As part of Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation model, these 26 women from Cherukusi village have all been equipped with the training, startup cash, and mentoring to launch sustainable micro businesses. Every Thursday, they have their business savings group meeting, where they save weekly earnings from their businesses and provide small loans to each other—with repayment, including interest. With the income earned from their businesses and the savings and loans from their business savings group, these women are breaking the cycle of poverty for their households and better providing for their families.

But the ringing of the smartphone signifies that this isn’t a traditional business savings group—it’s part of Village Enterprise’s pilot of the DreamSave app—a digital savings ledger designed by DreamStart Labs. Instead of using paper ledgers to record their weekly savings, targets, loans, and repayments, the Tapoyen business savings group is using DreamSave.

Grace Chemtai, the chairwoman of Tapoyen group, which is named after the Tapoyo tree, a thick reddish bark tree that thrives in arid areas and whose branches are commonly used as a whip to herd cows due to its durability, enthusiastically praised the impact of the new savings app. DreamSave keeps track of each member’s attendance, savings, and credit records, significantly transforming the way they organize and conduct their meetings.

She said using the app had helped cut down meeting time by more than half—from two hours to about 45 minutes—while also boosting members’ attendance and savings, as they know the meetings would not take up precious time they could be using to attend to their various businesses.

“Attendance has improved since we started using DreamSave. Even the amounts of money we save have increased,” she said, adding that group members did not want to miss meetings because they know the app will use the attendance records to determine an individual’s commitment to savings and their ability to repay a loan.

DreamSave is changing the game for rural groups that have never used a smartphone before. Under Village Enterprise’s graduation model, which has lifted thousands of women and their families out of extreme poverty, the app is quickly replacing manual ledgers that are tedious to keep and occasionally prone to human error.

Reducing mistakes in financial records has also boosted the trust of members in their savings group’s elected officials that their money is safe.

Still in its pilot stage, DreamSave is proving to be a vital tool that not only makes it simpler for the business groups to run their affairs but also makes it possible for the economically disadvantaged to be financially included—ensuring that no one is left behind.

So far, a dozen groups—each with 30 members—across Kenya (West Pokot), Uganda (Soroti) and Rwanda (Rulindo) have started using DreamSave. These groups have recorded an average 50% increase in savings and 85% increase in meeting attendance, according to data gathered by Village Enterprise’s technology team.

The app also saves time for Village Enterprise’s business mentors who set up business savings groups, oversee their operations, and train new entrepreneurs on how to run their businesses and maximize profits. With the reduced time required for each group meeting, business mentors can now visit more groups each day than they could before.

“Technology can help us reach more people and have a greater impact on our effort to end extreme poverty. That’s exactly what DreamSave has helped us do in the regions we’ve piloted,” said Meshack Mbinda, Senior Director of Technology Solutions at Village Enterprise.

“We’ve observed that groups using DreamSave consistently emerge as top savers in their regions,” he added.

After a successful pilot, Village Enterprise now plans to roll out DreamSave to all regions of operation in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, with a long-term goal of having all business savings groups using the app by 2025.

In Chekurusi, a middle-aged woman chuckled looking at a smartphone after receiving Ksh.2,000 (about $13) as a short-term loan to get more feed for her poultry business. Her loan would be payable in a month’s time.

“DreamSave has brought us change, peace, and happiness!” Grace said amidst a symphony of approval from her group members.

The post Armed with an award-winning savings app, women in Kenya are combating poverty appeared first on Village Enterprise.

When Lotorupe joined Village Enterprise, she was 45 years old, a widow, and the primary caretaker for eight children all living together in a small mud house. Having never been to school or owned a business, she struggled to feed her children and pay for their school fees.

But through Village Enterprise, Lotorupe launched a business buying and selling goats alongside two other widows. In a region where women are traditionally not permitted to own animals—nor even allowed near livestock markets—they were collectively challenging what was possible for women in their community. And it worked. Because of the skills and training they learned through Village Enterprise, their business took off. Using the increasing profits from their business, Lotorupe was able to diversify her income by launching an additional business on the side of selling groceries, as well as keeping chickens to earn and save even more.

As a part of the Village Enterprise poverty graduation model, Lotorupe also joined a business savings group—a group of 30 entrepreneurs working together and meeting weekly to build savings, assets, and save for emergencies. Traditionally, the group records are kept in paper books, but as part of our DreamSave pilot program, Lotorupe’s business savings group began keeping all their records on the DreamSave app on a smartphone. This not only helped them maintain more accurate records, but the app sent notifications reminding Lotorupe of her savings targets and even sent celebratory alerts when she reached her goals.

Created by DreamStart Labs, the DreamSave app was piloted by Village Enterprise in 12 communities in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Lotorupe loved the app so much that she eventually exceeded her savings targets. Having originally set a target of putting aside $275 USD, she ended up saving $350 USD and was able to build her family a brand new tin-roofed house. She was also able to use her profits to purchase a donkey, which she uses to fetch water and reduce her fatigue, and she has plans to sell the donkey’s offspring to further her return on investment.

Utilizing DreamSave not only encouraged and motivated Lotorupe on her business progress, but it helped her savings group become much more efficient. Their meetings grew shorter, allowing more time for the women to return to operate their businesses or run errands. DreamSave also helped the women increase their literacy skills, and they became more resilient to climate change as a result of their success. Having saved money for emergencies, digitized their records, and purchased household assets, they’re more prepared to handle unprecedented situations.

It’s been over a year since Lotorupe joined Village Enterprise, and she’s tremendously happy with her business and how much money she’s been able to save because of DreamSave. She’s been able to provide consistent, healthy meals for her children, and is now confident about what the future holds for her family.

Village Enterprise is continuing to expand the DreamSave pilot, with the goal of having all business savings groups on the app by 2025.

The post Lotorupe’s Story: Building savings, resilience, and a brighter future with DreamSave appeared first on Village Enterprise.

This International Women’s Day, we hope you’ll join us as we take a look at four of our extraordinary entrepreneurs across East Africa and celebrate their hard work and determination to build brighter futures for themselves and their families.

Joanne from Mt. Elgon, Kenya

In the mountainous region of western Kenya, Joanne, 52, and her husband take care of five children and four grandchildren. After completing training through Village Enterprise and Days for Girls in 2021, Joanne launched a business making and selling washable menstrual pads—a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly solution for a region without widespread access to feminine hygiene products.

