Publications

The Nairobi City County Care Mainstreaming Toolkit provides a comprehensive and practical framework for integrating care into the County’s planning, budgeting, and service delivery systems. It responds to the findings of the State of Care Report and the City’s evolving demographic profile, which underscores a high demand for childcare, adolescent support, social services, and community-based care systems.

The Toolkit is grounded in the constitutional and statutory framework governing County planning and public finance, and operationalizes care as a cross-cutting development priority within the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), Annual Development Plans (ADPs), Programme-Based Budgets, and departmental strategies. It introduces practical tools including care impact assessments, budget tagging systems, performance indicators, and monitoring frameworks to ensure that care considerations are systematically embedded in decision-making processes.

At its core, the Toolkit seeks to achieve three strategic outcomes. First, it institutionalizes care as a public good and a fundamental component of human development and social protection. Second, it promotes equitable access to care services across Nairobi’s diverse communities, particularly in underserved and informal settlements. Third, it positions care as a driver of economic inclusion by reducing unpaid care burdens and enabling greater participation in productive activities.

The successful implementation of this Toolkit requires strong inter-departmental coordination, sustained political commitment, and robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. It also calls for active collaboration with non-state actors, development partners, and communities to co-create solutions that are responsive, scalable, and sustainable.

This Toolkit is therefore both a policy instrument and an operational guide, designed to transform how Nairobi plans, budgets, and delivers services in a manner that is inclusive, equitable, and anchored in dignity.

The Nairobi State of Care Report 2026 is high-level State of Care Assessment conducted by the Nairobi City County Government (NCCG) in partnership with Wow Mom Kenya, with support from Metropolis, under the project “Mainstreaming Care: Strengthening Nairobi City County Government’s Capacity to Enhance Care Services through Increased Budgets and Policy Implementation.” The study provides Nairobi’s first consolidated evidence base on the city’s care ecosystem, including policies, financing, infrastructure, institutional capacity, and service delivery.

The assessment found that unpaid domestic and care work remains a critical yet largely invisible pillar of Nairobi’s economy. Women continue to carry the greatest burden of unpaid care work, limiting their economic participation and productivity. Although care-related investments exist within county plans, care is not yet formally integrated into planning and budgeting systems.

Findings show that Nairobi’s care ecosystem is active but fragmented, with major gaps in childcare, eldercare, disability support, caregiver training, accessibility, financing, coordination, and infrastructure. More than 60% of respondents rated care services as inadequate or very inadequate, with children, older persons, persons with disabilities, people with chronic illnesses, migrants, refugees, and unpaid caregivers most affected.

The assessment also identified limited institutional capacity in care planning, budgeting, monitoring, data management, and policy implementation across county departments. Despite these challenges, strong political interest and active partnerships with civil society and non-state actors present significant opportunities for reform.

The report recommends establishing a Care Technical Working Group, developing a five-year Care Mainstreaming Strategy, strengthening coordination across departments, investing in caregiver training and infrastructure, improving data systems, and introducing dedicated care budget lines.

With coordinated investment and governance, Nairobi City County can position care as a public good that advances gender equality, social wellbeing, inclusion, and economic development.

Childcare is a critical but under-addressed constraint on women’s economic participation in Nairobi’s market centers, where women traders must balance income generation with caregiving responsibilities under financial and social pressure. This baseline study examines the childcare needs, preferences, and barriers faced by women traders in urban markets, and the implications for their livelihoods and well-being.

Since 2021, Wow Mom Kenya has partnered with the Nairobi City County Government to design and deliver affordable, high-quality childcare solutions in market centers. This implementation-driven work has generated robust evidence on expanding childcare access for women traders and informed the development of a proposed market-based childcare policy, demonstrating scalable approaches to integrating childcare into urban economic systems.

Through a collaborative research effort with Dalberg Research and BSD Group, and with support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), this work has examined the childcare needs, preferences, and barriers faced by women traders.

Findings show limited access to formal childcare driven by high costs, sanitation and safety concerns, and lack of nearby services. Women expressed strong demand for affordable, market-based daycare (at around KES 100–150 per day) and highlighted the potential of quality childcare to unlock economic participation. The report outlines evidence-based recommendations for scaling accessible childcare through public–private partnerships and strengthened county-level policy frameworks.