Planned Budget (Total)
Other resources (non-core)
Country Indexes
outcome XM-DAC-41146-RD_D_1.1
Outcome 1: By 2026, people in Kenya at risk of being left behind- particularly all women and girls, all children and youth, all people in the ASAL counties and in informal urban settlements, - inhabit an inclusive, enabling, socially cohesive, and peaceful society where human rights are upheld, and benefit from accountable institutions and participate in transformative governance systems that are gender responsive and uphold the rule of law
Leadership and Political Participation A major result in 2024 was advancing the legislative process to implement the 'not more than two thirds gender principle', as per the 2010 Constitution. Through financial and technical support to the Multi-Sectoral Working Group (MSWG), UN Women enabled the development of a legislative framework to attain the gender principle. The MSWG’s report, which proposes a gender top-up mechanism via political party lists, was presented to the Speaker of the National Assembly in February. It has since been adopted by the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, marking a significant step toward increasing women’s representation in public and political spaces. In October, the MSWG report was tabled in Parliament for debate. UN Women collaborated with the Council of Governors (COG) to introduce the G7 Strategy, designed to advance women’s leadership at county level. Officially launched by the President in March and showcased globally at CSW68 in New York, the Strategy has already led to the creation of G7 County Chapters in Machakos, Kwale, and Kirinyaga. The chapters provide platforms for aspiring women leaders to enhance their capacity and contribute to governance, raising the profile of women governors nationally and internationally. Key lessons highlight the necessity of sustained advocacy, unified action among women leaders and addressing challenges such as political harassment, online bullying and resistance to affirmative action. The impeachment attempt against Governor Kawira exemplifies systemic barriers that women leaders continue to face. Challenges include limited political goodwill, insufficient funding, and poorly planned public forums that hinder citizen engagement. UN Women’s initiatives have created sustainable outcomes, with the G7 Strategy institutionalized within COG’s Women Caucus, ensuring support for women leaders beyond electoral cycles. The proportion of women in the 26-member Cabinet increased to 7 (30.7%) after the reshuffle brought on by the Gen-Z-led protests in June (29.2% in 2023). UN Women carried out advocacy targeting the Executive and Parliament, emphasizing the importance of increasing women’s representation in leadership positions. Gender and Statistics UN Women integrated gender indicators into key national plans and policies, including the fourth Medium Term Plan (MTP IV) and the National Policy on Women Economic Empowerment (WEE). MTP IV prioritizes the production of sex-disaggregated data. UN Women’s technical support facilitated integration of gender into the Gender, Youth, and Vulnerable Groups Sector Plan, ensuring alignment with SDG. UN Women also contributed to the drafting and review of the National Policy on WEE, which aims to create an enabling environment for women’s economic participation, reduce gender disparities, strengthen partnerships, and promote women’s access to economic resources. Women, Peace, and Security The WPS agenda was advanced through implementation of 18 previously developed localized County Action Plans (CAPs) and the launch of an additional CAP in Uasin Gishu County. The CAPs are transformative tools that integrate gender equality into local governance, emphasizing women’s and youth’s participation in peace and security processes, strengthening GBV prevention and response mechanisms, and enhancing cross-county collaboration. Women now actively participate in peace committees across 10 counties—Kwale, Kitui, Bungoma, Vihiga, Kericho, Kisumu, Nairobi, Mombasa, Kilifi, and Uasin Gishu. In Kwale 4 of the 5 sub-county peace committees are chaired by women, signifying a groundbreaking shift toward gender-inclusive leadership. The sub-county chapters have created avenues for women to lead and contribute meaningfully to peacebuilding efforts. Strengthened GBV prevention and response mechanisms have yielded tangible results. Counties such as Vihiga, Bungoma, Embu, Kisii, and Samburu have enhanced referral pathways, improving survivor access to support and justice. The GBV directory, developed by the NCCK, with support from UN Women, has raised awareness and streamlined reporting systems. In Kisii county, the Kisii Police Station Gender Desk has led to a significant increase in GBV case reporting, underscoring improved trust in and accessibility of support services. UN Women’s facilitation of gender-transformative approaches within the CAPs has ensured their alignment with the WPS agenda and catalyzed systemic change.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-RD_D_1.2
