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An Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis (IBPA) of Post-Pandemic Recovery Policies: Experiences of Women Informal Food Vendors in Kisumu City, Kenya

Sustainability 2026, 18(1), 334; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18010334 (registering DOI)

by Joyce Kiplagat¹, Patrick Mbullo Owuor^2,3

, Rebecca Gokiert¹

and Elizabeth Onyango^1,*

Reviewer 1: Anonymous

Reviewer 2: Anonymous

Reviewer 3:

Mykola Malashevskyi

Sustainability 2026, 18(1), 334; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18010334 (registering DOI)

Submission received: 24 October 2025 / Revised: 9 December 2025 / Accepted: 23 December 2025 / Published: 29 December 2025

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bridging Informal Divides: Urban Food Security and Sustainable Livelihoods in the Global South)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript uses the Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis framework to examine how Kenya’s post-COVID-19 recovery policies fail to address the needs of women informal food vendors in Kisumu City. The authors review two key policy documents (the National Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery Strategy 2020–2022 and the Kisumu County COVID-19 Social Economic Re-Engineering and Recovery Strategy 2020/21–2022/23) and triangulate this with qualitative data from 20 key informant interviews, 4 focus group discussions with 40 women vendors, and 20 in-depth interviews.

They identify four main themes: (1) gender and power imbalances in policy design and decision-making, (2) inequitable resource allocation and economic support to women-led businesses, (3) intersecting gendered burdens in post-COVID-19 recovery, and (4) missed opportunities for gender-inclusive recovery, including the importance of community-based coping and informal financial mechanisms such as chamas.

Overall, the paper argues that post-pandemic recovery policies remained largely gender-neutral and formal-sector-oriented, with women informal food vendors relying largely on their own agency and social networks rather than targeted public interventions. However, as it stands, the manuscript would benefit from a clearer analytical use of the IBPA framework, stronger methodological transparency, and a sharper articulation of what is new compared to existing work on gendered impacts of COVID-19 in the informal economy.

While the IBPA framework is introduced, its analytical application could be more systematic and explicit. Currently, the principles (power, equity, intersecting categories, time and space, etc.) are mentioned, but the reader does not always see clearly how each principle guided coding and interpretation.
Clarify what intersectionality adds beyond a gender analysis.
Strengthen the positioning of your contribution in relation to existing intersectional analyses of COVID-19 and informality (even briefly in the Introduction or Discussion), to highlight what is novel in your approach.
The qualitative methodology is broadly appropriate, but more detail is needed in several areas for readers to fully assess rigor. The paper mentions purposive and snowball sampling, and a focus on specific markets in informal settlements. However, it is not entirely clear: How participants were distributed across settlements and market types. Whether any groups of women vendors (e.g., home-based food preparation, mobile vendors) may be under-represented. How saturation was assessed, especially given the use of both FGDs and IDIs.
Clarify the timeframe of data collection relative to the pandemic: The policy strategies cover 2020–2022 and 2020/21–2022/23; ethics approvals are 2024. Please state when interviews were conducted and discuss potential recall bias and the evolving nature of “post-pandemic” experiences.
In the Results, the policy excerpts are often used to show the absence of gender targeting or the dominance of formal sectors. This is important, but:
1. Consider deepening the analysis by showing whether there were implicit gendered assumptions (e.g., “household” as beneficiary, “vulnerable groups” without sex-disaggregation) and how these might obscure women vendors.
2. You might also explicitly discuss the limitations of analysing only written policy, given potential differences between text and implementation.
The Discussion is generally coherent and well-linked to the findings, but some parts read as descriptive rather than analytical. One way is to enumerate 2–3 key insights that this IBPA-based study adds to existing knowledge (e.g., “First, we show that gender mainstreaming language in recovery policies did not translate into concrete measures for informal women food vendors. Second, we demonstrate how intersecting burdens of informality, gendered care work, and lack of social protection compound vulnerability…”, etc.). Consider slightly tightening the literature used to avoid repetition: Some points about formal vs informal sector support, or gendered burdens of care, are repeated. These could be condensed to highlight what is new in your empirical material. Expand briefly on transferability: While your case is Kisumu, many secondary cities in Africa and beyond share similar features. You might add 1–2 paragraphs discussing how your findings could inform broader policy debates on urban food systems and informality, while still acknowledging contextual specificities.
The authors mention several limitations implicitly (cross-sectional design, small number of policy documents, reliance on self-reported experiences). I suggest adding a short, explicit limitations paragraph, and indicate how future research could address them
Use one main term consistently: “women informal food vendors”, “female vendors”, “informal food sector/food vending”. Currently different terms are used, which can be slightly confusing. Ensure consistent spelling (“post-pandemic”, “post-COVID-19”, etc.).
Table 1 and Table 2 are useful but could be integrated more tightly in the text
Check layout and numbering of headings

Given the strengths of the topic, policy relevance, and the richness of the empirical material, I believe this manuscript has good potential for publication in Sustainability. However, I recommend Major Revision to:

Clarify and deepen the conceptual use of intersectionality and the IBPA framework.
Enhance methodological transparency (sampling, saturation, analysis, timing, translation).
Strengthen and slightly refocus the policy analysis and Discussion to foreground the paper’s novel contribution and limitations.

If the authors address the above points carefully, the revised manuscript is likely to make a valuable contribution to the literature on gender, informality, and post-pandemic recovery.

Author Response

Reviewer 1:

NB: Highlighted in yellow are the edited/revised sections in the paper.

Highlighted in gray are the reviewers comments and suggested edits

Response: Thanks you for these valuable suggestions. We have edited the paper to give a clearer analysis and adoption of the IBPA framework in the paper, detailed the research process to allow for methodological transparency, and refined our presentation and discussion of the results. All these changes are reflected throughout the paper.

While the IBPA framework is introduced, its analytical application could be more systematic and explicit. Currently, the principles (power, equity, intersecting categories, time and space, etc.) are mentioned, but the reader does not always see clearly how each principle guided coding and interpretation.

