KENYA

Kenya’s first WPS NAP covered the period 2016-2018.  A review of this first NAP (KNAP I) was undertaken in 2019 and lessons learned from it were taken forward in the second NAP which covers 2020-2024..

‍Objectives of the Kenya 2020-2024 NAP (KNAP II):

Lessons drawn from the first iteration of Kenya’s WPS NAP included the need to:

_{- create a better sense of community ownership;}

_{- broaden the scope of inclusion to community level organisations;}

_{- strengthen partnerships and multi-agency coordination;}

_{- improve awareness of the NAP at all levels;}

_{- deepen institutionalisation of the NAP in ministries, government departments, and agencies;}

_{- focus reporting on SGBV to conflict-related contexts;}

_{- standardise approaches to enable comparison;}

_{- forge links between actors of the WPS agenda across different levels;}

_{- improve monitoring and accountability;}

_{- provide guidance to development partners on crucial forms of support;}

_‍These lessons are reflected in the activities and outcomes set out in the matrix towards the end of the current NAP, which contains four overarching pillars (listed below), aligned to UN Resolution 1325 and supported by objectives and detailed interventions:

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- Participation and Promotion:  To increase the inclusive and effective engagement of women at all decision-making levels in peace, security, and disaster management. 

Interventions within this pillar include increasing participation of women through promoting women in institutions, allocating budgets to promote WPS in disaster responses at county level and reporting on women’s access to resources.

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- Prevention:  To enhance the prevention of conflict and all forms of violence against women, girls, and vulnerable groups through gender-sensitive institutional, structural, and social transformation.  

Under this pillar the Kenyan NAP highlights the importance of publicly challenging the normalisation of sexual violence and notes the value of integrating indigenous and traditional knowledge to enhance early warning systems.  Gender mainstreaming in the security sector is also seen as a means to enhance prevention of violence.

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- Protection:  To protect women and girls and other vulnerable groups, including migrants, refugees, and internally displaced persons, from all forms of conflict and violence.  

Within this pillar there is an emphasis on legal mechanisms, human rights provision, justice institutions, and specialised GBV training for security actors.

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- Relief and Recovery:  To ensure women and girls have the capacity to effectively engage in relief and recovery, and have access to services in humanitarian settings, including periods of disaster/crisis.  

Interventions under this pillar include better integration of women’s perspectives in disaster response mechanisms, and integrating gender-sensitivity into disarmament and demobilisation practices.

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Commentary:

The most striking feature of the KNAP II is its emphasis on the relationship between central government efforts and implementation at the regional, county and local levels. This is something that was highlighted as insufficient in the analysis of the country’s first NAP. However, although the preamble to this second NAP states explicitly that  “Collective ownership of the plan is a fundamental requirement for its sustenance” and points to the need to involve women’s organisations, there is little direction given within the plan as to how this is to be achieved beyond consultation in quarterly reports. 

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Ongoing national challenges in Kenya include a rise in terrorist activity by the group Al Shabaab  and frequent radicalisation of young people, including women and girls. The effects of climate change on pastoralist communities are also particularly severe, resulting in inter-communal conflicts over land and water, as well as oil, minerals and natural gas.

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This second NAP seeks to address, in particular, a number of specific security challenges - Climate Change, Humanitarian Disasters, Violent Extremism, GBV, Human Trafficking and Forced Migration - and societal challenges - Structural Inequalities, Devolution, Cultural and Religious Factors.

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Civil society involvement in development of the NAP:

Civil society, in particular women’s organisations at national and local levels, were engaged in the review of KNAP II, and development of KNAP II, and they will be represented on the National Steering Technical Committee tasked with overseeing co-ordination and resource mobilisation. 

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UN Peacekeeping  statistics:

As of Sept 2023, Kenya contributed 423 UN peacekeeping personnel, of whom 71 were female (16.8%), and ranked 41st in the world for contributions (as of 30th April 2023).  The majority of Kenya’s peacekeeping personnel are deployed to MONUSCO (the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo)

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Women in peacekeeping:

KNAP II acknowledges the need for increased participation of women in leadership roles both in government and in disaster response committees. It also cites as a key outcome of the first NAP, the development of a new Gender Policy within the Ministry of Defence. This focuses on gender mainstreaming in the armed forces and promotes women’s leadership in the security sector. Notably, in 2018, Kenya appointed its first female Major Genderal, Fatumah Ahmed.

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References and sources:

Kenyan National Action Plan (2020) Available at: https://gender.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/KNAP-II-digital-30-Apr-2.pdf 

United Nations Peacekeeping (Sept 2023) https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/troop-and-police-contributors 

Contribution of Uniformed Personnel to UN by Country, Mission, and Personnel Type (Sept 2023): 05-Missions Detailed By Country

Uniformed Personnel Contributing Countries by Ranking Experts on Mission, Formed Police Units, Individual Police, Staff Officer, and Troops As of: 30/04/2023: 02-Contributions by Country (Ranking)