KISUMU, 24th Sept 2026 -Kisumu County has set a national precedent in early childhood development (ECD) with the official launch of the Kisumu County ECD Act, 2023, and its accompanying 2026 Regulations.
The launch, held in Kisumu on Thursday, marks a major step in establishing a detailed legal and administrative framework for managing, regulating, and delivering early childhood services.
John Awiti, the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Education, Technical Training, Immigration and Social Services, described the regulations as the first of their kind among Kenya’s 47 counties.
“This is the first ECD regulation in Kenya. No county has gone to the step of doing what we have done today,” Awiti said.
He noted that the regulations go beyond the broad provisions of the Act by outlining specific procedures for implementation, including the registration of standalone ECD centres and the coordination of nutrition programmes.
“The regulation goes into the finer details of how we are going to implement the activities, particularly the registration of standalone ECD centres and nutrition programmes,” he said.
Awiti added that the framework provides legal clarity for the county and reduces the risk of disputes arising from unclear implementation procedures.
The new framework comes as Kisumu seeks to strengthen the oversight of childcare and early learning facilities while promoting the holistic development and well-being of children.
Bovince Ochieng, the Kisumu County Education Chief Officer, said the regulations establish a structured mechanism for coordinating and controlling childcare facilities across the county.
“We are looking at the holistic development of our children: mentally, psychologically, academically and in terms of their well-being,” Ochieng said.
He added that the county department would integrate the regulations into the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) to align implementation with broader county development priorities, stressing that collaboration with development partners would be critical.
The Kisumu County Assembly welcomed the regulations, with Seth Okumu, Chairperson of the Education Committee, expressing pride in the legislative process.
“We did not just make a law; we made a law that the department that is supposed to implement is proud of,” Okumu said.
However, Okumu made it clear that the Assembly would closely monitor implementation, warning that the regulations would serve as a benchmark for assessing the department’s performance.
“We will use this document to judge the department’s performance when they appear before us,” he asserted.
The launch effectively shifts Kisumu County’s ECD agenda from legislation to implementation, with officials now expected to translate the legal framework into tangible improvements in early learning, childcare, nutrition, and child welfare.
For Kisumu, the regulations are intended to provide a clearer roadmap for delivering quality, lawful, and holistic early childhood services, offering a framework that other counties could potentially draw lessons from as they seek to strengthen their own ECD systems.
