Insights on Harnessing Human Capital for Growth and Development in Kenya

The Yale Economic Growth Center (EGC) and Yale Inclusion Economics (YIE) hosted a dialogue on how evidence can inform strategies to drive human capital investments, gender equality, and economic transformation in Kenya and the region. The event showcased a range of partnerships between academia, government, and the private sector. These included EGC’s Gender and Growth Gaps project on labor market distortions, YIE’s work on digital inclusion, and a joint EGC-YIE project aimed at expanding access and enhancing public preschools for young children. Each session included a panel featuring a range of experts on the relevant topic, enabling a diversity of perspectives in each discussion. The event culminated with a keynote panel that brought together leaders in business, policy, and academia highlighting the value that research can bring to policy formulation and implementation in-country.

Session 1: Gender Equality, Economic Growth, and Development

EGC Director, Professor Rohini Pande, opened with insights from the Gender and Growth Gaps Project, drawing on the project’s white paper, Gender Gaps and Economic Growth: Why Haven't Women Won Globally (Yet)? Based on a global panel dataset, the paper provides evidence that once time and country characteristics are accounted for, economic growth and gender gaps in labor force participation are not systematically correlated. While economic growth reduces the gender gap in marketization of labor, the gendered nature of structural transformation results in limited impact on the closure of other labor market gaps. 

This pattern holds for Sub-Saharan Africa, but with nuances. Female Labor Force Participation (FLFP) is higher relative to other regions, and more women than men work in agriculture, but gender wage gaps are high, as are gender employment gaps in manufacturing. In Kenya, despite high FLFP, wage gaps are stark at 31% monthly and 71% hourly, and reflect women’s overrepresentation in low-wage, informal, and agricultural sectors. Gender gaps in paid work are lower for college-educated workers relative to less educated workers, and married women face larger participation gaps than single women.

Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan, EGC’s Deputy Director, then presented insights from an EGC Discussion Paper titled Global Gender Distortions Index (GGDI). The paper highlights how gender gaps can arise from distortions in the labor market, contrary to the neoclassical view that gender gaps in labor markets are efficient, arising from comparative advantage. Various supply-side and demand-side labor market distortions prevent the effective allocation of talent and cause losses to economic output. 

Using Harmonized World Labor Force Survey microdata from 51 countries, the Global Gender Distortions Index asks how much higher economic activity would be if women were to face the same playing field as men. In some countries, eliminating distortions could boost FLFP by 35-40% and increase output by 15-20%. Demand-side distortions such as labor market discrimination against women tend to have more of an impact than supply-side distortions, indicating entry points for policy with employers.

Dr. Nancy Nafula, Acting Deputy Director of KIPPRA, joined for a panel discussion, which explored barriers to structural transformation and gendered dynamics in Kenya, highlighting disparities in formal employment, limited access to productive resources like land, and the heavy burden of unpaid care work. The session underscored the need for complementary policies and private sector interventions to promote women’s employment outcomes, potentially including flexible work arrangements and workplace amenities that can benefit both women workers and firms.

Session 2: Enhancing Child Development and Women’s Socioeconomic Advancement through Expanding Public Preschool

Grace Wasike, Director of Social Economic Empowerment from Kenya’s State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action, started the second policy-research session noting that efforts to promote socioeconomic empowerment for women will fall short unless women’s childcare responsibilities are addressed. Ms. Wasike highlighted that public investment in quality early childhood care and preschool can deliver a “double dividend” – fostering child development and freeing women’s time to participate in economic and public life.

Professor Judith Waudo from Kenyatta University then introduced the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Hub at Kenyatta University, which leads several research projects across key thematic areas–all aimed at identifying what works to advance economic opportunities for women in Kenya. She shared how, in collaboration with the Tharaka Nithi County (TNC) Government, an initial idea of creating crèches in marketplaces evolved in a new direction to provide childcare access to women outside of markets / engaged in other activities, following formative research on women’s livelihoods. Through discussions among the collaborative policy research team, which includes researchers from Yale University, Bangor University and the University of the West Indies, a policy innovation was developed to allow children to enroll into public preschools a year earlier than the standard programming (at the age of 3 instead of 4), thereby giving women the time to pursue other activities. The research team has adapted the PP1 curriculum to design an enhanced developmentally- and contextually-appropriate curriculum for 3-year-old children entering school. The 3-year-old children join the existing PP1 classroom catering to 4-year-old children and the teachers implement the complementary 3- and 4-year-old curricula.

Associate Professor Simon Onywere, from Kenyatta University, then presented on underlying contextual factors that informed the design of the resulting preschool-based childcare intervention in TNC. He noted that 85% of women in the region are engaged in farming, 70% have only primary education or none at all, and many report feeling overburdened by chores and anxiety. Onywere then presented an overview of the research design – covering 118 public schools, which includes 60 treated schools randomly selected to receive the intervention, while 58 schools serve as a control group.