Joanne was part of a unique project designed to help women from coffee-growing communities in Mt. Elgon break cycles of extreme poverty while also dismantling menstrual health stigmas. Funded by The Starbucks Foundation, Village Enterprise and Days for Girls sought to improve the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward menstrual heath as well as worked to ensure women like Joanne could overcome barriers and launch vital businesses needed by the community.

Along with her two business partners, who are also women, Joanne began selling their menstrual pads to nearby schools in Mt. Elgon. As a result of their efforts—and those of similar businesses started by the project—more girls in their community have been able to stay in school now that they have necessary feminine hygiene products. Women have reported an increase in self-confidence, self-respect, and self-reliance, and this project’s training on menstrual health has also led to a reduction in teen pregnancies. In fact, prior to the program, roughly 300 girls in the area dropped out of school each year because they became pregnant. But after the program, the number dropped significantly in 2022 to 60 girls. In 2023, after the program had formally ended, it continued to drop again—this time to just 28 students. As of 2024, data from the Mt. Elgon Sub-county Ministry of Education shows that enrollment for girls in high school has surpassed that for boys in the area.

Not only did Joanne’s business meet a critical need for female students, it also began slowly sparking conversations among men on menstrual health and the societal stigmas facing women. As fathers in the community witnessed the positive impact of Joanne’s initiative on their daughters’ lives, attitudes toward menstrual health began to change.

While the project between Village Enterprise and Days for Girls concluded after two years, the impact continues. The transformative influence of Joanne’s business has extended to her own life as well. Not only is she no longer living in extreme poverty, but she’s used her profits to renovate her home, purchase livestock, and pay school fees for her children. Her confidence has grown with her business success and she now sees herself as an important voice in the community, earning respect from local leaders.

As part of The Starbucks Foundation’s goal to positively impact 1 million women and girls in coffee-, tea-, and cocoa-growing communities, The Starbucks Foundation and Village Enterprise are continuing to increase income and savings and build resilience for an additional 500 women in Mt. Elgon’s coffee-growing communities by equipping first-time entrepreneurs with the tools and resources to reach their full potential and pursue their dreams.

To date, The Starbucks Foundation has empowered more than 2,400 female entrepreneurs to launch sustainable businesses through Village Enterprise, transforming the lives of more than 16,000 women, men, and children in Mt. Elgon. On top of this impact, over 8,000 women and girls have been reached in the region with cost-effective and sustainable menstrual health products. The generational impact of this will only continue to grow as more young girls continue to have unburdened access to school.

Sharon from Agago, Uganda

Before joining Village Enterprise, Sharon never imagined that she could be a leader in her community. But now, she’s proud to be one, and she’s helping other women to become leaders, too.

One of the core components of Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation model is business savings groups. Composed of 30 entrepreneurs, these groups meet weekly throughout our entire program to build savings and foster community as members support one another on their journeys to becoming first-time business owners. When the time came to select a chairperson for their business savings group, Sharon was nominated by her friend. As the votes poured in from her fellow members, they all voted in agreement: Sharon would be their first chairperson and leader.

Although she was nervous of her newfound position and responsibilities, Sharon was able to overcome her nerves through Village Enterprise’s leadership training. Her Village Enterprise business mentor also worked with her, teaching skills on how to lead people, manage group meetings, and navigate public speaking. “Because of how much I have grown through Village Enterprise, I am encouraging other women to start taking leadership positions at any level, not to shy away, but to take courage and practice the leadership skills that Village Enterprise has taught us,” said Sharon. “The training that we received has enabled us to move from nowhere, to somewhere.”

On top of growing into her own as an effective and influential leader in her community, Sharon’s business has been tremendously successful. She’s been able to use her profits to purchase household assets—such as solar panels, a bicycle, utensils, a radio, goats and pigs—and she’s currently saving up with her husband to purchase an ox which they plan to use for starting their own household farming business.

Halima from Dollo Ado, Ethiopia

Due to the prolonged droughts in southeastern Ethiopia, all of Halima’s livestock perished. With no other option but to rebuild her life elsewhere, Halima arrived at the Heleweyn Refugee Settlement as an internally displaced person along with her nine children. Without a way to earn an income, Halima relied on food from humanitarian aid organizations and asking distant relatives for help, but this was often not enough, and she and her family were left to live on less than $1 USD per day. This took a toll on Halima both physically and emotionally, as she was constantly worried about meeting her family’s basic needs.

But near the end of 2023, everything changed as Halima was selected for DREAMS. This award-winning model combines Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program with Mercy Corps’ expertise in Market Systems Development to better serve refugees and their host communities and help them build sustainable livelihoods. Halima was part of the first cohort of DREAMS entrepreneurs as the model launched in Ethiopia thanks to funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the IKEA Foundation.

Through DREAMS, Halima learned not only how to operate a business, but the leadership, communication, and financial literacy skills to make her business successful. Together with two women, Halima opened a retail store selling honey and was connected with local suppliers to enhance the overall market system. But since the honey supply naturally fluctuated with the season’s availability, they also started a second business of buying and selling goats. Together, their two businesses have been so successful that they were able to expand their original honey business into a store that also sells vegetables and other groceries.

“Today is a different day to celebrate. I remember sitting at home without work, now I am actively running a business,” said Halima, reflecting on how much her life has changed since joining Village Enterprise. “I can send my children to better healthcare services if need be, my family’s living standard and decision making has improved, and my social status has been raised.”

Halima and her business partners have enjoyed setting goals together and sharing responsibilities as their business grows. Having only been in the program for six months, they’ve come so far from where they started and their journey of transformation has only just begun. “I am quite confident of our future,” said Halima. “I want to be among the best entrepreneurs selling honey and goats in the village, and I also want to inspire other women.”

Emerance from Rulindo, Rwanda

Before joining Village Enterprise, Emerance and her two business partners, Lucie and Domithile, were farmers for survival. They grew Irish potatoes, but their harvests often did not yield enough to adequately feed themselves and their families. But now, their business called “Bright Future ” is one of the most successful in their village.

Through Village Enterprise, Emerance learned basic business skills and how to diversify income streams, but the most important thing she learned was the culture of savings and how to invest into her business to help it grow. She started selling shoes because there was demand for a shoe store in her community, but after taking a loan through her business savings group—and later successfully paying it off in full—she expanded her business to sell fabrics, which she can also tailor for customers. Recently, she and her business partners also invested in chickens, which will serve as a third way to bring in income. Emerance and her business partners continue to keep a keen eye on other gaps in the market that their business could fill and are determined to become the most successful entrepreneurs in the area.

