An EM2030 partner since 2017, GROOTS Kenya is a national movement-building organization, comprised of over 3,500 women-led grassroots organizations. For over 27 years, GROOTS Kenya has trained grassroots advocates to use data and evidence to hold governments to account. 

GROOTSmart – the Gender Data Dashboard 

GROOTS Kenya is recognized nationally and globally as a respected gender data expert. GROOTSmart, their Gender Data Dashboard, is an online visualization tool for gender data in Kenya, used extensively by grassroots advocates and county level policymakers to inform key policies and budgets. 

The dashboard breaks down key issues from the national to county level, from women’s political representation to family planning, and from education to unpaid domestic care work. This at-a-glance resource is readily accessible, helping to make the case to policy makers and other stakeholders. Recognition for this work has enabled GROOTS to develop a close partnership with UN Women and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

GROOTS has strategically influenced the development of key statistics products, including national guidelines on the use of citizengenerated data. They are also involved in the first survey in Kenya to measure women’s unpaid care work. Increasingly, GROOTS has been engaging in regional and global spaces (e.g. COP27), leveraging Index data and advocacy messaging to promote and advance women’s access to use and control of productive resources (land, finance, technology) and to promote grassroots women’s engagement in climate solutions and resilience building. 

The confidence, reach, and profile of the project team has exploded to a level where GROOTS Kenya’s data work is often referenced, and the staff called upon to train and support other CSOs and professionals. Because of EM2030, GROOTS Kenya has received recognition by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, UN Women, the World Bank, the media, CSOs and the private sector for investing in gender data.

Fridah Gituku, Executive Director, GROOTS Kenya