Despite global commitments to leave no one behind, systematic data on the lived realities of LGBTI people remains scarce in most countries. The LGBTI Inclusion Index, developed by UNDP in partnership with the World Bank, community representatives, academics, and civil society partners, seeks to address this gap by benchmarking inclusion across five dimensions: health, education, economic well-being, political and civic participation, and personal security and violence.

In 2026, Kenya set out to implement the LGBTI Inclusion Index. The project systematically reviewed government, academic, and civil society data; mapping evidence against the Index’s 51 global indicators; and validating findings through a multi-stakeholder Technical Working Group (TWG) comprising government partners, civil society organizations, and development partners. Findings were synthesised through triangulation,1 with confidence ratings2 (see annex B1) applied to all indicators to indicate the strength of available evidence. Data from all sources was handled with strict confidentiality and security standards.

Of the 51 indicators, 39 (76.5 percent) were evidenced in the Kenyan context. The remaining 12 (23.5 percent) lacked sufficient or nationally representative evidence. Indicator assessment by dimension was: Health 13/13 (100 percent); Political and Civic Participation 8/10 (80 percent); Personal Security and Violence 10/11 (90.9 percent); Economic Well-being 5/9 (55.6 percent); and Education 3/8 (37.5 percent). These scores are internal structural diagnostics measuring the completeness of Kenya’s current evidence base, rather than country rankings or performance ratings.

Findings reveal uneven progress and systematic exclusion across all five dimensions. In health, robust HIV surveillance exists for MSM and transgender people, but mental health, reproductive health, gender-affirming care, and non-communicable diseases remain absent from national data. In education, small-scale studies document widespread bullying and exclusion of LGBTI learners, yet SOGIESC-disaggregated data is absent from the Education Management Information System, leaving these realities invisible to policymakers. In economic well-being, scattered evidence points to pervasive workplace discrimination and exclusion from formal employment; Kenya has no explicit employment non-discrimination protections based on SOGIESC. In political and civic participation, the 2015 High Court recognition of LGBTI association rights and the 2023 Supreme Court ruling affirming NGLHRC’s registration have expanded civic space, but criminalization under Sections 162(a), 162(c), and 165 of the Penal Code continues to undermine freedom of assembly and expression. In personal security and violence, civil society monitoring by NGLHRC and galck+ documents high levels of violence and hate crimes, while official police and justice data remain entirely non-disaggregated by SOGIESC.

These findings carry direct implications for Kenya’s national priorities, offering actionable pathways for the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, and the Judiciary to advance inclusion in line with Vision 2030, SDG 10, SDG 16, and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. The Kenya project demonstrates that data-driven inclusion is both possible and essential to development that truly leaves no one behind.