Terms of Reference: Consultancy to undertake Training of County Officials on Digitalization – Habitat for Humanity Kenya

Habitat for Humanity Kenya seeks to hire a Consultant/Consulting firm with the capacity to conduct a training for the county officials on the following topics:

1. Digitization of land information system.
2. Mapping of county resources in Homabay county
3. Introduction

Habitat for Humanity Kenya (HFHK) is among the 70 country affiliates of HFH International. In Kenya, we were registered in 1982 as Non-Governmental Organization, with the goal of enabling low-income families access decent and affordable shelter. In the last 40 years, HFHK has supported more than 56,000 families across 9 counties in Kenya through housing micro-finance and direct construction. We are currently operating in Laikipia, Homabay, Kisumu, Tana River and Machakos. Our Business Plan (2020-2025) has outlined four Programmatic Areas namely: Financing for owner-led construction; Settlement-Based Practice; Secure Land Tenure; Disaster Risk Reduction & Response (DR3). The goal of our Programmatic Area on Settlement Based Practice is to see safe, resilient, and healthy communities settled within quality housing and with access to basic services and infrastructure.

BACKGROUND

The global trend over the last few decades has been to migrate from paper-based information systems to digital information systems to improve efficiency and accessibility of information. An automated land information management system is preferred because it has the following advantages: reduced duplication, data accuracy, increased security, strengthened transparency and accessibility, reduced revenue leakages; and easy accessibility of statistical data collection.

National Land Policy, Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2009, addresses issues of land management in Kenya and it particularly, recognizes security of tenure for all categories of residents. To achieve this, the policy recognizes the need to improve the quality and quantity of land information through automation both at the national and county levels. This is because information on land in Kenya is currently held manually, thus, occasioning inefficiency, delay, fraud, and loss of revenue.

The policy proposed the establishment of an efficient National Land Information System, which is computer-based, efficient, user friendly, accessible, affordable, transparent and gender sensitive. The implementation of the “Ardhi Sasa” by the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning, was, therefore, in line with the National Land Policy. Similarly, the Kenya’s Economy Blueprint recognizes that a digitalized land records will reduce fraud and unlock value.

The land records in Homa Bay County are currently largely paper based. The need to digitize the lands records in Homa Bay County is based on the requirement under section 17 of the Access to information Act, which requires every public entity to maintain its records in an accurate, authentic and in a manner that facilitates the right of access to information. Specifically, section 17(3) (c) of the Access to information Act, requires that every public entity shall not later than three years from the date from which the Act comes into force, computerize its records and information management systems to facilitate more efficient access to information. This requirement is critical since it is meant to fast-track computerization and switch to electronic systems in Government.

HFHK conducted a needs assessment survey in Homa Bay County to identify the factors that prevents the achievement of security of tenure in the county and develop a comprehensive capacity building plan with the aim to address the identified needs. Habitat for Humanity Kenya in consultation with the relevant stakeholders organized the stakeholder consultations and a validation forum, bringing together the key stakeholders from the land registries, Gender department staff of the county governments, youth network, chiefs, Luo elders, NGOs such as Plan international, Kelin, Action Aid, Members of the paralegal network and Homabay Peoples Voices (HOPEVO). During this forum, participants provided their perspectives and validated the draft Report on the land tenure and security in Homa Bay County, based on their professional experience. The findings were incorporated into a report and shared to the stakeholders, and the duty bearers in Homabay county. During our further consultation with the officials from the Ministry of lands Housing and urban development we identified other training needs that include:

• Digitization of land information system.
• Lack of capacity to formulate land policies in physical planning.
• Inadequate capacity for mapping of county resources e.g. schools, Hospitals, Agricultural areas and ECD schools.

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

MAIN PURPOSE

The need to digitize the lands records in Homa Bay County is based on the requirement under section 17 of the Access to information Act, which requires every public entity to maintain its records in an accurate, authentic and in a manner that facilitates the right of access to information.

The overall goal of this exercise is to support the county government of Homabay to digitize the land information management system.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

• Enhancing the technical skills required for digitizing land management systems

• Improved data management practices to ensure the accurate collection, storage, and retrieval of land-related information

• Increasing efficiency and accuracy of land management processes.

SCOPE OF WORK

To conduct training on digitization of land information system and mapping of county resources e.g., schools, Hospitals, Agricultural areas and ECD schools.

DELIVERABLES AND TIMING

The consultancy is expected to start working on the responsibility on the 15th January 20234 for a duration of at least 1 week. Before carrying out the assignment, the consultant is required to submit an inception report and defend the delivery plan through presentation to HFH Kenya management team as shall be scheduled by HFH Kenya during contracting of the assignment. The consultant is expected to work very closely with the HFH Kenya staff and the trainees. The deliverables of this assignment are as follows.

1. Provide an inception report describing in detail how the consultant plans to deliver the training.
2. Develop training Manual/materials.
3. Conduct the training workshop.
4. Evaluation Assessment of the Participants.
5. Development of a Training Report.
6. Support in organizing an exchange Visit to Makueni as an output of the training.

The consultant will also be required to deliver to HFH Kenya all training materials including and limited to:

• Soft copies of the training materials.
• Any other non-consumable documents/items that will be used during the planned consultancy.

QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE

The potential Consultant should have the following qualifications.

• A master’s degree (MSc or MA) in GIS, Geospatial Information Science, Remote Sensing, or a closely related field.
• At least 5 years proven experience in conducting training on digitization.
• A reliable and effective analyst with extensive experience in conducting analyses and a proven record of delivering professional results.
• Excellent computer skills
• Excellent presentation and report writing skills.