Emerance is proud of their business success so far, but even more proud of her ability to better provide for her children. Not only has she been able to send her three children back to school, but she’s even able to afford to send them all to private school. Confident that the quality of private education will better serve her children in the long run and provide more opportunities, Emerance knows the fees are worth it for their futures. Her business partner, Lucie, has also been able to use their business profits to care for her sister’s two children, both of whom have disabilities.

Emerance, Lucie, and Domithile each share a sense of pride when reflecting on where they started from. Where they used to depend entirely on their husbands, now they’re the ones providing for household needs and feeding their children. As they look to the future, Emerance and her team want to pay it forward, too. “We want to teach other young women how to become entrepreneurs,” said Emerance. That’s the power of entrepreneurship—not only does it transform the lives of business owners and their families, but the positive impact continues to ripple outward to neighbors, communities, and generations to come.

Joanne, Sharon, Halima, and Emerance are just four of the 275,000 entrepreneurs who have launched businesses through Village Enterprise, transforming over 1.65 million lives across East Africa. Together with your support, Village Enterprise can invest in empowering millions of more women to break the cycle of extreme poverty and build brighter futures for themselves and their families.

The post Extraordinary women, extraordinary entrepreneurs appeared first on Village Enterprise.

For Mercy, she dreamed of a career doing something she loved, but extreme poverty prevented her from pursuing these ambitions—her work options were limited to whatever job she could find in Kenya to earn an income and provide for her family. But through Village Enterprise, she’s reclaiming her career dreams and, for the first time in a long time, getting excited about what her future holds.

Several years ago, Mercy—who is now 39 years old and a mother of five—landed a job in a textile factory in downtown Nairobi. Even though it was two hours away from home and the pay was minimal, it was still an income. But a serious health issue forced her to quit her job and move back home to Mbooni, Kenya—a rural region where work opportunities are scarce and income inconsistent. Now depending entirely on her husband as the sole provider for their household, money grew tight and her family struggled financially. They began skipping meals to make their food reserves last longer, and they couldn’t afford school fees for all of their children.

At one point, Mercy—still struggling with her health issues, but determined to provide for her family—found work by making gravel. Day in and day out, she would crush large stones with a hammer in exchange for an average of 100KES ($0.67 USD) per day. To her, this was a low point in her life. She had dreamed of living comfortably with her family and working a career that brought her joy and fulfillment, but that felt impossibly far out of reach.

Mercy in front of uniforms that she printed through her business

But everything changed for Mercy when she was enrolled in the Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Project (KSEIP) and began Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program. KSEIP, launched in 2019 and funded by The World Bank, is a five-year collaboration between Village Enterprise, the Government of Kenya, the Global Development Incubator (GDI), and BOMA. The goal is to support the Government of Kenya as they begin to formally integrate a poverty graduation approach into their existing social protection programs. In doing so, KSEIP has the potential to provide millions of Kenyans with a reliable and sustainable pathway out of extreme poverty.

Mercy standing with Village Enterprise’s KSEIP Program Implementation Manager Isaiah Lekesike (far left), her Village Enterprise Business Mentor Martin Muendo (second to the right), and Jackson Muraguri, County Program Manager with the Global Development Incubator (far right)

Over the past four years, Village Enterprise has been training the government on all aspects of our poverty graduation model—from targeting households and establishing business savings groups to best practices in mentorship, technology, and curriculum development. During this time, the Government of Kenya’s role has primarily focused on observing Village Enterprise and learning-by-doing by participating in implementation activities such as mentoring and training. However, starting in November 2023, the roles will begin to shift—Village Enterprise will transition from directly implementing the program to supporting the Government of Kenya as they put everything they’ve learned into practice and begin implementing the program across the country. By providing ongoing technical assistance, Village Enterprise will continue to ensure that programming remains consistent with industry standards and best practices, and entrepreneurs like Mercy have the best resources they need to thrive.

True to Mercy’s creative personality and innovative thinking, she launched an incredibly unique business through KSEIP. Instead of starting a retail, farming, or livestock business like many first-time business owners in Village Enterprise, Mercy opened her very own printing business. Having originally thought of the idea while working in Nairobi, Mercy never dreamed it would be possible given her situation, but Martin, her Village Enterprise Business Mentor, believed in her and encouraged her to pursue her passion. Using custom screens and ink, Mercy prints designs and official logos on clothes and uniforms for local schools, businesses, and NGOs. And as the only printing business anywhere nearby, she’s thriving.

Mercy’s employee holding one of the shirts they printed for a local primary school (above). A table displaying some of the equipment Mercy uses to print (below).

Using the skills she learned through Village Enterprise and under the guidance of her business mentor, Mercy has been able to set up a value chain transporting supplies all the way from Nairobi to Mbooni. Not only has this made her business as efficient and cost-effective as possible, but it has allowed her to actively make connections with partners and tailors in the region and set the groundwork for her to expand her business as demand grows. With the flurry of exceptional feedback and increased orders from customers, Mercy is excited about what’s next—she dreams of expanding her skillset and one day becoming a designer herself, creating and printing her own designs. With the profits from her business, she’s already been able to purchase a smartphone and plans to set up an online store or social media account for her business. She’s also currently saving up for a sewing machine to take her business to the next level.

But for Mercy, having a thriving business isn’t the only thing that matters to her—she wants to use her success to help others. “When I started my business, the first thing to come into my mind was about others,” said Mercy. “I had a rough journey…so why can’t I involve others to make money like me?”

Having already hired two people from her community, she’s now mentoring them on her printing trade and helping them on their own journeys out of extreme poverty. In her vision for the future, she hopes to eventually employ and mentor dozens of other people through her business.

Mercy with two people from her community that she’s hired and started to mentor through her business

Several of the screens that Mercy and her team use to print designs

“KSEIP stands out as a distinctive program within Kenya,” said Isaiah Lekesike, KSEIP Program Implementation Manager at Village Enterprise. “It presents the country with a valuable opportunity to implement an initiative that has already demonstrated promising outcomes in addressing extreme poverty.” Through KSEIP, Village Enterprise has already trained 3,698 first-time business owners like Mercy who have launched sustainable, climate-smart businesses in their communities, making a real and lasting impact for generations to come.

KSEIP is part of a larger collective action strategy for Village Enterprise. While Village Enterprise provides the industry’s most cost-effective poverty graduation model compared to those independently and rigorously evaluated by a randomized controlled trial (RCT), it is African governments who are best equipped with the infrastructure and systems to significantly and effectively scale poverty graduation programs, helping to reach millions of people and empowering them to end extreme poverty in Africa once and for all. “By partnering with governments, we hold the key to a monumental shift—envisioning an Africa free from poverty, all in the span of a single generation,” said Taddeo Muriuki, Chief Government Relations Officer at Village Enterprise.

