KEPSA and Strathmore Business School (SBS) convened the Inaugural Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) Conference on 20^th June 2023 themed ‘Enhancing women’s economic empowerment through gender procurement. The conference was as a result of a 2-year research project that sought to examine the interventions (policy and practice) needed to enhance women’s access to and participation in public procurement opportunities and promote their economic empowerment in Kenya.

KEPSA has been a key partner in ensuring women’s access to Government procurement opportunities and was a contributor to the research development that was conducted by Strathmore University Business School with the support of the International Development Research Centre under the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) program.

Ms. Gloria Ndekei, KEPSA Foundation Executive Director, in her remarks, noted that KEPSA in a bid to provide a platform for SME growth, more so for the women, youth, and PWD-led SMEs, continues to champion the fast-tracking of the implementation of AGPO Initiative. Some of the initiatives that have been implemented include conducting an annual supplier diversity summit in 2019, which has led to private sector firms committing their portion of supply chain opportunities to women, youth, and PWD’s owned businesses. She further noted that KEPSA Foundation was keen on building the capacity of Women Entrepreneurs Associations (WEAs) to provide quality services to their members aimed at preparing the women entrepreneurs to compete for procurement opportunities.

 Strathmore University Vice Chancellor, Dr. Vincent Ogutu challenged the procurement practitioners to provide a level playing field for women entrepreneurs to meaningfully participate and access procurement opportunities. Additionally, the women entrepreneurs were urged to be creative and resilient in their quest for expanding their businesses through government and private procurement opportunities.

The Senior Program Officer, Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) at International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Dr Annet Mulema insisted on the need of increasing the number of policies and programs in the region that are informed by in-country research.

The project report on ‘Gender-responsive Public Procurement in Kenya: Gains, Challenges and Opportunities’ was released during the event and a key among the benefits of AGPO and related programmes  as seen from the study was the increased participation of women in public procurement. Some  of the challenges highlighted by the participants in the study were inadequate communication, the complexity of the AGPO registration platform and complex technical requirements, non-compliance, inadequate capacity, and corruption.

The study highlighted the need for more sensitization on AGPO by the government and the incorporation of platforms like barazas, chamas and churches. It further noted the need for continuous training on the requirements while also considering simplifying the tender documents and language. Measures could also be put in place to tackle non-compliance like institutionalized penalties. The E-Government Procurement System was also seen as a solution for the unfair awarding of tenders and unethical tendering process.

Mr John Ndonji, the Assistant Director of Gender, State Department for Gender in the Directorate of Socio-Economic Empowerment who has worked with AGPO since its inception as a youth officer noted the need to include knowledge gained from research in the development of government policies. He also called upon both state and non-state actors to operationalize gender-responsive procurement that will go a long way in enhancing women economic empowerment.

Ms Fawzia Ali, Chief Consumer Business Officer at Safaricom in her remarks urged private sector organizations to help with creating a more inclusive and equitable business environment. She further hailed the women for coming out to participate in procurement process in the government and private sector.

Mr Erick Korir, the Director of Procurement at the National Treasury lauded the effort made by KEPSA and other partners on capacity building, going around the counties to build capacity. Mr  Korir further stated the commitment of the National Treasury to continue working with partners to scale the training.

The plenary session brought together key policymakers who discussed the importance of gender-responsive procurement, and the contribution of National and county government in narrowing the gender gap in procurement. It was also noted that amidst the challenges affecting the implementation of AGPO, Kenya is still among the few African countries that have put in place an affirmative law on gender-responsive procurement. The panellist celebrated the achievements by AGPO while noting more still needed to be done to ensure that more women benefited from Government procurement. More awareness was needed especially in the rural areas, getting a database of women in business and ensuring equity in procurement and most importantly the need of private sector, government, academia and NGOs to have more structured conversations that will see more people reached by the program.

Ms. Ann Kabugi, the Regional Gender Lead at International Finance Corporation (IFC) Africa urged the private sector as the backbone of economic development, to give women access to procurement opportunities in their organizations.

The key highlights of the conference were the needs to monitor and track women who have benefited from AGPO and success stories shared. Organizations were encouraged to bring out the change that will ensure that women empowerment is part of the agenda 2063. There was need to create awareness in the rural areas of how to register businessto facilitate women to participate in government procurement and also ensure they are tax compliant. Government needs to have strict measures to ensure there is timely payment of entrepreneurs. Simplification of biders manual to ensure that all stakeholders understand the requirements. Organization to automate procurement processes to make it easier for the entrepreneurs and the need to seal loopholes of corruption.

From the conference it was evident that there was a need for a knowledge-sharing platform that would be a one-stop shop where women entrepreneurs can continue collaborating, gaining knowledge, and staying informed. There was also a need for continued dialogue to facilitate an open constructive exchange of ideas aimed at strengthening gender-responsive procurement such as the establishment of a community of practice.