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Region:Asia Pacific Current UN Women Plan Period Afghanisthan:2018-2022
i-icon World Bank Income Classification:Low Income The World Bank classifies economies for analytical purposes into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high income. For this purpose it uses gross national income (GNI) per capita data in U.S. dollars, converted from local currency using the World Bank Atlas method, which is applied to smooth exchange rate fluctuations. i-icon Least Developed Country:Yes Since 1971, the United Nations has recognized LDCs as a category of States that are deemed highly disadvantaged in their development process, for structural, historical and also geographical reasons. Three criteria are used: per capita income, human assets, and economic vulnerability. i-icon Gender Inequality Index:0.575 GII is a composite metric of gender inequality using three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market. A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men, and vice-versa. i-icon Gender Development Index:0.723 GDI measures gender inequalities in achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health, education, and command over economic resources.
i-icon Population:209,497,025 Source of population data: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision Male:19,976,265 (9.5%) Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)
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outcome XM-DAC-41146-RD_D_1.1

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.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-RD_D_1.2

Increased budgetary allocation for GEWE at national and county level

Kenya has in 2022 made some progress in increasing the amount of budget allocated to Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE), with the support of UN Women. Results National Level According to a report by the Parliamentary Service Commission 2022 (Revenue and Expenditure for 2021/2022), the amount of budget allocated to GEWE in Kenya for the FY 21/22 increased by 0.9% (KES. 314.82 million). The full amount allocated to GEWE was KES 103.7 billion representing 3.24% of the total national budget of KES 3.7 trillion. In the 2020/21 national budget allocation for addressing equity and poverty through social protection for vulnerable groups GEWE allocation stood at KES 103.4 billion (3.4% of the national budget), an increase from KES 88.4B in FY2019/20 (3.16 % of the total national budget). Despite the slight increase in the budget allocated to Gender Empowerment for the FY 21/22, the National Government expenditure on social services decreased by 23.2% from KES. 64.3 billion in 2020/21 to KES. 49.4 billion in 2021/22. Loan disbursements by the Women Enterprise Fund and the Uwezo Fund decreased by 4.6%and 5.4% to KES. 3.1 billion and KES. 0.6 billion, respectively, in 2021/22. Disbursement by the Youth Enterprise Development Fund increased by 25.7% to KES. 730 million in 2021/22. Moreover, Grants disbursed by the National Government Affirmative Action Fund increased by 19.4% to KES. 1.1 billion in 2021/21. The total value of public procurement reserved for youth, women, and Persons with Disabilities (PWD) groups increased by 25.0% from KES. 65.3 billion in 2020/21 to KES. 81.6 billion in 2021/22 [Source of Data: Economic Survey 2022, pg.7] In comparison, Loan disbursements by Women Enterprise Fund, Uwezo Fund and Youth Enterprise Development Fund increased to 1.4% 26% and 21.5%, respectively in 2020/21. The total amount of grants disbursed by the National Government Affirmative Action Fund in three of their programmes (Social Economic Empowerment, Value Addition Initiatives and Bursaries Scholarships for vulnerable students), increased by 3.8 per cent from KES 758.9 million in 2019/20 to KES 788 million in 2020/21. County Level Similar results were observed at the county level, especially in the priority counties of UN Women. For instance, in Wajir County, the County Assembly allocated Ksh 3.5M for youth and women empowerment projects in the FY 2021/22 with priorities being given to a revolving fund accessible to women and youth to enable them to invest in income-generating activities. The net effect of this allocation was to have more funds for special interest groups with the aim of improving their lives and livelihood. In Kajiado the County Assembly approved Ksh 15M for the youth and women empowerment fund an amount that would be utilized as a revolving fund for the mentioned SIG. Further Isiolo allocated an additional 22 million for youth, PWD, and women empowerment programs, which include but are not limited to the construction of vocational institutes and having an allocation to boost the small and medium enterprises for the youth and women in the county. Lamu County Assembly Allocated Ksh 4M towards youth, women, and PWDs empowerment schemes in the FY 2021/ 22 with social halls being constructed where women and youth would converge to learn and acquire skills on investment opportunities in place. Garissa County gender champions advocated for an allocation of 63M towards gender interventions. The amount was however reduced by 50M, which was reallocated to offset pending bills. The balance, however, was channeled towards women empowerment projects in the County with the priority to provide a safe environment for women and children by putting in place mechanisms to reduce gender-based marriages and FGM as well as offering women some funds to invest in income-generating activities. Notably, Isiolo, Lamu, Kajiado and Wajir counties did not have gender responsive budgeting policies in place for the FY 20/21 therefore data on budget allocation to GEWE was not available for the FY 20/21 in these counties. These results build on the previous results on GEWE budgetary allocation for the FY 20/21 in Muranga, Kiambu and Meru County which stood at KES 6.2M, 5M and 4M respectively. UN Women will continue supporting national institutions such as Society of the Clerks at the Table (SOCATT), Council of Governors (CoG), County Assemblies Forum (CAF), Commission Revenue Allocation (CRA) and Office of Control of Budget (OCOB) to upscale the capacity gains in the 14 devolution counties to the other 33 counties across the country. Contribution of UN Women UN Women contributed to these results through various interventions. Firstly, UN Women supported Society of the Clerks At The Table (SOCATT) in the drafting and final review of the county assembly gender analysis toolkit for county assemblies in Kenya, which was used to mainstream gender in county plans and budgets including County Integrated Development Plans (CIDP III). Further, UN Women coached and mentored the programme staff of Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development (TICH) and the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) on how to conduct monitoring and reporting of gender audits conducted by gender champions. UN Women has also supported the Office of the Control of Budget and National Treasury through the development of the Controller of Budget Management Information System (COBMIS). Specifically, UN Women provided inputs draft guidelines on the gender variables to be integrated in the system. Lessons learned It is important to have continuous efforts and follow-up of operationalization of COBMIS to ensure data on gender-related projects in the social sector in the Counties is fully disaggregated
outcome XM-DAC-41146-RD_D_1.3