The Village Enterprise KSEIP team in Taita Taveta recently celebrating their two-year anniversary working in this community

Mercy has come a long way since having to crush stones into gravel for money. All of her school-aged children are now back in school, her family is eating consistent and nutritious meals, and she feels incredibly proud of the life she’s been able to build in such a short time. As she reflects on her journey, she credits her success in part to her own innate determination to create a better life for her and her children, but especially to her business mentor, Martin, who’s believed in her from the start. “He’s helped me think bigger, to see what’s possible,” said Mercy. With his mentorship and encouragement, and Village Enterprise’s training and support, Mercy’s confident she now has everything she needs to achieve her dreams.

Mercy outside of her printing business

The post Mercy’s Story: How KSEIP Helped Her Dream Again appeared first on Village Enterprise.

In northwestern Uganda, the Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement is home to over 120,000 refugees who have fled conflict, environmental disasters, or other significant shocks in their home countries. One of the refugees living in Rhino Camp is Susan, a 40-year-old widow with four children, who also looks after her nephew and grandchild.

During the war in South Sudan, Susan was forced to flee her home in 2018. After making the difficult journey to Rhino Camp in Uganda, she was provided only a single tarp for shelter. Together with her children, she constructed a small grass-thatched house using grass they found and bricks they made themselves. Unfortunately, termites found their way into her home and began eating away at its structure, causing water to leak in whenever it rained. Susan was also provided monthly food rations from the refugee settlement, but quickly discovered it wasn’t enough to sustain her family throughout the entire month. To make their food rations last longer, they began skipping meals—eating only once per day. On top of all of this, Susan’s children were forced to drop out of school when she wasn’t able to afford their school fees.

Susan is one of more than 10 million refugees worldwide who rely on humanitarian aid to meet their basic needs—such as food, water, shelter, and basic healthcare. But as aid organizations struggle with budget cuts and a global rise in refugee populations, tangible support has been subject to change or even disappear without a moment’s notice—leaving refugees like Susan without the basic necessities to help them survive, let alone plan for the future.

The refugee crisis has never been more severe during our lifetimes—currently, there are more refugees worldwide than at any point since World War II. With this in mind, DREAMS is on a mission to transform refugee relief as we know it today.

Pictured: Susan at her retail business where she sells clothes and other textiles in her community.

DREAMS (Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems) is an innovative, first-of-its-kind program which combines Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program with Mercy Corps’ expertise in market systems development. Where most refugee relief programs only provide short-term humanitarian aid for a long-term problem, DREAMS offers a long-term, sustainable solution by empowering refugees to become economically self-reliant. By equipping refugees with the training, resources, and enhanced markets to launch small businesses in their communities, refugees are able to become entrepreneurs, generating reliable incomes and putting themselves and their families onto a sustainable pathway out of extreme poverty. Ultimately, DREAMS provides refugees a safe place to land where they can get back on their feet, provide for their families in the midst of so much unknown, and start to dream again about their families’ future.

Through DREAMS, Susan learned how to launch a small business as well as the financial literacy skills needed to operate and expand her business into different markets. After working with her DREAMS mentor to select a viable business and get connected with market suppliers, Susan—along with her two business partners from Rhino Camp—used their business grant from Village Enterprise to launch a retail store buying and selling clothes.

Almost one year later, Susan is just a few weeks away from graduating from Village Enterprise and her family’s situation has greatly improved. Using the profits from her retail business, Susan has been able to supplement the settlement’s monthly food rations and provide three consistent, healthy meals a day for her family. She’s also been able to afford school fees for two of her children who are back in school full time, and has plans for her other children to return back to school soon. On top of all of this, she’s been able to construct a new home, with iron sheets for the roof and reinforced doors, providing her family with a safe and stable place to call home.

Pictured: Susan outside of her newly constructed home which she paid for using the profits from her retail business.

“Susan’s story is one of the 200,000 people whose lives will be transformed by DREAMS over the next few years,” says Winnie Auma, Chief Program Officer at Village Enterprise. “To better support refugees, it’s so important to keep the long-term vision in mind and have assistance that goes beyond meeting the immediate needs of refugees and instead helps them get back on their feet and plan for their futures in a dignified and sustainable way.”

As a Fast Company 2023 World Changing Ideas Award winner, DREAMS aims to transform not only refugee relief—it strives to provide a new model for ending extreme poverty in the world’s most challenging environments, supporting millions of people globally in achieving financial autonomy.

DREAMS originally began as a pilot program in Uganda’s Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement in 2018, and formally launched operations in northern Uganda in 2022. It will also launch operations in Ethiopia’s Dollo Ado Refugee Settlement in the weeks ahead. Across the two countries, DREAMS will reach more than 33,000 households and will impact more than 200,000 lives—but this is just the beginning. Building off the program’s success, Village Enterprise and Mercy Corps are looking for the funding to expand DREAMS to more regions and countries across Africa.

As Susan looks to the future, she has a renewed sense of hope for her family. She’s excited to expand her retail business with the possibility of opening another branch in a nearby village to diversify her income. She’s even become the chairperson of her business savings group comprised of 30 business owners from her community. Susan not only helps organize their weekly meetings, but she offers guidance and encouragement as they collectively save for household and business assets together.

“I feel very confident and respected by my children and community,” says Susan. “Thank you for helping a hopeless widow have hope again.”

About DREAMS

Funded by Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, ICONIQ Impact, IKEA Foundation, Sea Grape Foundation, and The Patchwork Collective, DREAMS won the 2021 Larsen Lam ICONIQ Impact Award for Refugees managed by Lever for Change, and was most recently awarded Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Award for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. DREAMS will also be studied in an independent, randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted by IDinsight, which will provide valuable research to be used across the international development and humanitarian aid sectors to better support refugees in the future.

Learn more about DREAMS

The post Susan’s Story: DREAMS and Hope for the Future appeared first on Village Enterprise.

Two hours north of Kigali, past fields of tea farms and towns cascading down hillsides, is the rural village of Butare nestled in one of the many valleys of Rwanda. Rich with deep red soil and layered with every shade of green, Butare is the home of 87 entrepreneurs in Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program, including Bellancile.

Bellancile, 42, is the mother of six children ranging in age from 18 years to one month. Before joining Village Enterprise, everything in her household—from feeding her family to affording school fees—depended entirely on her husband. But with only one income, they struggled to sustain their growing family’s needs. Bellancile recalls, “When I used to ask my husband for money, it would create conflict.” Their lack of a sufficient income also began forcing the family to skip meals, forgo necessary household items, and begin pulling their children from school as they couldn’t afford school fees.

