Kenya

GIZ has been working in Kenya since 1975. The GIZ office is located in the capital, Nairobi.

For 50 years, GIZ has been a reliable partner in building a sustainable future with 79 projects across the country. Ranked by the World Bank as a lower middle income country, Kenya is East Africa’s largest economy and one of the leading economies in Africa. A robust private sector, investment in infrastructure and a growing middle class have all contributed to the country’s development, helped further by its decentralised system of governance and relative political stability. Kenya has set itself the goal of becoming an upper middle income country by 2030. Nonetheless, the country continues to face many challenges. More than a third of its population lives below the poverty line. Young people, in particular, have difficulty in finding a job. Agriculture contributes about 20 per cent of the gross domestic product and provides employment for a large part of the population. However, the sector is suffering from the effects of climate change and needs to modernise further. Kenya would also like to increase its power supply and switch completely to renewable energy.

Our work on site: For more employment and clean energy

On behalf of the German Government, GIZ works with national, international and private sector partners in Kenya. Its main commissioning party is the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). 
The priority areas are:

• Sustainable economic development and employment promotion
• Agriculture and food security
• Renewable energy and climate change

In the area of sustainable economic development, GIZ supports vocational education and training for youths and young adults. The goal is to equip young people with skills for the job market, especially for private sector jobs. Activities include upgrading training institutions, involving companies in practical and cooperative vocational training schemes, and supporting start-up centres. 

The GIZ agriculture portfolio in Kenya supports the sustainable transformation of agri-food systems in 25 counties, focusing on Western, Northern, and coastal regions. It promotes climate-resilient value chains and agroecological approaches that create income, improve food security, and economically empower women and youth through skills development, entrepreneurship, and digital solutions.

Kenya and Germany signed a bilateral agreement for the Climate and Development Partnership in 2022 to enhance cooperation in climate mitigation and adaptation. Building on this partnership, the GIZ Energy, Transport and Climate Change portfolio focuses on accelerating the deployment of renewable energy towards a power supply that builds entirely on renewable energy by 2030 and is the basis for a green hydrogen industry and the e-mobility sector. Through the partnership, climate strategies and implementation of climate policy frameworks are supported as well as the improvement of the resilience of the agricultural sector through sustainable practices and drought resistance measures.

GIZ is also helping to improve access to sustainable and reliable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Kenya. To this end, it will create an enabling environment for modernising the energy market and promoting innovations in the energy sector. 

GIZ also promotes good governance and the fight against corruption, peacebuilding and migration management in the country, and supports efforts to help displaced persons and host communities. Diverse regional development programmes that focus on the environment and sport are also being implemented in Kenya. In this context, digitalisation is becoming increasingly important in several sectors.