Building on 20 years of PRB presence in Kenya, PACE works with national and subnational partners to ensure that sustained access to quality family planning and reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health is enshrined in Kenya’s policies and programs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and Kenya’s Vision 2030. PACE is recognized as a key partner supporting Kenya’s Journey to Self-Reliance.
PACE builds the capacity of individuals and institutions in Kenya—so that more people understand and can champion evidence about how family planning and reproductive health will contribute to long-term development and more institutions are mobilized and impactful.
By partnering with Kenyan institutions through co-creation and building on complementary resources and competencies, PACE supports capacity development in new technical areas, such as high-level budget advocacy and multisectoral approaches.
PACE provides technical assistance to the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) on revising the national population policy with a focus on adapting it to Kenya’s devolved context. In partnership with Institute of Public Finance Kenya (IPFK), PACE supports constitutionally mandated institutions—that influence the public financial management process through budget oversight, legislation, and monitoring—to advocate for improved national financial policies by sharing best practices and highlighting pressing needs.
PACE provides ongoing technical assistance to county government staff to use data to advocate for increasing budget allocations to health and family planning. As a result, health departments in Busia, Narok, and Samburu Counties have realized significant increases in their health budget allocations, as percentages of the total budget, between Fiscal Year (FY) 2018/19 and FY 2020/21.
In Samburu, PACE supported the County Health Management Team, Finance Department, and other sectors to work together to submit policy recommendations to the County Assembly including dedicating a new budget line of 12 million Kenya shillings specifically for family planning.
In Narok, the County Health Department has integrated the PACE-developed budget and expenditure tracking tool into their programming. As a result, the health department formally added subprogram budget codes, including one for FP/RMNCAH.
Leaders in Narok County recently made a bold change to their allocation of health funds in a way that prioritizes services for family planning and reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (FP/RMNCAH) across all pillars of the health budget. This type of increased financial commitment from county leaders is a significant step forward in the context of Kenya’s devolved setting.
PACE trains youth advocates and members of the media to participate at every stage of the planning and budgeting cycle, creating an enabling environment and accountability for increased political and financial commitment to FP/RMNCAH.
PACE-trained members of the media produce news stories using accurate data to ensure that the public understands the importance of FP/RMNCAH investments to Kenya’s development. In addition to traditional forms of media, journalists have expanded to social media and broadcast media, such as FM stations, to increase public access and awareness of this information.
In Samburu, PACE and the county government trained 24 young people to advocate for adolescent and youth reproductive health, which resulted in the launch of the Samburu Youth Advocacy Network. In an early win, the network successfully elicited commitments from Samburu’s Chief Officer for Youth Affairs for resources to support reproductive health in the county.
Policy dialogues and events take a multisectoral approach, inspiring communication between sectors and breaking down silos.
We Are Kenya’s Future: Young People and Our Nation’s GrowthIn response to the need for action on adolescent and youth issues in Kenya, PACE partnered with the Centre for the Study of Adolescence (CSA) to develop a multimedia video on young people and the demographic dividend. As part of a PACE-led strategy to empower youth to engage with policymakers on the demographic dividend, this resource was disseminated through ongoing workshops for youth advocates in Kenya.
Integrating Population, Health, and Environment for Sustainable Development in KenyaIn partnership with NCPD, PACE developed “Integrating Population, Health, and Environment for Sustainable Development in Kenya,” an ENGAGE presentation that serves as an advocacy tool to promote integrated population, health, and environment approaches, and the value of family planning/reproductive health investments by decisionmakers in non-health sectors, such as natural resource management and conservation. In September 2019, the ENGAGE presentation was recognized at an event on best practices hosted by NCPD and Partners for Population and Development.
Often we talk a lot about youth but not so much with them. To realize a demographic dividend, we need to invest in youth but we also need to fully engage youth in meaningful ways. While I was in Kenya, I gathered input from the youth advisory group members about what they thought were critical investments for a demographic dividend in Kenya.
Afya Uzazi: Improving Health and Environment in Nakuru CountyAfya Uzazi (“healthy parenthood” in Kiswahili) is a five-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development and implemented by a consortium of partners. It aims to improve access to FP/RMNCAH services and address the underlying connections to natural resources, livelihoods, and household well-being.
Promoting Resilience Through Family Planning in KenyaThis video explains how family planning can help to build resilience in Kenya. Developed in partnership with the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) and with generous support from USAID Kenya and East Africa through the Policy, Advocacy, and Communication Enhanced for Population and Reproductive Health (PACE) Project, PRB has created a short video that outlines the connections between family planning and resilience in Kenya.
PACE works with partner organizations in-country to produce effective communication materials on a broad range of subjects.
Best Practices Brief: Mobilizing Domestic Funding for Reproductive Health in Kenya’s CountiesKenya’s devolved system of governance creates opportunities and challenges for county-level program planners and advocates trying to sustain and expand budget commitments for family planning and reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health. This brief outlines PACE Kenya’s systematic approach to working with partners in several Kenyan counties to increase political and financial commitments for family planning and strengthen accountability for those commitments.
Kenya Family Planning and Reproductive Health Data SheetThe PACE Project, in collaboration with Kenya’s National Council for Population and Development (NCPD), produced a data sheet with findings from the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS). The data sheet includes figures that explain national data for married women ages 15 to 49 on the demand for contraception that was satisfied, use of or intention to use contraception, and the most popular sources of contraception.
Family Planning and Kenya’s Progress Towards the Sustainable Development GoalsDeveloped in partnership with the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD), PACE has created a short video that demonstrates how family planning contributes to Kenya’s progress across all five SDG themes of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnerships. The video will be shared with policymakers throughout Kenya to enhance their understanding of the importance of family planning to realizing the SDGs.