Gender statistics, sex-disaggregated data and knowledge are produced, analyzed and used to inform policy-making, advocacy and accountability for delivering gender equality and women's empowerment results.

In 2022, UN Women continued contributing towards ensuring that gender statistics, sex-disaggregated data and knowledge are produced, analyzed and used to inform policymaking, advocacy and accountability for delivering Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) results in Kenya. Results Whereas previously, Kenya had only selected and reported on 34 of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) gender-related indicators (in the Kenya National Indicators Framework (2020)), eight additional gender-related indicators were added in 2022. The National SDG Gender Fact Sheet now includes 42 indicators out of the 80 relevant gender SDG indicators (representing 53% of the Gender SDG indicators). Moreover, out of the 131 indicators in the Kenya National Indicators Framework (2020), the gender indicators are now 42. Notably, 26 out of these 42 gender indicators (61.9%) have been produced and published with technical support from UN Women through reprocessing of existing data. This result builds on past achievements reported on in the 2021 annual report and 2021 RMS report, where UN Women noted contribution to capacity building of the Kenya National Statistical System. This enabled production of gender-related Tier I/II/III indicators, which helped address national data gaps. UN Women contribution The results noted above were achieved with financial support as well as through technical support on: - the reprocessing of existing data to produce SDG 5b1 indicator - Work to inform reporting on SDG 5c1 - Work on indicator 5.4.1 on the proportion of time spent on unpaid care and domestic work. The reprocessing of the time use data was used to inform the National Care Needs Assessment Report (2022) which has provided the road map for the development of the National Care Policy. - Inequality analysis study to inform measuring and reporting on inequality, in line with the SDGs, specifically SDG 10 for addressing inequalities, as well as all other SDG indicators that speak to social sector outcomes with a special focus on children (SDG1-4) and Gender (SDG5). Further, the inequality report provides evidence to support the prioritization of the needs of children, youths, women, and other population groups in national and county development plans and budgets to ensure inclusive growth and sustainable development, and that no one is left behind. Furthermore, UN Women successfully supported the government of Kenya in the assessment of the third medium-term plan (MTP III 2018-2022) and the development of the fourth Medium Term Plan (MTP IV 2023-2027) by providing technical support and funding. The results are: (i) the inclusion of Unpaid Care and Domestic Work, aligned to SDG indicator 5.4.1 as a priority area of focus, and ii) Gender statistics was identified as a priority Programme for the sector in the same period. In addition, UN Women in partnership with the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and the State Department for Gender (SDFG) led the development of the National Care Policy Formulation Roadmap. The Roadmap includes evidenced-based policy recommendations on how much work can be supported, informed by the National Care Needs Assessment from 2022 (reported on in the 2021 Annual and RMS reporting). This provides another example of when data was used.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-RD_D_2.1

