahero Subcounty Hospital
50
The County should establish and equip a multifaceted

referral hospital to handle complex medical cases.
Model level 4 Health Centre per constituency
20 Nurses per constituency recruited
Health insurance programmes
HIV/AIDS behavior change programmes
Expand and upgrade the existing Health Infrastructure at
Ward, Sub County and County levels
Expand and equip Bungoma Hospital
Invest in locally derived natural health products.
Construction of Model Health Centres
Ambulance services
Rehabilitation of Rural Health Facilities
Fast-tracking implementation of Community Health
Strategy
Construction and Equipping of Model Health facilities
Construction of Wards.
Construction of Minor Theatres, Maternity Wings
complete with incinerators
Construction of modern Mortuaries complete with
Pathologists and Staff Quarters.
Establishment of the HIV/ AIDS Management and Malaria
Control Centre
Establishment of a Cancer Centre
County
Siaya
Current Health Status and Activities
Opportunities
The County has 7 sub-County hospitals, 32 health

centres and 110 dispensaries.
Diseases affecting the county are; malaria/fever (52
percent), respiratory diseases (23 percent), diarrhoea
(8 percent), pneumonia (5.25 percent) and diseases of
the skin including wounds (4 percent)
22.79 per cent of the children in the county below 5
years are stunted.
Immunization coverage rate of 86 percent
Contraceptives prevalence rate of 45 percent.
1 public county referral facility , 3 sub-Sub-county level
4 facilities, 18 health centres, 32 dispensaries and 34
private and mission based facilities
Most prevalent causes of morbidity and mortality
are malaria, HIV and AIDS, upper and lower tract
infections, diarrhoea and skin diseases
45.8 percent of the total population of children under
the age of five are either underweight stunted or are
wasted
Immunization coverage rate of 80.2 percent.
Contraceptive prevalence at 47 per cent
Rehabilitation of rural health facilities to offer integrated

and comprehensive healthcare
Construction/ rehabilitation of facilities at Bar Ndege,
Jera, Ligega, Sega, Bar Achuth, Sifuyo, Nyangu, Ukwala,
and Ratuoro
Staff Recruitment programs
Millennium Village Project Water & Ward
Busia
4 level 4 hospitals, 1 private hospital, 12 health centres

and 3 nursing homes.
Five most common diseases in order of prevalence
are malaria, Respiratory Tract Infections, Skin diseases,
Diarrhoea and Typhoid
Immunization coverage rate of 95 percent
46.5 per cent of the females aged 18 years have
access to family planning services
Establish and equip a multi-faceted referral Hospital to

handle complex medical cases.
Upgrade Busia District Hospital to a teaching and referral
Hospital
Upgrade level 3 facilities to level 4 in Nambale, Funyula
and Butula
Purchase of ambulances
School WASH programme through construction of
latrines with running water in 5 schools
Migori
1 Referral Hospital, 10 Sub-county Hospitals, 25

health centres, 112 dispensaries, 8 faith based health
facilities, 10 private run hospitals, 9 Nursing homes,
and 56 private clinics.
Most common diseases: Malaria 53 percent,
respiratory tract infections 16 percent, diseases of the
skin, diarrhoea 7 percent, intestinal worms/typhoid 3.2
percent, accidents/fractures, and sexually transmitted
infections
17 percent of children under age five are moderately
underweight, 3 percent are classified as severely
underweight
Immunization coverage rate of 84.6 percent
57 percent of the population do not use any family
planning method, 36.1 percent use modern methods,
6 percent use traditional methods
Scale up community health coverage

Fast track construction/expansion of KMTC at Migori
County Hospital
Upgrade Migori district hospital to level five
Open closed facilities
Strengthen Health leadership at sub-county and facility
with committees and hospital boards in all facilities
Vihiga
Establishment of a mental health unit in Mbale.

Renovate & expansion of Vihiga district Hospital in Mbale.
Construction of dispensaries in Sabatia, Wamuluma and
Maragoli.
Expansion of dispensaries and hospitals in constituencies
and increase staff capacity.
Promote immunization programmes in the county to
achieve 100per cent immunization.
Equip hospitals with medical equipment (x-ray machines,
anaesthetic machines, suction machines etc)
51
Nyamira
Kakamega
There are 134 health facilities in the county; eight tier

3public health facilities, 70 tier 2 (Health Centres and
Dispensaries) and the rest either private or faith based
facilities and clinics.
The top 5 morbidity cases in Nyamira are: Respiratory
System, Clinical Malaria, skin diseases, rheumatism
and accidents
About 25per centof children under five are stunted
Immunization rate 91percent
The contraceptive prevalence rates are 61 percent
Kakamega County does not have a referral hospital
but has Kakamega County General hospital, nine
sub-county hospitals, 9 mission/NGO hospitals, 1
private hospital, 8 nursing homes and 27 public health
centres
The most prevalent diseases in the county include
malaria/Fever, diarrhoea, stomach ache, respiratory
diseases and flu; malaria is most prevalent at 36.4
percent
The nutrition status in the county is at 8.6 per cent of
the under five children being underweight
About 84.5 per cent of the children in the county get
immunized.
The contraceptive prevalence in the county is 27per
cent
Improve performance of Community Health Workers

Rehabilitate existing health facilities
Construction of maternity wards, childrens wards, OPD,
theatre
Community sensitization on HIV/AIDS
Staffing and equipping of all the levels in health referral

system;
Establishment of a medical training centre and start
medical school in the county.
Decentralization of health services and drugs.
Intersectoral collaboration
The following are interventions that can be done in each county:

Table 13: Interventions to be implemented in all counties
Project
Description
Impact
Specialist Hospitals
Specialist hospitals that are fully equipped

and offer specialized care and treatment for
specific diseases
m-Health Services
Provision of medical health services supported

by mobile devices
Specialist Hospitals in the region providing superior medical attention

to patients. Specialist hospitals in the region will lead to lower incidence
and prevalence of diseases in the region
52
The availability of technology-based solutions in the healthcare will

enable researchers to capture multiple sources of health data and create
a landscape of a health care records management system that will
increase quality of patient care, track outcomes and help in research and
education.
4.2.4
Socioeconomic impact of the Health
Sector
The positive impacts of improved health are as follows
(UNAIDS, UNICEF, WHO et al 2011):
Healthier individuals live longer lives
Healthier individuals are more productive and
contribute to national income, job creation, and
economic development and growth.
Healthier people have fewer and healthier children,
invest more time and greater resources in their
childrens education, and thus secure the future for
their societies.
Healthier people reduce costs of ill health to society
and companies and enable resources to be directed
to economically productive activities.
Improving the health of girls and women in
particular is likely to have a significant effect on
poverty reduction
Healthier individuals are physically and mentally
more energetic and robust which makes them more
productive
One study suggests that one extra year of life
expectancy raises steady-state GDP per capita by
around 4 percent
One study estimates that reductions in adult
mortality explain 10 percent to 15 percent of the
economic growth that occurred from 1960 to 1990
One study argues that wiping out malaria in SubSaharan Africa could increase that continents per
capita growth rate by as much as 2.6 percent a
year
Disease and illness cause the household to spend
a great deal of resources on medical care which
depletes its assets, and incurs substantial debt.
Preventing such a depletion of assets through
promoting better health and health care for
individuals helps households avoid the poverty
trap. It will enable them to use these assets for
productive investments or raising additional capital
for enterprises
Healthier people are more employable, make

enterprises more profitable which can then generate
more taxes. National economies will be more
attractive to both domestic and foreign investors.
Healthier destinations (such as those with low levels
of malaria incidence) are likely to be more attractive
to tourists.
Healthy individuals have a higher demand for goods
and services, driving investment and production
within the economy
Better health increases peoples personal earnings
directly and reduces costs to companies from high
employee turnover, repeated training costs, and
provision of health care
When communities are healthy, budgets can be
shifted away from health to productive investment
such as physical and social infrastructure
An increase in both public and private health care
expenditure significantly increase life expectancy at
birth by about 1 and 0.5 years
53
5. Enabling Sectors:
Financial Services, ICT and
Infrastructure
5.1 Financial Services
5.1.1
The State of Financial Services in the
Lake Region
Kenya has 52 financial institutions; 44 of these are
banking institutions (43 banks and one mortgage
financing institution) spread out into four categories
based on their asset base, and 8 deposit taking microfinance institutions (DTMs) with the Central Bank
of Kenya as the regulatory authority. Most of these
financial institutions have a presence in Western Kenya.
Access to capital and financial services is a key
component in building and sustaining businesses.
Whereas the Lake Region hosts major banks such as
Kenya Commercial Bank, Barclays Bank, and Equity
Bank, the extent to which the residents of the region
have been able to mobilize their savings and acquire
capital for their businesses has been low. Accrued
savings are so low that commercial banks are hesitant to
extend financial services beyond the productive sectors
and the larger industrial concerns in the region. The
distribution of banks nationally has also been skewed
disproportionately in favour of the highly urbanized
cities of Nairobi and Mombasa.
Figure 13: Number of Bank Branches in Kenya
(Source: Bank Supervision Annual Report 2013)
54
Out of a total 1,342 bank branches in the country, 530

branches, representing 48 percent are based in Nairobi
and Mombasa. In comparison, Kisumu, the county in
the region with the highest number of bank branches
stands at 40 branches (3 percent). Nyamira, Siaya and
Vihiga have the lowest number of branches at 4 and
6 respectively. The total number of bank branches in
the entire Lake Region is 147 branches or 11per
cent of the total number of bank branches in the
country.
The state of the regions financial services sector is
thus characterized by the following:
Limited access to Capital there is minimal access to
capital as indicated by the low number of financial
service providers in the region.
Limited access to Business Advisory Services
limited access to appropriate business advisory
services.
Poor structure for capitalizing projects: The primary
mode of financing large capital intensive projects is
structured financing. The dearth of financial service
providers not only skews the financing in favour of
established enterprises but it also restricts financing
to mid to large scale businesses only.
5.1.2
Proposed Flagship Project: Creation of
Regional Bank
The key proposed financial services sector flagship
project is a Regional Bank that focuses on the economic
opportunities in the Lake Region with a focus on
supporting the other sectors of the blueprint, namely:
Agriculture
Tourism
Heath
Education
Infrastructure
ICT Sector
There are three options of establishing a Regional Bank:
1. Option 1: Establish a new bank: This option is
subject to the regulations of establishing a new
bank as legislated by the Central Bank of Kenya.
2. Option 2: Buy a Private Bank: This includes the
option of buying an MFI and incrementally
graduating it to a bank.
3. Option 3: Buy a Public Bank
The total costs required for setting up the Regional Bank

