KEPSA Foundation Executive Director, Ms. Gloria Ndekei on 14^th September 2023, joined the State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action Principal Secretary, Ms. Veronica Nduva, and other development partners in marking the ‘Generation Equality Forum Midpoint 2025’ with the aim of taking stock of the progress made so far in the realization of gender equality. The forum organized by UN Women and Equality Now was also attended by UN Women Country Representative, Ms Anna Mutavati, Equality Now Director, Ms Faiza Mohamed, USAID Kenya Strategic Planning and Analysis Director, Ms Sharon Lazich, and National Police Service Spokesperson, Dr. Resila Onyango among others.

This forum is against the backdrop of Kenya being a co-leader in the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) priority area (Action Coalition) globally and making 12 bold and impactful commitments towards achieving gender equality nationally. These commitments included an increase in financing towards GBV, legal, and policy reforms as well as advanced research and data collection and collation towards informing programmatic interventions.

Ms Veronica Nduva, speaking on behalf of the Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action Cabinet Secretary, Honorable Aisha Jumwa, provided an update on the progress of implementing the 12 commitments underpinned on Financing, Leadership and Accountability, Laws and policies, Data, and Service Delivery pillars. On Financing, the Government of Kenya has increased budgetary allocation to support Anti-Gender Based Violence and the eradication of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Further, she highlighted that on Leadership and Accountability, the Government has included the gender mainstreaming indicator in the Performance Contracts of Public Servants, ensuring accountability of duty bearers in the fight against GBV and FGM.

Ms Ndekei while highlighting the role and progress of KEPSA and KEPSA Foundation in delivering Gender Equality in the private sector in Kenya, said that gender inequality is cited as a key determinant that underpins violence against women, noting that poverty is a risk factor associated with gender-based violence and often intersects with and reinforces gender inequality. To address this, KEPSA has instituted a raft of commitments and interventions towards complementing the Government’s commitments through gender-responsive programs that have been implemented through training, advocacy research, and development of policies. She highlighted among others the Better Business Practices for Children Initiative with UNICEF that seeks to support lactating women in the workplace and the scale up to the informal setup through the promotion of hybrid chama agenda that can provide safe spaces for women to speak up on emerging family issues including GBV occurrences.

Ms Ndekei further highlighted that KEPSA and the Foundation while being at the forefront of championing gender equality have developed the inaugural private sector gender policy, undertaken a Baseline study on the Trends and Impact of GBV on Productivity in the Private Sector, and developed a Private Sector Position Paper on GBV Economic Justice and Rights towards an enabling policy environment for the private sector.  She called the government to fast-track the ratification of the ILO Convention No. 190, Recommendation No. 206, and the accompanying Resolution on Eliminating Violence and Harassment in the World of Work among others.

Other speakers at the forum sought to weigh in on the agenda and highlight the role of the non-state actors, Civil Society Organisations, Development Partners, and other stakeholders in ending GBV and FGM. The convening will also take the opportunity to reignite Kenya’s GEF implementation framework to steer progress towards the actual realization of all of Kenya’s commitments whilst engaging and informing the global process in collaboration with our global action coalition leaders.