Inclusive Growth Through Decent Work in the Great Rift Valley

The private company Akiira Geothermal Ltd is establishing a power plant near Naivasha, Kenya. The plant energy output will be a substantial benefit to Kenya’s growing economy. For the neighbouring pastoral communities to also benefit, conscious and pro-active measures will need to be taken to enable them to have a share of the benefits of the economic growth. Akiira Geothermal Ltd is determined that the investment will have a positive impact on the adjacent communities in terms of local content and job creation during the construction and operational phases, despite the lack of locally available skills. To this end, Akiira will use part of its revenues to support community engagement, skills development and job creation in the immediate communities surrounding the geothermal plant in response to the challenges experienced in the region – in addition to in-kind contributions. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) offered to provide the loan guarantee as a support of generation of sustainable and renewable energy. In addition, the embassy has entered into a Public Private Development Partnership (PPDP) with the International Labour Organization (ILO) as the coordinator of this partnership. At the same time, the ILO will be entering into an agreement with ForumSyd, a Swedish Non-Governmental Organization with experience working with communities in and around Naivasha, for implementation of one of the expected outcomes. Overall, the PPDP will aim at improving the living conditions in and around the project areas, i.e. Narok and Nakuru counties, by acting as a catalyst to boost decent job creation through business development, skills development and community engagement. It is foreseen that this partnership can become a model for replication to achieve inclusive growth in the extractive industries and other industries in Kenya and beyond. The immediate objectives of the PPDP are to create decent jobs from better skills by vocational training centers; develop new and improve on growing businesses resulting from new relevant skills, business development services and access to finance, promoting the rights of workers in the local communities and increase capacity of communities to lobby for increased access to public and social services e.g. water, education, health, sanitation. While Akiira Geothermal Ltd and the Swedish Embassy agreed to jointly invest in a Public Private Development Partnership to address development challenges near the power plant, the Kenyan public partners’ involvement and commitment is vital for ownership and replication potential. As such, the total budget for the PPDP includes both the partners’ financial and non-financial contributions e.g. with time and resources.

Project symbol

KEN/17/01/SWE

Admin unit

CO-Dar es Salaam

Start date

10/05/2018

End date

30/06/2024

Total allocation

7123393

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

7089511

Development Partners

Sweden, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

Country/Countries

Kenya

Outcomes

Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises for inclusive growth and decent work