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Good practice Imported

AGPO — Kenya's 30% Public-Procurement Set-Aside for Women-, Youth- and Disability-Owned Firms

Kenya · Nairobi · See the Kenya profile · See the Nairobi profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 72% 48/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Kenya reserves 30% of government procurement value for enterprises owned by women, youth and persons with disabilities. A decade of independent tracking shows actual uptake well below target: 7.71% of large tenders (2013-16), 16.84% cumulative by 2022/23.

7.71%
AGPO uptake share of large tenders (2013-2016)
16.84%
Cumulative AGPO uptake share (FY2015/16-FY2022/23)
30%
Statutory target
AGPO — Kenya's 30% Public-Procurement Set-Aside for Women-, Youth- and Disability-Owned Firms

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (AGPO Secretariat)
Period
2013–present
Keywords
public procurement, women's entrepreneurship, youth employment, disability inclusion

Context

The Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) programme, launched in 2013 under Kenya's Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, reserves at least 30% of government procurement spend for micro and small enterprises owned by women, youth, and persons with disabilities.

Results

Independent assessments show the target has not been met. A review of contracts worth 5 million Kenyan shillings or more found only 7.71% of that reserved share went to AGPO-registered firms between 2013 and 2016; a later academic analysis of FY2015/16-FY2022/23 data put cumulative uptake by the combined women/youth/PWD group at 16.84% of total government procurement.

Conclusions

The programme has real institutional weight -- a statutory set-aside, a dedicated certification body, and a decade of tracked procurement data -- but the persistent, multi-year gap between its 30% target and single-digit-to-teens actual uptake is a documented and unresolved implementation shortfall. It illustrates how a well-intentioned quota can under-deliver without complementary measures -- bid-bond relief, capacity building, enforcement -- to make the reservation usable in practice.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Free certification; no separate programme budget published.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Operating continuously since 2013 (12+ years).
Staffing & skills
Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (AGPO Secretariat)

Conditions for success

  • free certification process
  • dedicated secretariat and tracked procurement data

Common failure modes

  • persistent multi-year shortfall against the 30% target absent complementary bid-bond relief and capacity-building measures

Where it fits

Governance type
national government
Scale
national
Income level
lower-middle-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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