Integrated Business Development Services for Economic Security of Socially Excluded Women

The Kenyan economy remains vulnerable to external shocks and unemployment continues to be a challenge and there are additional challenges for women. For instance, while over 80% of Kenyan women are engaged in small holder farming, only 1% own land in their own right, access less than 10% of available credit, and less than 1% of agriculture credit. Female poverty is exacerbated by gender based violence, including sexual violence, rape, physical violence and sexual harassment. Women’s empowerment is hindered by polygamy, early marriage and harmful cultural and traditional practices. Women’s limited participation in the social, economic and political processes in Kenya is majorly a factor of the historical patriarchal nature of the society.

Exclusion Issues

• Remote locations, lack of roads and transport constraining access to better markets.
• Little access to formal finance and high (more than 60% annual) rates of interest in informal finance
• Poor livestock and other asset base
• Ignorance of the rights enshrined in new legislation.
• Inadequate knowledge about harvesting and regeneration.
• Little decision-making power.
• Poor participation of women in economic activities

Purpose of the proposed project:

• Goal: Sustainable livelihoods for 1500 excluded women with effective BDS.
• Objective:
  • Economic security for the excluded women groups.
  • Capacity-building for women to manage enterprises and access markets.
  • Public-private partnerships in the enterprises value chain.

Target community: Women of the indigenous community of the country

Project Strategies

Methodology

• Organizing and training producers in sustainable harvesting and enterprise management
• Establishment of supply chain for microenterprises
• Facilitating formal producers’ institution;
• Education on entitlements;
• Facilitating access to government initiatives for enterprise infrastructure;
• Building capacities of NGO partners to manage enterprise programmes;

Project Activities:

• Study for identification of key commodities in the area, their market potential, value addition needs for improved returns and existing supply chain.
• Identifying points in the chain where intervention has to take place;
• Liaison, negotiation and MOUs with market players for product purchase;
• Organizing producers and building their capacities through enterprise trainings & exposures for establishment of the supply chain;
• Primary level supply chain establishment to undertake business on identified produces;
• Creation of BDSP cadre to undertake service provision roles at the grassroots;
• Training and handholding of selected women to be entrepreneurs;
• Financial intermediation with credible MFI facilitated to ensure better access to finance for both individual and enterprise;
• Creation of Producers Organization to bring-in more ownership amongst the community members;
• Building capacities of Producer Organization for professional operations and collective action;
• Building the capacities of network partners to undertake similar interventions beyond project intervention.

Project Results

Outcomes of the proposed intervention and indicators to measure them

The major indicators vis-à-vis outcomes would be as follows:

• 100% of trained women with improved vocational skills, enterprise management knowledge, attitude and skills (KAS) to undertake various roles in product value chains;
• All women earning at least 100% to their base-line incomes from the enterprises built around forest products;
• Women capable of speaking up for their livelihood entitlements ;
• A cadre of 50 BDSPs earning incomes through services to community;
• Primary level supply chain created with village-level business centres incubated as enterprises to be taken up by women entrepreneurs;
• At least 15 women entrepreneurs incubated and developed to undertake business operations in the proposed model;
• Sustainable market linkages created for the identified products with continued transactions beyond the intervention;
• Producer Organization created with strong operational and financial systems to professionalize the business operations for community upliftment;
• The partner NGOs with built capacities and initiated at least one more enterprise development project in partnership or independent of implementing organization

Proposed impact of the project– How do the proposed activities contribute towards ensuring rights of women and socially excluded communities?

Rights in this project will be those to which women have traditionally not had access since these were and still are mostly controlled by men. These are:

• Right to market knowledge and access;
• Right to skills (in value addition) to produce for the market;
• Right to access of common property resources like forest & land;
• Right to own and manage institutions.

Plans for convergence with government programmes and other institutions

The major strategy for convergence would be as follows:

• Formation of viable women enterprise groups/Producer Organization served by trained and capable “Business Development Service Providers” and establishing partnership for convergence with public partners.
• Promotion and development of viable/sustainable livelihoods and small businesses and convergence of relevant state sponsored schemes and central schemes, Enable grassroots nodal institution to mediate and facilitate the process and negotiate with successful business houses to secure a non-exploitative, mutually beneficial business relationship.

Impact and sustainability:

Expected long-term impact of the project:

• Women’s capacity to contribute family economy getting recognized hence facilitating her role in family decision making.
• Producers’ Organization facilitating reduction of social exclusion through collective actions for ensuring livelihood entitlements and participation in local bodies for development decisions.
• Reduction of financial and physical exclusion for excluded women through created enterprise and community infrastructures.
• Optimal and sustainable utilization of forest resources with new value added techniques thus improving access and control over natural resources for tribal women.

Plan for sustainability of the proposed project beyond project end:

• Seek convergence with other relevant government projects and support from existing /new donors for the core programme.
• Build local human and infrastructure resources to ensure sustainability of the programme with minimal support.
• The revenue-generating business model complementing to the sustainability of the programme along with knowledge built up amongst BDSPs to manage enterprises.
• The Producers Organization provided required support to enable it functioning like a business unit hence managing its operational cost with decent profits for the members.
• Partner NGOs supported to develop more programmes for community development in the area.