Kenya poised to become first African country with a national policy on care

The policy, which is currently before Cabinet, seeks to recognize, reduce, redistribute, and reward both paid and unpaid care work, long overlooked yet central to the country’s economy and social wellbeing.

At a media breakfast convened by UN Women in Nairobi, journalists, researchers, and policy leaders reflected on why care must be placed at the heart of national development, while also unpacking the recently concluded Unpaid Care Project.

The initiative was spearheaded by UN Women in partnership with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and with funding from the Gates Foundation.

Stories from the Ground: Voices from Media, Research, and Policy

For journalist Kamau Maichuhie, the conversation around unpaid care work is not new.

Sitting at the gender desk in his newsroom, he has covered stories highlighting how women’s contributions remain undervalued.

“The gender desk was set up to mainstream gender in our news coverage. We had earlier noted that news was becoming increasingly masculine, with more men being covered. The desk was also established to ensure that women’s stories are told,” he explained.

Kamau recently reported from three counties where UN Women piloted a care project.

“From the stories that emerged, more and more men are now engaging in unpaid care work. They are assisting their spouses with domestic tasks, which has allowed women to participate more in economic activities, such as taking up full-time jobs and running businesses,” he said.

The shift, he added, is slowly dismantling patriarchal norms.

Men are beginning to share responsibility at home, hire farmhands to support their wives, and even install water connections or buy energy-saving jikos to ease the burden.

“Unpaid care work is not just a women’s issue when men get involved, families thrive, women have more time for economic activities, and communities begin to challenge deeply entrenched patriarchal beliefs,” said Kamau.

Numbers that Tell the Story

While Kamau’s reporting highlights real-life changes, researchers provide the data that show how widespread and systemic the issue is.

Chryspin Afifu, Gender and Women’s Economic Empowerment Specialist at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), emphasized that care is both an economic and social backbone.

“In 2021, there was demand for locally generated data, and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics conducted the Time Use Survey. The findings speak for themselves: women spend about five hours per day on unpaid and domestic care work,” he said.

In some counties, especially in the arid and semi-arid regions, the burden is even heavier as women spend hours fetching water, firewood, and food.

Yet despite this, unpaid care contributes significantly to the economy.

“The survey showed that unpaid care work contributes about 7.6% of Kenya’s GDP. Without it, other sectors cannot function,” Chryspin noted.

However, women remain in “time poverty,” stretched between care and work, with little space for rest, education, or income generation.

The draft National Care Policy aims to change this by encouraging investments in infrastructure such as water, electricity, schools, and health facilities that reduce the care burden.

It also promotes innovations like “cash for care,” recognizing that caregivers, especially those offering round-the-clock support to the elderly or persons with disabilities, must also be valued.

A Policy Shift in the Making

Building on these data and lived experiences, Elizabeth Obanda, who leads Women’s Economic Empowerment at UN Women, emphasized that Kenya is at a defining moment.

“If the National Policy on Care is approved, Kenya will be the first country in Africa to have such a policy,” she said.

The policy is grounded in national priorities like Vision 2030 and the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, as well as global commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals.

It is also informed by the KNBS Care Needs Assessment, which revealed that 19 million Kenyans, including children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and those with long-term illnesses, require care.

Elizabeth noted that although the initial project covered only three counties, Kitui, Laikipia, and West Pokot dialogues were national in scope, supported by ICRW as the national implementing organization working with UN Women, and amplified through media partnerships.

The initiative brought together government agencies, civil society, the private sector, and county-level partners to advance the development of Kenya’s first National Care Policy and promote, under the 5Rs framework, the recognition, reduction, redistribution, rewarding, and representation of unpaid care and domestic work.

At the county level, governors were engaged to prioritize gender-responsive budgeting and investment in care infrastructure.

She stressed that adoption of the policy will require complementary measures.

“We are confident that once the Cabinet approves it, the government will adopt policies that address women’s time poverty, including strengthening maternity and paternity leave, and investing in ECDE centers and health systems,” she said.

National Policy on Care Pilot

The pilot project made significant strides in advancing care work:

Awareness: Local and national media, supported by the project, helped communities across Kenya understand unpaid care work.

County Engagement- Governors and finance managers integrated care-related infrastructure into county budgets and adopted gender-responsive budgeting.

Policy Advocacy – The project contributed to technical working groups, strengthening dialogue on the economic value of unpaid care and supporting the calculation of its GDP contribution.

National Visibility – Media engagement amplified caregivers’ voices and raised awareness of time poverty and the economic impact of care.

Policy Progress – The initiative reinforced commitments to maternity and paternity leave and broader investments in health, education, and social protection, positioning Kenya to become the first African country to institutionalize a National Policy on Care.

Partnerships – Collaboration between UN Women, ICRW, county governments, and development partners created a sustainable network to support care-focused interventions beyond the pilot phase.

As the KNBS works on calculating the monetary value of unpaid care, advocates believe the numbers will further strengthen the case for recognition.

For UN Women, the vision is clear: a whole-of-community movement that values care, lightens the load on women, and ensures men and women alike can thrive.