What You Need to Know
Kenya is set to revamp its women’s economic empowerment funds, addressing fragmentation and inefficiencies. Policymakers are advocating for a consolidated approach to better target resources and enhance women’s economic independence, focusing on key sectors and integrating unpaid care work into economic planning.
Africa-Press – Kenya. Kenya is preparing a major overhaul of how billions of shillings in women’s economic empowerment funds are deployed, with policymakers pushing for consolidation, coordination and measurable impact.
This comes amid growing concerns over fragmentation, which has made it difficult to track inefficiencies.
Deliberations around the proposed Women Economic Empowerment Policy reveal a system currently weighed down by overlapping programmes across ministries, counties and donor-backed initiatives, which often target the same beneficiaries with limited tracking of outcomes.
The Institute of Public Finance (IPF) says the Cabinet-approved National Policy on Women’s Economic Empowerment could transform how government programmes support women across the country.
IPF senior programmes officer Victoria Wausi said the new policy framework seeks to align scattered interventions under a single coordinated approach, reducing duplication while directing resources to high-impact sectors such as agriculture, trade, ICT and manufacturing.
“A key focus of the policy is its value addition, coming at a critical moment as Kenya approaches the final phase of Vision 2030 and aligns with Medium Term Plan IV, for the current five-year implementation framework,” said Wausi.
Nairobi Women Representative Esther Passaris said the policy proposes a “whole-of-government” model, bringing together ministries, state agencies, county governments and private sector actors into a unified implementation structure.
“The National Treasury and Economic Planning is expected to anchor funding through gender-responsive budgeting, while the National Gender and Equality Commission will oversee compliance and accountability,” said Passaris.
Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA) programmes manager Rosemary Juma said the proposed policy also addresses barriers often overlooked in economic plans.
It seeks to recognise unpaid care work (the hours women spend caring for children, fetching water, cooking, and supporting families) without pay and to address leadership gaps, where women remain underrepresented in decision-making despite being a majority of voters.
Further, it touches on gender-based violence, health and access to opportunities during crises such as droughts, floods and pandemics.
“Government, counties and development partners are already implementing multiple empowerment programmes. What this policy does is to harmonise them, eliminate wastage and ensure uniform delivery,” said Juma.
The push comes amid mounting pressure from lawmakers who argue that, despite significant allocations through funds such as the National Government Affirmative Action Fund and other affirmative schemes, the impact on women’s economic independence remains uneven.
MPs highlighted fragmented disbursements to large groups that fail to create sustainable enterprises.
“There is a tendency to spread resources too thin. Giving small amounts to large groups rarely breaks the poverty cycle. This is a shift towards targeted investments in viable entrepreneurs with growth potential,” said Thika Town MP Alice Ng’ang’a.
Policy architects argue that the problem is not just funding levels, but structural barriers that limit women’s participation in the economy.
While access to finance is a critical first step, it is not a silver bullet. A 2025 report by Mastercard revealed that lack of funding (53 per cent) is the primary challenge for Kenyan women in business, closely followed by a lack of knowledge on how to scale their enterprises (47 per cent) and develop a business plan (41 per cent).
This highlights a crucial gap between receiving initial capital and building a sustainable, high-growth business.
These include limited access to credit due to lack of collateral, unpaid care work, weak market linkages and persistent gender inequalities in asset ownership.
The proponents argue that the new framework therefore goes beyond financing to address these bottlenecks—linking women to markets, skills training, digital opportunities and infrastructure.
“It is not about replacing existing funds, but making them work better by fixing the ecosystem around women,” National Government Affirmative Action Fund acting CEO, Grace Wasike, said.
The policy also proposes integrating unpaid care work into national economic accounting, with the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics expected to roll out time-use surveys and begin valuing domestic labour within GDP estimates.
County governments will be required to domesticate the policy, allocate resources and build infrastructure to support women-led enterprises.
Private sector players are expected to provide market access, financing partnerships and workplace reforms such as equal pay and inclusive hiring.
Development partners will align funding with the national framework, marking a shift from project-based interventions to coordinated national programming.
However, the reforms have exposed underlying tensions over control and implementation, particularly among women representatives who currently drive grassroots empowerment programmes.
Lawmakers are seeking clarity on whether the new policy will centralise functions or complement existing political initiatives.
Officials insist the policy will act as a multiplier rather than a replacement, likening current funds to “fuel” and the policy to “fixing the road” to ensure better outcomes.
Government-led affirmative action funds have disbursed billions of shillings to empower women entrepreneurs, playing a crucial role in the growth of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across Kenya.
The Women Enterprise Fund (WEF), since its inception in 2007, has disbursed over Sh28 billion to more than 2.25 million women, according the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs.
Similarly, the Uwezo Fund had disbursed Sh7.9 billion to over 82,000 groups, as of December 2024, as announced by MSMEs Development PS Susan Mang’eni.
Data by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that women’s empowerment correlates positively with the educational attainment of the household head.
Analysis shows that women in female-headed households are more likely to be empowered than women in male-headed households.
Co-operatives and MSMEs CS Wycliffe Oparanya recently announced plans to merge the Uwezo Fund, Youth Fund and Women Enterprise Fund into a single entity, the Biashara Fund, to streamline access to financing for small businesses and eliminate loopholes that have led to misuse.
Kenya has been implementing various economic empowerment initiatives aimed at supporting women, particularly through funds like the Women Enterprise Fund and Uwezo Fund. Despite significant financial allocations, challenges such as fragmentation and overlapping programs have hindered the effectiveness of these initiatives. The proposed Women Economic Empowerment Policy seeks to unify these efforts, ensuring a more coordinated and impactful approach to women’s economic participation in the country.
