Field visit report – KEEP 112654

Dates of visit: 30 June to 15 July 2015

Date: August 4 2015

Visit team
30 June to 3 July 2015
Francis Maingi ISAK, Lead Trainer
Bedan Leboo ISAK, Assistant Trainer
Victoria Mbuvi ISAK, Assistant Trainer
Carlo Ekeno Driver, Cordaid
Sophie Randall Office Manager, Cordaid

5-10 July 2015

Hilda Mawanda Finance Officer, Cordaid
Molu Tepo Project Manager, Cordaid (reporting to work station)
Fidelis Mutiso Finance Assistant, Cordaid (reporting to work station
Alex Musindalo Driver, Cordaid

12-15 July 2015

Alex Musindalo Driver, Cordaid
Keller Machanja Finance & Administration Assistant, Cordaid
Sophie Randall Office Manager, Cordaid
Morris Njagi Project Engineer, Cordaid (reporting to work station)
Francis Maingi ISAK, Lead Trainer

Report by Sophie Randall (additional infor provided by Hilda Mawanda)

Introduction
Cordaid has received funding from UK Aid to carry out activities that aim at increasing resilience to climate change
impacts through school based interventions in Samburu County. To ensure that primary school students remain in
school throughout the year, a number of strategies will be employed to improve their enrolment, attendance and
retention in schools.

The first activity that was done was the construction and installation of energy efficient stoves. In order to ensure
sustainability, a 14 day training of trainers (ToT) for local artisans was planned to take place in Maralal town from
1-14 July 2015. Local artisans who will be trained on how to construct and install the stoves have been identified
by both Cordaid and IIRR from the 3 sub counties i.e. Samburu North, Central and East. The training was
organized in two parts: theory (2 days) and practical (12 days). In the practical training, trainees would get a
chance to construct and install energy efficient stoves together with 2 trainers from ISAK (Improved Stoves
Association of Kenya). Once the artisans/trainees complete the training and are confirmed to have received the
required knowledge, they will be engaged in constructing and installing energy efficient stoves in the remaining
Cordaid and IIRR schools under KEEP project. They can also be used by other institutions and individuals as they
are now a County resource.

At the time of planned training, Cordaid had engaged 4 staff that would be involved in the implementation of the
project starting from 1 July 2015 are the Project Manager, Finance & Administration Assistant and a driver. The
Project engineer was started on 6 July 2015.
Objectives of the visit
30 June to 3 July 2015
o Represent Cordaid for 2 days in the Training of Trainers theory part
o Receive materials transported from Nairobi for construction and installation of energy efficient stoves
o Organize procurement of local materials and logistics for the practical training part of TOT (participants,
materials movement to schools, decision on which schools to start with and procurement of local materials)
o Coordinate accommodation arrangements and issue per diems to participants

5-10 July 2015

o Support to activity of improved Jiko that was underway

o Introduce new staff to County officials and to Caritas Maralal
o Groundwork for Baseline survey
o Continue orientation of new staff
o Conclude on capacity assessment of Caritas Maralal

12-15 July 2015

o Induction of newly employed Samburu office staff
o Participate in the closing off of training of trainers training
o Deal with loose ends; materials, logistics, transport
o Visit to one of the schools to get in touch with work done by trainers/trainees during the training of trainers
on energy efficient stoves

Prior preparations made

o Purchase and transportation of clay products to construct and install energy efficient stoves
o Purchase transportation of hardware materials
o Purchase and transportation of inserts (for domestic stoves)
o Hiring of accommodation/hall for training of trainers (theory and practical parts)
o Engagement of 1 lead trainer and 2 assistant trainers

Lessons
1. Procurement is key in this project. We need to collectively successfully deliver the project and so it would
be prudent to hold regular meetings (including Molu on skype if possible) so to ensure that any challenges
are dealt with in a timely manner
2. Involve all staff who are responsible for procurement from the word go. Office manager took a bit of time
to acclimatize to the needs of KEEP project since she was not part of meetings with ASI as well. In the
absence of this, a deliberate internal session be held to ensure all are well informed of requirements of
such projects
3. Another induction session to be organized for staff in Samburu & Caritas Maralal now that some activities
have been implemented especially on procedures
4. Security situation in Baragoi. Utmost care needs to be taken to ensure safety of team and procedure
dealing with this be clarified as soon as possible
5. Mobilization for activities- several hitches were experienced because schools were not aware of the
activity. Need to ensure mobilization is well done before the event to enhance its acceptability.

