Availing Affordable and Accessible Childcare in Market Centers in Kenya

In Kenya, the disproportionate share of unpaid caregiving done by women poses a barrier to their participation in the informal workforce. Women with children under 6 face intensified caregiving responsibilities, exacerbated by a lack of child-friendly spaces in urban workplaces. In a country where 80% of informal vendors are women, the need to provide services to meet the childcare needs of informal women workers is a pressing challenge. Childcare in the county’s more than 50 market centres is often informal and lacks infrastructure, trained staff and resources, further hindering women’s economic engagement.

Meeting an urgent need in market centres

Wow Mom, a Nairobi-based social enterprise, established a pilot daycare facility in Gikomba, the largest open-air market in East Africa. The female-owned social enterprise, founded in 2021 to create child-friendly urban environments, worked with the Nairobi County government to provide quality, affordable childcare in the market building. It aimed to ease women traders’ childcare responsibilities and allow them to commit more time to paid labour.

Replicating successful solutions

This pilot project provided high-quality yet affordable childcare at the Gikomba market. It enabled women to dedicate more time to their businesses and highlighted the potential impact of making accessible childcare more widely available. While the Gikomba example serves as a case study, the broader research undertaken in this project will aim to make policy recommendations for accessible and affordable childcare beyond this specific model.