Response: We appreciate this observation. We have integrated and articulated how the IBPA framework was adopted in the analysis and coding of the data. Part of the methods and results sections now reads as follows:

Policy document analysis

The analysis of policy documents was guided by the 8 principles of the IBPA framework alongside Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This involved reading and re-reading the two policies documents to familiarize with the key provisions including the objectives, key pillars to the recovery strategies, support services to the informal sector. Using both deductive (informed by the IBPA framework) and inductive analysis, we developed a thematic code set, allowing for predefined and new themes to emerge [45, 46]. The predefined themes were based on the IBPA principles of power and power dynamics, intersecting identities, social justice, equity, multi-level analysis, reflexivity, and time and space. The theme codes, transcripts, field notes, interview summaries, and the post-pandemic recovery policies were then imported and organized in NVivo QSR International, version 15, and the data code line by line. To validate the theme code sets and the coding and analysis process, an independent peer researcher performed an independent analysis and cross-checked the analysis for consistency and accuracy. This process of peer checking allowed for multiple interpretations and understanding of the experiences of women informal food vendors and the identification of gaps within the policy documents [47]. To ensure rigour and trustworthiness of the evidence, we triangulated evidence from the policy documents, the narratives from the key informants, and the informal food vendors.

Data analysis procedures for KIIs, FGDs, and IDIs

Following a similar process as with the analysis of the policy documents, the primary data collected through KIIs, FGDs, and IDIs was analyzed guided by the IBPA framework and using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis approach [48]. The research team engaged immersed themselves in the data through reading and re-reading transcripts and listened to the audio recording to familiarize themselves with the data, generated the initial codes through deductive and inductive analysis, searched and named the themes within the data, and developed a theme code set. The theme codes, transcripts, field notes, and interview summaries, together with the post-pandemic recovery policies were then imported and organized in NVivo QSR International, version 15, and the data code line by line. To ensure rigour, we engaged in peer checking of the theme codes and the line-byline coding of the qualitative data. The codes and the evidence from the interviews and the group discussions were also triangulated with the data from the policy document reviews. Integrating outcomes of policy review with actual participant perspectives ensured credibility of our findings.

Results

In this study, we reviewed two post-pandemic recovery strategies that were implemented in Kisumu City to facilitate rebuilding of communities after the COVID-19 pandemic (See Table 1: Reviewed post-pandemic policy documents).

<<<< Table 1: Reviewed post-pandemic policy documents>>>

Additionally, we engaged in primary qualitative data collection with 80 participants in KIIs, IDIs, and FGDs to capture the lived experiences of the informal female food vendors of the recovery strategies. Our analysis of the policy documents and the primary data was guided by the principles of the IBPA framework [36, 37]. The principles included – power, multi-level analysis, diverse knowledge, intersecting categories, equity, reflexivity, social justice, and time and space [37]. The qualitative study participants included women informal food vendors (83.8%) and men informal food vendors (16.2%) of the age range 25-65 years. Male participants were included in the study to capture the male perspectives of the gendered gaps within the post-pandemic recovery strategies. Their perspectives illuminated the gendered patterns of male privileges based on the sociocultural context and female exclusion in decision-making, policy formulation, and the implementation of interventions in secondary cities and remote communities. Most of the participants had below primary level of education (52.5%) with about 26.3% having college or university level of education, especially the key informants. Over 90% of the participants were informal food vendors who operated different types of small-scale food businesses such as selling fresh fruits and vegetables, cereals (maize, sorghum, rice), fresh cooked food, meat products (beef, pork, fish, chicken), a variety of drinks (sodas, fresh juice, preserved juices, milk), and a wide range of food items in kiosks and small hotels. The participants belonged to market groups, and some were part of informal saving groups (chamas), where they accessed credit to support their businesses. Most participants reported that they did not receive any government support during or post-pandemic and they mostly relied on their social connections to rebuild their businesses post pandemic. See Table 2 for the demographic characteristics of the study participants.

<<<< Table 2: Demographic characteristics of study participants>>>

Our critical analysis of from the policy documents, KIIs, IDIs, and FGDs generated the following four main themes and accompanying sub-themes) (See Table 3: Key themes and sub-themes). The following section presents these findings, with relevant participant quotes to illustrate key insights.

<<< Table 3: Key themes and sub-themes >>>

3.1. Key themes

3.1.1. Gender and power imbalances in policy design, decision-making and recovery.

Embracing the principles of intersecting identities, power and social justice, our analysis of the data revealed issues of power, power imbalance, and the lack of consideration of gender and gender representation in the design, formulation, and the governance and implementation of the post-pandemic recovery strategies. Two sub-themes emerge within this theme:

Centralized decision making and limited participation of women informal food vendors in the policy processes.

The formulation of the post-COVID-19 strategies was centralized at the Council of Governors level, whose legal mandate is to provide a forum for consultation amongst county governments. Although, the recovery strategies mentioned that the formulation process for the policies was collaborative – involving the Council of Governors, County Governments, researchers, development partners, and other stakeholders, the process was centralized at the national government with limited engagement of the lay community members such as the informal food vendors.

“The Council of Governors ....provided a central point for coordination of County Governments’ COVID-19 response measures… The development of this Strategy was a combined effort of Council of Governors, County Governments, researchers, development partners, and sector stakeholders.’’—Kisumu County Covid-19 Social Economic Re-Engineering Recovery Strategy 2020/21-2022/23 p.ix

While we acknowledge the environment within which the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded where decisions were made rapid and with uncertainty, it would have been beneficial to find ways to engage with and incorporate the needs of women informal food vendors given their significant role in supporting livelihoods and food needs of urban households, particularly in secondary cities. This could be achieved through contextualization of the national recovery strategies and intentionally engaging with the local communities in the cities.

Gender mainstreaming is also mentioned within the recovery strategy documents but there is limited evidence on how the unique needs of females were addressed within the recovery strategies, particularly the needs of women informal food vendors in a city like Kisumu. The post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery Strategy states that:

“Gender Mainstreaming of Post Covid-19 Pandemic Initiatives: The programme will integrate a gender perspective in post Covid 19 interventions. —” Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery Strategy 2020-2022 p.27

Our analysis of the participant narratives reaffirms the limited consideration of the intersecting identities and gender gaps in the implementation and in addressing the specific needs, particularly the needs of the female informal food vendors.

