The 10th-anniversary celebrations of the Indigenous Women Council–Kenya (IWC) commenced on August 6 with a powerful Funders’ Roundtable Convening, setting the stage for transformative dialogue around how Indigenous women and girls are supported across Kenya and beyond.
Hosted in partnership with Samburu Women Trust, the roundtable marks a turning point in efforts to secure equitable, flexible, and direct funding for Indigenous communities.
The event brought together funders, development partners, and Indigenous women leaders, including pastoralists, hunter-gatherers, fisherfolk, women with disabilities, and young women, to reimagine funding systems that have long excluded them.
Despite being custodians of land, culture, and community, Indigenous women remain severely underrepresented in decision-making spaces and are among the most underfunded actors in global development.
Participants used the convening to share lived experiences and bold visions, examine structural barriers in current funding models, and co-create inclusive, trust-based pathways to channel support directly to communities.
Central to the dialogue was the need to move from traditional donor-driven approaches to funding frameworks that recognize and uphold Indigenous agency, leadership, and knowledge systems.
The roundtable highlighted a collective commitment to a future where Indigenous women and girls are not treated as passive recipients of aid but as key movement leaders and decision-makers in their own right.
Backed by organizations such as the Tenure Facility, Comic Relief, GEF Small Grants Programme, American Jewish World Service (AJWS), Agroecology Fund, Rights and Resources Initiative, and the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples, the event underscored growing momentum to center Indigenous voices in philanthropy and development work.
As the IWC enters its second decade, the anniversary signals a renewed focus on strengthening Indigenous women’s leadership and ensuring that funding systems are rooted in equity, cultural respect, and long-term sustainability.