The government, through the State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action, has allocated a grant of Ksh.1.5 billion to support various programmes across the 47 counties under the National Affirmative Action Fund’s (NGAAF) mandate.
The allocation, disbursed in two tranches, will be directed towards addressing financial needs of students from economically disadvantaged households during the first and second quarters of the 2023/2024 Financial Year.
In a statement to newsrooms on Thursday, Gender and Affirmative Action Principal Secretary Anne Wang’ombe highlighted that out of the allocated funds, Ksh.273 million will be channelled towards supporting bursaries and scholarships for 25,000 students.
“The Fund has also disbursed Ksh.413 million towards supporting 2,000 registered affirmative action groups with the grants targeting socio-economic empowerment and value addition initiatives,” she said.
“The grants are meant to increase the disposable income levels for the beneficiaries for improved livelihoods through enterprise development. Further, Ksh.677 million will cover countywide projects whose benefits will be available to a widespread cross-section of the local community residents in the 47 counties.”
On the aforesaid, the PS went on, the fund will support the prevention and response to Sexual and Gender Based Violence including through construction of GBV centres, gender reporting units in police stations; social-cultural development including nurturing of talents; provision of water facilities and other social amenities.
She added that Ksh.137 million has likewise been distributed towards civic education with the aim of raising awareness about different government programs and policies, providing information on the procedures for accessing funds from NGAAF and other decentralized funds.
“The civic education forums are meant to ensure increased uptake of government programmes and services,” said the PS.
“Beneficiaries of the grants are those affirmative action groups who successfully made their applications and met the eligibility criteria for funding through NGAAF County offices in the 47 counties by the October 31, 2023. The Fund’s respective NGAAF County offices have already reached to the individual beneficiaries for immediate support.”