Clarify what intersectionality adds beyond a gender analysis. & Strengthen the positioning of your contribution in relation to existing intersectional analyses of COVID-19 and informality (even briefly in the Introduction or Discussion), to highlight what is novel in your approach.

Response: Thank you for this valuable suggestion and feed back. We have revised the introduction and the discussion sections to incorporate these ideas. Part of the introduction section now reads as follows:

Introduction

……….

Existing literature on the post-pandemic recovery for women-led businesses has focused primarily on the formal sector, women street vendors of non-food items, and homebased and domestic workers, with limited attention on the informal food sector [10, 12, 15, 16, 19, 24, 27, 30-32]. A gender assessment report conducted in all the 47 counties in Kenya during the pandemic showed that more women than men in the informal sector lost their businesses worsening their economic insecurity [33]. Previous studies conducted in Bangladesh, Kenya and Thailand after the pandemic revealed that national recovery plans failed to outline specific interventions to support women in the informal economy [25]. Research has also shown that the financial support policies implemented by African governments during and post-COVID-19 to cushion businesses ignored the entrenched gender inequalities and the intersecting identities that limited women-led business growth and recovery [34]. Such policies reinforced the marginalization agenda of governments in cities in the global South which has consistently depicted the informal sector as being disorderly, undesirable, and disruptive of urban life [35].

Despite increasing evidence of the pandemic's uneven impacts and recovery challenges faced by women informal food vendors, there is still limited understanding of how the post-pandemic recovery strategies in secondary cities incorporated the intersecting identities of women informal food vendors to adequate support their resilience post-pandemic. In this study, we sought to fill this knowledge gap by undertaking an intersectionality-based analysis of Kenya’s post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery strategies, with a focus on the experiences of women-led informal food businesses in Kisumu City, the administrative headquarters of Kisumu County. Using the Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis (IBPA) framework [36], this study examined the gender-responsiveness of post-pandemic recovery strategies, highlighting the different socio-cultural gaps and their implications for the resilience and recovery of women-led informal food businesses. Utilizing an intersectional lens, this study addresses a key research gap by providing context-specific COVID-19 policy analyses that demonstrates how overlapping social identities shaped women informal vendors’ participation in policy processes, access to resources and capacity to bounce back after the pandemic. This intersectionality-basis analysis provides evidence for the need for inclusive policy responses that safeguard women-led informal food businesses in future emergencies while preserving their vital role in urban household food security. By examining the gaps in post-pandemic recovery policies, this study contributes to the literature on how socio-cultural identity gaps in policies impact women in the informal sector and the food security of urban households in secondary cities.

The qualitative methodology is broadly appropriate, but more detail is needed in several areas for readers to fully assess rigor. The paper mentions purposive and snowball sampling, and a focus on specific markets in informal settlements. However, it is not entirely clear: How participants were distributed across settlements and market types. Whether any groups of women vendors (e.g., home-based food preparation, mobile vendors) may be under-represented. How saturation was assessed, especially given the use of both FGDs and IDIs.

Response: Thank you for this important suggestion. We have enhanced methodological transparency by providing additional details in all the sub-sections of the methods. Materials and Methods section now reads as follows:

Materials and Methods

2.1 Theoretical framework: Intersectionality Based Policy Analysis (IBPA)

This study draws on the eight guiding principles of the IBPA framework [36, 37] to provide a comprehensive analysis of post-pandemic recovery strategies for women informal food vendors in Kisumu City. The IBPA framework is relevant to our study given its application in policy analysis that aim to explore the gender-responsiveness of new and/or existing policy interventions. Due to its grounding in intersectionality, the framework allows for an understanding of the engagement of populations, issues of power and dynamics, and the intersecting identities that may impact how policy measures are experienced differently in populations. The intersectional lens applied to this study goes beyond examining how women were disproportionately affected by pandemic policies to highlight the role of power structures influenced policy decisions and resulted in marginalization. Identifying the intersecting social locations stretches our analysis to examine gendered and uneven impacts women informal food vendors had with the pandemic and beyond.

The IBPA principles of power, multi-level analysis, diverse knowledge, intersecting categories, equity, reflexivity, social justice, and time and space [37] to make sense of the data. Applying the intersectionality lens allowed for the exploration of women informal food vendors experiences of discrimination based on their gender, marital status, level of education, class, ability, and economic status. In particular, how these intersecting identities shaped their lived experiences of the pandemic and revealed gender gaps within post-pandemic recovery strategies.

The principle of intersecting categories allowed for the exploration of how various overlapping social identities of the women food vendors shaped their post-COVID-19 recovery pathways. Using the principles of power and equity, we explored how systemic inequalities such as lack of social protection schemes and exclusion from policy processes influenced recovery processes for women informal food vendors. We then applied the principle of diverse knowledge, combining women’s lived experiences with insights from experts in various fields of governance, health, finance, private sector, and community leadership with policy highlights for an informed analysis. Social justice was considered by exploring whether the recovery strategies accounted for existing inequalities faced by the women informal food vendors. Multi-level analysis enabled comparison of policies from the national and county levels of government foregrounding gender gaps in their responsiveness. This was undertaken while acknowledging the evolution of strategies adopted during the post-pandemic period as per the principle of time and space. The researchers remained reflexive throughout the analysis process, acknowledging the influence of their positionalities, lived experiences, perspectives and backgrounds on the study design, interaction with participants, data analysis, and interpretation of findings.

2.2 Study context

Kisumu City is located within the larger county of Kisumu, one of Kenya’s 47 counties and located between Latitude: 0° 14' 60.00" N and Longitude: 34° 54' 59.99" E, in the western part of the country (See Figure 1). According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) [38], Kisumu City had a population of approximately 397,957 people with the larger metropolitan area – that is Kisumu County having over 1,155,000 people that also rely on the city’s informal economy.. Kisumu City is characterized by sprawling urban informal settlements where more than half of the urban population resides [39]. The informal settlements in the city include Obunga, Manyatta, Nyalenda, Bandani, and Nyawita (Simiyu et al., 2019). These settlements are densely populated, at 6,686 people per sq. km [40]. The population living in the informal settlement areas face congestion, climate-induced floods, dilapidated housing conditions, poor hygiene and sanitation, and inadequate water and sewer infrastructure leading to an increased risk of the spread of infectious diseases [39-41].

