The Kajiado county government has set aside 20 million shillings to address the financial needs facing women and girls under the women economic empowerment fund.
Kajiado County CEC for Gender, culture and wildlife Jeremiah Ole Ncharo says the fund meant to economically empower women will be out on a rolling basis.
The announcement comes following a survey by the White Ribbon Alliance Kenya that put inaccessibility of the fund among the challenges hampering the economic progression of women and girls in Kajiado
The what women want for economic empowerment survey also cited lack of basic financial knowledge and cultural practices in the communities as retrogressive acts to women empowerment
According to Ole Ncharo, the fund will streamline the policies in a bid to better the livelihoods of women there
”We have seen some fruits. We see quite a number of our people, even from the interior, accepting to allow their children to grow without going through FGM and this is a good, a big, bigger change. We now have our women empowerment Policy Act, and we have 20 million in our budget that is going to start rolling very soon.” Ncharo said.
The White Ribbon Alliance Kenya executive director Angela Nguku lauded the 20 million shillings budgetary allocation, saying it will give Kajiado women an opportunity to focus on more pertinent issues.
”Women spend most of their times taking care of other people, reproductive duties, taking care of their household, fetching water, taking care of their livestock, taking care of children, cleaning dishes, facing firewood and the like. It was such a big thing because we could call women for conversations around the issues that we were working in the project, and some of them could not come because they were busy with household matters.” Nguku voiced.
However the CECM remained non commital with the dates of disbursing the funds.
The policy also envisages Kajiado county locals with the ability to bounce back to financial stability through financial management skills.
In March 2024 the county assembly passed the Women Economic Fund that would economically empower women, to embrace activities such as modern farming, especially during drought seasons.
In the report of a Listening Exercise dubbed What Women Want, the survey found that women needed to be empowered so they can access medical care, transport and food for their families.
According to them, economic activities such as poultry keeping, beadmaking, milk business and other farming opportunities will spur their economic growth.
The bill was drafted in 2021 during the first term of the governor Ole Lenku but has since lacked the goodwill by the political class to be realized further deepening the economic challenges faced by the communities therein.