Bellancile, Pascasie, and Alphonsine holding hands next to their retail business, Twizerane.

But in March of 2022, things started to change for Bellancile and her family when she joined Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program. Throughout several months of business and financial literacy education, Bellancile learned how to start and operate a small business, as well as the power of working alongside others. Together with two women in her community—Alphonsine, 34, and Pascasie, 60—they completed a cost-benefit and market analysis and determined a retail shop had the potential to do well in Butare. Under guidance from their Village Enterprise business mentor, they used their $180 USD business grant to launch their store, Twizerane—a Rwandan word meaning let us trust each other. “For the first time in my life, I started believing that I could do this,” says Bellancile, remembering what it meant to receive their business grant and open their store.

They started off small, only selling a local sorghum soda, but their prime location and in-demand product quickly launched them into popularity within the community. With their steady stream of profits, they began expanding their retail business to sell additional items such as rice, cassava flour, cooking oil, sugar, and other sodas—all things their village uses on a regular basis, but are sometimes difficult to access being so remote. Originally valued at $180 USD, their business is now worth $600, a 233% increase only six months after starting their business.

While some business groups expand into new business ventures together, Bellancile, Alphonsine, and Pascasie are happy keeping their joint venture a retail store. Instead, they’re using the profits from Twizerane to each start their own businesses at the household level, helping to diversify their individual incomes even further. Bellancile recently bought a pig and is excited to begin rearing and selling livestock, alongside Alphonsine and Pascasie who have also done the same.

Bellancile shows off the pig she purchased using the profits from her retail business.

Bellancile graduated from our program last month, and life looks much different for her now. “I used to think that a woman eats because her husband worked, but now I’m the one feeding my family,” states Bellancile proudly. She adds, “Since we’ve started our retail business, we haven’t missed a meal in our house.” Not only are her children eating consistent and healthy meals, but they’re back in school in brand new shoes and uniforms. Through her business savings group, she’s been able to save up enough money to purchase household items such as cups, utensils, and saucepans, but her greatest achievement so far has been renovating her home. Where there once was a dirt floor and walls littered with holes, now exists a smooth, cement floor and sturdy, hole-free walls. Since the renovations, her home has become a great sense of pride to her and her family.

“I used to think that a woman eats because her husband worked, but now I’m the one feeding my family,” states Bellancile proudly.

Bellancile stands outside of her home which she’s renovating using the profits from her businesses.

Apart from the assets she’s been able to purchase, her relationships have also flourished this past year. Now that her husband no longer feels the pressure of providing for his family alone, their relationship has improved substantially. In fact, she says it feels like they’re newlyweds again and she lights up each time he calls her “Honey”—which, according to Bellancile, happens a lot these days. Even Bellancile’s eldest son—having noticed his mother’s growth and success over the past year—has decided that when he graduates from school, he wants to study commerce and be a successful businessperson like her.

Bellancile—a woman who just one year ago had no financial mobility or standing in her community—now sees herself as a mentor and leader with newfound confidence and abilities. And she isn’t alone—in 2018, Innovation for Poverty Action published an independent randomized controlled trial which found that our program leads to increases in mental health, well-being, and sense of economic standing for women.

For Bellancile, it’s important that the knowledge she’s gained through Village Enterprise doesn’t stop with her. “Everything that I’ve learned, I want to share it with someone else,” she says. In fact, Bellancile has big plans for her new household business—she’s already hired three women from her community to help tend to her livestock and crops, and is looking forward to passing on what she’s learned through Village Enterprise so these women can change their lives and break the cycle of extreme poverty for their families, too.

Pascasie, Pascasie’s grandson, Bellancile, and Alphonsine inside of their retail store, proudly holding their business record book.

Our Commitment to Empowering Women

This is what happens when you empower women—you empower entire communities through them. When women are provided opportunities to launch sustainable businesses, save for the future, and take on leadership positions, they’re more likely to invest back into their children and families, helping to break the generational traps of poverty. “This is why addressing gender equality and investing in women is at the core of Village Enterprise’s mission to end extreme poverty,” says Nelly Munge, Village Enterprise Technical Advisor for Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion. “When women like Bellancile are empowered, everyone benefits—children, families, and entire communities.”

Because women in rural communities across Africa are more vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change, conflict, global pandemics, and inflation, they are disproportionately affected by extreme poverty. That’s why Village Enterprise is intentional about equipping women with the best resources and skills to thrive in the face of a changing environment and unexpected challenges. In fact, 82% of Village Enterprise entrepreneurs are women. “Even though our program has proven so impactful for women, we’re always looking at how we can improve. That’s why we are continuing to research the barriers that women face,” explains Nelly. “At the end of our program, we don’t want to see women experience any financial limits.”

For Bellancile, this program has changed the trajectory of her life and the lives of her children. The same is true for her business partners, Pascasie and Alphonsine. “Our lives are changed, all three of us,” says Bellancille. Six months into operating their business and already moving to diversify into new revenue streams—in many ways Bellancile is just getting started. “I can see that my future is bright.”

Rulindo district in northern Rwanda—the home of Bellancile, Pascasie, and Alphonsine.

Partnering for Greater Impact

The role women play in ending extreme poverty is critical, but the complex needs of women and girls requires a tailored, collaborative approach. This is why Village Enterprise is partnering with leading organizations, government entities, and funders to empower as many women as possible. While the core of this approach is our cost-effective, data-driven poverty graduation program, we work with partners to address the unique needs of each community by layering additional components into our curriculum; this can include education on regionally-specific agricultural practices for communities dealing with shifting weather patterns, cash transfers to help with food consumption and medical care for communities affected by chronic rates of acute child malnutrition, menstrual health education designed to eliminate menstrual taboos and stigmas, and more.

To learn more about how we’re partnering to empower women, check out our Five-Year Report.

The post Bellancile’s Story: Women Leading Change appeared first on Village Enterprise.

As the wind sweeps its way across the drylands of northern Kenya, there’s a momentary reprieve from the oppressive heat, but quickly it returns and brings with it the reality of the ongoing drought. While dry seasons come and go for communities in East Africa, this time it’s different. Climate change has escalated the situation into the worst drought in four decades, bringing devastating effects to the entire region. A lack of seasonal rainfall—year after year—means significant crop failure, the death of livestock, and the depletion of all household reserves.