Kisumu City is an important economic hub due to its location along the shores of Lake Victoria [22]. The economy is largely trade-driven, with a dominant informal sector that comprises of varied small-scale enterprises predominantly food businesses [22, 42]. Approximately 60% of the informal business operators in Kisumu city are female (KNBS, 2021), most of whom identify as either from the Luo or Luhya speaking communities in western Kenya. These communities are known to be patriarchal where females (women and girls) are less valued and with well-defined gender roles relegating house chores and care work to the females. The care burden negatively impacted women’s business performance especially during the pandemic [21, 43], affecting their health outcomes and financial resilience [44]. The study area provides an ideal space to research gendered dynamics of post-pandemic recovery strategies for women in informal food vending.

2.3 Research design

This research employed a cross-sectional study design guided by the Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis framework. A cross-sectional study design was deemed appropriate to critically review the post-pandemic recovery policies and to explore and interpret experiences of women food vendors of the recovery strategies and to identify potential gaps in the policies with reference to the unique needs of the women food vendors in secondary cities. We conducted a review of post-pandemic recovery policies and collected primary qualitative data. The 2 main post-pandemic recovery policies that were formulated and implemented in Kisumu City and that were critically reviewed in this study include - Kenya’s National Post Covid-19 Economic Recovery Strategy 2020-2022 and the Kisumu County COVID-19 Social Economic Re-Engineering and Recovery Strategy 2020/21-2022/23 [28, 29]. The primary qualitative data included key informant interviews (KIIs) with experts and market leaders, in-depth interviews (IDIs) with both female and male participants, and focus group discussion (FGDs) with female vendors in the different informal settlements and markets in Kisumu City.

2.4 Selection of participants

Policy document sampling

A total of two policy documents (n=2) were purposefully selected for review; Kenya’s National Post Covid-19 Economic Recovery Strategy 2020-2022, and the Kisumu County COVID-19 Social Economic Re-Engineering and Recovery Strategy 2020/21-2022/23 [28, 29]. These documents were chosen because (1) they outlined measures to mitigate adverse socioeconomic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) they addressed socio-economic recovery for the informal sector; and (3) they represented both tiers of government (national and county levels), enabling a multi-level analysis in line with the IBPA principles.

Participant sampling

A total of n= 80 participants were recruited between July 10, 2024 and October 15, 2024 to participate in this cross-sectional study and they were drawn from the five key markets (Manyatta, Nyalenda, Obunga, Nyawita, and Bandani) in Kisumu City. The study participants were purposively selected to include women and some men informal food vendors, key informants that work directly with the informal food vendors as they were deemed to hold information relevant to the study goals and questions. Through our connection with the local community-based organization – Pamoja CBO, potential participants were invited in an information session through the market representatives and the details about the study shared to allow for informed consent. Participants in the IDIs (n=20) and FGDs (n=40) were distributed across the five markets with each market having at least 12 participants engaged in the individual and the group discussions. The potential participants were included if (1) had been actively operating food businesses in and had lived in Kisumu City for over five years; (2) were owners or operators of informal food businesses during and after the COVID-19 pandemic; and (3) were willing to consent to participate in a one-on-one interview or a group discussion. Participants who did not operate their businesses before the pandemic and those unwilling to give consent were excluded.

The key informants (n=20) were selected from across the 5 markets with at least 1-2 participants coming from each of the markets and the others from the various government departments and community-based organizations that work with the informal food vendors. Key informants were included if they were (1) market leaders or representatives of informal food vendors within the five key markets; (2) representatives from the city government, community organizations representatives e.g. from community loaning organizations, public health department, and community health promoters; at various levels and not limited to community leadership, market representation, government mandates, public and community health, non-governmental organization, community based support, and private sector support; (2) actively engaged in informal food vending during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and possess knowledge of their varied challenges post-pandemic; and 3) were willing to consent to participate in a one-on-one interview with one of the research team members. Participants were excluded in they did not meet the above criteria.

Clarify the timeframe of data collection relative to the pandemic: The policy strategies cover 2020–2022 and 2020/21–2022/23; ethics approvals are 2024. Please state when interviews were conducted and discuss potential recall bias and the evolving nature of “post-pandemic” experiences.

Response: Thank you for this valuable comment. We have added a line in the methods section indicating when the interviews were conducted and acknowledge the potential recall bias given the time elapse between policy formulation ad the study timelines. A section of the methods section now reads as follows:

Participant sampling

In the Results, the policy excerpts are often used to show the absence of gender targeting or the dominance of formal sectors. This is important, but:
1. Consider deepening the analysis by showing whether there were implicit gendered assumptions (e.g., “household” as beneficiary, “vulnerable groups” without sex-disaggregation) and how these might obscure women vendors.
2. You might also explicitly discuss the limitations of analysing only written policy, given potential differences between text and implementation.

