ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF ANNUAL WORKPLAN AND BUDGET PROCESSES ON PERFORMANCE OF COUNTY FOREST CONSERVANCIES IN KENYA

Abstract

Annual Workplan and Budget (AWP&B) are documents prepared annually by public organizations as required by the government policy for funds allocation by the treasury. It presents financial needs of an organization and the activities to be implemented in a given financial year. However, funds allocated to public organizations usually do not normally meet the threshold of the presented AWP&B for many organizations. There is normally a deficit in the funds allocated. This financial deficit therefore necessitates a strong enabling AWP&B to enhance negotiation of more funds from the exchequer. One glaring issue is that the allocating committees of treasury may not prioritize the activities of the organization highly and thus may allocate very little funds. Meanwhile, as all public organizations vie for the same ‘basket of funds’, there is need for strong presentation to ensure enough funds are given to an organization. This study analyzed the impact of AWP&B processes on performance of County Forest Conservancies (CFCs) in Kenya. Specifically, the study determined conformity of the amalgamated AWP&B of Kenya Forest Service (KFS) to requirement by the treasury as stipulated in Medium Term Budget (MTB) process for funds allocation from the exchequer, evaluated the performance of CFCs against their Performance Contract (PC) targets as indicated in their AWP&B, derived correlation between funds allocation and performance of CFCs and formulated AWP&B structure that will be effective and efficient to negotiate for more funds from the exchequer and enable attainment of PC targets. 17 Counties were sampled out of a population of 47 and inferential statistics employed in the analysis. Findings on objective one showed some non-conformities resulting to ineffective negotiations for adequate fund allocation to KFS by the Treasury. On performance evaluation, Chi-square (χ2) test statistics results showed that the calculated value (79.81) was greater than the critical value (5.99) at 95% (α = 0.05) implying significant differences between CFCs performance and expectations. Results on objective three using Linear Programming (LP) model (L&IP Software on optimization) provided optimal solution on performance for positive output. In conclusion, the study noted that improved AWP&B will enhance effective and efficient base for negotiation for more funds from the exchequer and increase the level of satisfaction of performance of activities done by the CFCs. In recommendation, the management to put in place effective and efficient AWP&B (by continuously looking at outputs vs inputs) that will fully conform to requirement by the treasury guidelines for funds allocation and actively engage exchequer for increased funding level base for delivery of AWP&B.