Guided by the priority Gender Equality strategy for 2008-2013, the Nairobi Office has focused its activities on both stand alone gender specific programmes and gender mainstreaming within the various sectoral programmes. Within this context, the office continues to contribute to strengthening science education and capacity building activities in sciences with the aim of enhancing girls’ participation in science, technology and innovation. Activities under science education have focused on the provision of support to activities of women’s scientific networks and in particular, mentoring programmes for junior secondary school girls and boys. The activities are aimed at nestling girls in science, technology and innovation, especially mathematics, Physics and Engineering courses and professions. The office also contributes to efforts by Member States to mainstream gender into science, technology and innovation through support of policy reviews and formulation, gender mapping as well as baseline studies to provide relevant data for strategic planning and budgeting for gender responsive programmes and activities.

Working within the framework of the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, the office is able to focus on matters of governance by ensuring support for transitional justice processes at the community level by looking at gender, culture and Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism within the framework of Kenya’s new constitution. The office is also involved in enhancing women’s economic empowerment by organizing skills training on rain water harvesting techniques for women groups from arid and semi-arid regions in the country. The Nairobi Office also contributes to priority gender equality by supporting capacity building activities in key national institutions to enable them develop, monitor and evaluate National Development Policies, Legislations and Plans with gender responsive criteria by ensuring the availability of sex and age-disaggregated data. Taking cognizance of the importance of information to UNESCO, the office has been instrumental in providing technical support to Kenya’s Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development to ensure the establishment of a gender research and documentation centre in the country within the framework of a 2008 recommendation from the Ministers for Gender from countries in the Great Lakes region.