Response: Thank you for all these suggestions. Much appreciated. We have deepened our critical analysis of our results in the discussion section. A section of the discussion now reads as follows:

4. Discussion

This study set out to explore the policy gaps in the post-pandemic recovery strategies and the experiences of women informal food vendors of the recovery strategies in Kisumu City, in Kenya. The study utilized the IBPA framework to demonstrate how overlapping identities shaped the experiences of women informal food vendors and how such identities were not reflected in the post-pandemic recovery strategies leading to limited support for the women informal food vendors. The IBPA principles of power, intersecting identities, social justice, time and space, local knowledge, multi-level analysis, and equity informed the critical analysis of policy documents and the narratives form the study participants. Our study showed that power and power imbalance with reference to gender and other forms of identities influenced the engagement of women informal food vendors in the formulation and implementation of the post-pandemic recovery interventions and their experience of the policies. We found that the perspectives of the female vendors were not incorporated into the post-pandemic recovery strategies. Notably, the formulation of the strategies was elite driven as it included the Council of Governors, County Governments, researchers, development partners, academia, and other relevant stakeholders [29]. These agencies and professional bodies that were involved in the formulation of the policies were mostly male dominated further curtailing the participation of women in policymaking. Power imbalances in decision-making excluded the populations that were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic such as the informal food vendors. Our study findings aligns with previous studies that have shown that the informal food sector did not receive adequate policy and institutional support despite its important role in cities of the Global South [11, 21, 23], especially with reference to supporting the urban household livelihoods and food needs [49]. As a result of the non-inclusion, female-led enterprises suffered worse consequences of the pandemic because the policies ignored their unique needs worsening the existing inequalities. Similar to studies on post-pandemic recovery policies in Tanzania, gender exclusion challenged the resilience and recovery of women-led business [15, 16].

Furthermore, our study showed that there was inequitable allocation of resources to facilitate rebuilding and resilience post-COVID-19 pandemic. The policy interventions prioritized formal sector recovery as the strategies were anchored on the Medium-term Plan and Kenya’s Vision 2030 [50]. These development agendas were mostly focused on propelling the global agenda of modern cities through support for the big sectors of the economy such as industrialization, manufacturing, transport and ICT which are often viewed as key contributors to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). As such, the post-pandemic recovery strategies may have reinforced the marginalization of informal sector and particularly the informal food business given the limited focus in integrating the unique needs of those engaged in this sector and the limited consultation with such groups [35]. These findings corroborate those of studies in Thailand, Bangladesh and South Africa, where government plans prioritized private sector firms, overlooking the lived experiences of informal businesses especially those run by women, worsening inequality [25]. As noted by Oliveira & David [9], the informal sector bore a disproportionate burden of the pandemic effects as compared to the formal sector due to the presence of varied support mechanisms that target the latter.

The Discussion is generally coherent and well-linked to the findings, but some parts read as descriptive rather than analytical. One way is to enumerate 2–3 key insights that this IBPA-based study adds to existing knowledge (e.g., “First, we show that gender mainstreaming language in recovery policies did not translate into concrete measures for informal women food vendors. Second, we demonstrate how intersecting burdens of informality, gendered care work, and lack of social protection compound vulnerability…”, etc.). Consider slightly tightening the literature used to avoid repetition: Some points about formal vs informal sector support, or gendered burdens of care, are repeated. These could be condensed to highlight what is new in your empirical material. Expand briefly on transferability: While your case is Kisumu, many secondary cities in Africa and beyond share similar features. You might add 1–2 paragraphs discussing how your findings could inform broader policy debates on urban food systems and informality, while still acknowledging contextual specificities.

Response: Thank you for all these suggestions. Much appreciated. We have deepened our critical analysis of our results in the discussion section. The discussion section now reads as follows:

4. Discussion

Our study also found that women food vendors faced several barriers in accessing government support mechanisms meant for recovery. The support was in the form of an Economic Stimulus Programme whereby, the government set aside Kshs. 53.7 billion (US$537 million) to be disbursed as cash transfers to vulnerable populations. However, women informal food vendors had to fulfil certain conditions to qualify for and access the monies. For instance, they were required to provide identification cards and mobile numbers for one specific network provider (Safaricom) registered under their names. This requirement sidelined many women informal food vendors who were using other providers like Airtel to access cash transfers. This also meant that those who had lost their identity cards were ineligible to receive the cash. Additionally, there was lack of information to the women informal food vendors on the availability of government support since the modes used included digital media which was inaccessible to them due to low literacy levels. Elsewhere, researchers found that economic stimulus programs are more effective if support is channeled through existing community groups [23]. The resources distributed through existing community organizations were seen to benefit the vulnerable groups more efficiently [51]. In Zimbabwe, government support to the informal sector during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to business recovery success rates [7, 51]. However, in Kisumu City, the economic precarity of female-led businesses was deepened due to the inefficiency of support mechanisms and the limited government support for the community-based initiatives for post-pandemic recovery. Similar to the government schemes in Delhi [4], the women informal food vendors in Kisumu City termed the cash transfers as expensive given the interest rates and as being inadequate to meet their unique needs. This limited allocation of resources by the government and the lack of consideration of the diverse identities/unique needs of the women informal food vendors inhibited recovery efforts for female-led enterprises.

Our study showed that there were barriers to accessing support from private financial entities such as banks and savings and credits cooperative societies by informal food vendors and from informal microfinance initiatives such as shylocks. These financing institutions had strict collateral requirements, yet the women had limited access to assets such as land or property that could act as security during borrowing. In the African context, existing cultural norms restrict ownership of property to the men, sidelining women [52]. Therefore, men have been found to recover faster than women during emergencies because of the ease in accessing financial assistance and loans [53]. At the same time, there were severe consequences for those who received the loans and defaulted repayments. For example, women informal food vendors faced arrests, and their household goods were confiscated by loan recovery agencies due to non-payment. Research has shown that post-pandemic recovery processes differed for men and women due to the unequal impacts faced by the genders [44]. Despite the difficult experiences, women informal food vendors demonstrated unique strategies to cope with pandemic effects and respond to livelihood challenges through individual and community agency. These systemic barriers forced women informal food vendors to rely on informal money lending to support such as Chamas and Shylocks to boost their businesses. However, these informal networks we amassed with different challenges including limited funds to loan to the women, gender-related violence, and high interest rates that negatively impacted the informal food vendors.

