KENYA: Energy Sector - Support to GDC, KENGEN and KETRACO

Kenya Electricity Generating Company Limited (Ken-Gen) is East Africa’s largest electricity producer and is among the top 10 geothermal energy producers in the world. In 2016, KenGen founded the Pink Energy Initiative (PEI) to uplift the status of women within KenGen. The initiative has enabled women to make remarkable progress in professionalism, career growth, health and wellness, financial management, parenting, and mentorship. The forum has since advanced to a sectoral platform to encourage other state agencies within the Ministry of Energy. In addition to the PEI, KenGen also formed a gender mainstreaming committee to address gender gaps.
Despite these efforts, the ratio of women at KenGen is still at 23 percent, which is below the statutory requirement of 30 percent, a clear indication that the objective of attaining gender balance needs further work. PPIAF’s technical assistance is therefore aimed at supporting KenGen to accelerate its gender mainstreaming efforts by determining barriers from the national level (e.g., policies and programs that directly address female labor issues in the energy sector) to the corporate level (HR policies, recruitment and promotion practices, workplace culture). The support will also seek to inform efforts aimed at closing gender gaps in employment through interventions in-country (e.g., female-friendly facilities, school-to-work transition programs, role models and professional networks, quotas and affirmative action interventions, and returning to work). The activity will also support the continued efforts of KenGen’s PEI. 
A key output of the support is the development of KenGen’s Gender Strategy, which will help identify gender disparities at the sector-utilities level and inform policy changes that create a more gender-inclusive workplace. The strategy will be guided by a theoretical framework across three areas in employment: i) recruitment, ii) retention, and iii) promotion. In addition, there will be a focus on creating stronger linkages to tertiary institutions and other relevant skills training programs needed at KenGen.