Without crops and livestock, many families in the region are no longer able to earn a sufficient income, which has exacerbated conflict as communities fight over the dwindling resources. To complicate matters, northern Kenya has long been vulnerable to food insecurity and rising inflation continues to make the situation dire. As a result of all of these external challenges, more and more children—like Miriamu’s grandson—are becoming acutely malnourished. 

To combat acute child malnutrition in northern Kenya, Village Enterprise has partnered with Catholic Relief Services, the Isiolo and Marsabit county governments, and other local partners and agencies to implement USAID Nawiri (Nawiri is a Swahili word meaning to thrive). Funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, USAID Nawiri launched in 2019 and is a resilience food security activity in Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu, and Turkana counties. The primary goal of the project is to sustainably reduce the persistent rates of acute child malnutrition in these counties by increasing the consumption of—and access to—safe foods which meet daily nutrient requirements. It also aims to address some of the underlying, systemic issues which have led to the high rates of acute child malnutrition in the first place, such as food and market systems, health and nutrition systems, limited livelihood diversification, and challenging gender and social norms.

To achieve these objectives, Village Enterprise has taken our poverty graduation model and layered it with education on health, nutrition, sanitation, and hygiene. Additionally, on top of receiving business training, mentorship, access to savings groups, and grants to launch sustainable businesses, USAID Nawiri participants also receive cash transfers to purchase nutrient-dense food, medical care, and household items. These transfers enable participants to meet their immediate needs without having to interfere with the cash flow of their newly established businesses.

After seeing positive results in the early stages of implementation, USAID committed to significantly scaling up the program earlier this year. With 129 current Village Enterprise staff, 53 part-time enumerators, and an increased goal to reach 14,310 households, this intervention will impact the lives of 85,860 women, children, and men by September 30, 2023—making it one of Village Enterprise’s largest projects to date.

“USAID Kenya sees the adapted poverty graduation approach as an anchor activity for USAID Nawiri,” comments Emily Mkungo, Project Management Specialist for USAID Kenya. “Through the graduation model we are targeting the ultra poor and households with malnourished individuals, and moving them up the ladder to self-reliance. And within the same model layering interventions in health, behavior change, water, sanitation, and hygiene among others aimed at reducing persistent acute malnutrition around the same community. I look forward to the impact this model will have on the planned target of 85,860 people in the coming two years.”

Most notably, 1,949 out of the 2,051 entrepreneurs (95%) who began our program this fiscal year are women, such as Miriamu. Prior to joining USAID Nawiri, Miriamu’s husband was killed by bandits, leaving her the sole caregiver for her seven children. One by one, she began selling her livestock to provide for her family as she had no other means for generating income. Soon there were no animals left to sell and the family struggled to meet their daily needs—often skipping meals and foregoing necessary medical care because they simply could not afford it.

This all changed when she joined USAID Nawiri. Through training and mentorship from Village Enterprise, Miriamu not only learned how to start and operate a business, but how to ensure it remains sustainable and resilient despite the environmental or economic challenges she may face. While she was getting her retail business off the ground, the cash transfers provided her family with the necessary means to purchase nutrient-dense food and medical care, especially for her grandson whose health required immediate attention at the start of the program.

And as her business grew, so did her confidence. “Nawiri has given me and other women dignity,” Miriamu says. “Even women can support and provide for their families if economically empowered.” And that’s exactly what she did. Because of her determination and dedication to change the future for her family, she has been able to use the profits from her business to pay for school fees, cover additional medical expenses when her children get sick, purchase clothes, and build food reserves for her family—all of which were impossible beforehand.

For Miriamu and thousands of other families like hers, USAID Nawiri exists as an alternative to traditional humanitarian relief—instead of only responding to acute child malnutrition through emergency aid, Village Enterprise and Catholic Relief Services are equipping communities with the means to build sustainable livelihoods full of dignity and hope. As Miriamu reflects on her journey with USAID Nawiri, she remarks how meaningful this experience has been. “My family’s future is secure,” she says. Not only is Miriamu’s business generating consistent income, but her grandson has been medically cleared as healthy, no longer considered malnourished or requiring special treatment.

Miriamu has also joined a local business savings group, meeting weekly with other entrepreneurs and putting away money for emergencies or specific business purposes. By working hard over three months to meet her targets, Miriamu saved enough money to buy a goat—the first animal she’s owned since having to sell all of her late husband’s livestock. This goat will serve as a way to expand into a new business market and diversify her income, but most importantly it’s a significant milestone and source of pride for her. She has lovingly named her goat Nawiri.

All featured photos were taken by Village Enterprise business mentors.

The post Alleviating Child Malnutrition, One Business at a Time appeared first on Village Enterprise.

Originally from Mugo village in South Sudan, Anna came to Bidi Bidi in 2018, fleeing the civil war in her home country. Like many of the 270,000 refugees living in Bidi Bidi, a lack of economic opportunities has meant that Anna and her family are largely dependent on humanitarian aid for food, education, and healthcare—programs that have seen significant cuts due to the pandemic. However, Anna was recently selected for DREAMS (Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems) for Refugees, and over the past few months, she’s started learning about running a business and being a part of a savings group. As a result, she’s feeling more hopeful about the future and her own ability to provide for her family.

“Having a successful business will be a blessing to me—I will be able to support myself and take my children to school,” Anna says. With the money earned from her business, Anna is planning to buy her children shoes, school materials, and medication that is not available at the settlement’s free clinic.

Anna, who is 27 years old, came to Uganda from South Sudan in 2018. Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation model has started more than 63,000 businesses in Africa and transformed the lives of nearly one million women and children living in extreme poverty.

A winner of the Larsen Lam ICONIQ Impact Award for refugees and funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the IKEA Foundation, DREAMS for Refugees is an innovative program that merges Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation model with Mercy Corps’ expertise in market systems development in order to equip refugees with the skills, resources, and markets to start sustainable businesses and graduate from extreme poverty. Anna is part of the first cohort of DREAMS for Refugees as the program expands in Uganda, building off its successful pilot in 2018. In the months ahead, Anna will finish her business training, receive a seed capital grant from DREAMS to launch her business, and be mentored by a DREAMS staff member to help with the success of her business during its first year. Furthermore, DREAMS will connect Anna to private sector actors in her community that can both provide her with the high quality business inputs she needs and buy her produce.

“Anna will benefit further as DREAMS Market Systems Development approach facilitates the development and improved access to markets, goods, and services to propel her business,” says Dulane Omer, Program Manager, Ethiopia at Mercy Corps. “The market linkages will ensure Anna has access to quality products and services from private sector actors and that her new business flourishes with new clients.”

