Outcome RD_D_1.1

Participation by women in politics and decision making increased

In 2021, the capacities of targeted institutions to develop and implement legal frameworks that promote women political participation and decision making be strengthened. In 2021, capacities to advance GEWE by women in decision making positions enhanced. Increased community and civic understanding of women's right to political participation. The following key achievement was made in 2021: Successful finalization and submission of the gender-responsive Political Parties (Amendment) Bill, 2021. The Bill is currently in Parliament. Once passed into law, the proposed amendments seek to promote representation in Parliament and county assemblies of women, persons with disabilities, youth, ethnic and other minorities and marginalized communities – through political parties’ support (Article 4B). The Act will also ensure that fifteen per cent of the Political Party Fund will be distributed proportionately to political parties based on the number of candidates of the political party from special interest groups elected in the preceding general elections. A political party shall not be entitled to receive funding from the Fund if more than two-thirds of its registered office bearers are of the same gender and the party does not have, in its governing body, representation of special interest groups. 91% of 674 women trained committed to be running for various political seats come 2022 general elections: More women are coming out to run for elective seats come 2022 compared to the 2017 general elections where women were only 9% of the candidates. This has been so as a result of constant media engagement on women leadership as well as continued mentorship and capacity enhancement of women leaders into political leadership. in 2021, 830 women were mentored in leadership and 674 trained in political leadership across the country and in 4 specific counties of Kwale, Kitui, Turkana and Marsabit. 79 Women aspirants in Political leadership had their skills strengthened in leadership at the national level through support to Echo Network Africa (ENA). 95% of the 18 TOTs trained to train Women in Political leadership using their skills to empower women in politics. Harmonized and finalized training tools for women in political leadership – 2 training manuals– being used by 4 CSOs (NCCK, KEWOPA, MMAAK, ENA) to train. 100% of 31 young women mentored in public service on women in leadership publicly expressing interest in leadership. 90% of 368 male champions trained and mentored on women political leadership across the 4 counties of Kwale, Kitui, Turkana and Marsabit publicly promoting women leadership. 6 media houses trained on media support to women in political leadership at the county level – increased media coverage to women leaders and aspirants. Elders and religious leaders’ capacities enhanced resulting in their open commitment to support women seeking political positions. Identified and enhanced the capacity of 60 gender champions through ENA who are advancing and promoting women agenda and women participation in decision-making processes. The women champions include five women with disabilities and four male champions. Established and strengthened the network of women aspirants at county levels. These platforms are enhancing women movement-building at the grassroots to help rally women and men, boys and girls to support women political leadership. The aspirants are also using the platform to learn from each other, encourage each other including handholding of the new women entrants into politics.