can be outlined in the following three categories of
costs: Statutory minimum capital requirements of Kshs 1
billion
Consultancy and Professional Fees to process the
incorporation in consultation with the Central Bank
of Kenya.
Set up costs, covered under the statutory capital
Additionally, efforts can be made to establish more
micro-finance institutions in the region to meet the
needs of individuals in the region who cannot afford
getting loans from banking institutions but require
modest capital to jump start their business. These
micro finance institutions can offer credit to small scale
farmers and jua kali enterprise workers. The microfinance institutions can also encourage savings of small
amounts thus helping the poor become financially
independent.
Efforts should also be made to promote table banking.
Table banking is a concept that has worked with rural
community groups to set up income generation projects
in various parts of Kenya. It enables community group
members in the region to build their financial base and
start small enterprises.
5.1.3
There are several ways through which the county
government can own a regional bank as follows:
Direct Investment as Beneficiary: This option allows
the counties to aggregate their funds in a pool
e.g. 200million per county to meet the capital
requirements of the CBK. These would be public
funds thus being subject to county citizens views.
However, given the broad benefits of the regional
bank, the probability of an affirmative county
assembly vote for such funds is relatively high.
Creation of Fund Trustees: The County can also
nominate trustees who will represent the counties
interests on the bank board.
Creation of an investment vehicle which will act
as the shareholder in the Bank: As is common
with large public-private partnerships, the county
governments can establish a Special Purpose Vehicle
(SPV) to steer the banks establishment. As in the
case of the trustees, the countys interests would be
safeguarded through SPV agreements.
55
Private Placement or Invitation of the Public

to participate in owning the rights; the county
governments can invite private placements from
their citizenry i.e. 100 investors, each with an initial
capital of 1million from each of the 10 counties.
This would meet the basic capita requirement of
CBK for establishing a bank.
External funding from donors e.g. Bilateral and
Multilateral donors.
External funding from Private Sector e.g. Private
Equity Financing.
5.1.4
Socioeconomic Impact of Financial
Services
Current financial markets do not meet the needs of
the lower income earning bracket of the population.
A Regional Bank set up by local county governments
would be the preferred channel through which the Lake
region could channel funds by Kenyan Government,
donor funds and development agencies in a manner
that promotes the quality of life to the citizens of the
Lake Region. Establishment of a Regional Bank would
result in the following positive impacts:
Increase access to formal banking services among
the economically active of those who require basic
and small scale commercial financial servicesfor
both credit and savings.
Offer financial services to help among others,
low income people through offering financing at
favourable interest rates to enlarge and diversify
their returns from economic activities.
Credit access will enable individual to utilize the
potential micro industries that are yet untapped in
the region on all the sectors of the economy of
the region.
Availability of credit helps prevent borrowers in
pursuit of funds from having to sell their produce at
below market rates to middlemen thus increasing
their incomes.
Decrease the need for children to work to
complement income earned by homesteads as
lending would develop enterprise.
Indirect benefits of promoting the quality of life, will
be of the citizens accessing the products offered
by the bank. Increase in income results in improved
nutrition, results in higher aspirations for their
childrens welfare and enhances ability to access
better quality health care.
56
5.2 Information and Communication

Technologies
The ICT sector has grown rapidly in the last few years
to be one of the most important sectors in the Kenyan
economy and an enabler of economic and social
development. One of the economic growth areas
that has benefitted tremendously from the ICT sector
includes mobile banking, particularly the mobile money
transfer. Estimates by the government shows that in
2013, mobile and internet penetration in the country
was 76.9 percent and 47.1 percent, respectively. Kenyas
2010 economic update (World Bank, 2010) report
illustrates this rapid growth:
The ICT sector grew at an average of nearly 20
percent per year from 1999-2009 (by contrast,
Kenyas largest economic sector agriculture
shrank by an annual average of nearly 2per cent per
year).
The number of phone subscriptions has grown from
the equivalent of one per 1,000 adults in 1999 to
the equivalent of nearly one per adult in 2010
Internet usage rates for 2010 were around four per
ten adults.
Person-to-person mobile money transactions at the
end of 2010 were equivalent to around 20per cent
of GDP with two of every three Kenyan using mobile
money services.
5.2.1
The State of the ICT Sector in the Lake
Region
ICT in the Lake Region was previously limited to a few
Internet Services Providers and Telcos who give access
at a fee. These are mainly Orange, Africa Online,
Liquid Telecom, Swift Global, Safaricom and Airtel.
With the laying of fibre optic cables, there is an
increase in connectivity though most of the connectivity
is concentrated in the CBD of the counties. Most of
the habitants use Wimax technology, ADSL and FTTX
(Fibre ToThe Home/Office). A majority access internet
services via their mobile handsets. There are mobile
handsets in the market for approximately kshs2000 that
can access internet data. Most areas that do not have
3G, at least have EDGE. Bundles for internet access are
affordable, though most interviewees complained that
the costs should be reduced to allow for wider access
by more people. Each of the 10 counties in the LBR has
recognized the importance of ICT and has highlighted its
role in their Country Integrated Development Plans.
While mobile phones are now wide spread in all the

counties, connectivity to internet is still hampered by
poor infrastructure, particularly electricity supply.
5.2.2
Economic Opportunities in the ICT Sector
Agriculture
Agricultural activity in the region is dominated by
subsistence farming; linkages that connect farmers to
markets are limited. Thus most farmers are unable to
get market prices and access and this limits their sales
to neighbouring communities and markets thereby
restricting their agricultural activities to small scale. If
an ICT platform were introduced, farmers would be
encouraged to market their produce and be guaranteed
of better sales and pricing. Such mobile applications
already exist and it is necessary for the counties toget
their farmers to connect to them.
Education
ICT initiatives can provide educational institutions access
to computers and content for improved information
dissemination for students. Further each county can set
up ICT Hubs that can be accessed by the communities
especially for students and women.
Financial Services
ICT infrastructure in each of the counties can be
implemented to allow communities to access financial
advisory services as well as other banking services.
Tourism
The tourism potential in the Lake Region has not been
realised partly because it has not been marketed well
partly due to the lack of access that promotes tourism in
the region. With the implementation of ICT platforms,
tourist experiences can be promoted locally, regionally
and internationally and can be linked to tour and travel
groups.
Health
Most counties that have health centres that are not
properly equipped, lack basic water and consistent
electricity and often equipment is faulty especially in
the main district health facilities. A number of counties
have begun putting up partially equipped centres but
more support is required in linking these centres to
larger well equipped facilities that can provide accurate
diagnostic and reporting services for imaging, lab and
pharmaceuticals. Infrastructure and ICT will enable each
of these centres to be linked to a regional data centre
and allow for research and sharing of important health
information where necessary.
57
Table 14: Summary of ICT Sector in the Lake Region

County
Current ICT Activities
Opportunities
Bungoma
Key mobile phone operators in the county

are Safaricom, Airtel, Orange, Telkom and
Yu
There are a few internet cafs in
major towns within the county.
Homabay
The county has a mobile phone

penetration of 62.7 percent
There are internet cafes within various
parts in the town.
Kisii
The County approximately 20 cyber cafes

providing internet services.
There are five mobile phone providers
namely: Telkom, Orange, YU, Safaricom
and Airtel
Set up a library in Kisii Town managed by Kenya National Library

Services.
Establishing, Information and Documentation Centres in Masimba
and Nyamarambe
Kisumu
8,500 landlines
Penetration of Safaricom, Airtel, Orange,
and Yu networks is at about 90 per cent
Establishment of free ICT education in formal education and at

community level.
Promotion of software for people of who are visually impaired.
Establishment of digital or internet kiosks in villages.
Siaya
1.2 per cent of the households own

computers.
A number of cyber cafes offer internet
access, typesetting, printing and
photocopying services
Develop digital villages in the Sub Counties to ensure appreciation

of technology throughout the County
Expand infrastructure that will improve on the Countys economic
and social development
Vihiga
The mobile telephone network coverage

stands at 80 per cent.
Establish digital villages in each constituency.

Connect internet cables to all urban centres in the county
Busia
The entire County is covered by cellular

phone network provided by Safaricom,
Airtel, Orange, Telkom, and Yu.
There are over seventy licensed cyber
cafes most of which are located in urban
centres.
Link all functional areas at County, Sub-county, and ward levels

as well as the national departments and agencies through the
establishment of an integrated central ICT delivery unit.
Migori
Penetration of the mobile telephone

currently stands at approximately 75per
cent
Integrate ICT in governance through provision of services the wards,

sub counties and polytechnics.
Establish a county radio station
Digital kiosks.
58
The county needs to invest in constructing and equipping computer

laboratories in all public schools to enhance access to quality ICT
education for all learners.
Establish e-management systems in each
sector. Create a pool of ICT knowledge
workers.
Establish digital centres in each ward and sub- county. Establish
a software academy as a revenue generating activity. Formulate
appropriate PPP arrangements for strategic ICT hubs. Provide
cheap ICT sites to enhance uptake and knowledge
ICT can be used to provide quality, efficient and effective services,
access market information and develop competitive advantages in
the global market.
Provision of funds for research and encouragement of Public-Private
Partnerships in the provision of internet and web-related services.
Sub-county Information and Documentation Centres need to be
digitalized and strengthened through access to reading materials
and government publications for access by the general public.
Laying of optic cable and communication boosters across the
county.
County
Current ICT Activities
Opportunities
Nyamira
There are 1,713 landline telephone

connections in the county.
Kakamega
The mobile network provision is by

Safaricom, Bharti Airtel, Orange, Yu are all
within the county borders.
94 cyber cafes
1,713 telephone landlines
Increase network coverage by the telecommunication service

providers.
Integration of ICT in the day to day sector specific operations by
Strengthen County and Sub-county Information systems
Integrate ICT into teaching and learning in educational institutions.
Enhance education management information systems
5.2.3
Proposed Projects
Flagship Project: ICT Improving Service Delivery
Networking of County Headquarters
Most of the county headquarters are not completely
networked. Some counties have begun the process but
most are only partially connected. The first step is to get
county offices connected and the second step is creating
connectivity of sub-County Offices to the County HQ.
Once this has been completed, the region will have a
base on which all activities can be supported by ICT.
Data Centres
Set up a minimum of 2 Data Centres in the region. The
Data Centres will enable the region to provide hosting
of data services for all the sectors identified. The Data
Centres should also have a redundancy site for back up
purposes.
Free Wi-Fi in Counties
Establish free Wi-Fi in the CBD of each of the
counties in the Lake Region in order to provide
internet access to communities during business
hours. This will allow all sectors of the economy to
embrace the use of ICT in their daily lives, for traders,
education institutions, farmers, tourists and
businesses. Currently, the only
available Wi-Fi areas are in offices, hotels and very few
educational institutions and businesses.
IFMIS system to allow for revenue collection reporting

and disbursements of county funds. Some counties
have already initiated automation projects for revenue
collection and it is proving to be useful. The Blueprint
proposes an automated revenue collection system for
the region so that the tax payer can pay their regional
taxes directly to the collectors through mobile platforms
like M-Pesa.
Computers in Schools
If ICT should be the foundation for economic growth in
the Lake Region, it is important that schools, colleges
and learning institutions are equipped with computers.
Currently a limited number of schools have computers;
the few that have computers are through donations
from private and donor institutions. This should be a
priority area as it will ensure that the students in this
region have equal access to education material as their
counterparts in the Capital and other major cities in the
country.
Cloud data services
Setting up cloud computing in the region is key especially
given the plans to digitize the regions operations in the
health, agriculture, tourism, education, and financial
services. All this information needs to be secured and
accessed easily.
Revenue Collection System