Outcome 2: By 2026, people in Kenya at risk of being left - particularly all women and girls, all children and youth, all people in the ASAL counties and in informal urban settlements - have improved, inclusive and equitable social and protection services
In 2024, UN Women made significant strides in strengthening social and protection services for women and girls in Kenya, particularly for those at risk of being left behind. Advocacy efforts played a critical role in driving action against femicide and GBV. UN Women and its partners issued public statements condemning femicide and GBV during national and county protests, catalyzing governmental responses. This resulted in notable outcomes, such as the establishment of a sex crimes unit by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to handle femicide cases and the introduction of a hotline for expedited reporting. Further, the President committed Ksh. 100 million to the Safe Home, Safe Space Campaign to end femicide across the country. This underscored the national government’s recognition of femicide as a critical issue and the urgency to address it comprehensively. Advocacy led by CREAW, with UN Women’s support, targeted systemic issues, such as sexual harassment in workplaces and called for accountability in high-profile cases. At the national level, the Kenya Law Reform Commission advanced critical legal reforms to align Kenya’s framework with international standards, addressing systemic inequalities. UN Women’s support contributed to key recommendations, including amendments to the Matrimonial Property Act, Marriage Act, and Land Registration Act, ensuring greater protections for women in marriage and property rights. On GBV, proposed changes to the Sexual Offences Act, including criminalizing marital rape and removing the admissibility of survivors’ sexual history, aim to create a survivor-centered legal framework. Additionally, reforms to the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act and the Victim Protection Act seek to strengthen accountability and provide comprehensive support for survivors. These legal reforms are foundational in addressing entrenched gender stereotypes and systemic discrimination. At the county level, Kilifi county developed and launched an SGBV Policy and the formulation of the Gender and Development Policy. The policies provide a roadmap for addressing GBV, harmful cultural practices and gender inequalities while ensuring survivors have access to essential services such as healthcare, psychosocial support, and safe shelters. UN Women’s technical assistance, capacity-building initiatives, and stakeholder engagement were instrumental in these achievements. In the humanitarian sector, UN Women’s response to the 2024 MAM floods exemplified a gender-sensitive approach to disaster response. By conducting a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA), UN Women identified the disproportionate impact on women, girls, the elderly, PWDs and unaccompanied children. The evidence informed targeted interventions, such as providing dignity kits to adolescent girls and young mothers, and cash transfers, medical care, and legal aid to 322 SGBV survivors. In total, over 10,000 individuals benefited from services, including rescue coordination and virtual counseling provided by Healthcare Assistance Kenya. UN Women’s partnerships enhanced emergency response capacities and mitigated vulnerabilities to GBV. Collaborative efforts with WROs like the Wangu Kanja Foundation and HAK 1195 ensured comprehensive service delivery, while coordination with government agencies and UN entities strengthened the overall disaster response system. UN Women also enhanced access to GBV services through HAK’s 1195 helpline, which connects survivors to critical services across Kenya’s 47 counties. HAK 1195 provided essential services to 9,080 GBV survivors at the national level. This marks a 2% increase from 8,894 survivors in 2023/2024 and 7,326 in 2022/2023 and highlights growing awareness among survivors and the public. Technical and financial support improved database systems ensured adherence to the “Do No Harm” principle and developed satisfaction surveys to monitor service quality. While satisfaction with HAK services reached 93%, challenges in referral pathways, such as delays and systemic barriers, identified areas for continued improvement. Capacity-building for 34 organizations on emergency response and the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) further amplified impact. Through these efforts, UN Women has not only addressed immediate needs but also laid the groundwork for sustainable and inclusive systems that protect and empower women and girls.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-RD_D_1.3
Outcome 3 By 2026, people in Kenya at risk of being left behind - particularly all women and girls, all children and youth, all people in the ASAL counties and in informal urban settlements - derive benefit from inclusive, sustainable, diversified and environmentally/climate-sensitive quality livelihoods with decent work in the sector economies and realise growth that is resilient, green, and equitable.
