At the heart of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the idea that the goals should be met for every segment of the population, that no one be left behind. This report provides an early stocktake of progress on the ‘leave no one behind’ agenda in Kenya’s roads sector, using the Global Roads Open Access Data set from 2013 and the Kenya and Demographic and Health Survey 2014 to ascertain which counties are being left behind in roads provision.
Roads are a priority area for the Government of Kenya, which has committed to putting an all-season road within 2km of every Kenyan and has introduced new constitutional and financial arrangements to support a more equitable distribution of roads expenditure. In practice, however, roads investment is governed by a combination of economic priorities and ad hoc political initiatives, with the efficiency and equity of actual roads provision leaving much to be desired. This report advises improved coordination for the roads sector at both national and county levels, as well as a variety of measures, including the better use of data, to help improve access for ‘left behind’ groups.