Brian Murithi Humphrey, the Intervention Supervisor who oversees all aspects of delivery of the intervention and ensures quality of implementation among the 12 mentors and 120 teachers, shared insights on the intervention approach covering 3- and 4-year-olds in Pre-Primary One (PP1). The intervention involved four core components: a classroom kit of locally-developed teaching and learning materials, lesson plans for teachers, teacher-training workshops, and ongoing in-class support for teachers. Key elements of the intervention include a strong emphasis on oral language development in children’s mother tongue; a focus on children’s deeper learning, use of play-based learning; and the promotion of positive teacher-child interactions. Local teachers were trained to use puzzles, blocks, and games designed for different learner levels.

Drawing on the midline data collected in late 2024, Emma Lambert-Porter, Africa Research Lead for EGC, then presented some preliminary findings. Provisional results indicate that the intervention produces statistically significant and meaningful improvements in child outcomes including child cognition, oral language, school readiness skills, attention, and positive behavior. Classroom observations revealed higher-quality learning environments and reduced use of harsh discipline. Teachers also reported greater levels of satisfaction with their role. While there was no change in the proportion of women undertaking wage work, mothers in the treatment group reported higher earnings – particularly married women, those with unemployed husbands at baseline, and those with an additional child under the age of 3. Additionally, mothers also became more engaged in helping children under 6 in the household with their learning activities, and older siblings showed small increases in school attendance. 

Dorothy Naivasha, County Executive Committee Member at Tharaka Nithi County Government and policy co-PI on the study, highlighted how the project demonstrated the power of evidence-based, locally led investment in early childhood care, and reaffirmed the County’s commitment to scaling the childcare program across all 456 public primary schools based on the evidence generated. 

A panel discussion followed, moderated by Dr. Michelle Neuman, a YIE Research Affiliate, who was joined by Dorothy Naivasha, Professor Judith Waudo, and Dr. Joy Kiiru, Senior Women’s Economic Empowerment Advisor for Kenya at the Gates Foundation. The panel highlighted the value of cross-sectoral partnerships involving policymakers, researchers, and funders in generating evidence to inform programs for women’s empowerment. Speakers stressed that addressing inequities in care work is critical to women’s economic engagement and emphasized the importance of rigorous collaboration, mentorship, and quality assurance to ensure that successful interventions can be scaled effectively.

Session 3: Data, Programs, Policies, and Implementation

This panel session, moderated by Aishwarya Lakshim Ratan at EGC, examined the intersection of data, policy design, and program implementation. Hon. Naisula Lesuuda, Member of Parliament for Samburu West, Kenya described the challenges she had experienced as a member of Kenya’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, including scarce resources, inconsistent or outdated data, limited coverage for marginalized groups, and a weak culture of data use. She proposed enhanced data access, training for civil servants, public budget consultations, and robust monitoring and evaluation systems that track program implementation using data.

Dr. Macdonald G. Obudho, Director General of Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), stressed the importance of collaboration across Kenya’s National Statistical System to meet the country’s data needs in this context of scarce resources for data. KNBS pools resources from partners including the World Bank, enabling them to implement numerous surveys and conduct tasks like rebasing (updating the base year of) the national accounts. Dr. Obudho called for policymakers to use KNBS data to ground planning in statistical evidence and avoid wasting resources.

Dr. Eldah Onsomu, Acting Executive Director of the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), discussed how KIPPRA interprets data in ways that are accessible and actionable for policymakers. KIPPRA continuously engages with stakeholders in the system, co-creating research agendas with the government. The evidence generated is then mainstreamed into government taskforces, inter-ministerial committees, advisory work, and training sessions for policymakers.

Rozina Haque, Director, Ultra-Poor Graduation and Livelihoods at BRAC International, related key lessons from the Ultra Poor Graduation model that have been a flagship example of BRAC’s approach in taking evidence-backed programs from pilot to scale. The lessons included designing with scale in mind, engaging governments early to build ownership and commitment and to help navigate the politics of delivery, co-creating with local actors, and addressing multiple dimensions of poverty.

John Kinuthia, Deputy Executive Director of Bajeti Hub, described how Bajeti Hub monitors the implementation of performance-based budgeting, using KNBS data to link investments to human development outcomes such as maternal health. Bajeti Hub and its sub-national partners also track whether Kenya’s devolution agenda is reducing regional inequalities. CSOs can strengthen public participation by preparing citizens to engage effectively and collaborate with government to co-create tools, such as a costing framework for access to water that Bajeti Hub has co-developed with local government.

