A major milestone for Women, Peace & Security (WPS) in Kenya!.
In the hills of Limuru, Act! hosted a WPS Programme Design Clinic and Validation. In partnership with the Royal Danish Embassy, National Cohesion and Integration Commission, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission(IEBC) Kenya and the State Department for Gender, we launched the 2026–2028 Programme funded by the Embassy of Denmark in Kenya to embed women’s leadership in peace and security governance across ASAL counties and informal settlements. Twenty-five years after UNSCR 1325, symbolic gestures are no longer enough; women’s safety and influence should be the norm.

Partners rigorously interrogated data on representation gaps, GBV prevalence, CAP operationalisation challenges, and the persistent localisation deficit. Baseline findings exposed the localisation gap: policies exist, yet women remain present in peace structures but unheard; GBV referral pathways break down at the last mile; and County Action Plans too often gather dust and remain underfunded.

Partners moved beyond tokenism to demand measurable influence, refining Theories of Change to address patriarchal norms, climate-driven conflicts, and the 2027 electoral risks.

The Act! CEO emphasized, “A safer country for our women is the only promise for our future; we have to take responsibility for safeguarding it.”
Key takeaways:

📌 Stop counting seats, start measuring real influence: do women set agendas, change decisions, and see their proposals adopted?
📌Treat male ally engagement and 2027 election preparedness as core programme pillars, not cosmetic add-ons.
📌Audit the respective county’s GBV referral pathway by walking through the survivor’s actual journey and fixing the broken steps
📌Make County Action Plans work by securing dedicated budgets, giving grassroots women named seats on monitoring committees, and producing simple local-language scorecards.
The clinic also inducted partners on programme expectations across Grant Management, Monitoring & Evaluation, Communications, Compliance, and Reporting, laying the foundation for accountable, coordinated, and impact-driven implementation over the next three years.
The road ahead demands collective ownership and the embedding of women’s leadership where conflict, climate shocks, and exclusion collide hardest.