NAIROBI, Kenya – On 12 August, the Forum for African Women Educationalists – Kenya Chapter proudly participated in the ongoing Dissemination Workshop of the National Gender Research Agenda (NGRA) at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD). Under the powerful theme *“Evidence to Impact: Advancing Gender Equality Through Research, Partnerships and Sustainable Investment,”* the workshop brought together government institutions, researchers, academia, development partners, and civil society to strengthen the critical link between gender research, policy, programming, and sustainable investment.
The NGRA, developed through a multi-stakeholder process involving 21 institutions including the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), KIPPRA, KNBS, APHRC, and FAWE Kenya, represented a significant milestone in Kenya’s journey toward evidence-informed gender equality . The agenda sought to resolve a long-standing structural challenge: the fragmentation and duplication of gender research that had left extensive data siloed, uncoordinated, and underutilized across diverse institutions .
The NGRA proposed a comprehensive approach to strengthening Kenya’s gender research ecosystem. It outlined five strategic pillars addressing root causes of gender inequality, intersectionality, gender transformation, systemic issues, and emerging contemporary challenges including technology, AI, climate change, GBV, and the digital divide . The agenda also proposed concrete measures including alignment with the Gender Sector Statistics Plan, establishment of a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Data Hub, capacity building for data producers and users, and stronger partnerships across the gender and education sectors .
For policymakers, researchers, development partners, and communicators, the NGRA provided a framework for identifying evidence gaps and directing research towards issues that could inform practical decisions. Its central value lay in moving research beyond production and publication towards evidence that could be understood, applied, and used to address persistent inequalities .
FAWE Kenya’s participation in the workshop reflected the organisation’s long-standing commitment to advancing gender equality through evidence-based advocacy. As an organisation with a strong focus on gender equality and girls’ education, FAWE Kenya was keen to contribute to conversations on how evidence could move beyond reports and become a catalyst for policy change, investment, and measurable impact .
The organisation’s involvement in the NGRA development process was a natural extension of its thought leadership work. FAWE Kenya had long believed that sustainable change began with knowledge, evidence, and collaboration—and that evidence was at the heart of meaningful and sustainable change . For gender equality to move from policy commitments to measurable progress, Kenya needed research that was relevant, inclusive, coordinated, and translated into action.
A key moment of the workshop was the Strategic Action Labs, which focused on practical pathways for translating the NGRA into action. FAWE Kenya participated in the Strategic Action Lab on *Leveraging Technology and AI for Advocacy and Knowledge Products for NGRA and Fundraising*, alongside KIPPRA and NCPD .
This presented an important opportunity for FAWE Kenya to explore how technology, artificial intelligence, and strategic communications could make gender evidence more accessible, compelling, and useful for advocacy, policy engagement, resource mobilisation, and knowledge sharing . The lab discussions built on FAWE Kenya’s extensive experience with technology-driven interventions, including its STEM programme which had trained 2,000 teachers and 1,800 youth on digital skills and artificial intelligence, and reached 60,000 girls and 15,000 boys with coding and AI training.
For FAWE Kenya, the NGRA held particular relevance to the education sector. Education was both a powerful pathway towards gender equality and an area where inequalities could be reproduced. Research could help better understand the barriers that girls and young women faced, including those related to poverty, disability, geographical location, social norms, digital exclusion, gender-based violence, and other intersecting factors . The research agenda also created space to explore emerging issues such as technology and artificial intelligence, climate change, the digital divide, and changing forms of inequality—issues that would increasingly shape the education and development landscape .
The dissemination of the NGRA marked an important step towards strengthening Kenya’s gender research ecosystem and ensuring that evidence was better connected to policy, programming, advocacy, and decision-making.
The workshop’s discussions underscored that the real value of a research agenda was not simply in producing more research, but in ensuring that research was relevant, accessible, and used . This called for stronger connections between evidence producers and evidence users. Researchers needed opportunities to engage policymakers and practitioners. Policymakers needed timely and accessible evidence. Development partners and funders needed to invest in priority research areas. And communicators had a critical role in translating complex evidence into knowledge that communities and decision-makers could understand and use .
The success of the NGRA would therefore depend on collective action: stronger partnerships, investment in priority research, better data, effective knowledge sharing, and deliberate efforts to translate evidence into policy and practice .
As Kenya advanced the National Gender Research Agenda, FAWE Kenya remained committed to contributing to a gender-responsive evidence ecosystem that strengthened education, informed policy, and helped create a more just and inclusive society . The workshop at KICD was a powerful affirmation that evidence should not merely describe inequality—it should help dismantle it. From evidence to action. From action to impact. This was the promise of the NGRA, and FAWE Kenya was proud to be at the heart of this transformative journey.