Gender Equality is High Priority for UN Development Goals in Kenya

In the 2018- 2022 UN Development Assistance Framework for Kenya, Gender equality is addressed in all the 3 priority areas and in 11 of the 14 outcomes. The UN’s support broadly covers areas related to women’s equal political participation and representation; education access for girls at all levels; addressing the specific vulnerabilities of young women and women to HIV/AIDS; responding to and preventing Gender Based Violence (GBV) including Female Genital Mutilation (FGM); ensuring that disaster risk reduction programmes meet women and girls’ needs and supporting women’s access to productive assets and economic opportunities in safe work environments.   This is aligned with the country’s equality agenda as spelt out in the MTP III, the constitution, sector strategies on gender and county gender plans.

The UN will also invest resources and technical assistance to address gender needs in flagship initiatives such as the Turkana Joint Programme; the Marsabit-Borana Cross-Border Programme and the SDG Philanthropy Platform. It will also invest in analysis to improve our understanding of the cost of gender gaps to the Big 4 focus areas. This will in turn support the government and other stakeholders in designing gender responsive interventions.

Development and implementation of stand-alone gender equality programmes that bring together several agencies to provide a multifaceted response to a particular issue such as the Government of Kenya – UN Joint Programme on the Prevention and Response to GBV.

The UN’s investment in gender equality in Kenya, is centred on a theory of change that seeks to:

•Create an enabling policy, legal, and institutional environment

•Promote social transformation to address the sociocultural drivers of gender inequality and

•Invest in women’s empowerment and women’s movements, to drive their full participation in Kenya’s social, economic and political development.

To achieve the above, the UN has set up a Gender Working Group (GWG) to coordinate and influence the UN System to Deliver as One on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE). To ensure accountability of the UN Leadership to gender equality, the GWG provides technical support related to gender mainstreaming in the UNDAF.

The GWG also supports implementation of the recommendations of the UNCT SWAP-Scorecard by the UNCT and other key inter-agency groups. The GWG interfaces with other coordination mechanisms including the Government-led Gender Sector Working Group (GSWG) and the Development Partners Group on GEWE. Regular meetings are held to exchange information, mobilize resources and coordinate GEWE interventions by delivering as one