This is a key project that each one of the counties has
expressed interest in. Currently most counties have no
digital revenue collection tool and rely on the old
council systems to collect revenue. This means that
the revenue leakages cannot be identified or
eliminated. Establishing a revenue collection system
will enable each county to collect more revenue. The
system should be linked to the National Government
59
5.2.4
Engage with existing institutions and the county in
identifying the gaps for implementation on the
ongoing, partially-ongoing and proposed/planned
flagship projects for each county and determine
how scaling up would impact the region in terms
of empowering the communities economically by
providing employment and improved livelihoods.
Engage counties to determine whether budgets
have been allocated for their ICT projects and the
extent of support required from other financial
partners.
5.2.5
Socioeconomic Impact of the ICT sector
Interventions in ICT to strengthen the sector can have
the following impact on the region:
ICT will enable the Lake Region to leapfrog certain
technology developments and catch up with the
rest of the world (Wangwe, 2007)
The use of mobile phones has resulted in increased
turnover and greater efficiency in business.
(Wangwe, 2007)
The provision of basic social services like health
and education is facilitated by ICT development
(Wangwe, 2007)
ICT is an important tool in citizen agency, used by
citizens to monitor public authorities and resources
(Dobra, 2012)
ICT increases the coherence of information, since it
enables citizens to cross-reference and link pieces of
information, making it easier to understand patterns
of governmental actions and policies (Dobra, 2012)
ICT helps reduce the asymmetry of information
between elected officials and the electorate, and
between bureaucrats and elected officials (Dobra,
2012)
Increased participation by citizens in webbased forms of interaction results over time in a
corresponding growth in a culture of openness and
also increases transparency (Dobra, 2012)
5.3 Infrastructure
The capacity of the aforementioned sectors of
Agriculture, Tourism, Education, Health, ICT and
Financial Services rely on an efficient network of
infrastructure in order to operate effectively. A wellnetworked and functioning infrastructure is essential
for inter-county market integration, lowering unit costs
of production and transactions, facilitating the flow
of materials and information, reducing inequalities
60
and poverty, and enhancing economic capacity of the

region.
Nationally, the contribution of the infrastructure sector
to GDP was 19.1 percent in 2012. The transport and
communications sub-sectors have made the highest
contribution to GDP over the last three years compared
to the other infrastructure subsectors. The electricity and
water supply sub-sector marked the least contribution to
GDP at 1.4 per cent in 2012 (KIPPRA, 2013) 2013).
Electricity
In Kenya, power distribution is held by only one
institution, Kenya Power Lighting Company. Power
generation is done by the Kenya Electricity Generating
Company (KENGEN) which provides 90 percent of
Installed Capacity. Independent Power Producers
(IPPs) contribute 10 percent of Installed Capacity;
these include Westmont, Iberafrica, OrPower4 (Kenya)
subsidiary of Ormat Technologies, Tsavo Power
Company (TPC), Aggreko and Africa Geothermal
International (AGIL). The total installed electricity
generating capacity increased from 1,606.1 Mega Watts
(MW) in 2012 to 1,717.8 MW in 2013. The domestic
demand for electricity increased by 8.0 per cent and the
number of connections under the Rural Electrification
Programme (REP) rose by 18.5 per cent to stand at
453.5 thousand customers (Economic Survey, 2014).
Petroleum
Kenya has one of the largest crude oil refineries in East
Africa, the 90,000-barrels-per-day (bbl/d) Mombasa
refinery. In 2011, Kenya imported about 33,000 bbl/d
of crude oil from the United Arab Emirates alone and
another 51,000 bbl/d of refined oil products from other
countries (KNBS). Kenya has a product pipeline system
that transports petroleum products from Mombasa to
inland areas. Most of the imported and/or domestically
refined products are sold in Kenyas major cities and the
remainder is sent to neighbouring countries via trucks.
In 2011, Kenya consumed around 81,000 bbl/d of
oil products.
In mid-2012 oil was discovered in Kenya with a
confirmation of around 300 million commercially viable
barrels worth of reserves. Kenyas deposits may top 10
billion barrels and if the Kenya-Uganda pipeline were
connected, 500,000 barrels of oil could be piped per
day; Oil could be ready for exportation as early as 2016.
The tables below shows the summary of electricity

generation and consumption between year 2010 and
2013.
Table 15: Summary of electricity generation by source 2010 - 2013(Million GWH)
Energy
2010
2011
2012
2013
Hydro
3224.0
3217.2
4015.9
4435.01
Thermal oil
2201.0
2800.5
2200.4
2161.7
Geo thermal
1442.0
1443.7
1515.9
1780.9
Cogeneration
92.0
80.9
104.7
55.6
Wind
16.8
17.6
14.4
14.7
Imports
30.0
33.9
39.1
49.0
Table 16: Summary of electricity consumption, 2010 - 2013(Million KWH)

Consumption source
2010
2011
2012
2013
Domestic and Small commercial
2200.3
2471.4
2568.5
2866.1
Large & Medium (Commercial and

Industrial)
3204.9
3440.3
3409.2
3585.3
Off peak
38.2
37.9
36.0
32.7
Street lighting
20.5
17.9
20.6
17.2
Rural electrification
290.8
306.1
380.1
426.8
Total Domestic
5754.7
6273.6
6414.4
6928.1
Export to Uganda
29.6
37.3
32.7
43.7
Transportation
Kenya has an extensive network of paved and unpaved
roads. The railway system links the nations ports and
major cities and connects with neighbouring Uganda.
According to the Kenya Roads Board, Kenya has
160,886 kilometres (99,970 mi) of roads with 11,189
kilometres (6,953 mi) unpaved. Two routes in the TransAfrican Highway network pass through Kenya- Nairobi:
the Lagos-Mombasa Highway and the Trans-African
Highway which links East Africa and West Africa.
However, it is only complete between the UgandanDR
Congo border and Mombasa.
The total output value from the transport sector

expanded by 3.3 per cent in 2013. Cargo throughput
handled at the Port of Mombasa increased by 1.8 per
cent to 22.3 million tonnes and railway freight tonnage
dropped from 1.4 million tonnes in 2012 to 1.2 million
tonnes in 2013. Total volume of white petroleum
products through the pipeline increased from 4.9 Million
cubic metres in 2012 to 5.2 MM in 2013. The table
below shows a summary of transport and storage for
the year 2010 to 2013.
61
Table 17: Summary of Transport and Storage 2010 2013

Consumption source
2010
2011
2012
2013
Air passengers handled
000s
7516
8722
8584
8232
Air freight handled
000 Tones
247
304
295
262
Pipeline throughout
000m3
4204
4257
4856
5171
Freight handled by Kenya Railways
000 Tonnes
1572
1596
1394
1214
Freight handled by Kenya ports
000 Tones
18977
19953
21920
22307
Ship docking
Number
1579
1684
1763
1786
(Source: Facts and figures 2014)

5.3.1
State of Infrastructure in the Lake Region
Currently, less than 50per cent of roads in the Lake Basin Region are paved. The region generates about 124 Kilowatt
hours per capita per year, this is dismal in comparison to the large population in the region that requires power. The
region is surrounded by the second largest fresh water lake in the world yet water transport is still underdeveloped.
Sanitation coverage in the region is abysmal, 40per cent of the population lack access to safe portable water and
60 percent of the population lack basic sanitation facilities. The table below shows the summary of access to
infrastructure per county:
Table 18: Summary of access to infrastructure by County
Migori
Homabay
Kisumu
Siaya
Kisii
Nyamira
Vihiga
Kakmega
Bugoma
Busia
Improved water (%
households 2009)
47.8
38.6
60.1
46.7
67.9
68.6
76.4
76.1
88.9
82.9
Improved sanitation
(% households 2009
66.8
61.4
87.4
82.7
99.2
99.4
99.1
122.1
96.6
92.0
Electricity (%
households 2009)
5.3
3.3
18.3
4.3
7.8
6.1
7.0
5.6
4.5
6.0
Paved roads (as % of

total roads)
4.7
4.8
14.2
6.4
5.2
6.9
16.6
4.9
6.0
4.9
Good/fair roads (as

% of total roads)
55.0
42.9
38.0
50.5
48.6
64.9
60.4
54.1
46.7
58.6

Table 19: Summary of the percentage distribution of household by lighting fuel source
Migori
Homabay
Kisumu
Siaya
Kisii
Nyamira
Vihiga
Kakmega
Bugoma
Busia
Elec.
5.2
3.3
18.3
4.3
8.0
5.8
6.9
5.5
4.4
5.5
Pressure Lamp
0.6
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.5
0.5
0.3
Lantern
25.6
21.2
23.2
20.6
31.7
40.3
28.4
28.2
26.7
21.4
Tin Lamp
66.4
73.0
56.2
73.0
58.0
51.6
62.2
63.9
66.6
71.4
Gas Lamp
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.6
0.5
0.8
0.8
0.6
0.5
Fuelwood
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.3
0.2
0.5
0.4
0.6
0.4
Solar
0.8
1.0
1.0
0.9
0.9
1.0
0.6
0.7
0.5
0.4

62
5.3.2
Challenges in infrastructure in the Lake
Region
The challenges to infrastructure in the region are:
Lack of resources to undertake infrastructure
development.
Lack of reliable data to determine finance and
manpower requirements of projects.
Lack of infrastructure development framework
that adequately delineate stage-by-stage project
requirements in many Counties of the Region.
Inadequate planning, mismatch of projects with
society needs, and requirements.
Inadequate supporting institutions at County level
Competing political interests
5.3.3
Summary of Infrastructure Sector
Investment Opportunities per Region
The table provides a summary of infrastructure sector
investment opportunities per region:
Table 20: Investment Opportunities in the Infrastructure Sector per County
County
Current Infrastructure Situation/ Activities
Opportunities
Bungoma
Bungoma County has 67 km of class A roads and 154

km of class C roads.
The County has two underutilized airstrips in Webuye
and Bungoma Towns.
Electricity connectivity stands at a 1.5 percent.
The average distance to the nearest water source is 1.5
km in rural areas while in urban areas it is 0.5 km. The
water resources in the County include rivers, streams,
dams, pans, wells, springs, roof catchment and
scattered boreholes.
Construction of bridges in Sangalo, Chebukaka-Terem

Set up a Hydro Power Station in Teremi and
Nabuyole. Improve market link roads and construct by
passes and Expansion and re-designing of key County
roads. Economic Stimulus mobile bus ICT project for
Homabay
Homa Bay County has one class A1 (Kisii-Kisumu) road

which covers about 30 km; one class C20 (Homa Bay
Rongo) road covering about 30 Km; two class C19
(Homa Bay Mbita and Homa Bay Kendu Bay) roads
covering about 71 Km and one class C18 (Rodi Kopany
Sori) road covering about 32 Km.
The county has five airstrips, namely: Kabunde,
Mfangano, Rusinga, Otange and Otaro
Water is a favourable means of transport between Suba,
Mbita, Homa Bay Town and Karachuonyo sub-counties
of Homa Bay County.
Develop low cost alternative sources of energy (solar packs,

wind energy, geothermal power; solid waste energy etc.)
Increase rural access to electricity; improve access to
electricity connection to households, trading centers and
islands (Mfangano, Rusinga, Remba, Ringiti and Takawiri)
Expand the road network all class C and D roads to be
bituminized.
Installation of Radio Networks on the Islands
Opening up of Otange, Otaro and Kabunde airstrips.
Improve water transport.
63
County
Kisii
Kisumu
Siaya
64
Current Infrastructure Situation/ Activities
Opportunities
The County has a network of 1,133 km of classified

roads and 435km of rural access roads. About 171
kms of the roads are tarmacked.
The County has one airstrip at Suneka in Kisii South
sub-County
The electricity coverage in the County is estimated at 45
percent
There are numerous water supply schemes in Kisii
County from rivers, protected springs and wells/
boreholes.
The total length of tarmac road is 286km with the rest
of the link roads being either gravel surface (725.6km)
or earth surface (956.6km).
The county has Kisumu International Airport.
The main source of energy for cooking in Kisumu
County is firewood which accounts for 60 per cent of all
energy sources.
For lighting, paraffin is the most commonly used source
of energy in the county accounting for 79.3 per cent
of all energy sources followed by electricity at 18.3 per
cent.
The water sources in the county are; Lake Victoria,
shallow wells, unprotected springs, water pans, dam,
boreholes and roof catchment systems
Construction and upgrading of roads in Bobasi, Nyaribari

