The Kenya Institute of Supplies Management (KISM) has taken a significant step to improve procurement and supply chain management in Africa by partnering with the World Bank in delivering a 10-day Intermediate Course Training for the procurement of goods, works, and consulting services designed for projects financed by the global lender. The training, which started last June 3, already attracted participants from nine African countries, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Botswana, South Sudan, Eswatini, São Tomé and PrÃncipe, Mozambique, Somalia, and Tanzania.
Making KISM a Pan-African Hub
KISM Secretary and CEO Kenneth Matiba expressed their desire to make KISM the Pan-African Centre for Supply Chain Management. He added that the institution focuses on delivering specialized procurement methodologies that guarantee efficiency, quality, and value, at the same time, availing value for public expenditure.
This strategy, according to Matiba, was designed to address every country’s unique situation and supports a regional collaboration philosophy being inculcated by KISM to its members. He added that being in a peer-to-peer setup allows professionals across the region to discuss their experiences, challenges, and competencies, which is very relevant because the world they are in is both volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.
Expansion of the Partnership
The partnership between KISM and the World Bank began in 2018 through a Memorandum of Understanding. The MoU made it easier for the World Bank to avail training materials, resource persons, and other forms of help to the KISM program implementation.
The collaboration has strengthened since then, as the training has been delivered each year in three levels: Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced Levels. Each and everything give complete learning experience, capable of meeting the rising changing needs to the procurement and the supply chain.
Tackling Emerging Challenges in Supply Management
Matiba declared the move by KISM to update programs to cover content that is relevant to the industry that deals with emerging issues. These issues involve AI and Blockchain Technology Application in Supply Chain Management, along with other emerging issues in supply, transport, and logistics, health and humanitarian, inventory management guidelines. The new content in the programs is to make sure that practitioners are updated with trends and emerging innovations.
The World Bank Framework
The World Bank procurement framework is based on a strategy that has been in place since July 2016, highlighting the need for greater customization of procurement policy in support of choice, quality, and value in public spending. It also emphasizes the need for projects that reflect rapidly changing needs. This is to ensure the nations get value for money used. To stress the importance of public procurement, Matiba added that all governments in the world spend $13 trillion, a good 15% of the global GDP. In Kenya, it’s even bigger, 26% to be precise, of the GDP. This shows how big the specific function is and should be utilized strategically to meet the global sustainability commitments.
Ongoing Reforms and Future Prospects
There is continuous implementation of reforms where the government seeks to improve service delivery by SCM. The implementation covers policy, legislation, and institutional framework that ensure openness, transparency, and, in the end, efficiency. Matiba reinstituted the dedication of KISM towards being a model institution in line with the expectations of the membership and other stakeholders. He added that he knew how this would be achieved as according to the assignment by providing strategic direction, plus the stakeholder support besides the operationalization of the best skill base ever.