Every person deserves to live free from violence.
Gender-based violence affects over 40% of Kenyan women. Prevention requires communities to change the norms and power structures that enable it.
Gender-Based Violence
Gender-based violence includes physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological abuse, as well as harmful practices and denial of resources or opportunities. In Kenya, it remains widespread and deeply damaging to women, children, and families. Recent data show that over 40% of women have experienced intimate partner violence, and many more face other forms of abuse in homes, schools, workplaces, and communities.
GBV is driven by unequal power relationships, harmful gender norms, and weak enforcement of protections. Although Kenya has a legal framework that includes constitutional protections and laws such as the Sexual Offences Act, enforcement gaps remain a serious challenge. Many survivors still face barriers to reporting, access to services, and justice.
The effects of GBV reach far beyond the immediate harm. It can lead to injury, trauma, poor mental health, lost income, interrupted education, and ongoing cycles of fear and dependency. In communities affected by crisis, violence often worsens and becomes even harder to address.
Kenya Works Response
Kenya Works supports prevention and response by working with communities to promote safety, awareness, and survivor-centered action. Ending GBV requires strong local support systems, accountability, and a culture that refuses to normalize violence.
When communities understand that violence is not normal, not inevitable, and not acceptable — and when they have the tools to say so — things change. We have seen it.
— Kenya Works community advocate