Session 4: Engagement in the Rising Digital Economy

From investments in eGovernment like eCitizen to advancements in digital credit and digital agricultural extension, both the public and private sectors in Kenya have centered digital transformation in their pathway toward growth and prosperity. However, an intentional approach to address gender-specific barriers to digital transformation is crucial to ensure women apply the new tools and benefit from their gains. Simone Schaner, Associate Professor (Research) of Economics at the University of Southern California and Scientific Director, Gender, at YIE, presented a framework for understanding women’s engagement in the digital economy. The framework highlighted the intersecting barriers that constrain women’s digital engagement – comprising individual and household factors such as digital skills, human capital, and household dynamics, along with economy- and community-wide factors including the economic and connectivity environments, gender norms, and safety. She discussed how these factors influence both the perceived and actual returns to phone ownership, which in turn shape household decisions regarding women’s adoption and continued use of digital technology. 

She presented a case study from India, which highlighted how programs targeting women’s digital inclusion should strategically target barriers for lasting results. In this study, the YIE-affiliated research team found that distribution of free phones to female heads of household temporarily boosted women’s ownership but had no lasting effect; however, layering on digital skills training both sustained women’s digital engagement and provided substantial psycho-social benefits.

Professor Schaner then joined a panel moderated by Adem Esther, Senior Insights and Market Engagement Manager for Connected Women at the mobile industry organization GSMA, with Nena Sanderson, Chief Product Officer at M-KOPA, and Alex Mwaura, Country Director for Digital Green in Kenya. In the context of the framework presented by Professor Schaner, the panel discussed how each of their organizations was designing products and programs for women.  M-KOPA is actively testing solutions to shrink the gender gap in their customer base and improve women’s productive use of phones, including through partnership with YIE on an ongoing study. As a company, M-KOPA is investing both at the level of the agent and of the customer, investing in gender-sensitive sales training, flexible repayment plans, group-based digital skills training, and programs to support female sales agents. Digital Green’s farmer advisory app, FarmerChat, uses text, voice, and image-based interfaces to provide real-time, AI-powered advisory services to smallholder farmers. To ensure women are equally able to use FarmerChat, Digital Green uses women-only onboarding spaces, and local champions to reach women farmers in context-sensitive ways. Panellists reflected that technology diffusion requires going beyond core technical specifications and accounting for real-world constraints such as shared phones, household power dynamics, and limited connectivity.

Keynote Session - Universities, Government and the Private Sector: Partnerships and Pathways from Research to Impact

Dr. Janette Yarwood, Director for Europe, Middle East, and Africa in Yale’s Office for International Affairs, opened the final session by highlighting a suite of Yale partnerships in Africa including the establishment of the Council on African Studies in 1958, and support for over 120 Yale faculty members whose work engages the continent, in the spirit of bilateral partnership and co-creation of knowledge. A high-level keynote panel followed, moderated by Deanna Ford (Managing Director of Yale Inclusion Economics), and featuring Dr. Benson Wairegi (Non-Executive Director, HF Group, Chairman, Housing Finance Bancassurance Intermediary and Former Chancellor, Kenyatta University) alongside Professor Rohini Pande, Ms. Grace Wasike and Ms. Dorothy Naivasha as the keynote panelists. 

Professor Pande emphasized the importance of engaging with policymakers early in the research process to foster linkages for policy-informed research and evidence-based policymaking. An Indian government lawyer approached her some years ago to ask for support to reform pollution audit systems, which led to an evaluation of India’s first emissions trading systems. 

Dr. Benson Wairegi highlighted the growing role of major philanthropic foundations internationally and family trusts in Kenya. He emphasized the need for better visibility and coordination so that institutions such as Yale could effectively connect and collaborate with these stakeholders. Dr. Wairegi called for stronger links between local universities and global institutions to facilitate knowledge exchange.

Ms. Grace Wasike underscored that care is central to economic growth, referring to evidence from Tharaka Nithi County showing that early childhood interventions reduced women’s time poverty. She called for research outputs to be more accessible to policymakers, urged for data beyond official sources to be valued and used, and advocated for policies to expand support care, promote flexible jobs, and support parental leave to advance gender equality.

Ms. Dorothy Naivasha touched upon the County’s pioneering role in the ongoing RCT-based preschool intervention featured in Session 2, noting its transformational potential. She added that the project’s sustainability will depend on training local teachers and researchers, hiring from within the community, and leveraging local resources. Ms. Naivasha also pointed to the broader importance of women’s economic empowerment in the County’s agenda through other initiatives like fish farming and climate-resilient agriculture.

Yale EGC and Yale Inclusion Economics intend to continue engaging with researchers, policy counterparts, and Yale alumni in Kenya, to continue to build partnerships and pathways from research to impact.

As indicated by Deanna Ford, Managing Director at YIE and Senior Adviser at EGC, “Our work is all about engaging with in-country counterparts to see where the tools and insights of research in economics can help bring about meaningful change and impact.  We can only advance on this work in a collaborative effort and look forward to building new and deeper partnerships to enable that forward progress together."

EGC would like to acknowledge input from Deanna Ford, Ayush Jain, Erik Jorgensen, Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan, Emma Lambert-Porter, and Rohini Pande in compiling this article.