Output
1. 1 ToT for 10 trainees completed (for Cordaid/IIRR)
2. 11 stoves constructed (for Cordaid/IIRR)
3. New staff introduced to County Education and NDMA
4. Part 1 of induction completed for new staff and Caritas Maralal
Visit schedule

Date Activity Comments

30/6/15 Travel to Maralal together with 3 Due to lack of storage space in the pickup, space was limited.
trainees All passengers had to carry their luggage on their laps because
pick up does not have a cover on the back or space to keep
luggage
1/7/15 Day 1 theory training Meet participants, coordinate conference/accommodation
arrangements and attend theory training
Arrival of materials from Nairobi Coordinate off loading and storage arrangements. Off-loading
took the whole day, truck had to leave the following day
2/7/15 Day 2 theory training Final day of training
Develop logistics plan for materials and trainees
issue per diem to trainees arrange transportation of materials
to Baragoi
arrange transportation of trainees to Baragoi
3/7/15 Finalize loose ends logistics Checked local stones, met with transporter.
Travel to Nairobi Clarification from lead trainer that stone size should be 4*6
and not 6*9, Baragoi stones already purchased by this time
5/7/15 Travel to Maralal Hilda, Alex, Fidelis and Molu
6/7/15 Meet Cordaid and Caritas Maralal - Hilda, Fidelis and Molu
discuss project expectations Philip, Espila

Cordaid/Caritas Maralal travel to Hilda, Alex, Fidelis, Molu & Espila – the jiko had been started
Soru Adoru school and assess and we met the team still in the process of completing the
progress of jiko same. The school used 3 stones before and this was therefore
an improvement from what they had
the team also had a brief introduction in the teachers staff
room – the headteacher was not in on this day

7/7/15 Meet CDE Mr James Nyagah
Review the ASI documents with so that they are aware of the documents available for
Fidelis and Molu
My James Nyagah (County Director of Education) was
introduced to the project and a copy of the letter was given to
him so that he can do an endorsement letter, to precede the
Baseline survey. This letter was received
reference, and reporting requirements
ToR Baseline was completed together with new staff – guided
new team on how this is done
Completed list of items that Maralal office needs – Fidelis
shared with Nairobi office

Meeting NDMA County Director
8/7/15 Meet Cordaid and Caritas Maralal -
Mr Alex Leseketeti of NDMA County Director (not with Hilda,
who was unwell at this time) and he was pleased that Cordaid
was implementing this project in Samburu County. He would
invite Cordaid to future County Steering Group meetings
Additional documents were shared with ASI, so these had to
reviewed together
Discussed also Q2 plans
Discussed monitoring frameworks
The missing information for Capacity assessment of Caritas
Maralal was received – now the assessment can be concluded
The accounting documents from Caritas Maralal for the rapid
Date Activity Comments

assessment conducted was received. The rapid assessment

was done so as to identify the initial 5 schools that were to
benefit from the Jikos, and be used as practical training
centers for the Training of Trainers for the Artisans

9/7/15 Courtesy call to IIRR offices
Visit Soru Adoro School
Ludongokwe schools
Travel to Isiolo
10/7/15 Travel to Nairobi
11/7/15 KBP booked for service
12/7/15 Travel to Maralal
13/7/15 Working in the office
Engineer, lead training and Keller baseline survey
travel to Baragoi, Alex involved in
baseline survey
14/7/15 Induction of staff
Attend closing off of TOT
15/7/15 Travel to Nairobi
Carlos reported an incident in Baragoi and he was advised on
procedure of how this is to be reported and recorded
and The jiko in soru adoro was now complete and managed to
speak with headteacher
The jiko in Ludongokwe was ongoing – however, it was noticed
that the school already had an energy saving jiko even if it was
not working well
Car was booked for service on July 11 – and so trip was
reduced by one day
Started after 12.00 noon because lead trainer was arriving
from Wajir on the same day
Induction not carried out because staff were involved in
Induction took half day, not possible to cover all items because
we were expected to close the training in the afternoon
Started late because it took time to decide on final
arrangements for the stove not constructed in Lkuroto Primary
and the 4 other stoves that needed to be constructed and
installed by all trainees

