News of the award was broken Monday morning to Kenyan delegates attending the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN Headquarters in New York by Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru."We are very happy because Kenya is getting placed very well on the world map,'' Ms Waiguru said.
The CS is the head of Kenya's delegation to the 10 day conference.She was speaking to delegates who include women MPs Senators and members of the civil society at a review meeting at the Kenya Permanent Mission to the United Nations.She announced that President Uhuru Kenyatta who had been invited to receive the award at the summit would not be able to attend.Instead, the meeting settled on MPs Alice Wahome (Kandara), Florence Mutua (Busia County) and Senator Naisula Lesuda to receive the award on behalf of Kenya.
Women in Parliament's project manager Sara Andergiorgis said in addition to receiving "the prestigious award'' Kenya would be given an opportunity to address what she described as high level governmental representatives from more than 70 countries around the world to highlight the country's efforts in "decreasing the gender gap in the political sphere.''
The WIP awards will be presented at the summit to countries recognised for their politica advancement of women and which also show regional leadership in closing the gender gap in politics.
"The awards are based on the rankings of the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report which are compiled in collaboration with Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley,'' said summit organisers.
The Women in Parliaments Global Forum is the international network of women parliamentarians at national level and includes the European Parliament.The membership is currently around 9,000.This year's summit will be held in Addis Ababa from March 23-25, 2015 at the Nelson Mandela Hall in the African Union Headquarters.The European Union, United Nations and the World Bank are part of the international institutions that will be part of this year's summit.
Daily nation
