KEPSA, led by Ms Eva Muraya – Director in charge of Gender and SME, joined other leaders and stakeholders in celebrating the 2022 Women on Boards Network (WOBN) Awards winners in a colourful ceremony that was held on 25^th November 2022 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Upper Hill in Nairobi. The event was hosted by WOBN, an initiative that is aimed at promoting and encouraging women into Board leadership, and in collaboration with KEPSA, through the Gender Sector Board and other partners.

The Awards had ten categories including;

1. Woman On Boards Award
2. Woman Chairperson of the Year Award.
3. Organization of the year Award.
4. Rising Star Award.
5. Individual Empowering Grassroots Women Award.
6. Organization Empowering Grassroots Women Award.
7. Male Champion of Women's Agenda Award.
8. Woman in STEM Award.
9. Lifetime Achievement Award.
10. KEPSA Gender Mainstreaming Award.

The 2022 Woman On Boards Award category winner was Ms Winnie Ngumi - Space and Style Managing Director. The second position went to Dr. Elizabeth Wala - Wanderlust Diaries CEO and KEPSA Director in charge of Health and Social Sector. Dr. Ella Dashanada King - Center for Executive and Entrepreneurial Development Executive Director emerged third in the most coveted category of the awards.

Stanbic Bank Kenya won the KEPSA Gender Mainstreaming Award. This award was meant for an organization registered under KEPSA that has optimized gender equality and women empowerment initiatives through a KEPSA seven-point gender mainstreaming agenda. Stanbic beat other worthy nominees to win the award for providing new mothers with care kits at Kiambu Level 5 hospital, launching free digital learning "FUTURE NI DIGITAL " for business MSMEs, signing partnerships with counties for catalytic funds to women in the markets where they can access funds for as low as 2% (Meru, Nakuru, Laikipia, Mombasa and Kisumu), and restructuring loans during and after Covid-19 period.  (click the link to see the full list of winners: http://bit.ly/3u17lUt )

In her opening remarks, Ms Catharine Musakali – WOBN Chairperson and KEPSA Director in charge of Leadership and Governance said that WOBN is focused on encouraging and accelerating diversity on Boards. This, she said, is by ensuring that there is a pool of Board ready women and that the initiative provides a networking platform for sharing experiences, mentoring, coaching and training.

“Studies all over the world have reached the conclusion that diverse and inclusive boards outperform their peers which are not diverse,” said Ms Musakali adding that the Awards was launched in recognition of the importance of diversity and inclusion on boards and achievements made so far to celebrate individuals championing gender diversity.

The WOBN Awards celebrates gender parity, recognizes excellence in boards service and in the development of women’s potential at all levels. The Award also honours individuals and companies that have made significant contributions towards gender diversity and inclusion. This was the second edition of the awards after a successful inaugural event in 2021.

Ms Eva Muraya noted that Kenya has adopted various measures to change the economic policies, laws and institutions to ensure the involvement of women in various sectors of the economy, including board governance. She went on to say that changing laws and policies was important but cannot fix everything. “We also need to change attitudes away from a male-dominated culture, to make it more open and receptive to the great contributions offered by women,” remarked Ms Muraya.

KEPSA, through the Gender Sector Board, has been implementing a Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Advocacy Program in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create an enabling environment for the elimination of GBV, scale-up of evidence-driven prevention programming, and enhance access to services for survivors through the private sector intervention.

Ms Zuhura Odhiambo – KEPSA GBV and Mental Health Lead outlined the various activities that the Gender Sector Board has undertaken including; Coordinating the private sector participation in national level-consultations and in the GBV Action Coalition; Developing the private sector position paper to provide a blue print for championing policy recommendations on GBV and economic justice and rights; Creating awareness among the private sector on the Generation Equality Forum (GEF); Undertaking research on the trends of GBV to enhance the business case for investing in GBV in the private sector; Commissioning the development of a model policy framework on Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV); Developing and launching the inaugural Private Sector Gender Mainstreaming Policy in 2022, among other initiatives.