Gender Responsive Budgeting: Tracking the Effects of Budgets and Public Spending on Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiatives (WEEI) in Kenya

A national budget analysis conducted in partnership with the Institute of Economic Affairs is complete! This study sought to establish whether the overall government spending and the initiatives by the state departments translate into improved women’s economic empowerment initiatives in Kenya. Specifically, the study’s objectives were to identify the main policies and initiatives on women’s economic empowerment in Kenya and analyse whether government budget and spending respond to gender needs in terms of providing an enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment.

Findings indicate that State Department for Gender, National Gender and Equality Commission and State Department for Social Protection accounted 100% of their total budget on WEEI for the four fiscal years under analysis. The huge spending can be attributed to the fact that the first stop for initiatives on women would be the three state departments. In five out of the eight state departments, it was possible to isolate WEEI-sensitive programmes although it was not possible to specifically isolate spending on women’s initiatives across the department as most of the figures on actual spending are highly aggregated.

Budget reviews at national and county levels showed some efforts of resource allocation to specific actions and interventions or programs that have a direct impact on addressing gender inequality. There is also lack of evidence to show if during budgeting processes, the practitioners interrogate how each of the budget allocations impact on women and men, girls and boys, respectively. Read more on the findings and recommendations of the study HERE