Jakarta. A delegation from Kenya on Saturday (30/09) wrapped up a week-long study tour to Indonesia to learn from the Southeast Asian country's experience in achieving food security and planning and implementing nutrition policy through decentralization, the UN food agency said in a press release.

In 2010, Kenya adopted a new constitution which placed the East African country on a transition path from a centralized to a decentralized system of governance. Kenya’s March 2013 election was seen as the beginning of its official decentralization process, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

"Even though Kenya has made numerous positive steps toward implementing the devolved system, transition and institutional changes continue to present challenges in its agricultural industry," the FAO said in the press release.

This is why the Kenyan government made use of the South-South Cooperation (SSC) system to organize the study tour to learn from the experiences of other countries who have attempted the transition to a decentralized governance system.

SSC is a model of expertise exchange and support in knowledge, technical assistance and resources between and among developing countries.

Kenya's high-level delegation arrived in Indonesia on Sept. 25, led by the technical advisor to Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary, Muo Hamisi Williams, and comprising experts and representatives from the country’s agricultural sector.

"Indonesia began its decentralization process way back in 1998, and have accumulated years of experience in working within a decentralized system. SSC is an excellent mechanism for developing countries to share knowledge, and to adapt experiences that have already worked well in one place for the benefit of others," FAO program officer Athifa Ali said.

Ali added the Kenyan delegation will also pay a visit to Malaysia.

During their study tour of Indonesia, the Kenyan delegation met with officials from several Indonesian ministries including the National Development Planning Ministry (Bappenas), the Agriculture Ministry, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry and the Bureau of Logistics (Bulog).

Stories from the visit will be published as a reference book on devolution and policy implementation coordination.

"We're preparing to present our findings to our government and we expect to have the results of the study tour feed into the formulation of [Kenya’s] Agriculture Sector Growth and Transformation strategy [ASGTS] currently being finalized," Williams said in the press release.