The application of IBPA principles of intersecting categories and equity to our analysis revealed difference in experiences among women informal food vendors of different ages, marital status, economic abilities, and the achieved education levels. Women informal food vendors who were single parents experienced additional challenges as they did not benefit from spousal support, yet they had to financially support their families and also provide care and support to their immediate and extended families. Even before the pandemic, women in urban informal settlements in Kenya spent more time on domestic tasks than men [54]. Our findings show that women informal food vendors in Kisumu City faced heightened unpaid care work like household chores and caregiving responsibilities after the pandemic, while simultaneously running businesses with minimal spousal support. These findings concur with other studies conducted in Nairobi and Kampala where women in the informal food sector faced increased household and caregiving roles, which were reinforced by cultural norms [12, 27]. As a result of the burden of care, women suffered mental and physical fatigue hence hampering their business performance. The impact of care work on the income and profitability of women-led enterprises has been documented in South Africa and India [4]. In some instances, women were forced to close their shops to attend to house duties and this lowered household income impacting household food security. Unlike the case of Durban, South Africa, where women received cash grants to support with childcare, women in Kisumu City were left to bear the responsibilities with minimal to no social support and without policy provisions on honouring unpaid care work [1, 55].

We also noted that women informal food vendors faced gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and insecurity including job losses and financial constraints that perpetuated violence against women. Women informal food vendors also experienced a lack of security measures at their places of work, which exacerbated their vulnerability to violence. Due to the precarity of their businesses, they were unable to afford storage facilities and installation of security measures. Sexual exploitation was also highlighted as gendered risk and a barrier to recovery for women informal food vendors. The power imbalances in resource allocation and marginalization of women exposed them to exploitation by patriarchal systems. The presence of sexual abuse depicts gender gaps in policies that were meant to safeguard the rights of all people equally and depicts lack of gender-sensitive interventions to protect women. Despite the mental toll caused by these challenges, there was lack of government mechanisms such as counselling and psychosocial interventions to help women recover from the trauma if they face abuse. This depicts the lack of integration of mental health considerations into recovery strategies. An intersectional approach to formulation of post-emergency recovery strategies is essential to ensure the inclusion of vulnerable populations in the recovery plans [56].

Our analysis also revealed the various mechanisms that women informal food vendors explored to cope with the aftermath of the pandemic and support recovery. The women informal food vendors demonstrated unique strategies to cope with pandemic effects and respond to livelihood challenges through individual and community agency. For example, they leveraged on community-based networks like market associations, saving groups and family support. Studies have demonstrated the vital role of social support in times of emergencies, with businesses that benefited from such support mechanisms showing quicker recovery and more resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic [7, 9]. Through these coping strategies vendors were able to collate financial resources to keep their businesses running and support their families. This demonstrates women’s agency and resilience against the backdrop of limited government support. Findings from our study concur with other studies that have demonstrated that individual agency of women informal food vendors and the collective networks were vital in navigating the challenges of the pandemic and in ensuring resilience post-pandemic [3, 57].

The study was not without limitation and we recognize that this was a qualitative study involving policy document reviews, IDIs, KIIs, and FGDs that generated valuable evidence on the gaps in the post-pandemic recovery policies and the experiences of women informal food vendors. Although the evidence may not be generalizable to the entire population, they are transferable to other secondary cities with similar characteristics. Additionally, the primary data in this study was collected between July and October of 2024, at least 2 years after the implementation of the post-pandemic recovery strategies in Kisumu City. This may introduce potential recall biases in the respondents’ narratives, however, through additional probing, engagement with diverse groups of participants, and review of exiting literature, the findings in this study are comparable to previous studies in other cities. Finally, the study relied on self self-reported data, which may be prone to social desirability, especially with reference to personalized experiences of the post-pandemic recovery policies, the impacts of the policies on informal food businesses, and the limitations of the policies in addressing the unique needs of women informal food vendors. Previous studies have adopted similar approaches where participants have shared their lived experience during and post pandemic, and our findings are comparable with those from such studies.

The authors mention several limitations implicitly (cross-sectional design, small number of policy documents, and reliance on self-reported experiences). I suggest adding a short, explicit limitations paragraph, and indicate how future research could address them

Response: We appreciate this feedback and suggestion. We have included a section on study limitations that now reads as follows:

Use one main term consistently: “women informal food vendors”, “female vendors”, “informal food sector/food vending”. Currently different terms are used, which can be slightly confusing. Ensure consistent spelling (“post-pandemic”, “post-COVID-19”, etc.).

Response: Thank you! We acknowledge the inconsistencies in the use of the different terms and have harmonized this throughout the paper. To embrace gender as a social construct, we have main used women informal food vendors throughout the paper.

Table 1 and Table 2 are useful but could be integrated more tightly in the text

Response: Thank you! We have integrated tables 1 & 3 [formally table 2] into the paper and introduced table 2 which has the socio-demographics of participants.

Check layout and numbering of headings

Response: Thank you! We have cross-checked the numbering and the headings in the paper and they should align with the journal’s article template.

Clarify and deepen the conceptual use of intersectionality and the IBPA framework.

Response: We appreciate this feedback. We have integrated and articulated how the IBPA framework was adopted in the study and this is reflected throughout the paper including in the methods section, analysis, data coding, and the discussion of results.

Enhance methodological transparency (sampling, saturation, analysis, timing, translation).

Response: Thanks you for this valuable feedback. We have added more specific details on the methods section to enhance methodological coherence and transparency. The methods section now reads as follows

Materials and Methods

2.1 Theoretical framework: Intersectionality Based Policy Analysis (IBPA)

2.2 Study context

2.3 Research design

2.4 Selection of participants

Policy document sampling

Participant sampling

2.5 Data collection procedures

Policy document review

Kenya’s National Post Covid-19 Economic Recovery Strategy 2020-2022 (national level), and the Kisumu County COVID-19 Social Economic Re-Engineering and Recovery Strategy 2020/21-2022/23 (county level) were retrieved from the Kenya Law Reports portal and Kisumu County government website, respectively [28, 29]. The review aimed to assess whether the strategies incorporated the diverse intersecting identities that among women informal food vendors to support their resilience and recovery from the pandemic. The national strategy was examined to understand broad government measures to safeguard the informal sector from pandemic impacts, particularly interventions benefiting vulnerable groups through the implementation of fiscal measures, interventions that increase access to finance, and economic stimulus programs. The county strategy was reviewed to identify local interventions, including policy and institutional reforms, aimed at mitigating socio-economic impacts, supporting informal sector business recovery, and spurring post-pandemic economic growth. This multi-level analysis enabled an exploration of the whether national and county policies captured the lived realities of individuals women informal vendors and community groups, highlighting gender and socioeconomic gaps and disparities between policy provisions and on-the-ground experiences.

