Across Sub-Saharan Africa, progressive climate governance frameworks coexist with persistent gender-equity deficits at implementation. In Kenya’s devolved system, county governments are responsible for translating gender-responsive climate commitments into local planning, budgeting, and accountability, yet whether implementation produces equitable outcomes for populations most affected by climate change remains under-examined. This article investigates how climate policy implementation institutionalizes gender responsiveness as a governance principle in Busia County. Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, the study integrates survey data from 435 respondents across seven sub-counties, eight key informant interviews, four focus group discussions, and documentary analysis of eight policy and fiscal instruments. Findings indicate predominantly neutral perceptions of gender integration across policy-clarity dimensions, although perceived policy clarity was strongly associated with perceived gender integration (r = 0.776, p < 0.001). Qualitative and documentary evidence reveals a persistent policy-to-practice gap: women are formally represented in participatory structures but exercise limited influence over decisions, while county fiscal instruments do not consistently demonstrate gender-tagged climate allocations or mechanisms for tracing equitable benefits. The article advances the normative–operational cascade as a diagnostic framework for explaining how gender commitments can remain visible across governance tiers yet lose operational force during budgeting, implementation, and accountability. It argues that devolution creates institutional proximity without necessarily securing substantive gender responsiveness.