Chache, Kitutu Chache, Nyaribari- Masaba, Bonchari, South
Mugirango and Bomachoge.
Promote use of other forms of energy ie solar, fireless,
cookers, and biogas.
Rural Electrification Programme. Establish ICT
centers in all sub-counties. Rehabilitation and
expansion of the Air strip.
Establish of hydroelectric power station(s) at River Gucha
The County has 332 Km of bitumen road, 708 Km of

gravel and 1,130 Km of earth roads
The County has a total of 28 Post Offices and 22 subpost offices spread across the region.
Three courier services operate in the region they include
G4S, Wells Fargo and EMS.
The main sources of lighting in the County include: tin
lamps, lantern, electricity, pressure lamps, gas lamps,
wood fuel and solar.
The main sources of cooking fuel used in the
households include firewood constituting 82.5 per cent,
charcoal at 13.6 per cent while 1.3 per cent of the
households use paraffin.
Water supply facilities provide water coverage of 42per
cent serving about 396,000 people in the County
5.9 per cent of the households have access to piped
water
Latrine coverage is 75.3 percent
A Railway network to connect with Kisumu International

Airport.
Rehabilitation and expansion of Kisumu International Airport.
Construction and expansion of roads to facilitate
transportation of farm produce.
Rural Electrification Programme implemented in markets and
schools.
Improve County fire services
Street lighting
Improve waste disposal and treatment.
Construction and expansion of roads.

Expand and extend water distribution.
Construction of wells and bore holes.
Rural electrification Programme.
Vihiga
Busia
The countys total road network in length is 1,058.2

Km. Paved roads make up 16.6 per cent of the total
road network. Bitumen surface covers a length of 201.5
Km, gravel surface 373.7 Km and earth surface 483 Km.
Urban household access to electricity is 10.8 per cent
whereas the rural household access to electricity is 5.3
per cent.
The main source of cooking fuel is firewood which
accounts for 84.8per cent of total cooking fuel whereas
the main source of lighting fuel is paraffin accounting
for 88.7 per cent of total population
The county has no working airstrip and relies on the
neighbouring counties for flight services
Vihiga County is served with 23 post/sub-post
offices and four private couriers
County has a total of 1,441.30KM of roads, of these,
58.6 km are of bitumen, and 377.5 km are gravel
surface while earth surface roads cover 1,005.2 km
most of which are unclassified.
The county has only 11 km of railway and served by one
railway station at Malaba border.
The County has one airstrip located at Busia Town
There are two ports at the Lake Victoria shores, the
Sio-Port in Funyula Sub-county and Port Victoria in
Budalangi Sub-county which mainly serve as fish
landing ports.
Busia County has a total of 23 post offices and over ten
licensed private couriers among them G4S, Wells Fargo,
and a number of public service vehicle couriers such as
Easy Couch and Crown Bus.
The major water sources in the county include Lake
Victoria, over ten rivers, shallow wells and unprotected
springs used for domestic and other purposes.
Revive railway transport.

Revive the airstrip in Kaimosi and construction of an air
strip at Hamisi and Mufwendete.
Expansion and construction of roads and foot bridges.
Rural electrification programme and promote other forms of
energy use like solar like the construction of Bio gas and
solar power stations at Izava, South Maragoli, Emuhaya.
Establishment of a community radio.
Establishment of a Hydro power generation plant at Egalogoli
and Kaimosi
Construction of bus Parks. in Mbale, Majengo and Chavakali
Introduction of other sources of energy like solar and biogas

Rural electrification programme
Establishment of a dry port depot establishment within the
county in Matayos and Teso North Sub counties towns.
Rehabilitation and upgrading of the airstrip.
Improve Water transport connectivity in the region
(Budalangi and Funyula Sub counties)
65
Migori
Nyamira
Kakamega
66
Migori has 104.6 km of tarmacked road including Road

A1 that links Kenya with Tanzania through Isebania.
The county has three airstrips, namely: Migori at
Lichota, Macalder and Kehancha.
The number of post offices iin the county are 5.
77.4 per cent of the households in the county use
firewood as the main source of energy for cooking
followed by charcoal at 18.8 per cent and paraffin at
2.8 per cent while 94.4 per cent of the households
use paraffin as the main source of energy for lighting.
The major water resources in the county is Lake Victoria,
rivers, boreholes, shallow wells, springs. The major rivers
include Kuja, Migori, Sare, Oyani, Riana, Tebesi and
Misadhi.
Less than 3,000 households have access to portable
water
A total of 298 km of all roads within the county is earth
surface; 200 km are gravel surface, 100km is mixed
surface, 80 km are bitumen surface.
The county has 5 post offices (Nyamira, Ikonge, Keroka,
Nyansiongo and Kebirigo) and 15 sub post offices.
Firewood is the main source of energy in the county
with 50 percent of the population using it.
Lantern and tin lamp are a common source of lighting in
the rural areas at 39 percent and 55 percent of the rural
households respectively
The county has 1,945 shallow wells, 2,521 protected
springs, 694 dams as well as over 3,301 unprotected
springs and 7 permanent rivers.
The county has the capacity to produce its own hydro-electric

energy based on the available water supply from its rivers as
is the case in the Gogo waterfalls.
Expansion, rehabilitation and construction of roads to
promote movement of goods and services.
Rural electrification programme.
Promote use of other forms of energy i.e. biogas,
solar, energy saving stoves,
Rehabilitation of Airstrips at Kehancha, Migori and Macalder.
Construction of water supply schemes and establish waste
water treatment plant.
The county has a total of 3500 km road network of

which 260 km is of bituminous standard while gravel
surface covers 1,701.7 km and the earth surface covers
1389.3 km and 149km of the rest
The four major private couriers are Group 4 Security
services, G4S , Easy coach parcel services and Wells
Fargo courier services.
Mobile telephone in the county has 85 percent
coverage.
The main sources of water are the major rivers flowing
through the county such as Nzoia, Sasala, Wiratsi,
Isiukhu, Yala, Kipkaren and Lusumu Rivers.
Western Water Services Company is the main water
company in the county.
Expansion and rehabilitation of roads to ensure roads are

passable and improve rural accessibility.
Construction and rehabilitation of bridges and river crossings
in Khwisero, Ikolomani, Butere, Malava, Mumias, Likuyani,
Shinyalu, Navakolo, Lurambi and Matungu.
Water points rehabilitation and supply adequate portable
water.
Rural electrification programme
Rehabilitation and construction of sewerage and treatment
works
Hydroelectric power generation on R.Yala, Nzoia and Lusumu
Connection of electricity especially to institutions, youth

polytechnics and market centers.
Rehabilitation and construction of more roads
Construction of foot bridges at Bitundugusi, Nyageita and
Rianyamesa.
5.3.4
Key Interventions
Flagship Project: Creation of a Lake Region Ring
Road
Infrastructure construction
The development rate of the infrastructure sector in the
region will greatly inform the rate of development of
the other sectors. Bridges need to be constructed
across rivers in Bungoma, Siaya, Budalangi to facilitate
human movement; roads across the region have to be
constructed or rehabilitated; electricity to be connected
to households, markets, and health and education
institutions, and water points need to be rehabilitated
and portable water supplied to homes.
Airport and Airstrips Expansion
Kisumu International Airport is in the process of
expansion to meet international standards and
accommodate larger air crafts and cargo. Other airstrips
in the region need to be rehabilitated, reopened and/
or constructed especially in Busia County which is an
established trading centre. Operational airstrips in the
region are important facilitators of imports and exports
for local businesses as well as making the region
accessible to other parts of the country.
Lake Basin Region Railway and Dry Ports
Opening up the non-operational railway system of the
region will create access to larger markets in East Africa.
A functioning railway system will ease pressure on road
transportation of cargo and human public transport.
Additionally, building dry ports in counties bordering the
Lake Victoria i.e. Siaya, Kisumu, Homabay and Migori
and connecting the dry port termini with the rail system
will benefit the economy of the region as it will attract
international cargo export and import.
67
6. Cross Cutting Themes
There are four cross cutting themes aimed at integrating

marginalised groups and issues into the Lake Region
Economic Blueprint. These are: Women and Girls,
Youth, Persons with Disabilities, and the Environment.
remain vulnerable to jaboya.
6.1
6.1.2
Women and Girls in Tourism
According to a report by the World Bank (2007) tourism
is an important sector of the Kenyan economy and a
large source of formal and informal employment for
women. The majority of jobs held by females are in the
sale of handicrafts such as weaving and wooden carvings (Ikiara 2001). The seasonal nature of tourism results
in employment instability that reduces the sectors
employment benefits for women.
Women and Girls
6.1.1
Women in Agriculture
In Kenya, women command domestic duties as well as
the majority of agricultural cultivation. In this region,
agriculture accounts for 70 percent of the labour
force, where women make up 75 percent of that work
force (Freidenberg, 2013). However although women
are given ownership of the crops they cultivate, they
are not given the title of land owners (Freidenberg,
2013). Without laws to protect the equal rights of
women
to housing and property, including during marriage and
at its dissolution, both at divorce and death of a
spouse, women will continue to unreasonably shoulder
the burden of poverty in Kenya (FIDA, 2008). Further,
women are often prevented from interacting directly
with men other than close relatives which limits their
participation in agricultural or financial training and
their ability to benefit from working with extension
agents and veterinarians, most of whom are male and
primarily address other men (Fletschner, 2011). It has
been estimated that if women farmers had access to the
same resources as men, they would be able to increase
overall agricultural productivity by as much as 30%
(Doss, 2012).
An important gender issue particularly pertinent to
the Lake Region is the fish for sex issue. According to
research done in 2012, in the region, particularly in
the area around Lake Victoria, women fishmongers
form relationships with fishermen as part of the
jaboya system where women who wish to sell fish in
the market secure the rights to purchase the fish
caught
by the fishermen by having sex with them(Kwena et
al, 2012). Due to the nature and context of the sexual
intercourse, sex typically occurs in a hurried manner,
often without preparation or protection. As a result,
women in these fishing communities are at increased
risk of HIV. According to IRIN HIV prevalence among
fishing communities stands at 30 percent, while an
estimated 25 percent of all new infections in Nyanza are
attributed to this group. An estimated 27,000 women
are involved in the fish trade in Nyanza either directly or
indirectly, according to the Ministry of Fisheries (IRIN,
2011). The continued poverty of women means they
68
There is clearly a need of the Blueprint to address the

