The Kenyan Flower Subsector: A model of enhanced competitiveness through mandatory and voluntary sustainability standards

Kenya’s flower industry put the country on the map. Today, the sector is a vital part of its economy—accounting for 1.25% of GDP and employing more than 500,000 Kenyans.

With separate public and private sustainability standards operating in the same industry, the Kenyan government recognized the need to reduce duplication through collaboration and alignment of both standards.

Their efforts have made a huge difference to producers and exporters by easing procedures and reducing the costs and administrative burden of complying with different schemes.

This case study focuses on lessons learned from aligning public and private standards and the role that partnerships between government and industry actors play in facilitating industry development and sustainability.

We spoke with industry actors to understand how benchmarking between mandatory public and voluntary private standards contributed to success—looking at their motivations, factors behind the process, benefits for value chain actors, and implementation challenges. From these lessons, we seek to demonstrate how this approach can transform other agricultural value chains.