By Antara Majumdar
Kenya is one of the few African countries that have adopted a national gender and energy policy. This means that there are directives to ensure that both men and women participate in and benefit equally from the energy sector policies, programs, projects and markets. The policy is based on the understanding that diverse groups of people have access to different energy resources. The goal of the policy is to make energy services and energy sector institutions including government ministries, departments, private sector players and institutions at the national, county and local levels, more inclusive.
Despite these policy frameworks, gender gaps exist at all levels, leading to a limited understanding and adoption of gender equality principles in the Semi-autonomous Government Agencies (SAGAs). SAGAs are organizations that operate at arm’s length from the government, performing public tasks like regulation, service delivery, and policy implementation, with less hierarchical and political influence on their daily operations than government bureaucracy.
In most of the SAGA’s, there were no gender units, meaning there was no gender representation in annual budgeting, planning and in top leadership
-Purity Ndereba, Project Manager Practical Action
Practical Action, ENERGIA’s implementing partner in Kenya, has been supporting various stakeholders in the energy sector, including the SAGAs, to ensure that women’s concerns in the energy sector are addressed through a systematic process of Gender Mainstreaming. Their Women in Energy Enterprises in Kenya (WEEK) Phase 3 project aims to enhance women’s participation in clean energy value chains by promoting energy entrepreneurship, productive use of energy (PUE), and gender mainstreaming in Kenya’s energy sector.
Championing gender inclusion in the SAGAs
Under the WEEK 3 project supported by ENERGIA, Practical Action is supporting the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (MoEP) as well as energy related SAGAs, such as the Kenya Power and Lighting Company , Nuclear Power and Energy Agency and the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, to institutionalize gender mainstreaming To begin with, the WEEK project supported MoEP to establish the Energy Sector Gender Committee, which oversees the implementation of the Gender in Energy Policy (2019) by all energy sector stakeholders. Practical Action also empowers the Gender Committees within each SAGA, through training and capacity-building to strengthen their gender knowledge and skills. Additionally, the Gender Committees works towards sensitizing top leadership, headquarters, and field staff, fostering a culture of gender awareness across all levels. A key focus is on data collection, ensuring the systematic gathering, analysis, and dissemination of sex-disaggregated data. Practical Action also helps SAGAs meet statutory gender requirements, ensuring compliance and accountability in gender inclusion efforts.
Implementing gender mainstreaming efforts and interventions has not been easy. There have been challenges along the way, many of which still persist. First of all, there is an under-representation of women in technical, senior management, and leadership positions. Another hurdle is the absence of a thorough monitoring and evaluation system, significantly limiting monitoring progress on gender mainstreaming. Lack of gender units is another challenge, resulting in in small or nonexistent gender budgets.
Turning Challenges into Opportunities: actions on the ground
These challenges have not stopped the SAGAs from facing the task head-on, using limited resources to undertake gender mainstreaming interventions and measures. Such measures include establishment of lactation rooms, flexible working hours for mothers (up to 9 months) and paternity leave. Kenya Power introduced 14 days of paid paternity leave in addition to the existing 90 paid days of maternity leave, demonstrating its commitment to family support. Some SAGAs introduced scholarship programmes that balance opportunities between male and female employees, others initiated Mentorship and Outreach Programs, have introduced ‘bring-your-daughter-to-work’ days, and are encouraging women to participate in study tours and field visits; all to promote women in STEM. Several SAGAs developed corporate policies to promote inclusion, such as gender-responsive HR policies and HIV/AIDS prevention and management policies. The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company invested in a Gender Information Management System.
How have the SAGAs fared and next steps
In 2024, an assessment of the initiative was undertaken to determine whether the gender action plans developed during WEEK phase II project are being implemented effectively. The assessment revealed that all the SAGAs have made progress towards gender mainstreaming in their respective institutions as well as in their programs since the initial Gender Work Plans in 2021.
While a number of SAGAs have made a good start, there are still many that have not been able to advance their progress in gender mainstreaming, mainly due to lack of sufficient dedicated budgets to support implementation of the annual gender work plans. Practical Action has played a crucial role in establishing the current successes and continues to support and strengthen de SAGAs where possible. Funding however, remains a bottle-neck. This clearly shows that having a policy and political will in place are not enough. Having the financial means for operationalization of the policies and frameworks is crucial. The Ministry and Practical Action together are now exploring possibilities to increase funding.