unique problems women face in agriculture.
An insidious aspect of tourism that affects women and

girls is sex tourism. It has been documented that girls
under the age of 18 are prostitutes for older male tourists. Apparently male tourists prefer young girls between
the age of 15-20 who they pay as little as USD60 for
sex. Other girls are subjected to group sex with several
adult male tourists. Because of abject levels of poverty
in many areas of tourism, families willingly allow or even
encourage their young daughters to become child prostitutes to earn money for the household. Although this
specific issue is not yet present in the Lake Region, it is
important that steps be taken early to prevent a culture
of child sex tourism emerging in the region.
6.1.3
Education Status of Women and Girls
In terms of ECDE, enrolment of boys and girls is growing
towards a direction where they are at par. However,
at primary level, enrolment rates begin to drop for girl
partly due to poverty, limited finances, and a preference
for educating boys rather than girls in some cultures,
the use of girls in domestic child labour, and negative
attitudes associated with girls education (Norrag, 2003).
According to UNESCO, secondary education remains
low for girls (48%). Even when girls are enrolled in
secondary schools, many do not complete the cycle due
to gender insensitive teaching practices, sexual abuse
and impregnation by male teachers and head masters,
as well as shortage of female teachers as role models.
(UNESCO, 2012)
These imbalances serve to limit the extent to which

girls potential can be fully developed as they also
cumulatively affect the levels and nature of their
participation in the labour market, politics and
managerial positions. Thus, the Blueprint must have a
focus on boosting girl child education.
6.1.4
Health Status of Women and Girls
Women and girls in the country are disproportionately
affected by HIV, in particular widowed and divorced
women (with 17-21% HIV infection rate) and those
in polygamous unions (11% compared to the overall
rate of 7%). The Kenya government has not directly
addressed their needs and the root causes for their
plight (FIDA, 2008). In addition, the fish for sex culture
in the Lake Region makes women and girls particularly
vulnerable to HIV infection.
In terms of maternal health, Ida Odinga reminds
us that 7,700 women die each year in Kenya from
pregnancy related complications (Odinga,2013). While
life expectancy for women is higher than men in most
countries, many health and social factors contribute to a
lower quality of life for women (Odinga,2013). Women
are often not able to receive medical services because of
lack of funding, transportation, and a lack of awareness
of their own rights. Girls are subjected to regressive
practices such as female genital mutilation that have
direct negative impacts on their health. Therefore the
health strategy of the Blueprint will have components
specifically targeting women and girls.
6.1.5
Womens Access to Financial Services
Women constitute approximately half of the rural labour
force, the Lake Region included, and are economically
active in each subsector of the rural economy; yet
rural women are more likely to be credit constrained
than men of equivalent socio-economic conditions
(Fletschner, 2011). Legal regulations and customary
rules often restrict womens access to and control
over assets that can be accepted as collateral such as
land
or livestock. Women are much less likely to have land
titled under their name and less likely than men to
have control over land, even when they do formally
own it. Biased inheritance rights often bestow land to
male relatives, leaving both widows and daughters at a
disadvantage (Fletschner, 2011).
Further, rural womens access to financial resources is
also limited by biased lending practices that emerge
when financial institutions that consider them smaller,

less experienced and therefore less attractive clients
(Fletschner, 2011). In Kenya, even though women
entrepreneurs make up nearly half of all micro, small
and medium enterprise owners and 40 percent of
smallholder farm managers, they have less than 10
percent of the available credit and less than 1 percent of
agricultural credit (Ellis 2007). And, it is typically the case
that loans to women are smaller than those granted to
men for similar activities (Fletschner, 2011).Therefore
the Lake Region strategy will detail interventions in
the Financial Services sector that specifically target and
prioritise women.
6.1.6
Women, girls and ICT
There is a gender digital divide in Kenya and the Lake
Region seen in the fact that women have lower access
to ICT than men. In rural areas in particular, there
are cultural structures that marginalize women to
domesticity which limits their mobility and exposure to
ICT (Wamala, 2012). Gender discrimination is seen in
the fact that women and girls suffer more from a lack of
confidence, language barrier, low literacy, lack of time
and money, restricted mobility due to cultural factors or
safety. Further, as girls and women continue to live in
greater poverty, with lower education levels, less access
to healthcare and other services, less opportunity to
work, and lower status in their societies, chances are
that their access and use of ICT will not match that
of boys and men (Raftree, 20120).
This blueprint will list interventions that will address
these constraints and ensure women and girls benefit
from the ICT and other pillars of the Blueprint.
6.1.7
Interventions Targeting Women and
Girls The following are interventions designed to ensure
women and girls benefit from activities detailed in the
blueprint.
Agriculture
Train women on value-added processing and
introduce technologies to scale up value-added
processing activities in order to attract higher prices
Train women on marketing and business skills
Provide incentives for women entrepreneurs in the
sector by developing financial packages tailored to
the diverse production and marketing conditions
and risk factors. The Regional Bank should develop a
variety of guarantee schemes that can underwrite
69
the risks involved in such packages.

Target men: As men may pose roadblocks to
women earning and controlling higher incomes,
projects ought to incorporate men in order to
mitigate tensions between men and women
as well as produce more sustainable results for
women. Projects such as ACDI/VOCAs Kenyan
Maize Development Project and TechnoServes
East Africa Coffee Initiative can be referred to.
Each incorporated the male partners of female
project
beneficiaries, educating men on subjects such as the
importance of allowing women to attend training
sessions and of including women in farm planning.
On the Fish for Sex issue:
Provide women fishmongers with boats they
own either through grants or loans
Develop behaviour change communications
targeting men so that they look at the
women as business partners and not sex
partners
Tourism
The following interventions should be done to improve
the status and benefits women accrue in the tourism
sector:
At national and regional level allocate 40% of all
tourism spending in Kenya and the Lake Region to
benefit disadvantaged groups, particularly women
as is done in South Africa
Aim for at least 1/3rd representation of women
in all levels of position in Community Based
Tourism programmes
Develop Womens Business Association which has a
Tourism department that can regularly interact
with key stakeholders.
Education
Continue to promote girl child education initiatives
from primary school to tertiary education by
working with government, development partners
and NGOs
Implement gender- sensitive training for teachers
and school principals especially covering issues of
encouraging girls in sciences, mathematics and
technology
Empower school principals, with a focus on females,
to assume leadership roles in addressing female
teachers needs and creating linkages with decisionmakers and the community
Empower science, mathematics and technology
teachers to attract and ensure effective participation
70
of girls in science, mathematics and technology

Health (WHO)
Girl Child interventions: Education; nutrition;
protection against harmful traditional practices;
protection against gender-based violence, child
abuse, trafficking and slavery; immunization
Adolescent girl: Primary and secondary school
education; protection against early marriage,
exploitation, abuse, sexual violence; establishment
of youth centres for girls; adolescent-friendly health
care services; encouragement of healthy lifestyles;
life-skills and sex education; livelihood skills training;
and, if affordable, HPV immunization
Adult woman in reproductive year: Family planning
services; comprehensive abortion care services;
pregnancy care including in the reproductive
antenatal, delivery and postpartum care, and care
for the newborn; screening and treatment years
for STIs including HIV; maternity leave protection;
protection against domestic violence; female
empowerment programmes; cancer screening
Elder women: Healthy nutrition; cancer prevention
services (e.g. cervical and breast cancers); protection
against gender-related violence; screening for
chronic non-communicable diseases; mental health
support
Financial Services
Within the Regional Bank, develop a gender portfolio
that delivers financing mechanisms with women and
girls in mind. These are (Fletschner, 2011):
Loans to women to purchase land or houses that
require they be registered in womens names
Loans offered to parents to buy assets for their girls.
Special loans for businesses that employ women, or
for businesses that offer services such as childcare
that benefit women
Allow female clients to choose loan sizes and
repayment schedules according to their capacity
and requirements
Offer health insurance to female borrowers
including pregnancy and birth-related expenses
Provide weather insurance to womens agricultural
groups
Improve the availability of information targeted to
rural women by supporting efforts to create
affordable sources of information and media (a
successful example is the Grameen Banks Village
Phone initiative)
ICT
Identify female role models and leaders in ICT:
With a focus of women from the region, the ICT
strategy should make a point to profile these
women particularly to girls in educational settings
Engage men and boys: Work with males to make
them understand their female relatives and friends.
When fathers and male peers are aware, engaged
and supportive of girls development and their
rights, they play a very strong role in changing
broader norms and perceptions.
Integrate ICT into education with a focus on girls:
Ensure that girls have access to laptops in the
class room as well as ICT to build media and
digital literacy skills. Special care needs to be
taken to ensure that girls have equal access to
equipment.
6.2 Youth
6.2.1
Youth and Agriculture
Insights in this section are taken from a report done
by VSO (2013). Agriculture has largely remained
unattractive to young people, men and women, for a
variety of reasons:
Low returns on time and input investment
Seasonality of incomes
Lack of education/knowledge on modern farming
and marketing approaches.
Risks due to unpredictable weather and other
natural factors such as pests
Lack of innovations leading to reliance on traditional
labour-based production techniques
Concentration on a narrow range of agricultural
commodities mainly staple crops
Limited access to land among the youth
Further, school curricula have generally tended to
alienate the youth from careers in agriculture, and as
a result the negative effects of the youth study-towork transition have been more pronounced in the
agricultural sector than in any other sector. Further to
many youth, agriculture is an undertaking of the last
resort. Most youth consider agricultural work to be for
those who have not gone to school. Moreover, many
youths who grew up in the villages have an experience
of the long hours that go into traditional agriculture
without a commensurate return. They may therefore
believe their future lies with a different career that is
financially more rewarding and can be found in the
urban area. As a result, there is paltry involvement
of youth in agriculture. This Blueprint will suggest
mechanisms that can be used to change this.

