Governance

Governance

IDS BRIEF HISTORY

Founded on 8th October 1965, the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi, is the oldest out of 20 such institutes in the world. It is the premier multi-disciplinary and a multi-purpose development research institute in the Eastern and Southern Africa region. IDS carries out full time research on high priority areas of social-economic development in Kenya, Africa and the world in general.

In 2000, the IDS launched its graduate MA programme and in 2002 inaugurated a PhD programme in Development Studies.  This was in response to demand for highly-skilled and specialized expertise in development issues.

IDS research findings are popular policy and action-oriented outputs that are disseminated widely through local, regional and international workshops, seminars and conferences organized by IDS or to which IDS researchers are invited to. The Institute also publishes the following titles:

  • IDS Papers (Working, Discussion and Occasional);
  • Newsletter;
  • Policy Briefs;
  • Jointly-published book titles.

 

STAFF ESTABLISHMENT AND GOVERNANCE

IDS is led by a Director who is supported by an Associate Director. The structure of IDS includes Research Professors, Associate Research Professors, Senior Research Fellows, Research Fellows and Junior Research Fellows. IDS hosts Research Associates from all over the world who undertake own or collaborative research projects in Kenya and in Africa.

Supporting the teaching, training, and research activities are administrative and support staff including research assistants for specific programmes. The current staff establishment can be found here.

ORGANIZATION CHART

The following is the IDS organisation chart

Organogram

IDS INFRASTRUCTURE, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND CONTROLS 

IDS is located on the University of Nairobi Main Campus in Nairobi’s City Centre. It has adequate office space, a teleconferencing room, a resource room and post-graduate library, and vehicles. The Institute is accountable to the University of Nairobi on financial matters and is required to submit annual financial reports for audit. To facilitate this, IDS has a full-time finance management officer who oversees the Institute’s grants and finance related matters and audit processes. At project specific level, IDS researchers are accountable to the Director, who is then accountable to the University. There are thus several levels of financial accountability within IDS and the University of Nairobi. Internal audit is done by the University of Nairobi Internal Auditors. The IDS financial records are submitted by the University, together with the entire university financial and annual reports, to the Auditor General for annual audit. 

IDS operates under the UoN financial regulations and the accounts office and the IDS is merely an agency of the overall UoN financial system. There is a dedicated Grants Office which is responsible for managing research funds, including monitoring that development partners resources are efficiently used and accounted for. All the records of income and expenses are maintained at the Grants Office and the section is audited by the Auditor General. 

 Budgets

The budget for IDS has two tracks. The first track is basic operational budget and salaries, while the second track is project budgets. The budgeting for operations is done by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) beginning with the allocation of budget for IDS, followed by itemized budget by the IDS based on IDS CHSS allocation. The latter is done at the IDS level. The IDS accesses supplies and equipment by making requisitions based on the itemized annual budget domiciled at the CHSS - the annual budgets normally have monthly figures. At the Project level, requests are normally done to the Grants Section as per the work plan and budget, which outline activities for each project period.

 Accounting and financial records

IDS is accountable to the University on financial matters and is required to submit annual financial reports for audit. To facilitate this, IDS has a full-time finance management officer that oversees the Institutes grants and finance-related matters, including audit processes. The accountant uses QuickBooks for bookkeeping, including tracking payments and income, for the generation of financial reports for donors and management. 

 At the project level, research teams are accountable to IDS Director, who is accountable to the University. There are thus several levels of financial accountability within IDS and the University of Nairobi. Internal audit is done by the University of Nairobi Internal Auditors. The IDS financial records are submitted by the University, together with the entire university financial and annual reports, to the Auditor General for annual audit. 

 The mechanism for donor reporting

The project teams and the accountant monitor IDS projects and ensure reporting to donors is done in time as per MOUs of respective projects. 

IDS DIRECTORS

The current IDS Director is Prof. Karuti Kanyinga (2019-Date), assisted by the Associate Director Dr Paul Kamau (2019 - to date). 

To see past IDS Directors since its inception, click here