Tuesday July 5, 2022; the delegates officially adopted the 12 point priority agenda for Women Economic empowerment (WEE) 2022-2025, The Chief Guest Associate Vice Chancellor, Research, Innovation and Enterprise Prof. Margaret Hutchinson unveiled the Priority Agenda for Women Economic Empowerment and rallied the women delegates to take positions of leadership and decision making as well as be part of resource mobilization, distribution and utilization; saying “this agenda is informed by research and its going to liberate the African woman. The work has just begun, setting this Priority agenda provides us with the first step of a journey of a thousand steps.’
This was the 2nd day of the National meeting on the priority agenda for Women's Economic Empowerment. The two-day national meeting saw delegates drawn from 20 counties across the country.
The priority agenda is informed by the research carried out by the University of Nairobi WEE hub researchers under different thematic area such as; affirmative action funds, women in informal and formal employment, child care and women’s collectives. The studies were carried out in partnership with the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. The primary data was collected from a sample of 18 counties and data from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and the UN women study on Engendering fiscal stimulus packages and recovery efforts adopted in response to the COVID-19 Health and economic crises.
UoN WEE-hub Cluster Convener and researcher Ms. Elizabeth Auma gave a detailed presentation on the priority Agenda, the objectives of each agenda item, the key findings that informed the recommendations outlined in the Priority agenda booklet. The priority agenda for Women’s economic empowerment identifies critical focus areas for WEE and advocates for changes in legislative frameworks, policies, regulations and Programmes in support for women’s Economic empowerment. The main aim of the agenda is to provide a platform for women entrepreneurs at the county and national levels to dialogue with policy makers, financial institutions and other stakeholders. The Agenda items advocate for a review of county and national legislative policies and regulations that support the allocation of more resources to women’s enterprises.
During the national meeting, Dr. Agnes Meroka, African Women Studies Centre (AWSC) also presented the strategies that WEE- HUB will adapt towards the realization of the priority agenda key among them; Awareness creation to advance women’s agenda, dissemination of information on policies related to WEE through the media and Community based organizations as well as mobilize women across the country ti to actively participate in the formulation, amendment of legislation relevant to Gender responsive budgeting.
Prof. Mary Kinoti, Director- Intellectual Property Management Office led the delegates in a color cake cutting ceremony to mark the official adoption of the priority Agenda, saying “the Women Economic empowerment movement has learnt a lot from the Pathfinders, and out of that mentorship and the research data from WEE-HUB, we have reviewed many documents to understand the gaps and on the basis of that we have developed a priority agenda, we want to assure the women that we will close the gap and succeed together”
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