6.2.2
Youth and Tourism
The main interface youth have with tourism in the country is sex tourism. Boys and girls even are often preyed
upon by older foreign tourists. As a result, these young
people end up being sexually assaulted numerously. It is
imperative that the Lake Region does the following:
Make it impossible for sex tourism to arise as a
product that attract sex tourists
Actively integrate youth into the tourism strategy of
the region
6.2.3
Youth and Education
FSD International makes the point that while Kenya
implemented universal primary education, the additional
costs of uniforms and books prevent many from
attending school. Families who are able to pay for these
primary school costs (and forgo the opportunity cost of
not having their children work) often cannot afford the
fees to pay for secondary school. Secondary schooling,
which properly equips children for the next level, is
extremely expensive and rarely accessible in underserved
areas. At the root of the problem is a drastic decline in
education funding and social services by the Kenyan
government and international donors.
The easily visible result is that a large percentage of
Kenyan youth only have a basic level of education, few
usable skills, and minimal employment opportunities.
The perceived poor education system and subsequent
idleness of these adolescents create a dangerous
combination that frequently leads to drug abuse, early
pregnancy, crime, and other at-risk behaviour. Similar to
education, a decline in spending on social services has
led to minimal care available to children who have been
orphaned, leaving them highly vulnerable to exploitation
and disease.
It is therefore crucial that the youth lens be applied to all
interventions detailed in this Blueprint.
71
6.2.4
Youth and Health
A report by USAID, the Ministry of Health, FHI 360
and Progress states that according to the recent
Kenya Demographic and Health Survey KDHS (200809) and the 2009 Census, Kenya has a broad based
(pyramid shaped) population structure with 63% of
the population below 25 years. Similarly, 32% of the
population is aged between 10-24 years; also 41%
of women and 43% of men of reproductive age
(15-49) are below 25 years of age. Due to their large
population, there is poverty and inadequate access to
health care. Many youth do not get the opportunity to
acquire life skills and consequently involve themselves
in risky behavior that expose them to social, economic
and adverse health events such as substance abuse,
school dropout, crime, social unrest, unemployment,
unintended pregnancy and life threatening sexually
transmitted diseases and infections. Many young
people are sexually active and are at risk of adverse
reproductive health outcomes that subsequently affect
achievement of life goals and optimum contribution
to national development. Many youth initiate sexual
intercourse early, have multiple partners and often do
not use protection during sex. In general, young
people are unlikely to seek health services, and when
they do they are likely to get inadequate services. The
health system has been slow to evolve to
accommodate the needs of this age group both from
program and service delivery perspectives. Further, low
budget allocation
in the Ministry of Health budget, limited resources for
better programming, inadequate physical infrastructure
for provision of services, and inadequate reproductive
health (RH) information for youth all affect youth health.
There is therefore clearly a need for there to be a youthfocussed element of the health strategy for the Lake
Region.
6.2.5
Youth and Financial Services
Currently in Kenya, there is no youth focus in financial
services which encourages those under the age of 18
to have accounts. Kenya does not appear to promote
financial inclusion and education among youth.
However, according to a report by AudienceScapes
(2010), youth in Kenya between the ages of 24-29 are
likely to be the sole financial decision makers in their
household. Although respondents 15-19 may have
less responsibility over financial decision making, their
need for information regarding financial services is
no less diminished. Educating this age group before
72
they become the head of household is crucial to the

well-being of their future dependents and to the
empowerment of a new generation of entrepreneurs.
Among the youth, word-of-mouth on sources of
finance tend to be friends and family members rather
than financial experts, such as bankers or financial
advisors. This raises the question of whether the word
of- mouth information received by most people is
accurate and reliable. According to study on youth and
financial services, the greatest challenge for expanding
access to financial services is prejudice of staff against
the youth segment; young people are still considered a
high-risk market (Storm, 2010). This is despite the fact
youth are already economically active. Most youth
contribute to household income through work in the
informal sector, in household-based enterprises, or in
family-based farming, fishing and petty trading activities
(Storm
2010).
Therefore, appropriate and inclusive financial services
for young clients can play a critical role in assisting their
transition from childhood to adulthood by equipping
them with the resources and support needed to become
productive and economically active members of their
households and communities.
6.2.6
Youth and ICT
According to the UN, access to ICTs such as computers,
mobile phones and the Internet, especially broadband,
remains a challenge for youth in the developing world.
In addition, the cost of ICT access (mobile phones and
Internet) is much higher as a proportion of per capita
income in these particularly disadvantaged countries
(UN). For young people, access to information
means better access to capital, markets and training
needed to pursue a career or studies; increased
participation in political processes, and recognition of
youth as responsible citizens in todays society. Youth
entrepreneurship, which is facilitated by access to
technology, the internet and information, is fast being
positioned as a solution for youth employment. While
the good news is that they are using ICT, the
challenge is to inspire them to use it to change their
world in a positive way. The Lake Region can help by
recognizing
and encouraging the accelerated use of information and
communication technologies by youth for employment
enhancement and in development strategies and
frameworks for the future.
6.2.7
Interventions Targeting the Youth
Agriculture
Re-brand agriculture: There is a need to address
the deep seated belief that agriculture and rural
areas are for those who cannot make a livelihood
anywhere else. Agriculture needs to be rebranded as
the new unexplored frontier for growth in business
opportunities.
Develop innovative financial packages: There is
need to incentivize entrepreneurs in agriculture
by developing financial packages and guarantee
schemes that would underwrite the risks involved in
such packages. The funds should also be sufficient
for the enterprises of choice
Encourage youth to use modern technologies both
in production and management of agriculture as a
business.
Short Term Training on agriculture for youth
Affordable loans for youth in agriculture from
government
Provide youth with subsidies on inputs
Promote enterprises that bring quick money
Establish more agricultural factories to employ youth
Tourism
Aim for at least 1/3rd representation of youth in
all levels of position in Community Based Tourism
programmes
Develop a robust anti-sex tourism policy
Education
The county should work with NGOs and others
to get support to teach core subjects to primary
and secondary school students. Subjects include
mathematics, business education, biology, chemistry,
physics, English, music, art and design, history and
civics, HIV/AIDS education, and geography.
Provide resources for a care centre for orphaned
children (3-4 years of age) that provide nutrition,
care, and recreational activities.
Organize recreational activities for students, such as
soccer, netball, basketball, volleyball, music, dance,
drama, choir, boy/girl scouts, field trips (to local
forests, prisons, and hospitals), farming activities
(e.g. gathering crops), and/or horticulture.
Provide counselling, tutoring, and recreational
activities to primary school children who have been
orphaned and are at severe risk of dropping out of
school.
Support community youth centre initiatives aimed

at providing families with the information and
tools they need to avoid and remove themselves
from common poverty traps. Initiatives include
educational theatre productions, group discussions
with peer educators, counselling, and training
toward income-generating activities.
Teach a variety of vocational subjects to children and
adolescents, such as carpentry, masonry, tailoring,
and basic construction techniques appropriate to
the region.
The National Youth Policy makes the following
recommendations that can be applied by County
governments(Ministry of Youth Affairs, 2006):
Advocate affordable and accessible quality primary,
secondary and university education
Identify, support and partner efforts of communities,
groups, non-profit organizations, places of worship,
especially in technical education;
Promote exchange of information, knowledge and
human resources between the public and private
institutions;
Increase bursary provision for needy students;
Improve existing training facilities for the youth;
Establish enough special schools and rehabilitation
centres to cater for the youth in special
circumstances.
Promote non-formal education and in-service
learning.
Promote and encourage skills development of the
youth through vocational training and imparting life
skills;
Enforce the re-admission policy for girls who drop
out of school due to pregnancy;
Strengthen civic education in schools
Develop links between training institutions and the
employment market to ensure such institutions offer
relevant skills
Protect informal sector innovations by patenting
them
Involve the youth in formulating and reviewing of
the education and training policy
Scrutinize the private training institutions to ensure
they meet the required academic and technical
standards
Strengthen family life education in schools
Create linkages between educational institutions
and the private sector through research, internship
opportunities and financing
73
Encourage the private sector to get involved in

technical education.
Health
Develop Health programs directed at youth
Foster Parental Involvement
Increase Adolescent/Youth Access to Services
In Schools: Curriculum-based interventions especially
on sexual and reproductive health, led by adults
Health services: Interventions with service providers
that include making changes either to the structure
or functioning of the facilities themselves and are
linked to interventions in the community to promote
the health services to young people.
Mass media: Interventions with messages delivered
through radio
and other media (e.g. print media); interventions
with messages delivered through radio and
television and other media (e.g. print media)
Geographically defined: communities Interventions
targeting youths using existing youth- service
organizations
Facility based programs that also have outreach
and provide information and services
Financial Services
Involve youth in market research and product
development
Develop products and services that reflect the
diversity of youth
Ensure that youth have safe and supportive spaces
Link youth to complementary non-financial services
ICT
Regional public service content should be available
online
The Lake Region should create an investment
climate that allows private companies to serve the
growing demand for ICT services
Integrate ICT into education and training
Provide wifi access in CBDs of all the major towns in
each county
Make it easier to access the internet: This will
increase youth access as well as youth setting up
internet cafs
Teach young people to be safe and responsible
users of this new technology, protecting them from
some of the risks of unfettered access, such as child
pornography, hate groups, stalkers, paedophiles,
and cyber bullies
74
Catalyse the economic empowerment and job

creation for youth through ICT: Youth work in
business process outsourcing (BPO) as customer care
agents, data entry clerks, transcribers and online
researcher; or as cyber caf attendants and mobile
phone and computer technicians.
6.3 Persons with Disability (PWDS)
Persons living with a disability constitute about 10% of
the Kenyan population. 80% of PWDs live under very
poor conditions in rural areas, in slums and informal
settlements at the edge of towns (Grut, 2006). Disability
can be defined as a physical, sensory, mental or other
impairments, including any visual, hearing, learning, or
physical incapability, which impacts adversely on social,
economic or environmental participation of an individual
(Ouku). People with disabilities have been denied justice
through lack of interpreters in courts of law, access
to social amenities (wheelchairs, specially designed
bathrooms, hearing aids etc.) buildings, transportation,
job and educational opportunities(Chomba, 2014). They
have little or no access to education health, employment, and rehabilitation. In addition, this segment of
society has been marginalized during distribution of
resources because they are seen as more of a liability
than asset (Chomba, 2014).
6.3.1
Persons with Disability and Agriculture
According to the Leonard Cheshire Foundation, people
with disabilities in Kenya face several challenges when it
comes to agriculture:
Lack of knowledge: Persons with disabilities may
have received little or no instruction or support in
agricultural activities.
Environmental barriers: Without adaptations, some
impairments may limit ability to undertake some
agricultural techniques; however, adaptations can
cost time, energy or money that individuals with
disabilities or members of their household are
unwilling or unable to provide.
Access to land: Growing space, land tenure and
money to cover initial project costs such as tools
and seeds, may be limited, and agriculture extension
activities or microcredit schemes may be reluctant to
include persons with disabilities.
Social and cultural stigma: Prejudice against persons
with disabilities may limit their ability to sell produce
or food.
There is a clear need for the Lake Region to consciously

incorporate PWDs into the agriculture strategy.
6.3.2
Persons with Disability and Tourism
No information could be found on the status of PWDs in
tourism in Kenya.
6.3.3
Persons with Disability and Education
Children with disabilities are less likely to go to
school than able bodied children. Grut makes the
point that
the lack of education for a PWDs is not only a question
of being able to afford to go to school, but also of
accessibility and suitability of the school itself (Grut,
2007). Most schools have not attempted to make the
classrooms accessible for children with physical
impairments or on wheelchairs. The transport to and
from by public buses or simply by walking along the
road is prohibitive. Often children do not go to school
because the child is not able to walk that far and there
is no possibility for transport. Ordinary schools have
huge classes and the teachers are rarely qualified for
dealing with the special needs of a disabled child.
Supplies of adapted teaching materials or equipment in
the ordinary schools are also lacking. If a disabled
child needs assistance during the day in a normal
school, the other students are the ones that are set to
help; if they refuse, the child is left on its own. Further,
in the school setting, students with disability are picked
on by non- disabled students. Lack of education for
poor families and their children with disabilities lead to
reduced
self-confidence and gives less knowledge of where to go
for help. Children with disabilities have no money to buy
a radio to listen to informative programmes and fewer
opportunities to utilize the help that is actually offered in
places such as special schools and special classes.
6.3.4
Persons with Disability and Health
According to a study, the reasons for an impairment
leading to a disability may be manifold: Genetic,
congenital, complications in pregnancy or during birth,
illness later in life, accidents or environmental conditions
(Grut, 2007). Since there has been no national survey on
disability done in Kenya, and even less knowledge exists
about their causes.
In terms of access to health services, PWDs have limited
access to health care often due to issues such as the
lack of money. Further for PWDs if they manage to get
to the hospital they are not guaranteed to see a
doctor as they often have to see specialists who are
few and
far between. Health care facilities often lack sufficient

