Increase personnel at gender desks in police stations

The Kenya Kwanza government promised to increase the number of, and personnel at gender desks at Police Stations.

• The National Police Service (NPS) has established dedicated gender desks in select police stations across the country to facilitate the reporting and documentation of gender-based violence (GBV) in a more survivor-friendly manner.
• In January 2025 , a Technical Working Group on Gender Based Violence task headed by Chairperson Dr. Nancy Baraza was gazetted.
• On September 2025, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen announced that all new police stations should be designed to include gender desks, child protection units, etc. as part of the station blueprint.
• Initiatives such as the newly established gender desk in Mathare and NGOs and programmes such as the REINVENT programme (with external donor support) have helped strengthen about 60 gender desks across various counties, particularly in coastal, western, upper eastern, and north-eastern regions.
• Despite these efforts, many gender desks remain either non‐functional or only partially functional. Some do not have trained personnel, privacy, equipment, or a full schedule for handling GBV cases. Moreover, in 2025 Kenya reported 579 women lost to femicide.
• The National Police Service Gender Policy, a five year framework also elapsed end of 2025 and is due for review.
• A  November 2025 report by CREAW, as part of the Technical Working Group  on Gender Based Violence, contained a suggestion to form a special unit specifically tasked and trained in GBV and femicide to replace the special Gender desks. The report has currently been referred to presented to the President.
• There are efforts, however, to better equip and functionalize gender desks, for instance, through the partnership between Shinning Hope and the National Police Service.