Outcome 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

Context and Political Landscape 2025 marked a pivotal moment in Kenya’s political environment with direct implications for women’s leadership, particularly in political spaces.The passing of Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, a longstanding champion of gender equality, further reshaped the political landscape, creating uncertainty and transition likely to influence women’s political representation as the country moves toward the 2027 general elections. Against this backdrop, several strategic results were realized in 2025, reflecting both immediate gains and the cumulative impact of sustained UN Women engagement. Women in Leadership Kenya’s 2025 by elections, covering six National Assembly seats, one senatorial seat, and 17 MCA wards, exposed persistent structural barriers to women’s political participation. Of the 181 cleared candidates, only two women contested parliamentary and senatorial positions, underscoring the depth of gender imbalance in electoral competition. Rather than demonstrating progress toward constitutional gender parity, the by elections highlighted entrenched systemic constraints facing women candidates. These outcomes provided a critical signal for electoral stakeholders, particularly the reconstituted Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, on the scale of reforms required to enable inclusive political participation ahead of the 2027 general elections. Policy Environment UN Women Kenya strengthened national accountability and institutional commitment to gender equality through technical leadership on key policy frameworks. Through its substantive contribution to the third National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325, KNAP III 2025 to 2029, UN Women ensured that gender responsive peacebuilding, women’s leadership, and emerging security risks are embedded within governance systems. The Plan positions women’s participation as central to peace, humanitarian action, and recovery, while addressing climate related insecurity, displacement, economic vulnerability, and gender based and online violence. UN Women continues to champion adoption by advancing policy alignment and institutional ownership. In parallel, UN Women supported the development of the second Kenya Strategy for the Development of Statistics and the Gender Statistics Strategy Plan II. These frameworks strengthen the national statistical system by integrating gender responsive data priorities and expanding the use of citizen generated data to address evidence gaps. Through sustained technical and financial leadership, UN Women enhanced coherence across state and non state actors, positioning gender data as a foundation for inclusive planning, accountability, and SDG reporting. Gender Responsive Budgeting Public financing for gender equality and women’s empowerment remained constrained in 2025. Allocations to the State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action and the National Gender and Equality Commission continued a downward trend, remaining below 0.2 percent of the national budget. This persistent underinvestment underscores structural limitations in translating policy commitments into adequate fiscal prioritization for gender equality outcomes. (See attached Bejing @30 report page 44). Women, Peace and Security Kenya’s performance on the Women, Peace and Security Index showed modest improvement, with a score of 0.542 and a global ranking of 152 out of 181 countries. While progress is evident compared to 2024, the decline from 2022 levels highlights ongoing fragility in peace, security, and gender equality outcomes. UN Women Kenya advanced national leadership on the WPS agenda by anchoring KNAP III as a strategic national framework that integrates women’s leadership into peacebuilding, humanitarian response, and recovery. By driving institutional alignment and national ownership, UN Women positioned the WPS agenda as a core pillar for sustainable peace and resilience in Kenya as the country approaches the 2027 elections. Taken together, the 2025 context and results confirm that the Theory of Change underpinning this Outcome remains valid. The convergence of youth led civic mobilization, heightened public demand for accountability, policy level institutionalization of gender responsive governance frameworks, and strengthened gender data systems demonstrates that progress toward inclusive, accountable, and rights based governance is driven by sustained engagement across political participation, policy reform, and institutional accountability. Role of UN Women UN Women contributed to these results by providing sustained technical leadership, convening power, and policy expertise to strengthen gender responsive governance and accountability systems in Kenya. Through strategic engagement with government institutions, constitutional bodies, and civil society, UN Women supported the integration of women’s leadership, human rights, and gender equality commitments within national policy frameworks, peace and security architecture, and statistical systems. Evidence Commission clears 181 candidates to contest in 24 by-elections in November https://www.knbs.or.ke/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/The-Second-Kenya-Strategy-for-Development-of-Statistics.pdf

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

Significant results were achieved to ensure that Kenya has an inclusive, enabling and socially cohesive and peaceful society where women leaders play a key role. Women leaders elected during the General Election in 2022, emerged in 2023 as trailblazers in service delivery to the people of Kenya. According to a County Track Survey conducted by Infrotrak, the women governors were assessed as top performers- both for development and for service delivery. Out of the seven elected women governors, four (57%) made it to the top ten. In Kirinyaga county, the governor transformed the county’s health sector by constructing a modern hospital complex in Kerugoya and in Nakuru county, access to citizens has been made to clean drinking water and agricultural advancements (previously key challenges). This is extraordinary as women leaders face barriers like deeply entrenched patriarchal and discriminatory institutions, laws and social norms. The collective efforts by UN Women: support to governors during elections, long term investments in capacity building of women leaders, advocate for policy and legislative reforms, engage media and communities and build partnerships with civil society have yielded results that a few years ago were non-existent. As a member in the Multi-Sectorial Working Group, UN Women continued to support and advocate for implementation of the two-thirds gender principle as per the 2010 Constitution. In 2023, substantial results were also achieved with regard to the development and content of the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDP) in all 47 counties. It is important to note, that CIDPs I and II were not gender mainstreamed and therefore the needs of women and girls in the 47 counties were not prominent. The CIDP III, unlike its predecessors, is however robust on gender issues and gender related programmes, especially in social sectors such as health, agriculture, social protection, water, trade sectors and education, are now frequent. To strengthen the monitoring and evaluation systems of CIDP-III, UN Women provided technical support to the CIDP-III indicator handbook for 19 counties [1] . Linked to this, is budgeting for GEWE. The amount of national budget allocated to GEWE remained low in 2023, with only a small increase- from 0.12% in 2022/2023 to 0.14% for 2023/2024. UN Women supported national and county governments in the development of budget policies and legal frameworks and will continue to support counties’ development and review of Gender Responsive Budget institutional frameworks. The National SDGs Indicator Framework and Country Profile on SDG data were updated as preparation for Kenya’s 2024 Voluntary National Review with UN Women technical and financial support. The two publications generated increased the number of gender-relevant indicators- from 42 to 44 out of the 80 SDGs. Gender statistics produced through support of UN Women has been used by UN agencies joint programmes. It is anticipated that this data will be used by government, public and private sectors in their policy making, programming and decision-making. Achievement of GEWE cannot be achieved without a peaceful and secure environment for women and girls. In 2023, the percentage of women leaders in the peace committees increased from 33% to 34% which led to gender-responsive policy formulation/implementation, strengthened advocacy for GEWE and collaboration with human rights defenders to enhance service delivery to SGBV survivors. UN Women contributed to this by supporting the localization of the Kenya’s National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325. Eight [2] counties successfully localized the KNAP, making it 18 in total. While strides have been made to advance the WPS agenda, the global Women Peace and Security index ranked Kenya at 149/177 (prev 90). In view of this, UN Women will further strengthen coordination of key peace, security and election management actors to prevent conflict and violence. Considering the above results, it is clear that the SN ToC is relevant. UN Women will continue to expand the space for GEWE through inclusive leadership, responsive policy and institutional reforms. [1] Kitui, Embu, Garissa, Isiolo, Kajiado, Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Narok, Tana River, Turkana, West Pokot, Kilifi, Wajir, Samburu, Mombasa, Vihiga, Kakamega and Busia [2] Turkana, Garissa, Bungoma, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nandi, Vihiga, Muranga and Taita Taveta counties

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.