personnel to address the needs of PWDs and children
with treatable conditions are not treated because of
lack of both knowledge and equipment. Health services
for PWDs in the rural areas are often dependent on
foreign medical personnel who visit on an irregular
basis.
Further, there is a thorough lack of assistive devices,
particularly in individually adapted devices (Grut, 2007).
Families with mentally disabled children do not receive
counselling on how to deal with the childs behaviour
constructively. For women with disabilities, sexual abuse
and harassment is a serious concern as they are easy
targets.
It is crucial that the Lake Region ensure there are
health services and facilities that speak to the needs of
PWDs.
6.3.5
Persons with Disability and Financial
Services
Handicap International makes the point that with
regards to PWDs and financial services there are two
main types of barriers (HI, 2006):
Internal barriers: Such as lack of business skills, lack
of formal education, or lack of self-confidence
External barriers: Such as inadequate financial
product design or attitudinal barriers (stigmas and
prejudices). In Kenya micro-finance PWD applicants
are told that disabled applicants cannot loans
because they are not thought to be unable to pay
back.
It is important the Regional Bank has financial products
that specifically cater to PWDs.
6.3.6
Persons with Disability and ICT The
Communications Council of Kenya lists the following as
challenges related to PWDs and ICT (CCK,
2012):
Lack of awareness about various disabilities and
their special requirements
Low levels of literacy (Education)
High Costs of adaptive ICT hardware and software
coupled with financial constraints by PWDs
Lack of ICT training specific to PWD.
Inadequate research data and information
Lack of Awareness of Adaptive ICTs among ICT
Service Providers and PWDs
Absence of clear intervention strategies at all levels
(Government, Stakeholders)
75
Lack of access of ICT infrastructure in rural areas

Lack of awareness and use of accessibility standards
in the design of ICT products, services and
information dissemination tools e.g. Websites and
other communication products and services.
Many PWD learners have a linguistic challenge in
the use of available adaptive software.
The Lake Region ICT strategy must have interventions in
ICT targeted at PWDs.
6.3.7
Interventions targeting People with
Disabilities
Agriculture
The following should be implemented in all counties of
the Lake Region:
The inclusion of disabilities in general agricultural
policies
Awareness raising around persons with disabilities
capacity to participate in agricultural activities
Knowledge of agriculture: Persons with disabilities
must be included in programmes available to
the general community that provide knowledge
and experience of both growing plants and
rearing animals, and repairing garden produce for
consumption or for the market
Disability specific adaptations: Low- cost adaptations
such as waist high sack gardens and keyhole
gardens, often allow persons with disabilities to be
more productive.
Access to resources: Provide access to a range of
often low-cost resources including information,
seeds and young animals, tools and land. Also of
importance is access to micro-credit and business
development opportunities
Tourism
Aim for representation of PWDs in all levels of
position in Community Based Tourism programmes
Make Tourist Sites accessible to PWDs
Education
The following is recommended for the Lake Region with
regards to enhanced access to PWDs (Kanyingi, 2012):
Learning institutions should take into account
the special needs of persons with disabilities with
respect to the entry requirements, pass marks,
curriculum, examinations, auxiliary services, use of
school facilities, class schedules, physical education
76
requirements and other similar considerations.

More special schools and institutions, especially for
the deaf, the blind and the mentally retarded,
should be established to cater for formal education,
skills development and self-reliance.
Make educational institutions accessible to PWDs,
with the provision of transport to and form schools.
Counties should work together to create an
integrated system of special and non-formal
education for persons with all forms of disabilities
and the establishment where possible of Braille and
recorded libraries for persons with visual disabilities.
Health
The Lake Region can learn from work done in South
Africa by CBM and implement the following to improve
PWD access to health services(CBM):
Awareness
Identify the number of people with a disability
within the community. This information can be
gathered, for example, through meeting local
people with a disabilities, census data, household
surveys and facilities for inclusive education.
Provide information regarding disability to health
professionals to ensure there is up-to-date
knowledge on prevalence and impact of disability.
Use people with a disability in awareness-raising
activities.
Highlight the role played by the health sector in
preventing impairment.
Encourage awareness-raising efforts by disability
service providers and Disabled Peoples Organisations
(DPOs) with their local health providers.
Advocate for the inclusion of disability within
broader health policies, strategies, programs and
monitoring mechanisms.
Ensure billboards, posters or other health promotion
information depicts people with a disability as part
of the general population.
Participation
Build relationships with people with a disability and
DPOs to gain their active participation within the
program.
Ensure direct consultation with people with a
disability for identification of their health-related
barriers.
Allocate a budget to cover travel and participation

expenses along with attendance time for people
with a disability and DPOs to actively be involved in
consultations.
Employ someone with a disability within the
health service to ensure active participation and
representation within the program.
Promote people with a disability as health care
workers to demonstrate their skills and capacity
along with improving representation of service
recipients.
Develop strong linkages between health and
disability stakeholders. Improve physical access
to health services including hospitals, community
health services and outreach clinics.
Build capacity of health care workers in
communicating with people with a disability.
Build capacity of health services in order to meet the
basic health requirements of early identification and
diagnosis of impairment, with appropriate referrals
to specialist medical and disability services.
Address financial barriers to health services for
people with a disability, embedding disability related
funding strategies within policies.
Pay particular attention to women and girls with a
disability as they are often severely marginalised,
experiencing numerous challenges, including sexual
and physical violence.
Sexual reproductive health programs should be
particularly aware and inclusive of the requirements
of women with a disability.
National health plans and strategies, or vertical
health programs, may not have considered the
specific needs of vulnerable groups. Work towards
greater inclusion of a disability perspective in all
future plans.
Address attitudes to improve participation of people
with a disability.
Use people with a disability and engage DPOs for
capacity development activities around attitude,
access and rights.
77
Employ a Twin Track Strategy

Mainstream
Disability specific
Promote disability inclusion in health programs.
Support initiatives that strengthen disability and specialist

medical services. Facilitate access to all disability and
specialist medical services including the cost of assistive
devices or medication.
Ensure all data collected during programs can be

disaggregated by disability, age and gender.
Work closely with local disability organisations to
Adopt universal design principles for all health services.

Ensure health facilities are built with accessible features,
including ramps, widened doorways, accessible toilets,
appropriate signage and adjustable height beds which
will be useful for a range of purposes.
Promote the active engagement of people with a

disability and DPOs in advocacy efforts with their local
health service providers.
Advocate for the inclusion of disability within broader

health policy, programs and monitoring
mechanisms.
Support initiatives that build disability inclusion into the
health training curricula. Engage people with a disability
in training efforts.
promote health services through their networks.
Map all specialist medical and disability services,

including referral processes, and disseminate widely in
varied formats.
Promote the early identification of disability in childhood
and establish appropriate referrals to disability services.
Support development and dissemination of clinical

Depict people with a disability as members of the general guidelines for commonly occurring impairment types.
population in health education and health promotion
messages.
Financial Services
In terms of increasing access to Financial Services to
PWDs, Handicap International suggests:
Inclusion in the Regional Bank through a variety of
schemes, including raising awareness among
microfinance staff, establishing partnerships for
cooperation, adapting methodologies, or simply by
supporting people with disabilities to submit their
loan applications.
Provision of financial services by organisations of/
for people with disabilities themselves. However,
this approach requires strong capacity building to
enable organisations of/for people with disabilities
to manage complex financial programmes. It also
requires long-term donor commitment, since low or
non-existent interest fees do not cover operational
and financial costs.
78
ICT
The CCK has a robust programme for strengthening
PWDs access to ICTs. The Lake Region should work
with CCK to implement the following in each county
and enhance PWD access to:
Communication Services (Mobile and Fixed Line,
Internet)
Information (libraries and tele-care centers)
Broadcasting services and Equipment
Postal and Courier Services
Websites
ICT education,
Financial information and services and;
Role and Importance of research and accessibility
standards
6.4 The Environment

6.4.1
The Environment and Agriculture
FSD International makes the point that environmental
sustainability is an increasingly important issue in
development, as those living below the poverty
line directly rely on the water and land resources
surrounding their communities. With only 8 percent
of arable land and 75 percent of Kenyas workforce
engaged in agriculture, Kenyan farmers face growing
problems of soil erosion, deforestation, water pollution,
and desertification. The drought in 2006the most
severe in independent Kenyas historydevastated the
country, leaving 3.5 million people with barely enough
food to survive (FSD 2012).
While global warming may be responsible for Kenyas
severe droughts, current farming practices are also
leading to the growth of environmental problems.
Rampant pesticide use contaminates water resources
while food production has declined due to soil erosion.
Weaning farmers off of unsustainable methods is a
difficult task in any circumstance, much less during times
of economic desperation. Farming and daily life are also
complicated by sharing the land with abundant wildlife.
Wildlife is integral to the ecosystem and securing the
conservation of native flora and fauna is critical to the
regions future on a number of levels (FSD 2012).
6.4.2
The Environment and Tourism
The Lake Regions tourism products are predominantly
nature based thereby warranting a need to consider
the impact tourism can have on the environment if
unmanaged, as has been the case in other tourist
sites in Kenya. Indeed research by the Kenya Institute for
Public Policy Research and Analysis indicates that
environmental degradation and deterioration has
negatively affected the quality of tourism products in
Kenya (Ikiara, 2002). Whilst there is growing recognition
that tourism does have some negative impacts on the
environment, there is little empirical evidence on the
subject. The researchers found that (Ikiara, 2002):
Despite the countrys policy advocating spatial
distribution of tourists in the country, tourism
marketing has continued to focus on the traditional
attractions, thereby perpetuating concentration
Impacts are most severe in crowded attractions
beaches have been polluted, coral reefs destroyed,
marine species adversely affected and vegetation
degraded
Environmental regulations are either ignored or not

effectively implemented
Mitigation efforts are constrained by weak
institutions, corruption, mismanagement,
inadequate political and administrative capacity
These issues can easily be repeated in the Lake Region
is there is no strategy to ensure the natural resources on
which tourism is based are use sustainably.
6.4.3
The Environment and Education
This pertains to educational activities that pertain to
the environment. Otieno makes that point that in
Kenya, Environmental Education (EE) in its traditional
forms is limited in meeting the immense challenges
posed by unsustainable patterns of development and
unsustainable life-styles (Otieno). New educational
approaches are required to motivate people to act
upon awareness to achieve the necessary changes of
life-styles. The Kenyan population needs to be sensitized
on the importance of using available natural resources
sustainably to cater t o present and future generations.
EE requires policies, legislation and regulations to be
enforced to ensure economic production processes
based on respect for natural and cultural capital
resources.
6.4.4
The Environment and Health Mbogoh
makes the point that a poor state of the environment
on the other hand undermines the internal capacity of
the human body to fight off disease, and also harbours
communicable
disease agents and vectors (Mbogoh, ). Pollution
may actually directly compromise human health
through poisoning or tainting the food chain. Poor
environmental management on the other hand
exacerbates negative health impacts such as disease
outbreaks and pollution while natural disasters such
as floods and droughts and significantly multiply the
cost of healthcare. Degraded environments place heavy
strains on the environments ability to meet medicine,
food, safe water, clean air and energy needs which are
central to good health. The risks resulting from natural
factors such as floods include pollution of drinking
water which leads to proliferation of disease vectors and
disease outbreaks such as cholera.
79
Drought causes extreme water scarcity for both rural

