LIKELY QUESTIONS
- How have you contributed to the formulation or review of strategic plans, annual work plans, or MTEF submissions in your current or previous role?
- Describe your experience preparing project proposals, feasibility studies, or investment plans, especially for water, sanitation, or infrastructure projects.
- How do you monitor project performance against indicators, targets, budgets, and timelines, and what tools have you used?
- This role requires alignment with government frameworks. How would you ensure projects comply with the Public Finance Management Act, Vision 2030, and Medium Term Plan priorities?
- Tell us about a time you worked with county governments, national ministries, or development partners to align priorities or mobilise support for a project.
- How would you develop and maintain a project pipeline and prioritisation framework for counties facing water scarcity, population growth, and climate risks?
- What experience do you have using Excel, SPSS, Stata, R, MS Project, logframes, or GIS to support planning and reporting?
- Public participation is a key part of this role. How would you facilitate stakeholder consultations in project areas where community expectations are high and resources are limited?

BEHAVIOURAL QUESTIONS
- Tell us about a time you had to deliver a planning or performance report under a very tight deadline.
Model approach: Situation - Quarterly reporting deadline was moved forward while data from field teams was incomplete. Task - Produce an accurate report for management and external stakeholders on time. Action - Created a data collection tracker, followed up county focal persons daily, validated inconsistent figures in Excel/SPSS, escalated critical gaps early, and drafted the report in parallel with incoming data. Result - Submitted on time, improved data quality, and introduced a reporting template that reduced future turnaround time.

- Describe a situation where you had to coordinate multiple stakeholders with competing priorities.
Model approach: Situation - A project planning exercise involved county officials, technical engineers, finance staff, and community representatives with different expectations. Task - Build consensus on project priorities and next steps. Action - Mapped stakeholder interests, shared objective prioritisation criteria, facilitated structured meetings, documented agreed actions, and followed up on commitments. Result - Achieved agreement on priority projects, reduced conflict, and enabled timely submission of the investment plan.

- Give an example of a time when your analysis influenced a project or budget decision.
Model approach: Situation - Management was considering several competing project proposals with limited funding. Task - Provide evidence-based recommendations for prioritisation. Action - Analysed population served, water stress levels, implementation readiness, cost estimates, and socio-economic impact; developed a scoring matrix and presented findings clearly. Result - Leadership adopted the ranking, funded the highest-impact projects, and used the framework for subsequent planning cycles.

- Tell us about a time you identified a risk or compliance issue in a project and what you did.
Model approach: Situation - During review of project documents, I noted weak alignment with planning guidelines and incomplete supporting data. Task - Prevent delays or non-compliance before approval. Action - Reviewed requirements against PFM and planning guidelines, highlighted the gaps, worked with technical and finance teams to revise documentation, and updated the compliance checklist. Result - The project met approval requirements, avoided rework, and strengthened internal quality control.

SMART QUESTIONS TO ASK
- How does CRVWWDA currently prioritise projects across Baringo, Laikipia, Nakuru, Narok, and Nyandarua, and what role would the Planning Officer 1 play in that prioritisation?
- What are the most important planning and M&E deliverables you would want this person to achieve in the first 6 to 12 months?
- How closely does the planning function work with engineering, finance, and county liaison teams during project identification, budgeting, and reporting?
- What systems or tools does the Agency currently use for project tracking, data analysis, and performance reporting, and are there plans to strengthen them?
- What are the biggest current challenges in aligning Agency projects with county priorities, development partner requirements, and national frameworks such as MTP and Vision 2030?

RED FLAGS TO WATCH FOR
- Vague answers about priorities, reporting lines, or success measures for the role, which may indicate unclear expectations.
- Signs that planning is treated as a paperwork function only, with little influence on project selection, budgeting, or decision-making.
- Frequent mention of crisis deadlines, weak data systems, or poor interdepartmental coordination without a clear plan to improve them.