Enhancing women’s entrepreneurship in Kenya

Category
Publication Subtitle

Initial qualitative assessment of the ILO’s GET Ahead business training programme

Publication year

2015

Publication Author

Anne Stangl, Kathryn Farley, Kirsty Sievwright, Laura Brady and Katherine Fritz

Business training for micro- and small-business owners in developing countries is one of the most common forms of active support provided by governments, non-governmental organizations and international development organizations worldwide. Despite its ubiquity and the proliferation of micro-lending opportunities for women and men, little rigorous research has been conducted exploring the economic and social impacts of business training programs on beneficiaries, particularly on women.

The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) collaborated with the International Labour Organization (ILO), Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and the World Bank (WB) to examine the preliminary impacts of ILO’s Gender and Enterprise Together (GET) Ahead training program, which targets rural, low-income female entrepreneurs who have low levels of formal education and assists them to overcome gender-based barriers to business success, in four counties of Kenya.

The research is highlighted in the report “Enhancing Women’s Entrepreneurship in Kenya: Initial Qualitative Assessment of the ILO’s GET Ahead Business Training Programme,” which details the myriad challenges women face in running their business and analyzes the initial impacts of the GET Ahead training program.

The findings in the publication will be used to help improve the GET Ahead training program in the future, as well as inform the development of similar programs in Kenya and around the world.