By Obegi Malack
Women will get grants from the County Government of Kajiado if the proposed Women Empowerment Fund Bill (2021) is enacted into law.
The bill which is now at the public participation stage has received overwhelming support from local residents who now want its processing expedited so that they can benefit from the funds.
The Kajiado County Gender, Tourism, Wildlife, Youth and Sports Committee chairperson Yvonne Tonkei said the main objective of the bill is to facilitate the growth and development of women in the county.
“The empowerment fund will get monies appropriated through County Assembly grants, donations and income generated from the proceeds of the fund,” said Tonkei.
The fund will also be used to train and build capacity of women to eradicate poverty.
The purpose of the fund is to expand access to finance in promotion of women businesses and enterprises at the sub-county and ward levels for economic growth;
The bill also aims at modeling an alternative framework in funding community driven development to generate gainful self-employment for the women.
A portion of the fund equivalent to four (4%) percent will remain unallocated and shall be available to cover emergencies for women empowerment groups.
Allocations will be limited to groups with each getting a minimum of Sh100,000 and maximum of Sh300,000.
Myllene Anunda from Kajiado North said the bill will empower women who have suffered due to poor state of the economy.
The grant will be disbursed to legible applicants to a start-up business like micro and small enterprises, asset purchase, agri-business and asset financing and for business people to access local purchase orders.
