EU Kenya Blue Book 2021 – The EU Kenya partnership

The EU-Kenya Partnership

A strategic and evolving partnership

The EU-Kenya partnership is rooted in a joint commitment for prosperity and sustainable development with the aim to improve quality of life for all. It contributes to address the main challenges identified in the national development plan to transform Kenya into a newly industrializing, globally competitive middle-income country by 2030. Common values and mutual trust reflect the nature of the relationship. It contributes to address the main challenges identified in Kenya’s national development Vision 2030, to transform Kenya into a newly industrialising, globally competitive middle-income country, with the aim to provide a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030.

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Job creation:

Creating decent jobs and quality livelihoods for all goes hand in hand with achieving sustainable, inclusive, and equitable economic growth. In Kenya, this has been done through addressing the skills mismatch between training offered and industrial requirements; the provision of quality labour through market-oriented training; and through strengthening the enabling environment for doing business in Kenya.

Sustainable Infrastructure:

The Government of Kenya aims to provide inclusive, reliable, affordable and sustainable transportation, housing and access to water and energy to all Kenyan citizens; it also aims to become a regional energy and transport platform.

Resilience building:

Kenya's economy is heavily reliant on natural capital, making it vulnerable to climate change and environmental degradation. To address this, the partnership has focused on sustainable drought management; increased food security; livelihood diversification and value chain support; as well as research and adoption of climate-smart agriculture.

Covid response:

To address the current and future socio-economic impacts of covid-19 in Kenya, the EU has provided support to the Kenyan government on a broad range of sectors including health, Social Safety Net, informal settlements, support to SMEs, water and sanitation, trade, tourism/conservancy, human rights, governance, support to refugees, gender-based violence, energy, TVET, and agriculture.

Effective governance:

This area of cooperation focuses on developing a well-functioning devolution process, strengthening Public Financial Management (PFM) systems, increasing access to justice for all, enhancing civic space and improving gender equality. It is both a specific sector of intervention and a cross-cutting issue given its importance to creating an environment conducive to the success of EU interventions.

A brighter life for Kenyan women

"Nairobi businesswoman Margaret Anyango can keep her business open for longer hours thanks to the d.light’s solar-powered, off-grid lighting kit"

Green electricity with Hydrobox

The story of this project began with John Magiro Wangari, a young Kenyan entrepreneur from Njumbi in Murang’a, who got an idea by seeing his neighbours using bicycles to charge their mobile phones. He imagined generating electricity based on the concept of the bicycle dynamo and powered by the local river. Thomas Poelmans from the Belgian company Hydrobox loved the concept and worked together to develop the first containerized hydro power plant in Murang'a county. This will produce and supply electricity to about 25.000 individuals.

Ending drought

The Governments of Sweden and Finland are collaborating with Kenya to provide support to Equitable Access to Quality Water, Basic Sanitation and Enhanced Water Resources Management in Rural Kenya.

“Up and until recently I would walk up a two kilometer hilly stretch to fetch water from the nearby Igogwa river. At my age this was a very difficult task as my back would get hurt.”

Mrs Mandalim Mukwanjiru Peter, an 80 year old resident of Murugi location (Tharaka Nithi County)

85,000 people have been reached with improved water services
Now 24h water supply in Tharaka Nithi County

Initiative for Sustainable Landscapes

ISLA aims to restore and conserve 60.000 hectares of the South West Mau Forest by 2030, by training over 1,400 smallholders and community members living in the forest margins in sustainable practices such as beekeeping, and agroforestry. Discover the project

Kisumu Urban Project
The Kisumu Urban Project aims at improving the quality of life of the citizens of Kenya’s third largest city, and insuring its sustainable development.
Read more.

Sigor Wei-Wei

Thanks to the Wei Wei Integrated Development Project, traditional pastoral communities in the Kerio Valley can enjoy increased resilience in the face of climate change.

