A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF COUNTY GOVERNMENTS' ROLE IN FINANCING EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION PROGRAMMES: THE CASE OF NAROK COUNTY, KENYA

This paper intends to critically analyze the role of the county governments' role in financing pre-schools in the counties with a special reference to Narok County. The world bank ECDE project (1997-2003)strengthened the ECDE program through the construction of conference facilities of NACECE, the staffing, equipping and capacity building of DICECE, expansion of training opportunities for pre-school teachers and university students and strengthening community involvement and engagement. Through the Kenya Education Sector Support Program-KESSP(2005-2010), ECDE has benefited through the community support grant and the ECDE capitation grant that have played a strong pillar in strengthening ECDE. The role of financing education has always been a partnership between the governments, parents and communities. This has been the case even before the cost sharing policy (Kamunge,1988)came into force. The government continued to pay the salaries of teachers and education administrators and also fund some limited school facilities in line with the cost sharing policy. The parents' role was that of paying for private tuition, textbooks, materials and examinations. The community's role is to provide land for building the schools, put up physical facilities and ensure maintenance of the same. With the promulgation of the new constitution in Kenya in 2010,early childhood development and education was devolved from the central government to the county government as stipulated in the fourth schedule on the distribution of functions in the constitution. It is therefore necessary that a review of the role of county governments in financing ECDE centers be critically analyzed. This is with a view of examining the strategies put in place by the counties to support ECDE centers in Kenya. This paper reviews the Narok County government's plan to finance ECDE Centers.