On 18^th May 2023, KEPSA Foundation Executive Director, Ms. Gloria Ndekei, participated in the post–67th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) National Stakeholders forum in Nairobi. The main objective of the forum was to brief stakeholders on the outcome of the CSW67, action plan, and Communique on the agreed conclusions and emerging issues based on Kenya’s Report for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality. 

CSW67 was held at the United Nations Head Quarters, New York from 6th to 17th March 2023 under the priority theme ‘Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls’, and review theme of CSW 62 ‘Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls.

This forum was officiated by the Principal Secretary, State Department for Gender, Ms. Veronicah Nduva, and was also attended by Senator Veronica Maina, Member of Parliament for Njoro Constituency, Hon. Charity Kathambi Chepkwony, Principal Secretary for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr. Aureria Rono, and the UN Women Deputy Representative, Mr. Dan Bazira, among other dignitaries.

Having been part of a Women Economic Empowerment side event at the CSW67, Ms. Ndekei made a presentation on technology and business highlighting how digital technologies can help women-led businesses to grow faster by allowing them to reach a larger audience and establishing long-term relationships with customers, promoting their brand and access to markets, finance and business development trainings.

She further reiterated the emerging issues that are of concern for women's empowerment and gender equality such as unpaid care work, women's participation in subsistence and non-lucrative value chains for livelihood, the role of social protection in cushioning women in business and workers, and how to lift up women from the bottom of the pyramid to growth-oriented enterprises. She reiterated that there is also an emerging risk of further discrimination of women especially those in the rural areas as a result of digitalization of jobs and businesses, and therefore recommended strengthening of women's capacity for increased uptake and utilization of technology.

Ms. Ndekei mentioned that plans are underway for KEPSA Foundation to undertake strategic partnerships that will see 11,000 women groups screened for breast and cervical cancers, 2000 women trained in climate-smart agriculture, and socio-economic empowerment of 500 women in low urban settlement areas with an aim of mitigating risks of GBV.

In her keynote address, PS. Nduva highlighted that the multi–stakeholder delegation to the CSW67 steered the four side events led by Kenya to share best practices and as a learning platform for good practices across the globe. She further shared the Cabinet directives towards implementation and actualization of the outcomes, and conclusions agreed upon by member states at the CSW67. These included prioritization of the ratification of the ILO Convention 190 and its effective implementation to realize women’s rights at work, and implementation scale-up of Generation Equality framework commitments towards the elimination of GBV and other harmful practices on women and girls, among others.

Other speakers at the event weighed in on efforts to close the gender divide, promote women’s participation and leadership, promoting gender responsiveness towards women and girls' empowerment and gender equality thus leaving no one behind.