Participation by women in politics and decision making increased

The outcome has been successfully achieved in 2022. Results A notable increase in number of elected women representatives was achieved in the Kenyan General Elections in 2022. Women now hold 201 of 1,882 elective seats, compared to 179 women in 2017. This includes 29 women elected from 290 single-member constituencies representing 10% of single-member seats and 24% of total seats in parliament. This is a 3-point increase from 21% (23 elected members) in 2017. Significantly, the number of women elected to the Governor position was 7 , up from 3 in 2017. In addition, 115 women Members of the County Assembly (MCA) were elected, which is an increase compared with 97 that were elected in 2017. The number of elected female senators remained at 3 . Overall, there was a 65% retention of women members of Parliament from the 2017 elections. See the table below for specific results. Position Numbers and percentage 2022 Numbers and percentage 2017 Single-member constituencies MPs 29 out of 290 (10%) 23 out of 290 (7.9%) Women Representatives- Affirmative Positions 47 out of 47 (100%) 47 out of 47 (100%) Elected Senators 3 out of 47 (6.4%) 3 out of 47 (6.3%) Nominated Senators 19 out of 20 (95%) 16 out of 20 (80%) Total Senators 22 out of 67 (33%) 19 out of 67 (28.3%) Elected Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) 115 out of 1450 (7.9%) 97 out of 1450 (6.7%) Governors 7 out of 47 (15%) 3 out of 47 (6.4%) In the lead up to the General Elections, there was an increase in the number of women registered as independent candidates- from 271 in 2017 to 442 in 2022 (23% of the total candidates). There was also an increase in the participation of women as candidates for the ballot- from 8.7% in 2017 to 12% in 2022. This contributed directly to an increase in the number of women elected in the 2022 General election due to the expansion of the pool of women candidates. Through support provided by UN Women and its partner - 82 political parties were sensitized on the importance of women leadership, which led to many of the parties reducing the nomination fees for women candidates (some up to 50%) as part of affirmative action, and/or for the first time directly nominating women candidates in party strongholds. One concrete example is the elected governor for Homabay (2022), who contested because of the direct nomination. This all contributed to an increase in the number of women elected in the 2022 General election. Another critical result of the advocacy work carried out by UN Women and the other stakeholders in the gender space, was the nomination of women for deputy president positions. In 2022, 3 out of the 4 presidential candidates were women, which demonstrates that Kenya is slowly recognizing that women are critical political players in Kenya. Another result was that gender featured prominently in the manifestos of the main political outfits (Azimio and Kenya Kwanza alliances). The increase in women legislators will not only contribute to a continued push for implementation of the 2/3 gender rule, but also bring a gender-equality perspective to legislative and policymaking and inspire young women and girls to take on leadership positions. Contribution of UN Women The accomplishments can be attributed to the consistent support to the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) agenda in Kenya. UN Women and other key stakeholders have advocated for compliance with the 2/3 gender principle since 2013 when implementation of the 2010 constitution began. UN Women has used its strategic position to enhance coordination between Government and civil society to implement a comprehensive approach, and synergized efforts internally across units to address gender responsive legal reforms and civic education. UN Women supported and collaborated in 2022 with a broad range of partners (government, civil society, women’s right organizations, private companies, religious groups, traditional groups, men’s groups, media organizations, associations of young women, donors and UN agencies) to enhance the capacities of women candidates who were vying for elective positions. To achieve the results, UN Women invested in enhancing the capacities of its partners to advance inclusion and gender equality in the election. To provide a standardized approach to advocacy on Constitutionalism and representation of women, youth, and PWDs in leadership, governance, and electoral processes, UN Women supported partners in drafting policies such as the Charter of Inclusion to provide recommendations for the inclusion of women and other marginalized groups in the electoral process. Further, UN Women rolled out a gender-responsive civic education campaign and developed messages to profile women candidates and create awareness of the importance of women in political leadership and encourage Kenyans to vote for women across the various elective seats. The holistic approach adopted by UN Women helped ensure that the organization was able to counter structural, cultural and socio-economic barriers to women’s political participation, including harmful gender-based stereotypes and the patriarchal nature of Kenyan politics that often undermine women’s political ambitions, thus reducing the pool of women in leadership and decision-making spaces. Following the General elections, UN Women advocated for greater representation of women in the new administration, contributing to H.E. President Ruto appointing 10 women as members of the Cabinet [(Cabinet Secretary positions (7) and Cabinet-level portfolios (3)] against a total of 22 (45.5%). While an achievement, these appointments fall short of the 50% cabinet positions promised to women by the Kenya Kwanza Coalition during the campaign period. Furthermore, the President appointed 11 women to the position of permanent secretaries against a total of 51 (22%). Similarly, this also falls short of the constitutional requirement of 33.3%. Something which calls for continued advocacy by UN Women. This calls for further efforts carried out by UN Women and its partners. Lessons learned One key lesson from 2022 is that many journalists in Kenya lack sufficient knowledge on how to mainstream gender or undertake conflict-sensitive reporting when developing stories on topical issues. This has impaired both the quality and quantity of stories done around gender and peacebuilding. As result, journalists have either avoided stories or issues that require deeper gender and conflict analysis or when they attempt to do them, they rarely interrogate the issues using various lenses including gender, human rights, and legal lenses. For the 2022 election, UN Women worked closely with media houses and trained journalists, which resulted in journalists writing and publishing stories on topical issues that brought out gender and effects of conflicts on women empowerment. While there has been an improvement in party politics as compared to previous nomination exercises, political parties face challenges in identifying best practices for conducting transparent nomination with women aspirants being the most disadvantaged as nomination processes are expensive and continue to face infighting and claims of rigging where potential candidates are willing to go to any means to clinch the seat.