and urban households with devastating health impacts.
Poor disposal of human waster is another factor that
contaminates the environment and breeds disease.
Further, anthropogenic activities such as outdoor and
indoor air pollution, chemical pollution, environmental
degradation and marine pollution affect both rural and
urban settings.
High population growth and fertility rates, coupled
with the fact that the country is rapidly urbanizing
exert enormous pressure on natural resources and the
urban infrastructure in terms of health services, housing,
sanitation, education, water services, transport, and
waste management. Consequently serious collateral
environmental damage in terms of over-exploitation of
resources, pollution, unsustainable consumption and
production patterns are lead to waste accumulation and
ecosystem degradation.
The Lake Region is affected by environmental-related
disease and it is important that interventions are
stipulated to address this issue.
6.4.5
Interventions focused on the
Environment
Agriculture
The Kenya Government has developed guidelines to
integrate environmental concerns into agriculture
development projects in relation to management
of rangelands, forests, water quality, wildlife
and conservation of genetic resource. These are
recommendations that the Lake Region should integrate
in agricultural policies:
Establishment of early warning system to monitor
the weather conditions and advice farmers
appropriately
Inspection and quality control of farm inputs
Improved agricultural technology development and
transfer system through participatory extension,
private sector participation and farmer training
Ensuring a functional early warning system in all
drought prone districts and monitoring to include
NGOs and local communities
Inspection and quality control of farm inputs
through improved legislation and empowerment of
farmers associations
Control of crop and livestock pests and diseases
80
Tourism
Sustainable tourism should be enshrined in the
Tourism strategy of the region through the following
interventions:
Providing incentives to encourage industry initiatives
aimed at protecting the environment
Setting up a framework for information exchange
and for environmental awareness creation of all
stakeholders in the tourism industry
Marketing of green tourism products
Promoting activities that create awareness of the
need to conserve biodiversity
Enhancing tourism enterprises that promote
sustainable use of biodiversity resources
Supporting interventions that reduce conflicts
between people and biodiversity conservation
Education
The following is an outline of the type of interventions
that can be taken by all counties in the Lake Region on
Environmental Education (Otieno):
Raise the level of environmental awareness
Promote the co-ordination of EE activities
Recognize the special relationships that local
communities have with the environment and
ensure that their perspectives are represented in EE
initiatives.
Enhance and support the integration of EE into all
learning programmes, projects and initiatives.
Develop partnerships between stakeholders,
including the private sector, to promote and
increase the level and quality of EE
Promote technical cooperation, networking and
information sharing
Provide Lake Region citizens with a framework
within which to develop effective EE programmes.
Health
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends
the following be done to reduce environment-related
disease burden (WHO, 2005):
Conduct a baseline survey on environmental health
issues, health status and knowledge of personal and
environmental hygiene
Promote personal and environmental hygiene in
schools and communities.
Promote safe drinking water in homes and schools.
Support environmental health improvements in
targeted schools and communities
7. Key Risks and

Mitigation Strategies
There are key risks that have to be addressed in
order for coordinated regional development to
occur.
Unstable Political Leadership
There is a risk that counties and their leadership
structures may not have a shared vision for regional
transformation leading to the initiative deteriorating
into competition. Further, even within a given county,
political players may not all be on the same page, have
competing interests or seek to seed failure in Blueprint
participation for political gain. Creating consensus within
and between counties has to be deliberately cultivated.
Tension with Devolution
While some of the sectors targeted for investment in
this Economic Blueprint are largely devolved, some are
not. Health has been devolved, but has shown
serious gestation challenges as shown by constant
threat of strike by health workers. Agriculture and
infrastructure have not been fully devolved and
therefore their development will depend on the
national framework. So, while there great potential
for development unleashed by devolution, there is a
risk of County
and National Development Plan creating conflicting
priorities and creating a culture of confusion and unclear
visions. It is therefore important that the counties liaise
with structure such as the Lake Basin Development
Authority. There is a need to either use the LBDA or a
similar coordinating body tasked with synchronising
various county plans. The Lake Region Economic Vision
Secretariat could be such as body housed at Deloitte.
Poor Financial Management

A core component of making the Blueprint work is the
pooling of financial resources by the various counties
while implementing the Blueprint within a legal and
institutional framework. The creation of a Regional Bank
is the institution through which the finances will pass
and it is therefore crucial that the management of the
Bank is competent, corruption-free and transparent. If
there is a feeling that certain Counties are hogging the
management and direction of the bank this will sour
the unity of the Region and the capacity to implement
the Blueprint. It is therefore imperative that a clear
leadership structure of the Regional Bank be agreed
upon by all counties.
Tribal Tensions
Ethnic conflict and tribal tensions are on-going features
of the Kenyan socio-political landscape. This initiative
brings together different tribal groups, and they do not
necessarily have a shared political vision. If a perception
of tribal favouritism arises it will render the initiative
divisive and impotent. Therefore, there is an urgent
need for the constant awareness of regional and tribal
dynamics and the management of the same in a manner
that is equitable and fair.
81
8. Conclusion
This Economic Blueprint presents a strategy that can be

used to meet the objective of the creation of a
regional bloc and leverage economies of scale in the
region, including shared resources, in order to improve
the livelihoods of the people in the 10 counties of
the Lake Region. The Productive Sectors provide a solid
foundation on which the economy of the region can
be strengthened while the Social Sectors ensure that
the human capital of the region is invested in through
Education and Health interventions. Including the
Enabling Sectors of ICT, Financial Services and
Infrastructure identify catalysts for the development of
the Region in a specified manner to ensure the focussed
application of capital and human resources to the
development of the region. The Cross Cutting Themes
give voice to traditionally marginalised demographic
groups and concerns in a manner that guarantees that
their inclusion in the implementation of the Blueprint so
as to ensure the improvement in the quality of life for
all.
As mentioned, the Lake Region Economic Blueprint
aligns with the national development plans of Vision
2030 and its Medium Term Plan II for 2013-2017,
as well as the County Integrated Development Plans
for each county. The Economic Blueprint will be
implemented through ministerial committees led
by the counties with a specified county chairing the
implementation of a given sector. The counties will also
each have committees implementing activities of each
of the sectors in their county.
Deloitte will be an on-going source of expertise and
support for the Lake Region Economic Blueprint Project
by assigning experts in the various sectors to the
ministerial committees.
82
9. Addendum
After the process of doing the field work, research and

development of the Blueprint, the counties of Kericho,
Bomet and Trans Nozia indicated interest in joining the
initiative. They have since agreed to and signed up for
inclusion in the Lake Region Economic Blueprint.
Trans Nzoia is part of the food basket of Kenya, while
Kericho and Bomet grow Kenyas biggest export crop,
tea. The inclusion of these counties will add to the
population of the region making it an even bigger
trading bloc. The Blueprint will therefore be revised once
the three counties are visited to obtain the views from
the ground and obtain primary data.
83
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in Africa: An Overview, http://dspace.africaportal.org/jspui/bitstream/123456789/32120/1/WangweS_
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Perspectives on Education and Skills in Eastern Africa on Basic and Post-Basic Levels, http://www.norrag.
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unesco.org/eri/cp/factsheets_ed/KE_EDFactSheet.pdf
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www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/info-ngos/FIDAKenya41.pdf
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catalyst for the spread of HIV, African Journal of AIDS Research 2012, http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajar/
article/view/75069
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Kituyi-Kwake, A et al (2008), Analyzing ICT use and access amongst rural women in Kenya, International
Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, http://ijedict.dec.
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a3d32c26f6e5897fa43d9daf6a5e48f2.pdf
Raftree, Linda (2012), Empowering girls through information, communication and technology, The
Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2012/nov/27/improving-ictaccess-to-girls
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connect/84f6b48048855d698ee4de6a6515bb18/Gender+and+Economic+Growth+in+Kenya.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
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87
Contacts
Sammy Onyango
C.E.O, Deloitte East Africa
Emmanuel Lubembe
Director, Public Sector
Tel :
Direct:
Email :
+254 20 423 0000

+254 20 423 0240
sonyango@deloitte.co.ke
Physical Location
Deloitte Place
Waiyaki Way, Muthangari
P.O BOX 40092
Nairobi 00100 GPO
Kenya
Tel :
Direct:
Email :
+254 20 423 0000

+254 20 423 0569
elubembe@deloitte.co.ke

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The Lake Region

The Lake Region

Figure 1: Counties of the Lake Region

Acronyms and Abbreviations

2 Key Features of the Lake Region

3 Productive Sectors: Agriculture and Tourism

The State of the Western Kenya Tourism Circuit

4 Social Sectors: Education and Health

5 Enabling Sectors: Financial Services, ICT and Infrastructure

Information and Communication Technologies

6 Cross Cutting Themes

7 Key Risks and Mitigation Strategies

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

Kenya Vision 2030 is the countrys blueprint that charts

Nzoia, Mt. Elgon etc.

How the LREB can Catalyse Regional Growth By

Yala and Gucha among others. The presence of lakes in

The Lake Region Economic Blueprint

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Table 1: Summary of Investment Opportunities in the Lake Basin Region by Sector

Agricultural Commodities Exchange

Migori, Bungoma, Siaya, Kisumu,

Lake Region Tourism Circuit

Regional Specialist Hospitals

Regional ICT platform for Services

Lake Victoria Ring Road

The Lake Region Economic Blueprint

Kenya Vision 2030 is the countrys blueprint that charts

1.1 Vision 2030 and Development

Poor business environment: Prohibitive regulations

the most vulnerable; and

Productive Sectors: Agriculture and Tourism;

the Environment with the view of ensuring that the

2. Key Features of the

2.3 Socioeconomic features of the Lake Region

The Lake Region Economic Blueprint

This has led to a dominance of small size land holdings

counties are predominantly rural; this often translates

The natural resources of the region can also be

The Lake Region Economic Blueprint

Figure 1: Dominant cash and food crops in Lake Basin Region

Figure 2: Illustrative sugarcane farmer farming in Nyando zone

The Lake Region Economic Blueprint

Figure 3: Sorghum production (tons) for past five years to 2013

Figure 5: Annual consumption of sorghum in Kenya

Typically the sorghum produced is consumed by rural

This is particularly prudent because breweries such as

Figure 6: Sorghum imports and exports in Kenya in year 2007 to 2009

Figure 7: Countries importing Sorghum to Kenya

The Lake Region Economic Blueprint

Population pressure and decreasing size of farm

The average size of land holdings will continue to

system, and the continued use of poor agricultural

Research Institute (KARI), research findings often do not

The Lake Region Economic Blueprint

High Value Crop Farming

For successful implementation of the listed interventions,

Establishment of Cold Storage