In 2024, UN Women contributed to promoting gender-responsive climate action while building resilience and improving livelihoods for women, girls, and communities. This led to increased gender-responsive budget (GRB) allocation, income , food security and health, and reduced poverty . Building on efforts to achieve gender-responsive County Integrated Development Policies (CIDPs) in all 47 counties, UN Women contributed to increased Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB) in 3 counties. Laikipia: Agriculture and gender departments’ budget rose from KES 231 million (2023/2024) to KES 793 million (2024/2025) (+243%). Kitui: CSA allocation increased from KES 58.5 million to KES 95.8 million (+64%), and the gender department from KES 6 million to KES 13.1 million (+118%). West Pokot: CSA allocation increased from KES 107 million to KES 423 million (+295%). (1). The increased budgetary allocations are attributed to extensive capacity building of county officials carried out on GRB, advocacy campaigns and awareness creation amongst farmer groups. The establishment of Gender and Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) units within county departments has also been key in spearheading increased budget allocations for gender-responsive and climate-smart agricultural initiatives. Through the “Kenya Economic Empowerment of Women through Climate-Smart Agriculture (WEE-CSA) in Arid and Semi-Arid Central Areas” project, households in Laikipia, Kitui and West Pokot increased their annual income by 36% between 2020 and 2024 - from KES 92,543 ($718) in 2020 to KES 131,790 ($1,014). Notable, households with disabled members saw a 52% income increase, while those without saw a 33% rise. The proportion of households experiencing both severe and moderate diseases also declined from 83% to 65%, and the severe category from 66% to 42%. The same project also resulted in expansion of area under CSA practices (from 768 hectares in 2022 to 5,067.52 hectares in 2024), improving agricultural sustainability, resilience to climate change and improved agricultural productivity. UN Women contributed towards the achievement of these results by empowering female and male farmers by providing training, resources, and support for adopting climate-smart agricultural practices, as well as by strengthening productivity and resilience to climate change. UN Women also conducted capacity-building programs, such as financial literacy and entrepreneurship training, and facilitated access to markets. Through Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), women gained financial independence to invest in better farming techniques. Financial literacy helped transform the traditional merry-go-rounds into table banking or VSLAs, and women borrowed to invest in CSA and to meet short-term household expenditures. Finally, efforts to strengthen legal and institutional frameworks at national and county level were successful. UN Women together with partners managed to integrate women-focused and climate-smart interventions in agriculture and social-protection sectors. Critical was the development of the National Care Policy, second in Africa, which was developed and validated in close collaboration with government, CSOs and academia. The Policy is currently under review by the Attorney General. Once adopted, it will help reduce, redistribute and recognize unpaid care work, acknowledging its importance in the economy and society. Other key documents included the National Policy on Women Economic Empowerment, which will help create an enabling environment for women’s economic participation, address gender disparities and vulnerabilities and promote access to economic resources, and the Access to Government Procurement Opportunity Policy (AGPO). Counties were also building on the gender-responsive County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) to develop its Annual Development Plans and gender responsive budgets. For AGPO, the county governments performed well in AGPO reporting with an average score of 26.8% out of 36% and in procurement planning with an average score of 13.33% out of 28%. UN Women leveraged on its coordination mandate to bring stakeholders together, ensured linkages with normative frameworks such as CEDAW, provided technical inputs and financial support. Efforts to ensure women's economic empowerment in Kenya will continue with increased force and focus in 2025.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-RD_D_1.4
UN Women Kenya Outcome 4: The UN system and stakeholders in Kenya engage in effective coordination to advance GEWE.
