The Co-operative University of Kenya and the University of the Fraser Valley seek to explore how COVID-19 has impacted women’s work, participation and health within the agricultural cooperative ecosystem in Kenya. Using a quasi-experimental research design, with both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the study will investigate the factors that underlay impacts of COVID-19 on women’s work, participation and health in agricultural cooperatives in three counties of Kenya – Kiambu, Kajiado and Taita Taveta. The Research Team aims to enhance knowledge on how economic changes resulting from COVID-19 disproportionately affect women and women’s health, and how recovery strategies can be inclusive, gender transformative and health promoting for women. The findings of the study will inform the design of a health-financing intervention in cooperatives.
Expected results includes:
The Aga Khan University, Kenya and the University of Manitoba will study the gender equality and health equity gaps experienced by the female health workforce (paid and unpaid) in Kenya during the pandemic and how these experiences impacted their physical and mental health, well-being, socio-economic status and livelihoods. In Kenya, the face of the pandemic health workforce response was predominantly female. A majority experienced anxieties, because of limited disease knowledge, limited access to protective equipment, increased COVID disease exposure and infection, and a surge in domestic household responsibilities, including unpaid labour. Yet, the socio-economic and health impacts of COVID-19 on the paid and unpaid female health workforce remains neglected. Using participatory mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative), this project aims to improve understanding of the root cultural, structural, socioeconomic and political factors that perpetuate gender inequities in the paid and unpaid health sector. These findings will inform the development of gender-sensitive and transformative health systems that can withstand future emergencies in Kenya.
Using a parallel case study design in two sites, Kisumu, Kenya, and Mukono, Uganda, that employs an innovative methodology that privileges the voices of women from all socioeconomic backgrounds, COHESU and the University of Waterloo will explore how women’s health and work have been impacted by the pandemic. The research will discern women’s needs to address their health and well-being issues and to feel more empowered. The knowledge gained will inform policy and practice to empower women and address the socio-economic and health inequalities sharpened by the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya and Uganda.