“What’s unique about DREAMS for Refugees is that it isn’t a short-term solution,” says Dianne Calvi, CEO and President of Village Enterprise. “Support for refugees often focuses on immediate needs, such as providing shelter or food assistance. While that approach is extremely important, our aim is to equip refugees with the tools and resources so they can launch their own sustainable businesses, earn higher incomes for themselves and their families, build assets, savings and resilience, and ultimately live happier and healthier lives.”

On top of expanding in Uganda, DREAMS for Refugees will launch in Ethiopia later this year. In total, DREAMS will reach more than 33,000 households across the two countries and impact more than 200,000 lives. Just as importantly, its impact will be studied in an independent randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted by IDinsight, providing valuable research that can be used across the international development and humanitarian aid sectors to better serve refugees in the future.

Rashid, an entrepreneur from the DREAMS for Refugees pilot in Uganda, stands next to the new home he built with savings from his business. Read Rashid’s story here.

“By generating evidence within refugee communities, we can help ensure that investments lead to meaningful benefits that help refugees improve their lives,” says Alison Connor, Director II at IDinsight. “The evidence collected in this project will help us understand how to meet their unique needs and challenges. IDinsight is excited to evaluate this innovative program.”

All of this comes at a crucial moment for Africa. The Norwegian Refugee Council recently published its annual list of the world’s ten most neglected displacement crises, and for the first time ever, all ten were in Africa. On top of this, the ongoing drought in East Africa and rising prices due to the war in Ukraine has caused 23 million people to experience extreme hunger and threatens to push millions of families into extreme poverty. These crises have been rarely featured in the media and are significantly underfunded. As displacement grows in the region due to these shocks, so does the need to better serve refugees and help them create a sustainable path forward.

In order to meet this need, Village Enterprise and Mercy Corps are currently working to expand DREAMS for Refugees into Kenya, and there have already been discussions with the Kenyan government about what the program would look like. Village Enterprise is currently looking for donors to support this $10M expansion that would reach an additional 33,000 households and impact the lives of more than 200,000 people. This way, the program can reach more people like Anna, ensuring more parents and families have the opportunity to make their dreams a reality.

To learn more about DREAMS and our entrepreneurs, read Rashid’s story from the program’s pilot in Uganda here and watch a video featuring Joyce’s story here.

The post DREAMS on World Refugee Day appeared first on Village Enterprise.

In Kenya, agriculture is considered the most important segment of the economy—especially in West Pokot County, where it accounts for 84% of household income. However, 69% of the population in West Pokot already live below the poverty line. Women and girls living in extreme poverty in arid and semi-arid regions that depend on agriculture such as West Pokot are some of the most vulnerable populations facing threats from climate change.

Above: The Suam River, located in Western Kenya along the Ugandan border, is a major resource for local communities. Year after year, these communities have seen significant decreases in water-levels, impacting their day to day life and ability to earn a living.

“If climate change isn’t addressed, individuals in the agricultural sector will lose their livelihoods, and in an effort to ensure their children are taken care of and well fed, many of them will pressure their girls into child marriage,” explains Nelly Munge, Technical Advisor Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion at Village Enterprise. “There are other risks as well. Often in regions like West Pokot, girls are forced to drop out of school to find water, and women and girls who are forced to migrate because of climate change will face an increased risk of violence.”

Kenyan women account for 75% of the labor force in small-scale agriculture, yet they have access to less than 10% of available credit and less than 1% of agricultural credit. “The majority of women farmers have been left out of both grassroots and national-level climate adaptation discussions,” says Nelly Munge. “Women farmers experience critical barriers to climate adaptation such as lack of credit and savings, as well as a lack of knowledge and training about climate-smart adaptations.”

Because of culturally-derived gender inequality in the region, the majority of men find less labor intensive work as security guards or supervisors. Although lesser in numbers, male farmers are better positioned than female farmers to adapt climate-friendly practices as they have greater access to appropriate information, training, and resources. In times of drought, men can more easily leave their homes to find alternative sources of income while women typically have more household responsibilities such as raising children and tending to the home.

This was the case for Roserlyne, Faith, and Eliza, of Parasenta village in West Pokot until March of 2021 when they were selected for an adapted version of the Village Enterprise graduation program, called the Women Economic Empowerment through Climate-Smart Agriculture Project. Funded by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and in partnership with UNWomen and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the project aims to enhance the capacity of West Pokot county officials to develop gender-sensitive and climate-smart policies and to increase household income for women in the agricultural value chain using modern farming technologies that are climate-smart.

Pictured above: Faith Chepochongil, Eliza Cherop Gabriel, and Roserlyne Chepochemuma Lorengei in Parasenta village (left to right).

Eliza, Faith, and Roserlyne were three of more than 800 people living in extreme poverty in West Pokot who were identified by Village Enterprise to start sustainable agribusinesses. Of these 809 entrepreneurs, 80% of them were women. On top of receiving training from Village Enterprise to start their businesses and $180 as a seed investment, entrepreneurs received training on climate-smart agriculture from FAO. Entrepreneurs learned about techniques to improve agricultural outputs in a changing farming environment such as proper irrigation, planting drought tolerant crops, and moisture retention practices. For Roserlyne, Faith, and Eliza, these trainings meant they now knew how to implement climate-smart techniques throughout the entire agricultural value chain, and they shared that these methods have also increased the quality of their produce.

To approach the topic of climate-change adaptations with a holistic lens, Village Enterprise is also working to address gender, youth, and social dynamics. As part of our poverty graduation model, each business is part of a business savings group of 10 businesses that gives the entrepreneurs access to growth capital and a safe place for their savings. The business savings groups also serve as safe spaces for women to share any issues, learn from one another, and find support, demonstrating increased confidence and leadership skills. Faith shared that through this group they are “now able to lift each other’s lives.”

Above: Adaptations in agricultural practices are becoming increasingly vital for West Pokot farmers to cope with changing climate conditions. The photo on the left shows the difficult conditions farmers are attempting to grow crops in. The photo on the right shows the crops of Village Enterprise entrepreneurs. Through trainings provided by FAO, entrepreneurs are learning techniques to improve their crops in a changing farming environment.  

While women and youth participants are becoming more aware of the different opportunities for them to participate in climate-smart agriculture, male spouses are increasing support over their newfound household income. Eliza spoke of how her relationship with her spouse has greatly improved because she can now afford to put food on the table for the entire family, noting “it feels good to have your own money as a woman.” Through financial literacy and gender empowerment training, entrepreneurs have reported a decrease in household gender-based violence.

