Strengthening Women’s Voices in Politics

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This project will use a combination of training, outreach, and mentoring to strengthen women’s voices in the public sphere leading up to the 2022 Kenyan presidential elections.  More specifically, the project will build networks of successful men and women to support women leaders, identify and address gaps in communication and leadership skills among women leaders through training and mentoring, and create opportunities for women to participate fully as equal influencers in public debate on the issues of concern leading to the 2022 national elections.  The project will target female leaders in politics, business, technology, academia, civil society, and media. The project supports the Embassy’s strategic goals of empowering women and advancing gender equality and will increase the impact and gravitas of women in public conversations and debates leading up to the 2022 presidential election.   Ideal partners include organizations that are familiar with the political, civil, media, and business environment in Kenya as well as having strong experience in strengthening women’s participation, voice,and impact in public conversations. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to design and implement a program to strengthen female voices in public conversations and debates leading up to the 2021 presidential election in Kenya. Program Objectives: The project implementers will identify women leaders in politics, business, technology, academia, civil society and media. Specifically, the project should: 1) Convene forums on strengthening women’s voices in mainstream media and as online influencers 2) Build alliances and networks among men and women to support the inclusion of women in political debates and discussions 3) Identify “champions”to raise awareness of the importance of gender balance in politics and political discussions 4) Develop a mentorship program to support and advise women leaders 5) Provide training to strengthen communication and leadership skills of participants 6) Partner with universities,civil society organizations, businesses, and local traditional and digital media organizations to create fora to amplify participants’ voices in the public sphere, e.g. conferences/symposia, panel discussions, lectures, published columns and articles, interviews, talk shows, and/or discussion groups 7) Utilize U.S.government alumni and American Spaces Participants and Audiences: The project will target a minimum of 100 and maximum 300 female leaders in politics, business, technology, academia, civil society, and media from Western, Central and the Coastal region in Kenya.

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