Employment promotion for women in waste management and circular economy in Kenya

"Employment promotion for women for the green transformation in Africa" (WE4D) is a regional programme commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and designed as a multi-donor initiative that can receive funds from other commissioning parties through combined financing and thereby scale approaches and results. To date, the WE4D programme is also financed by the IKEA Foundation, Norway through the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the European Union (EU). WE4D is implemented in nine countries: Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda.

The overall objective (outome) of WE4D is that the employment and economic situation of women, especially in companies driving the green transformation, has improved. Key outputs are: 1.) Labour market-oriented education and training, 2.) transition to the labour market, 3.) employment in value chains, 4.) competitiveness of start-ups and MSMEs and 5.) regional scaling of the approaches. WE4D"s strategy is to establish partnerships with stakeholders from the public and private sector and civil society that will improve the employment opportunities of women in companies and value chains that are driving the economic transition to an ecologically sustainable and climate-friendly business model. Opportunity-driven and demand-oriented measures will be conducted with individual partner organisation and multi-actor partnerships in the implementation countries with the aim of achieving quantitative employment effects and qualitative, transformative results.

The WE4D Kenya Project, collaborates with and is co-financed by the IKEA Foundation. The joined project aims to address the limited presence and slow growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in Kenya´s waste management (WM) and circular economy (CE) sectors, with a focus on improving the economic situation and employment opportunities for women. Despite the potential of the waste management sector to generate employment and sustainability, MSMEs - particularly women-led businesses - face significant barriers, including limited access to capital, technical expertise, and market opportunities. These challenges hinder the competitiveness of MSMEs, leading to low recycling rates and high waste production. The joint project therefore strives to improve the employment and economic situation of women in the WM and CE sector, and to reduce waste production (outcome). Furthermore, the project is committed to addressing gender-specific challenges and breaking down barriers to ensure that women-led enterprises thrive and contribute significantly to the value chains. In addition, the project will promote and showcase positive role models and successful businesses to strengthen and inspire women and women-led companies.