Nexus Between Gender Responsive Evaluation and Gender Responsive Public Procurement in Kenya

Abstract

The study examines Gender-Responsive Evaluation (GRE) and Gender-Responsive Public Procurement (GRPP) nexus in Kenya and attempts to diagnose why the progressive Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) program is producing inadequate outcomes, with a significant discrepancy between its 30% objective and the number of contracts awarded to women-owned enterprises (WOEs). The study adopts a conceptual research design in the synthesis of feminist institutionalism and policy prioritization analysis. The approach is used to critique policy documents and empirical evidence and eventually model the systemic disengagement between procurement action and evaluative learning. The results suggest a dysfunctional feedback loop, with a severe lack of sex-disaggregated procurement information, which paralyzes constructive judgment and entrenches organizational bias toward ritual adherence, instead of quantifying transformative effect of gendered procurement that creates a vicious cycle of poor performance. This analysis concluded that GRPP and GRE are not independent activities but rather complementary elements of a gendered mainstreaming strategy, and their lack of operational linkage is the key factor in policy failure. The study recommends the need to incorporate GRE into the procurement laws and digital procurement systems to establish an evidence and legislative base. These efforts should be accompanied by capacity building to accelerate the need of gender evidence among oversight institutions. The contribution of the study is to reframe the problem as relating to systemic integration and not purely technical compliance which is necessary to forge this nexus and make public procurement a strategic, accountable tool to constitutional equity and inclusive economic growth in Kenya.