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November 10, 2022

 THE CENTRE HOLDS STRATEGIC PLAN STAKEHOLDERS’ VALIDATION WORKSHOP AT SAROVA PANAFRIC HOTEL, NAIROBI

The Centre recently held its strategic plan 2022-2027 stakeholder validation meeting at Sarova Panafric Hotel in Nairobi. When the NARC government came to power in 2002, it became mandatory for public institutions to prepare strategic plans for their organizations. The second cycle of strategic plans were prepared and aligned to the 1st MTP of the Kenya Vision 2030 in 2008, while the third generation of strategic plans were prepared and ran from the year 2012 to 2017, Currently, institutions in government are implementing their 4th strategic plans which ran from the year 2018 and ended in 2022.

We expect that from year 2023 to 2027 all public institutions will prepare their strategic plans aligned to the 4th MTP (Mid Term Plans) of vision 2030.For the Centre, this is the 2nd strategic plan that is expected to run for a period of 5 years from the year 2022 to 2027. The strategic plan will give the Centre direction in terms of decisions that will need to be made and actions to be taken towards implementing its mandate. The strategic plan will ensure that the Centre remains efficient and effective, ensure that we are doing the right things in the right way, that what needs to be done is clearly defined, when it must be done, and identify those responsible for doing it. The senior leadership of any organization is required to lead when it comes to defining the direction the organization needs to take.

Additionally, they must adapt to the environment within which the organization is operating. That is the reason the team and the different stakeholders assembled at the Sarova Panafric Hotel on 7th September 2022 to ensure that as the Centre gears towards implementing its 2022-2027 strategic pan, it will not be doing so in a vacuum but will have on board key stakeholders. Stakeholders and staff listen attentively during the validation meeting. The strategic plans will ensure that the Centre will move from crisis management to sensible planning. Having a strategic plan in place will guide what needs to be done first, we will remain accountable to stakeholders, and measure progress in terms of where we are, what needs to be done. As we commence the implementation, we will need to ask the following key questions.

  1. Where are we as NCIA
  2. What is our mandate-does the plan address the mandate the Act of 2013 has given us
  3. Where do we want to go
  4. What is the vison we have
  5. What is it that we need to do to achieve our vision and who does what
  6. How do we know we are there We will also need to have a sound monitoring and evaluation system which will enable the Center to know where it is during the implementation period.

The reason for presenting the strategic plan document for validation was therefore because we want to strengthen the capacity of NCIA to deliver services. The strategic plan will also provide a framework that will enable us mobilize resources because as public institutions, we rely on the exchequer making us constrained in terms of resources. What we get from the exchequer is not adequate to implement the strategies and the actions we have in place, and it will therefore be important to bridge the gap through resource mobilization. The strategic plan being a resource mobilization tool will therefore address the issue of funding gaps.

The most important reason for presenting the strategic plan for validation to our stakeholders was however to present the vision of the Centre to them, having developed the strategic plan inhouse makes it prudent to present the draft document to key stakeholders for the to provide feedback on key the questions highlighted above. In strategic planning, partnerships are also important. Without partnerships, implementation would be challenging especially challenges of raising funds to meet the funding gaps. The purpose of the validation meeting is therefore to establish whether the key issues have been captured and meet the expectation of stakeholders. The strategic planning process started when the Registrar set up a strategic planning committee that produced a draft document which was subsequently presented to stakeholders for validation, reaction and feedback to what management and staff had proposed in form of the draft.

During the validation meeting, the Registrar informed the stakeholders that the Centre was set up in 2013 to primarily develop a framework for alternative dispute resolution both in the domestic and international markets. He noted that one of the objectives of the Vision 2030 was to develop a system of justice that provided for the judicial processes and the non-judicial processes of resolving disputes. From that primary mandate, the Centre since 2013 had continued to implement its mandate through its 1st strategic plan (2017-2022). He noted that the cycle of the plan had come to an end and the Centre was now rolling over to the 2nd strategic plan (2022-2027).The Registrar Mr. Lawrence Muiruri making his presentation during the stakeholder validation meeting He observed that stakeholders were groups of institutions with an interest in what the Centre was doing, how we do it and where we will be getting to as enshrined in the vision. He noted that having looked at the document from an internal perspective, interacting with stakeholders will help the organization to see things differently and improve the document. It will also provide an independent external view of what the Centre has been doing internally.

NCIA Chairperson Ms. Jacqueline Oyuyo giving her remarks during the stakeholder validation meeting. In her remarks, the Chairperson of the Board Ms. Jacqueline Oyuyo noted that the initial strategic plan (2017-2022) was meant to let the public know that the Centre was open for business and that the 2nd cycle of the plan will lay out the Centre’s intention to pick up from where the 1st cycle left off while continuing with the next phase of the organization’s natural progression. She observed that the strategic plan presented for validation was a roadmap of how the Centre was going to execute its statutory mandate in the next 5 years. It is an embodiment of the commitment of the Board of Directors in exercising its statutory mandate, which is the promotion of alternative dispute resolution and progressing the ease of doing business, aimed at encouraging foreign investment inflows, which will contribute to the growth of the Kenyan economy. ‘‘As we promote Kenya as a hub for dispute resolution, we should promote the country as a choice jurisdiction territory for dispute resolution.

The strategic plan sets out our strategic vision, priorities for the Centre, contains immediate, mid-, and long-term strategies for guiding the Centre in executing our mandate and support economic growth through allocation of risk involved in disputes’’ observed the Chairperson. She further noted that the draft plan was informed by lessons learnt from the 1st strategic plan and emerging issues in the last five years, global best practices, and input from stakeholders.’’ It provides a coherent and systematic roadmap upon which operations of the Centre will be anchored. It contains strategies and programmes, and activities aimed at promoting alternative dispute resolution’’ noted Ms. Oyuyo. She concluded by informing the stakeholders that it is a requirement, being a state corporation, for the validation process to be participatory as it provided an opportunity for key stakeholders to discuss the proposals, introspect, interrogate, and improve the plan with a view to ensure that the Centre incorporates the input of stakeholders of the internal dispute resolution process