Finland to help Kenya fight GBV
Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service and Gender, Prof Margaret Kobia has said the partnership with Finland will reduce poverty and inequality, ultimately boosting women and girls’ rights in Kenya.
What you need to know:
- Kenya and Finland will soon launch a joint gender-based violence (GBV) response program.
- Finland Ambassador to Kenya Pirrka Tapiola on Monday paid a courtesy call on Prof Kobia at her Nairobi office where he also pledged to support Kenya in getting more women into leadership positions.
Kenya and Finland will soon launch a joint gender-based violence (GBV) response program, a bilateral development that would bolster the country’s efforts to end violence against women and girls.
Ministry of Public Service and Gender Cabinet Secretary, Prof Margaret Kobia said the program would contribute to reducing poverty and inequality in Kenya, ultimately boosting women and girls’ rights.
“The bilateral GBV program will complement and continue this support by strengthening the duty-bearers’ capacity to provide GBV first-response services and accountability,” she said on Monday on her Facebook post, following a meeting with Finland Ambassador to Kenya Pirrka Tapiola.
The ambassador had, on Monday, paid her a courtesy call on Prof Kobia at her Nairobi office. Finland will also support Kenya in getting more women into leadership positions.
“Finland and Kenya share a long history in working with gender issues and it is one of the key focuses of our current country program. We wish to support Kenya in getting more women into leadership positions, with implementing the 1325 action plan and in fighting gender-based violence,” the embassy said in a statement.
And last June, President Uhuru Kenyatta outlined 12 commitments, a roadmap guiding the respective ministries and government officials on preventing and responding to GBV.
GBV laws
Among them is full enforcement of GBV laws and policies by 2022.To achieve this, Mr Kenyatta’s administration would adopt a GBV indicator in performance contracting framework as a tool of monitoring all the duty bearers on their progress in enforcing the respective legislations and guidelines.
He also committed to development of a GBV management and information system, $23 million of own funding on GBV prevention and response by 2022, to be increased to $ 50 million by 2026.
The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the GBV situation in Kenya. For instance, in the first six months of last year, the National Crime Research Centre established an increase in GBV cases by 92.2 per cent.
Last July, women rights organisations called on the government to increase allocation to gender equality, a move that would strengthen the government's fight against GBV.
For the past three fiscal years, gender equality allocation has remained at 0.3 per cent despite the total annual budget growing, found Publish What You Fund, a global organisation that campaigns for aid transparency.
In 2019/20 out of the $25 billion budget, the national government allocated only $72 million, an increase by just a $1 million from the previous fiscal year. Kenya’s 2018/19 total budget was similarly $25 billion.
While in 2020/21, it maintained the similar ceiling with an $81 million allocation out of an annual budget of $31 billion.
“Ending GBV requires other strategies or approaches...such as access to education for the girls. When girls are empowered there is a likelihood they can defend themselves, for instance, if it's an abusive marriage, the girl can move out and fend for themselves,” Equality Now, End Sexual Violence, program officer, Jean Paul Murunga had said during a press conference in Nairobi on July 30.
