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Good practice

Kenya Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) — Government Credit Facility for Women Entrepreneurs

Kenya · Nairobi · See the Kenya profile

Kenya's Women Enterprise Fund (WEF, 2007) is a government credit facility providing affordable loans to women entrepreneurs. By 2022 it had reached over 1 million women. An IDinsight evaluation (2023) confirmed positive socioeconomic empowerment outcomes.

1 million+
Women reached with loans (by 2022)
Kenya Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) — Government Credit Facility for Women Entrepreneurs

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Women Enterprise Fund (WEF), Government of Kenya
Period
2007–ongoing
Keywords
government, enterprise development, finance, women's empowerment

Context

Kenya's Women Enterprise Fund (WEF), established in 2007 as a semi-autonomous government agency, provides affordable group-based and institutional credit to women entrepreneurs across sectors including livestock, retail and rental property.

Results

By 2022, WEF had disbursed loans to over 1 million women. An IDinsight evaluation (November 2023) found positive relationships between WEF lending, women's social networks and socioeconomic empowerment, including improved household welfare; a 2020 Kenyatta University study corroborated positive effects on borrowers' socioeconomic status.

Conclusions

Evaluations flag disbursement delays, stringent group-formation requirements, uneven implementation quality by constituency, and limited evidence on long-run income gains and cost-effectiveness; the spousal-consent requirement has been criticised for undermining women's financial autonomy.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

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

Attachments

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