Primary data collection procedures

Research assistants trained in qualitative data techniques and fluent in English, Kiswahili and Luo engaged in the recruitment of participants, information session with the potential participants, and in the facilitation of primary data collections through face-to-face interviews. The choice of language used was determined by participants’ preferences with most of the key informants preferring English. A majority of the IDIs and FGDs participants preferring either Swahili and/or Luo. All interviews and the group discussions were audio recorded with the informed consent of the participants with those conducted in English transcribed verbatim and the ones in Swahili and Luo, translated to English as they were being transcribed. The transcripts were then reviewed by the research assistants and the authors (PO, and EO) who are fluent in Luo, Swahili, and English to ensure accuracy of the translation and the transcription.

To facilitate data collection, we developed semi-structured interview guidelines for KIIs, FGDs and IDIs with a focus on the experiences of the women informal food vendors of the post-pandemic recovery strategies. We probed for the impacts of the pandemic on their businesses, as well as their perspectives on the challenges of post-pandemic recovery, and prospects on the future of their businesses. The participants were asked to describe the role of governance mechanisms including policies and institutions, as well as private sector and social networks that they relied upon, and how these played a role in recovery from the pandemic. Participants gave recommendations of the best practise for business recovery from the pandemic. Data collection was undertaken until saturation – that is the point at which there were no new themes emerging from the interviews. Throughout the research process, the researchers remained reflexive and the research assistants while in the field also kept a journal and gather fieldnotes that were included in the data analysis. After every interview, the research assistants also summarized the key highlights from each interview.

Key informant interviews (n=20) included market leaders, community health promoters, government and community-based organization representatives who were engaged in one-on-one to-interviews which lasted for approximately 30-60 minutes each. The key informants included experts in compliance, enforcement officers, revenue collection officers, municipal and city management official at the County Government of Kisumu, representatives from microfinance organizations, women group leaders, and market administrators. Based on the expertise of the government officials from various departments, we obtained information regarding governance and the formulation and implementation of the policies, as well the rationale for post-pandemic recovery strategies. Interviewing market and women group leaders explored the gap between the interventions stipulated within the policies and the actual support that the vendors obtained from the policy interventions.

The In-depth interviews (n=20) participants were both male and female informal food vendors who operated their food businesses during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Recruitment of these participant was facilitated through our community partner and by the market leaders in each of the five markets. The market leader invited the potential participants to an information session and interested vendors who gave informed consent and were interested participating in a one-on-one interview were invited to a face-to-face interview at a convenient place of their choice. The IDI participants were interviewed to obtain first-hand information regarding individual perspectives of recovering from the negative effects of the pandemic and narratives on support mechanisms that existed (or lack thereof). The participants shared personal experiences with the post-pandemic recovery interventions, the barriers to accessing government support, and the role of the informal social support networks in the recovery and resilience of the informal food vendors.

Focus group discussions (n=40) included four FGDs, each comprising 10 women informal food vendors. Recruitment of the FGDs participants was facilitated by the market women group leaders who organized the information session with the potential participants. The women informal food vendors who met the inclusion criteria and gave informed consent were then invited to a centralized location close to the various markets with most of the group discussions being held in the nearby community halls close to the markets. The FGDs provided a platform for participants to share the collective and individual mechanisms that shaped their recovery from the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The interactive discussions elicited narratives on how women informal food vendors leveraged on formal and informal social support networks such as financial institutions and microfinance agencies, informal saving groups, market associations, as well as government and private sector entities, to shape their resilience and recovery post-pandemic.

2.6 Data analysis

All primary qualitative data (KIIs, IDIs, and FGDs) were audio recorded with the informed consent of the participants. Most of the KIIs were conducted in English and audio recorded to allow for verbatim transcription. The IDIs and FGDs were mostly conducted in Swahili and/or Luo and were audio recorded to allow for translation and transcription. The translation and transcriptions were conducted by the research assistants who facilitated the interviews and the discussions and were reviewed by authors PO and EO who are fluent in English, Swahili, and Luo. The data – transcripts, the policy documents, and field notes were then imported into NVivo QSR International, version 15 for analysis, coding, and management.

Policy document analysis

Data analysis procedures for KIIs, FGDs, and IDIs

2.7 Rigour

To enhance the credibility of findings, we triangulated and compared findings from the document reviews with primary data from KIIs, FGDs, and IDIs. Additionally, to enhance data quality, adequate and appropriate sampling was undertaken. Study participants were selected through purposive sampling, where individuals believed to hold relevant lived and work experiences to the focus of the study (Johnson et al., 2020; Mayan, 2016) – that is people who operated or owned informal food businesses during and post-pandemic and those who implemented the post-pandemic recovery strategies in Kisumu City.

To achieve analytical rigor, we ensured that intercoder reliability was realized through peer checking in the data analysis process. The research team including the research assistants and the first author (JK) undertook coding of the data, identified initial themes, and collated the codes into broader themes. Afterwards, the initial codes and emergent themes were reviewed a peer researcher (a graduate student) and by the authors (EO) and (PO) for accuracy through an iterative process. The coders also maintained reflexivity to ensure trustworthiness in the analysis process by acknowledging the influence of their backgrounds and positionalities on their interpretation of meanings of data (Berger, 2015). Also, peer review was achieved through regular consultations with the research team (EO), (RG) and (PO).

2.7 Ethical considerations

Ethics approval was received by the University of Alberta Research Ethics Review Board (Protocol: Pro00138854) and the Research Ethics Board of the in African Medical and Research Foundation in Kenya (ESRC P1670/2024). Through our local community partner – Pamoja CBO provided, connection with the market leaders and other administrative authorities in Kisumu City that facilitated our data collection. Potential participants were invited into an information session about the study and were issued with information sheets detailing the research process, the research objectives, expectations, and the pros and cons of participation. We then obtained voluntary informed consent in a written form from all the participants. The participants were advised of their right to withdraw from the interviews and discussions at any stage without any penalties. The data was anonymized by removing any personal identifying information with participants being assigned ID numbers based on the data collection methods. All the data were downloaded from the audio recorders at the end of the day of data collection and uploaded onto the University of Alberta shared google drive and protected following the University of Alberta data management procedures and only the research team including the local community partner in Kenya had access. To honor participants’ time and contribution to the research, eachparticipants received an honorarium of CAD $10 (KES 1000).

