REPUBLIC OF KENYA THE PRESIDENCY MINISTRY OF PUBLIC SERVICE, YOUTH AND GENDER AFFAIRS

Transcription

1 REPUBLIC OF KENYA THE PRESIDENCY MINISTRY OF PUBLIC SERVICE, YOUTH AND GENDER AFFAIRS COMMITMENT STATEMENT BY MRS. SICILY K. KARIUKI, CBS, CABINET SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF PUBLIC SERVICE, YOUTH AND GENDER AFFAIRS, DURING A NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE FORUM ON GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT ON 9 TH MARCH, 2016 AT LAICO REGENCY HOTEL Ambassadors and Heads of Missions Honourable Members of Parliament present, Representatives of the: Diplomatic Corps, Private Sector: Community Based Organizations, Distinguished Guests, It is my distinct honour to welcome you all to the National Stakeholders Forum. I thank the partners for accepting our invitation to this Forum. Today s meeting presents us with an ideal opportunity to deepen our partnership and reaffirm our commitment in the pursuit of gender equality and the empowerment of women. As key stakeholders and actors in the gender space, we are obliged to secure and deepen the gender equality gains and to ensure they remain at the centre of our National development agenda.

2 Since coming into office, we have spent a better part of our maiden days in meet and greet, listening, learning and sharing experiences. I am pleased to note, that the delivery of our national agenda on Gender is supported by clear global, regional and national legal and policy frameworks within a strengthened national gender machinery. This is supported by a good network of actors. The national initiatives are also well guided with clear strategies. These initiatives are supported by the requisite skills, expertise and resources and are already delivering impact. What remains now is for us: to deepen our partnership, to further interrogate the frameworks of the various initiatives, and to develop a clear accountability mechanism through to ensure each group or stakeholder delivers on their mandate. There is greater need to harmonise our work and ensure that we maximize the synergies between what we do. At the national government level, this calls for greater dialogue and clear links between the various interventions that complement each other. For example one would want to see greater linkage with social infrastructure programmes (as water, education and health) that will have direct impact on the women and girls. This also calls for greater working between the two levels of Government to ensure that service delivery is effective, efficient and is delivered in a seamless manner. Improve service delivery will directly impact quality of lives of women.

3 For this Government, and for all of us here this morning, real difference is the name of the game. What the women; at home, in the streets, in schools, in our public offices, in the market places are crying out for, is real impact, real change. Change that they can see, feel and attribute directly to the work we are doing. I am pleased to note that during our interaction with you, we have seen how collaborations and partnerships have made real differences. Partnerships that have stretched outside convention and our comfort zone. For example in our Anti-FGM Campaign our work has gone beyond the conventional spaces we know as has been exemplified by AMREF s using Morans as Peer educators. Another good example of the outcome of our partnerships, is the work we have done in the development of the Kenya National Action Plan on UNSCR We are in the process of developing a Commonwealth Business Centre to promote women enterprise. This is an interagency work supported by the Commonwealth Business Forum, evidence of collaborative approach to working. We know that Multi-stakeholder and Sector collaboration increases and sustains the gains for Gender equality and empowerment of women. This is why we convened this Forum - to provide an opportunity for all of us to have meaningful engagements and forge partnerships; taking recognition of comparative advantage and reducing duplication in efforts and more

4 importantly to make commitments that will scale up our existing initiatives and deliver real impact. It is my belief that today s deliberations will produce real commitments that we seek from our stakeholders. Commitments that will help to deliver impact and add value to our priority areas, which include: i. Eliminating Sexual Gender Based Violence and FGM ii. Accelerating Women s Economic Empowerment iii. Achieving full participation of Women in Politics and Decisionmaking iv. Other cross-cutting thematic areas My Ministry considers all stakeholders in this room as crucial partners in supporting our priorities. As Government, Parliamentarians, development partners, educators, Community Based Organisations (CBOs), collectively we have the power and the responsibility to ensure gender equality is and remains a national priority. Let me take this opportunity to elaborate on my Ministry s commitment to this cause: My Ministry commits to engage with the media houses to support the development of a cadre of journalists from a broad range of media platforms, and work with them to become experts in gender matters; My Ministry commits to develop a Joint Gender Based Violence Prevention Framework to address the gaps in the fight on violence against women. I commit to ensure that this multi-sectoral approach is

5 strengthened and supported so that it continues to devise more innovative preventive and eradication mechanisms on GBV; My Ministry commits to coordinate the development of a regional framework on dealing with GBV within the EAC region. My Ministry commits to ensure that Kenya remains a relevant contributor and participant of gender matters in regional and international space and My Ministry commits to support the process of ensuring the provision on the 2/3 rd Gender Principle is agreed and passed by August 2016 and to a successful conclusion. My Ministry commits to establish strong governance architecture for our existing interventions and ensure we can deliver impact. As I conclude, it is my hope that the panel deliberations will come up with other commitments that can make real impact for our women and girls. I now wish to challenge this meeting to ensure that we capture today s commitments and develop a clear framework to support the realisation of each commitments. For this, I direct my team in the Ministry to work with the Gender Sector Working group to undertake and guide this work. Let me once again thank you and take this opportunity to wish you all the best in your work. Thank You.