In 2024, there were effectively coordinated and well-structured GEWE mechanism in place at both national and county level- bringing together the UN, Government, CSOs, WROs and Development Partners. Drawing on the strong commitment from the Government of Kenya, the Resident Coordinator and UNCT at large, UN Women Kenya leveraged on its coordination mandate to amplify and bring together efforts aiming to achieve gender equality and women empowerment (GEWE) within the UN as well as with external stakeholders. This has led to multiple gender-responsive interventions and results; a two-thirds multi-sectoral working group on gender, increased gender responsive service delivery (for example on femicide and GBV reporting), and availability of gender data. There was great gender-mainstreaming results achieved within UN Kenya in 2024 with UN Women’s efforts. The annual UNCT-SWAP for Gender Equality Scorecard (UNCT-SWAP Scorecard) report, which assessed 5 out of 15 indicators, noted that four out of five scored 'exceeding minimum requirements' while one indicator 'met the minimum requirement'. This puts UNCT Kenya on the global map as it exceeded the QCPR target of 60% (up from 33.3% in 2022 to 86.7% in 2024). Through its gender-responsive UNSDCF 2023-2026, the UN in Kenya now has a strong foundation for system-wide cooperation that mainstreams gender across all interventions and joint programmes (JPs). All ongoing 11 JPs (100%) have been assessed as GEM 1-3, with two JPs being assessed as GEM 3. With the commitment from UNCT, the Gender Theme Group (GTG) has in 2024 continued to carry out critical analysis, advocacy campaigns and capacity building. There are now quarterly GEWE-dedicated meetings, which provides UNCT with a coherent vision of GEWE work in the country. As a result, the UNCT has committed to driving the GEWE agenda in their specific agency-level programmes, leading to several UN agencies allocating financial resources to the GTG workplan as well as interventions. For 2024/2025 available resources, 94% are allocated to GEM 2 and GEM 3 sub-outputs in UNINFO. Further analysis will be done in 2025 to assess how these funds are used to achieve gender results. The GTG, with support from UN Women, furthermore developed the first ever UNCT-Kenya Gender Parity Strategy. This led the indicator on gender parity to move from 'missing requirements' in 2023 to 'exceeding minimum requirements' in the 2024 Scorecard. A system to monitor gender parity across all agencies has also been put in place. Through its coordination mandate and the role as secretariat to several GEWE groups, UN Women also helped in 2024 to create synergies between groups and bring GEWE stakeholders together. The structured engagement led to closer ties between the Development Partners Gender Group and the National Gender Sector working Group (co-chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Gender), pushing forward efforts on for example the 'not more than two thirds gender principle' from the 2010 Constitution. By actively participating in the National Gender Sector Working Group, UN Women contributed to the formulation and implementation of gender-responsive policies and initiatives at the national level. UN Women also provided technical support to the Sustainable Development Goals platform, emphasizing gender mainstreaming in alignment with SDG 5. Despite progress, there continues to be a lack of coordination and inadequate funding for national and county gender coordinatio n mechanisms, as well as gender capacity gaps within UN agencies . UN Women will therefore continue to undertake a holistic approach where further linkages and synergies are sought, and capacity is built.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-RD_O_5
output 1.UN-Women Kenya is an accountable and trustworthy development organization that manages its financial and other resources with integrity and in line with its programmatic ambitions and fiduciary obligations
The Kenya UN Women CO proved in 2024 that it has successfully enhanced its accountability and trustworthiness in its management of financial resources. For example, the CO delivery rate for regular resources was 95% and utilization rate of 98%, while the implementation rate for other resources was 71%. This is similar progress as in 2023, when implementation rate of regular resources was 98% and the delivery rate on non-core was 70%. The Country office updated the risk register for 2024/2025, which was approved by HQ to reflect the changes and risks the country office is exposed to. In terms of business continuity and crisis management, this was completed at 100%. Mid-year testing was done, and the system was updated with new focal points whenever there was a change in staff. New personnel and consultants attended the security briefing in the first week in office. All personnel enrolled in the UNSMS security for updates. Environmental policy was implemented. UN Women Kenya country office continued to showcase successful results in 2024 in terms of donor reports submitted on time. 100% (17/17) narrative and financial reports were submitted on time during the year.Showing 1 - 5 of 9