Running for Office, Running to Win

The 2010 Constitution of Kenya (COK) introduced affirmative action provisions aimed at increasing women’s political participation and representation, including the “two-thirds gender rule” which was set to ensure that no more that two-thirds of the members of any elected or appointed public body are of the same gender. While progress has been made, its full implementation still remains a challenge and continued efforts are needed to reach gender equality in Kenya’s political representation.

It is estimated that over 1,200 women ran for elective office during the 2022 general election, a significant increase in the number of women running for elective office in comparison to previous elections. This is indicative of a positive trend towards achieving gender equality in political representation however the electoral outcomes still reflect a gender gap. The biggest electoral outcome being winning elections especially in competitive positions such as single constituency Member of Parliament positions (MP), and Member of County Assembly (MCA) positions.

This project “Running for Office, Running to Win” is focused on not only empowering and supporting women leaders in their journey to run for office but also building their skills, confidence and networks necessary to also win elections. This year the project focused on women leaders from Kisumu, Homabay, Siaya, Migori, Nakuru, Kericho and Bomet Counties; and were convened in Kisumu and Nakuru town.

The participants were largely drawn from ENA’s Democracy Trust Fund (DTF) membership, and other women leaders that have previously run for elective office or have firmly established that they will run for office in the next general election. Democracy Trust Fund (DTF) is an initiative by ENA founded on the EMILY (Early Money Is Like Yeast) principle where women are encouraged to start putting aside financial resources needed to run for office. Given campaigns require significant funding which many women find difficult to access, DTF provides an innovative solution to remedy this.

The training’s focused on empowering women leaders on essential skills such as Campaign Strategy, Communication, Public Speaking, Policy Development, and Fundraising; among many other strategies. In the end, each participant was tasked with the responsibility of developing a “Personal Leadership Development Plan (PLDL)”. The PLDL was a key output of the training’s as the women leaders were able to individually map out the resources, skills, experiences, networks and stakeholders they need to mobilize and organize to ensure successful election outcomes in the next general election.

Executive Summary:

Echo Network Africa (ENA) is a women-led, women-serving development institution that works with other like-minded stakeholders to empower, position, and advocate for women. As a partner under the Gender Equality programme area, this year they began implementing activities under the project titled “Running for Office, Running to Win” which were convened in Kisumu and Nakuru counties. This project aims at empowering and supporting women leaders in their journey towards elected office, 2027, and the focus is not only running for political positions but also winning elections. ”.

Author: Damaris Kariuki

Download

Another critical aspect the project emphasized on is positioning mentorship and peer support to create a safe space and network for women leaders to leverage on as they navigate everyday challenges they face in relation to negative gender bias, stereotypes, behaviors and cultural norms. Additionally, given women leaders often face higher incidences of gender based violence both physically and online, creating a peer support network provides them with a safe space to deal with these scenarios effectively.

This project is a step in the right direction towards empowering women and ensuring their perspectives are represented in policy making and decision making processes. Kenyan women continue to demonstrate a commitment towards breaking traditional barriers. Therefore, civil society actors need to rise to the occasion to support women as well as design initiatives that will create an enabling environment for women to successfully run for elective office. As such, ENA’s project is bold, timely and central in boosting the number of women in elected positions, and foster a more inclusive political landscape.