USAID and West Pokot County Sign MoU to Guide Collaboration

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), represented by the mission Director of USAID Kenya and East Africa, Mark Meassick, and West Pokot County, represented by the county governor Prof. John Lonyang’apuo signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) earlier this month. The MoU is an agreement that provides a framework to guide the new collaboration between USAID and West Pokot County. It includes the following areas: alignment of activities, plans, and budget process for designing new programs and priorities with county teams; Joint implementation and monitoring of activities and working together to address program implementation challenges. The thematic areas captured include health, disaster preparedness, environment, education, budget and planning.

USAID AMPATH Uzima, the HIV implementing partner, was invited for the memorandum signing and a subsequent technical annexes meeting. The technical meeting served as the starting point for the MoU implementation plan co-developed to transform the USAID and West Pokot County relationships from transactional to transformation. The objective of the technical annexes meeting was to discuss the substance of the USAID-County partnership and review the collaboration framework process. Further, the forum initiated a dialogue on the development of the sector annexes between specific USAID activity and the relevant departments of the West Pokot County Government. USAID AMPATH Uzima and the other implementing partners in the county play an integral part in implementing this non-binding agreement and ensuring a smooth transition of the activities in the coming years.