Lodwar, 19th July 2023 (Governor’s Press Service) – Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai has assured partner organizations of his commitment to support the implementation of programmes in Turkana County.

In a meeting today with a delegation from UNICEF, led by Team Lead of the Mission Dr Robert Simiyu, the Governor stated that Turkana’s development needs were vast and the contribution of development partners was critical for the success of his vision for the county.

“Turkana has many challenges which require more resources beyond the county budget to address. We will work with development partners to achieve key priorities in the nine-point agenda,” he said, asking partners to align programmes to the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) and the Nine-Point Agenda.

The Governor appreciated the contribution of UNICEF in developing Turkana’s water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), child, and social protection sectors. He stated that Turkana was among the leading counties in the development of modern Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centres and informed the team of plans to construct 29 new centres and employ additional teachers this year.

Governor Lomorukai raised concern about the over-concentration of partner organizations working in Kakuma in refugee support, insisting that programmes needed to be extended to other sub-counties.

Dr Simiyu informed the Governor of a new partnership programme called “Prospects” in collaboration with the Embassy of the Netherlands, in refugee-hosting counties of Turkana and Garissa. He revealed that the project will run from July to December on a testing phase before its launch in January next year for four years.

He assured the Governor of UNICEF’s commitment to supporting the success of the Nine Point Development Agenda and the integration programme between refugees and host communities.

Deputy Governor Dr John Erus asked UNICEF and other partners to support growing the capacity of rescue centres in Turkana to improve child protection and rehabilitation efforts. He acknowledged the contribution of UNICEF in resource mobilisation in Turkana.

County Executive for Water Services Faith Aletea identified supplying water during droughts to schools and health facilities and strengthening water governance systems as areas of a potential partnership between UNICEF and the County Government.

Chief Officer for ECD and Social Protection Etelej Korea asked for support in recruiting and remuneration assistant caretakers to address the teacher shortage and operationalise the county’s web-based data and information management system, TECDEMIS.

Senior County staff in the meeting included Deputy County Secretary Joseph Nyang’a, County Executive for Education Leah Audan, Chief Officers Simon Ekai (Water Services) and Paul Lodung’a (Office of the Governor); Ag. Directors Paul Lotum (Water Services) and Simon Wangila (Budget).

The UNICEF delegation included the Chief of Lodwar Field Office Rotuno Kipsang.