Strengthen and slightly refocus the policy analysis and Discussion to foreground the paper’s novel contribution and limitations. If the authors address the above points carefully, the revised manuscript is likely to make a valuable contribution to the literature on gender, informality, and post-pandemic recovery.

Response: Very much appreciate this important observation/suggestion. We have added more details in the discussion section to also include the policy contribution. The discussion section now reads as follows:

Discussion

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript is well-written and structured. I recommend acceptance after minor revisions to strengthen the theoretical and empirical contextualization.

Having said that, while the research design and objectives are clear from the abstract and introduction, the manuscript would benefit from an explicit statement of the primary research question(s) at the end of the introduction.

The introduction effectively sets the global and Kenyan context, it also provides good contextualization regarding the participation of women in the informal economy sector and how there is a gender gap when it comes to government policies to help women-led businesses in the sector grow and recover. However, I believe it would be good to strengthen the final part, highlighting the research gap more effectively. A paragraph explaining why an intersectionality perspective was needed to improve the situation and for analyzing the informal economy, beyond its general utility for gender analysis, would add theoretical depth.

Regarding the methodology, the total number of FGD participants is stated as n=40 in the data collection section (page 7) but listed as n=4 in the abstract, which one is it?, I suggest clarifying this as: 4 FGDs (n=40 participants). I also believe authors should include the total number of participants in the abstract (n=80) to highlight its relevance. Additionally, I suggest presenting the acronyms: FGD, KII and IDI next to the corresponding data collection procedure and not only in the results section.

For the results: The qualitative study participants included women (83.8%) and men (16.2%). What was the role of male participants?. I suggest to briefly clarify their role to better contextualize the results. The analysis frequently uses general terms like "most," "some," and "several." While this is common in qualitative research, I suggest providing more specific numerical values: proportions/percentages, for example. While the authors are not making statistical claims, offers the reader a clearer sense of the data's weight and distribution. For instance, the authors could specify that a view was held by "the majority of FGD participants" or was "expressed in half of the IDIs". For this lived experience section I would also suggest reintroducing the acronyms, in a simple introductory sentence like: "Our analysis of data from Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), and In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) generated the following main themes...".

Regarding the discussion: consider adding a paragraph that summarizes the main themes into an overarching argument about the interplay of gender and power, inequity, gendered burdens and missing gender-inclusive policies, and their role in hampering recovery. Also, I suggest to enrich the discussion on the coping mechanisms with references to literature on resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity.

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Author Response

Reviewer 2:

Sustainability literature on gender, informality, and post-pandemic recovery. The application of the Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis (IBPA) framework is appropriate, and I believe it highlights the challenges faced by women who work as informal food vendors in Kisumu City. The manuscript is well-written and structured. I recommend acceptance after minor revisions to strengthen the theoretical and empirical contextualization.

Response: Thank you for this comment! Much appreciated!

Response: Thank you! We have integrated the research question into the introduction. The introduction now reads as shown in the above comments.

Response: We appreciate this feedback. We have added more details in the introduction to incorporate this feedback.

Response: Thanks very much for this suggestion.We have edited the abstract and the methods section of the paper to accurately reflect the number of participants in the FGDs.

Response: Thanks very much for this suggestion. We have given the rationale for including male participants into the study.

The analysis frequently uses general terms like "most," "some," and "several." While this is common in qualitative research, I suggest providing more specific numerical values: proportions/percentages, for example. While the authors are not making statistical claims, offers the reader a clearer sense of the data's weight and distribution. For instance, the authors could specify that a view was held by "the majority of FGD participants" or was "expressed in half of the IDIs". For this lived experience section I would also suggest reintroducing the acronyms, in a simple introductory sentence like: "Our analysis of data from Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), and In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) generated the following main themes

Response: Thanks very much for this suggestion. We have incorporated these feedback in the result section and also added a table with participant demographic characteristics in the paper.

Response: Thanks very much for this suggestion. We have first summarized our findings in the discussion section to highlight the key findings and also added details in the section to strengthen the contributions that this paper makes to literature.

Also, I suggest to enrich the discussion on the coping mechanisms with references to literature on resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity:

Response: Thank you! We have added more details to our discussion section as shown in the above comments and in the article.

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Response: Deleted the image! Thank you

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The topic of the study is urgent for those countries, which suffered from Covid-19. It is especially important for the vulnerable segments of the population, women in the first place. Literature review is relevant and complies with the research line. Tables and figures are informative and relevant.

The study could further benefit, if the structure of the study could be adjusted to comply with the demands of the Journal. It would be reasonable to present some detailed recommendations on the timely response on gender inequality, and control of such the cases, as well as improving the measures on gender equality by government. Thus, the good practices can be useful for other countries facing the issue of gender inequality.

Author Response

Reviewer 3:

Most sectors of world economy to include food market seemed to have experienced a significant downfall due to Covid-19. In most countries, a setback in sales, especially retail sales, was observed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The development of a strategy on the support of urban households by government agencies and public organizations is important for food security. The topic of the study is urgent for those countries, which suffered from Covid-19. It is especially important for the vulnerable segments of the population, women in the first place. Literature review is relevant and complies with the research line. Tables and figures are informative and relevant. The study could further benefit, if the structure of the study could be adjusted to comply with the demands of the Journal. It would be reasonable to present some detailed recommendations on the timely response on gender inequality, and control of such the cases, as well as improving the measures on gender equality by government. Thus, the good practices can be useful for other countries facing the issue of gender inequality.

Response: Thank you for these valuable comments. Much appreciated. We have incorporated the suggestions throughout the paper.

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An Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis (IBPA) of Post-Pandemic Recovery Policies: Experiences of Women Informal Food Vendors in Kisumu City, Kenya

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