1.600 direct beneficiaries (265 families) and 4.000 indirect beneficiaries.

Vocational job creation

Young women and mothers are learning to sew at a new successful certified vocational training center. It includes a kindergarten, which has proved to be useful for many students who could not previously attend any educational programmes because of family obligations. After graduation, these women will obtain starter kits so they can immediately open their own businesses.

Preparing young Kenyans for the future

The Kenyan-German cooperation aims to address the youth unemployment gap by offering Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to young Kenyans, developing Network of Centres of Excellence for technical training, and supporting young entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams.

Program for Legal Empowerment and Aid Delivery(PLEAD)

Discover the biggest EU-funded justice programme in Sub-Saharan Africa:

Improving healthcare

In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hungary and Slovenia provided state-of-the-art medical instruments to 3 public hospitals in Kenya as part of a joint health care assistance project.

COVAX: Together against Covid

In response to the Covid-19 crisis, the EU and its Member States, as well as the EIB have provided support to Kenya in the form of financial package to support livelihoods, small cash grants to the most vulnerable and equitable access to PPE for frontline workers. In march 2021 Kenya received its first vaccine batch (1 million doses). Learn more about COVAX.

Fired up

Poland has been supporting Kenyan fire brigade personnel both in trainings and supply of equipment. Kenya used to have only 40 fire stations with 900 firefighters serving almost 50 million population. Now, these structures have been significantly expanded and the number of firefighters more than doubled.

Due to gradual professionalization of the service, women, so far significantly underrepresented, are increasingly willing to join Kenyan fire brigades, serving both personal goals and their local communities.

Digitalising rural areas

“Construction of Digital TV transmissions sites in 10 different counties, increasing broadband coverage for up to 60% for rural populations.”

Greening the tea sector

In Kenya, 2.5 million people rely on tea production for their livelihood. Being located at the equator, tea can only be grown at high altitudes around the country, as it requires cool temperatures. Global warming therefore threatens the tea production in the country. In addition, tea production itself requires a lot of energy. GIZ supports the biggest tea companies in Kenya to increase their energy efficiency.

Scholarships for young Kenyans

VLIR-UOS is an organization which supports partnerships between universities and university colleges, in Flanders and the South, that are searching for answers to global and local challenges. In Kenya, VLIR-UOS stimulates cooperative projects between professors, researchers and lecturers and award grants to students and professionals.

Supporting youth and women in agribusiness in Kenya

Promoting conservation

The Northern Rangelands Trust is an organisation working for resilient community conservancies. These community conservancies are run for and by indigenous people, striving to transform people’s lives, build peace and conserve natural resources. Project website.

“Serving 39 community conservancies across 44,000
square kilometres”

Young warriors have graduated from a vocational training programme supported by the Northern Rangelands Trust and partners. Aimed primarily at illiterate youth, the programme provides mobile, village-based training to people in community conservancies by partnering with polytechnic institutions.

Improving Community Resilience

The program will directly benefit 386,000 vulnerable nomadic pastoral and agro-pastoral community members

The future Partnership will further deepen relations between the European Union and Kenya to deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as on areas of key mutual interest, whilst building on achievements and impact in its ongoing areas of cooperation. 2021 is the year when the EU will adopt a new strategy, the Multiannual Indicative Programme for Kenya which will span a period of 7 years.
The key areas of the future strategy will focus on:

Green Transition in Kenya: Environmental Sustainability & Resilience;
Leave no one behind: Human Development & Inclusive Growth;
Governance, peace & stability and
Digitalisation building on Kenya's reputation as Africa's Silicon Savannah.

The Team Europe-Kenya Partnership is articulated around the pillars of political stability and security; trade and investment flows; and development cooperation. It includes support to Kenya in addressing the needs of the most vulnerable groups of the population particularly at the time of the Covid pandemic, as well as contributing to the promotion of human rights and democracy, governance and the rule of law.