A feminist reimagining of Kenya's public transport

From the website, one can journey with us on our history, the impact of our work and the interventions that help us create safe, sustainable and accessible public transportation spaces for women and vulnerable groups in Africa. Our interventions are in three focus areas: influencing behavioral change, generating knowledge and movement-building.

The Toolkit is designed to provide minimum standard guidelines and practical tools to create safer and more accessible public transportation systems for women in African cities. It was developed, in collaboration with UN-Habitat, from the findings of the Gender Equity Assessment and Mobility of Care Study. Flone Initiative is currently utilizing the toolkit to integrate gender-sensitive organizational policies and service principals into the culture of transport organizations in Nairobi and Mombasa.

This Flone Initiative short film highlights the often unseen social realities that make it hard for women to work in the industry as well as the challenges faced by commuters. This film was supported by HIVOS Global. For more on the Flone Initiative, visit here.

This report aims to elaborate on the impact of COVID-19 on women professionals, particularly women drivers and conductors in the matatu industry in the Nairobi Metropolitan Area; present the mitigation measures initiated by Flone Initiative — particularly for women professionals in the matatu industry — in the Nairobi Metropolitan Area; and make recommendations to policymakers and other stakeholders to ensure sustainable public transport systems post-COVID-19.

This is the first app designed for and by Kenyan women to track incidents of gender-based violence on and around public transport. The free-to-download-and-use "Report It! Stop It!" (RISI) mobile app is available on Google play store. For more information, also see here.

These recommendations were developed by Flone Initiative and the Mombasa county officials and public transport stakeholders. The recommendations were based on the study findings of a "Baseline Assessment on Gender Mainstreaming and Safety in Public Transport Services in Mombasa" that explored the status of public transportation systems in Mombasa with a focus on the Kenya ferry services, the public transport vehicles (matatu), three-wheelers (Tuktuk) and motorbike taxis (Boda boda) industries.