Observations/conclusions
Project implementation: Procurement
1. Involvement of the procurement/logistics section in the ASI project came in late and it was a challenge for
the office manager to understand the structure and requirements for materials and logistics. All prior
arrangements/meetings had been attended by program and finance staff. Efforts were made to understand
material requirements for the project and procurement procedures within a short period of time

Recommendation: Include staff directly involved in procurement in training and meetings that are dealing with
procurement. If this is not possible staff that attend these trainings/meetings should arrange a one on one session
in order to pass over knowledge/information

It will also be important in the coming months to clarify procedures; procurement function should be supportive to
project implementation more so for this project because most activities will rely on materials being purchased
early enough. Delays in responding to requests from the field or information requests could bring about a ripple
effect to project implementation.

2. Prequalification of suppliers was not done for Maralal sub office apart from the requirement for fuel stations
which had been identified earlier. Need for prequalification for other materials in the field was not clear by the
time we were making adverts in the papers.

Recommendation: prequalification of suppliers to be carried out in Maralal, discussions to be held on the best way
to quicken the process. This is urgent. Action – Sophie
3. Storage of materials from both Cordaid and IIRR was kept together and not separated per orders/receipts by
each of the organizations. It was also difficult to separate the materials after offloading because of time
limitations. IIRR were also informed that the material was offloaded and stored together. A number of bricks
were broken during transportation which added to the challenge on how to separate these materials. Cordaid
was keeping records of all materials issued out including for Muslim, Shabaa and Lkuroto schools which were
under IIRR

Recommendation: reconciliation on materials used during the training (by both organizations), any stock carried
out of the compound to be made and a way of handing over to IIRR done. In future it would be good to have
Cordaid and IIRR materials separated in order to allow each organization carry out their own control. Though the
security in the Caritas compound is good, it would be important to inform watchman that any material taken
when office is closed i.e. late evening, morning and over the weekend should have proper authorization from
either IIRR or Cordaid officials. Action: Fidelis

Training of Trainers
4. Discussions and agreements made between ASI and lead trainer on the structure of TOT were not clear.
Though the number of days for training, number and selection of participants etc was clear, other details that
were important in the planning of this training were not clear at the beginning, though clarified by the trainer
as time went by. For example it was not clear that at the end of 14 days training (after installation of 9 stoves)
trainees would continue with another 4 stoves in order to complete at the time when lead trainer was coming
back for the firing stage where he would meet all trainees (for firing, recommendations and show them how to
cost stoves). Due to the lack of clarity, planning for installation of the last 3 stoves was put on hold in order to
check expenses and come up with a structure on engaging the artisans. Firing was carried out together with 3
trainees and project engineer.

Recommendation: it would have been ideal for the lead trainer to write a proposal before engagement that would
provide all required information instead of getting piece meal details. Action Molu – for next set of engagement

5. Training of trainers training had not been properly budgeted in the ASI proposal, this delayed arrangements
and planning because approval for spending had to be sought from ASI. Clarity on what needed to be paid for
lead trainer and training team (per diem, food and accommodation) was not clear by the time we were
proceeding to the field.

6. Logistics arrangement for materials and trainees during the first days of training posed a challenge; materials
were received in Maralal at the same time the training was starting; distribution of these materials to the
schools started on day 2 and 3 of training. This was efficiently handled and by the time of starting practical
training clay products were already in the schools. A delay was experienced in procurement and transportation
of local materials for Baragoi and Ngilai Primary schools because it took time to get quotations and agree on
supplier. Furthermore the measurements of stones given (6*9) later changed to 4*6. In Baragoi we could only
get 6*9 stones which had to be ‘dressed’ to fit the size that was required for construction of the stoves.
During distribution of materials to the schools, we noticed that this had not been budgeted for in the TORs
though it was necessary.

