A local women’s network in Kenya has set up a Democracy Trust Fund to support women seeking to take up leadership positions in the country.
The Fund will work as a savings facility for women aspiring to seek elective positions as well as offer civic education support. It will seek to level the playing field in a country that still lags behind in women leadership.
Political campaigns in Kenya are a long drawn process, a bruising battle that over the years edged out women, evident in the representation in positions of leadership in the country.
While many factors including prejudice, discrimination and culture affect who is elected to positions of power in Kenya and indeed many other parts of Africa, money is at the center of the low representation by women.
To close these gender gaps, a local non-governmental organisation has come up with a trust fund.
“When we do, we research what do they tell us – they do not have a level playing ground to compete with the men. The men have title, they are able to get money, sell cows, land… so when it comes to paying for the process, some women are unable to historically even pay for party membership,” says Echo Network Africa CEO Dr Jennifer Riria.
Each aspiring leader will save money into a trust fund and will also have access to it towards the campaign period. Members of the fund will also benefit from regular civic education and support.
Kenya currently has just less than 22% of women representation in both parliament and county governments.
Whether the fund will achieve its ambitious target it will be known when Kenyans go to polls in 2022.
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