Productivity of women in the agricultural value-chain increased

Three ASAL counties of Kitui, Laikipia , and West Pokot has made some progress in increasing the productivity of women in select agricultural value chains in 2022. 2,391 beneficiaries (Female: 2,002, Male: 389) adopted 15 CSA technologies and 15 CSA practices on 1,598 hectares of farmland. Additionally, 969 women established agribusinesses in select agricultural value chains in crop and livestock production and apiculture. As such, 419 women from 23 farmer groups aggregated and sold their produce making USD 17,640. Beneficiaries reported improved income, nutrition, and food security at the household level. This was partly attributed to the adoption of appropriate gender-transformative CSA technologies vertical and sunken kitchen gardens and improved locally made multi-use brooders for indigenous chicken production. A 30% increase in agricultural productivity is projected by the end of the project in 2023, due to the adoption of CSA technologies and practices by the beneficiaries. UN Women, in partnership with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Village enterprise, GROOTS Kenya, Hand-in-Hand Eastern Africa, and Anglican Development Services Eastern (ADSE) contributed to strengthening the existing aggregation and supply chain mechanisms, particularly through linking beneficiary groups to input suppliers (seeds, chicks, pesticides, finance, and machinery), aggregators and buyers of their agricultural products. UN Women also focused on building the capacity of women in gender-responsive agriculture value chains (crops and livestock) as well as in financial literacy to help achieve increased access to markets and information. Additionally, UN Women strengthened the capacity of the target women to produce within the changing climate by training them on leadership, advocacy, and gender dynamics. As a result, the women successfully advocated and influenced the inclusion of gender-responsive CSA into county-integrated development plans (CIDPs III). For instance, Laikipia County increased budget allocation for gender and social protection by 4%. The other two counties have also integrated women, youth and PWD focused interventions in their CIDPs. Lessons Learned: There is a need to take a holistic and value-chain approach to increase the productivity of women and youth in agriculture. In addition to strengthening the capacity of women and youth as agricultural producers, efforts should also be made to increase their participation in other agricultural value-chain nodes e.g., value-addition and agro-processing, etc. More efforts should be put into interventions that promote women’s access to credit and markets and linkage made to existing government affirmative procurement and fund programmes e.g., Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO), National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) etc.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-RD_D_2.2

Access by women entrepreneurs to existing and emerging markets/procurement opportunities increased

There was an increase in the number of women entrepreneurs who accessed government procurement opportunities in 2022. There was a 20% increase in the value of procurement opportunities accessed by women through the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO)- from USD 298 million in FY2020/21 to USD 360 million in FY2021/22. 54.8% of the total AGPO procurement value went to women, while 37.7% and 7.5% went to youth and People with Disability (PWDs) respectively. The number of total AGPO tenders awarded in FY2021/22 increased by 22.5% and those awarded to women increased by 21%. Of the total 42,486 tenders awarded in FY2021/22, 40% went to the youth, 52% to women, and 8% to PWDs. Within this period and contributing to the result above, the simplified bidder’s handbook manual was finalized and disseminated with financial and technical support from UN Women. This is expected to address the complicated bidding processes cited by women, youth, and PWDs as the reason for low AGPO uptake. Additionally, UN Women in collaboration with the State Department for Gender ( SDfG ), the Council of Governors (COG), and the AGPO Secretariat, the capacity of four counties (Busia, West Pokot, Isiolo, and Narok ) to accelerate the uptake of AGPO was strengthened - including on AGPO reporting requirements as required by the National Treasury and Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA). During this reporting period, the 217 women trained in the four counties reported increased capacity to access, participate and benefit from AGPO because of training by UN Women. All the directors from the four counties also expressed increased capacity at the county level to comply with AGPO requirements and ultimately enhance AGPO uptake by Women, Youth, and PWDs. This is also evidenced by a 25% increase in the number of state agencies reporting on AGPO uptake. The four counties were targeted in 2022 due to their rural nature and low AGPO uptake. UN Women plans to upscale the AGPO work to other counties in future. As part of increasing women’s opportunities (work and business), the number of Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) signatories increased by 22% from 49 to 60 , thereby strengthening private sector engagement, reporting, and gender-responsive procurement. UN Women in collaboration with the Global Compact Network Kenya convened quarterly consultative, sensitization, training workshops, and recruitment drives to enhance the capacity of WEPs members and increase membership in the private sector. This was also undertaken under the auspice of the Unstereotype Alliance advocacy interventions that saw UN Women feature s in the June edition of the Marketing Africa Magazine. Lessons learned : When the AGPO secretariat provides agency-specific training and coaching on reporting requirements and processes, most government agencies can integrate this as part of their procurement SOP. This allows also for streamlined and standard reporting by all government agencies. Most WEPs signatories have struggled with their reporting requirements due to the complex nature of the global Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) reporting process/platform. Going forward, the focus should not only be on the recruitment of more WEPS members but also on tracking their implementation of the WEPs principles and enhancing their compliance with the reporting requirements.
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