Arrangements for accommodation of trainees in areas out of Maralal were not made because we did not have
contacts for the hotels/accommodation venues. Lodungokwe parish was not informed that trainees would be
accommodated there; the group that was installing and constructing the stove in Lodungokwe Primary School
had to spend the night in Wamba on the first day because the parish was not ready to receive them (they
arrived late and rooms were not ready)

Trainees had not been informed to carry their construction tools therefore they had to improvise; a number of
challenges that were mentioned by the trainees during the closing off ceremony will be included in TOT report
Recommendation: if possible engage a supplier for locally supplied materials that can also supply these materials
to the schools (including clay products for schools near Maralal). Cordaid pick up was used in transporting clay
products to Baragoi and Ngilai Primary schools, need to check on overload etc; possibilities of buying a cover for
pick up (for materials and luggage) to be explored.

Also consider using clay bricks where available instead of normal building blocks (depending on which is cheaper,
dressing etc.)

7. A number of schools were not prepared before, construction and installation of stoves in these schools
experienced some delays and therefore a spillover of TOT for an extra 3 days.

Recommendation: school heads to be informed in advance, agree on contribution by the school i.e. water, ash (if
not available in the school they should look for a way of getting some before start off) and preparation of kitchen
area in order to allow for installation. Action: Molu

8. List of materials given per stove varied depending on the set up of the kitchen. In schools where the kitchen
did not have a cement floor, the artisans/trainees were required first to construct a floor. This increased the
number of cement bags by one or two. In other schools materials used were less than the projection and had
to be returned.

Recommendation: proper documentation of issued and returned materials to be made to ensure good control of
stock. Action: Fidelis

Human Resource Management

9. Contract from ASI was received two months later than expected; by the time project activities were starting, a
number of deadlines had either passed or were expected to be running. Due to this there was a rush in
carrying out activities which may have caused a competition in activities i.e. engagement of staff at the same
time that activities were being carried out in the field, construction and installation of energy efficient stoves
vs baseline survey. Due to this induction of staff on Human resource, procurement and staff safety and
security was short. It was not possible to induct the driver because he was engaged in project activities from
26 June (as a casual driver)

Recommendation: plan for induction of driver when he travels to Nairobi, have one day in the office in order to
ensure he understands properly his terms of contract and his job description. Action: Sophie

10.Project inception meeting was not held in the same structure as other projects i.e. EU (where all staff and
partners started off with a meeting discussing the project, procedures, work plans etc). For the ASI project
inception has been planned separately, each staff doing their part during their field visit. Although this is
sufficiently enough, different messages have been passed to the project staff by staff and this could cause
confusion

Recommendation: hold meeting together and agree on message that should be passed to field staff (meeting was
held with Zeituna, Hilda and Sophie), Zeituna as Program Officer would clarify any confusing or pending matters.
Action: Fred/Hilda/ Zeituna to plan a field visit together

11.Staff in the field raised a concern on the requirement to take leave earned within 2 weeks after date of
earning. Their concern was that since they are based in the field, they would want to take the leave at a time
when they can go home and spend some time with their families instead of staying idle in the field/Maralal.

Recommendation: Their concern is genuine; however there is need to come up with a balanced solution that
considers the meaning/need for leave earned vs loss of project/implementation time. Since inception of project,
there is an urgency to complete some activities for the first few months in order to ensure that we are able to
catch up with deadlines that were earlier set, for this matter, it may not be possible for staff to go on leave during
the period July-September 2015. There are options that could be considered but will require discussion and
endorsement by Country Director before either amending policy on leave earned for field offices or having back up
measures during the period that staff in the field take leave.

Security
12.Security situation in Baragoi calls for staff travelling to the area to first check with Caritas/Catholic Diocese of
Maralal on the situation on the ground since they are able to receive information from their office in Baragoi
and the parishes that are located there. A number of near incidences were reported.

Recommendation: careful consideration when travelling to Baragoi, need to finalize policy on Hibernation,
Relocation and Evacuation, discussions to be held with Cordaid HO Security Advisor on best way to handle/be
prepared for this challenging environment.

All near incidences to be documented and sent to Security Advisor at HO, staff in Maralal to ensure that all near
incidences are also documented.

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