Data analytics experts are proposing prioritizing of key indicators in the education and health sectors to enhance transparency and accountability in the use of public funds.
This comes on the back of a new report by global data analytics company IDinsight and the Gates Foundation that reveals significant gaps in integrating financial and non-financial data within Kenya's health and education sectors.
The study carried September 2023 and June 2024, revealed a disconnect between investments made in health and education sectors in comparison to the registered outcomes.
"The government should prioritize fill key indicators for every ministry department and agency that can help in collection of the most useful data," said Dr Martin Atela, project director at IDinsight during the release of the findings.
Currently, the government through the National Treasury utilizes a program-based manual that includes over 1,000 indicators, which Dr Atela notes was burdensome for public servants, especially at the facility level.
"For example, a clinician who is supposed to be attending to patients, taking medical records, and tracking disease burdens, is also expected to fill out extensive forms. What time do they have to focus on patient care," he posed.
Once the government comes up with key indicators, the next step would be to fully digitalize such that the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) captures both financial and non-financial data.
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The study which sampled Nakuru, Kilifi, Nairobi and Trans Nzoia counties established that overall, the integration of financial and non-financial health data is limited and when it happens, it is ad hoc.
It established that although Kenya's health and education sectors have relatively similar accountability frameworks, the education sector has a better coordinated decentralized accountability structure.
"We are actually not seeing significant gains in health outcomes despite a lot of investments in the sector, and these sub-optimal outcomes are linked to a lack of integration of financial and non-financial data," said Dr Frida Ngoju-Ndongwe, IDinsight regional director for east and southern Africa.
The findings established that the education sector which consumes up to 30 percent of the national annual budget is served by a myriad of systems that are not networked.
"The data from all these systems is not largely used adequately for decision making because it is collected manually and also there is no clear responsibility on which stakeholder is responsible for education outcomes," said Samuel Kiautha, lead consultant for education at IDinsight.
The data analytics experts reckon that by addressing these issues, Kenya can significantly improve the quality and efficiency of health and education sectors and achieve better outcomes for its citizens.