Within a year, Roserlyne, Faith, and Eliza have collectively saved over 80,000 Kenyan shillings ($691 USD), purchased goats and chickens for their home, sent all of their children to school, and Faith even purchased a mattress so she no longer has to sleep on the floor. In total, this project is estimated to directly impact the lives of 2,400 people. And with support from Village Enterprise, the West Pokot County Government has formulated two policies to address issues of climate mitigation and financing of climate change interventions. These policies, acting as catalysts of cultural and behavioral changes, will change the course of history for West Pokot women, girls, and climate for generations to come.

The post How Female Farmers in West Pokot are Building Resilience to Climate Change appeared first on Village Enterprise.

Enterprise Highlight: Amani

In 2019, Village Enterprise and Days for Girls (DfG) began working together in Mt. Elgon, Kenya at the intersection of menstrual health and women’s economic empowerment. Supported by a grant from The Starbucks Foundation, our work with communities in this mountainous, coffee-growing region sought to address the gender-specific barriers to education and economic success faced by women and girls. The DfG and Village Enterprise partnership works with individuals living in extreme poverty, providing them with business and financial literacy training, ongoing mentorship, and a seed capital grant, empowering them to start two social enterprises dedicated to producing and selling washable menstrual pad kits. These kits act as a cost-effective, long-lasting, and environmentally friendly period solution. The enterprises also deliver comprehensive menstrual health education, facilitate conversations to dismantle menstrual taboo and stigma, and advocate for policies that support menstrual health.

Amani Enterprise is one of two enterprises in the Mt. Elgon region that have engaged with Village Enterprise and Days for Girls (DfG) combined business training programs. The women who lead Amani may seem like unlikely candidates for ambitious and successful business owners: all three are elder widows who lost their husbands to political conflict in the region. They did not have the opportunity to receive much formal education or learn how to read or write. And yet, Amani is among the most ambitious, passionate, and innovative enterprises in the DfG Kenya cohort.

The Menstrual Health Challenge

In many East African communities, menstruation is a stealthy and formidable barrier to gender equity. The topic is taboo, especially in public forums, and so often goes unaddressed. Yet, the impact of inadequate menstrual health may be seen in many facets of life. When women and girls do not have what they need to manage their periods with dignity, they experience barriers to:

• Good health, including urinary and genital infection

• Education, including dropping out, absenteeism, presenteeism (difficulty focusing or performing as usual)

• Workplace stability and advancement, including wage loss and supervisor disapproval,^[1]

• Economic and bodily autonomy, including early marriage and unplanned pregnancy,^[2]

• Mental health, including stigmatization that contributes to anxiety and depression.^[3]

Having experienced these barriers firsthand, the women at Amani Enterprise joined the fight for menstrual equity in Mt. Elgon with dedication and excitement. While Village Enterprise’s robust business training laid strong foundations for Amani’s business success, Days for Girls menstrual kit production and education training empowered them to address this taboo issue. Within three months of launching their business, the enterprise achieved DfG Gold Certification status. This Certification indicates excellent quality and consistency in menstrual products, communications, and education services; Gold Certified enterprises are able to work with individual clients, local organizations, and large partners referred to them by Days for Girls International.

Building Local Markets by Honoring Community

In October, Amani leveraged the Priceless Pads Campaign (a global DfG promotion that provided clients with a discount) to secure kit orders from local businesses. Through these orders, the enterprise reached 455 students in local Mt. Elgon secondary schools with DfG kits and menstrual health education. The school events raised awareness about menstrual health, as well as the solutions offered by Amani. Parents and community members now visit the enterprise to purchase their own DfG kits, bringing along questions they may have about menstruation—a form of direct sales that is rare in low-income communities like Mt. Elgon.

Still, cost remains a barrier for many in the community to access menstrual health solutions. The women at Amani are acutely aware of this gap and they are working to close it by advocating to local leaders, inviting them to prioritize menstrual health products for students in local budgets. They have provided menstrual health education to local chiefs, the Deputy County Commissioner office, and Members of County Assembly, securing commitments from leaders to support the girl child.

In the community, Amani continues to raise awareness through creative mediums. During past times of political conflict in Mt. Elgon, musical groups played a significant role in reconciliation processes by writing and performing songs of unity and peacebuilding. Amani has carried this part of their community’s history and culture forward to tackle another complex topic through song: menstruation. They have partnered with those same local musical groups to compose and record a song about breaking down menstrual stigma and the empowerment of the girl child.

The song makes strong connections between menstrual health and placing the futures of girls in their own hands. Performers sing, “Let’s teach our girls that even though she has started her period, it does not mean she has to become a mother.”

The song debuted at a community event in November hosted by DfG and Village Enterprise to celebrate the shift in the conversation around menstrual health that has taken place over the last year, breaking the silence while providing practical solutions for women and girls. Together, Amani and Baraka (the second Village Enterprise/DfG enterprise) reached 1060 girls at the event with DfG kits and menstrual health education. Hundreds more received education and were invited to become allies for menstrual health, including men and boys. A true community effort, the event included 28 chiefs from the region, the Deputy County Commissioner, representatives from the Ministry of Education and Education Board, and partners from a local NGO that works to address gender-based violence.

Part of a Movement

Overall, Amani and Baraka Enterprises are key parts of a bigger movement within the work of DfG Kenya that supports locally-led efforts to advance menstrual equity. From 2017-2019, DfG Kenya enterprises collectively reached an average of roughly 17,000 women and girls per year with kits and education. In 2020, that number skyrocketed to roughly 41,400 women and girls—even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the Mt. Elgon region, in particular, the combined strengths of Village Enterprise and DfG have helped to cultivate strong and independent enterprises like Amani that are leading change in their communities. DfG and Village Enterprise seek to add to this momentum, reaching 10,000 women, children, and men by November 2022.

^[1]  USAID. 2019. Menstrual Hygiene Management and Women’s Economic Empowerment: A Review of Existing Evidence. Washington, DC, USAID Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Partnerships and Learning for Sustainability (WASHPaLS) Project.

^[2] Phillips-Howard, Penelope A., et al. “Menstrual Needs and Associations with Sexual and Reproductive Risks in Rural Kenyan Females: A Cross-Sectional Behavioral Survey Linked with HIV Prevalence.” Journal of Women’s Health 24, no. 10 (2015): 801-11.

^[3] Mason, Linda, et al. “‘We Keep It Secret So No One Should Know’ – A Qualitative Study to Explore Young Schoolgirls Attitudes and Experiences with Menstruation in Rural Western Kenya.” PLoS ONE 8, no. 11 (2013).

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