CONSULTANCY TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL LITERACY AND BUSINESS MENTORSHIP TRAINING IN KAJIADO COUNTY

BACKGROUND

IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) is a global non-profit helping animals, and people thrive together with a presence in 40 countries worldwide. IFAW Eastern Africa office is based in Nairobi.

IFAW addresses the needs of animals and people across many critical habitats by protecting wildlife from poachers, landscape conservation, and rehabilitating rescued animals. IFAW partners with local communities, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and businesses to achieve its mission.

In this project, code named “Jenga mama” (Swahili word for Empower a woman), IFAW is partnering with a German foundation, Margarete-Breuer-Stiftung (MBS), to support 60 Maasai community women Amboseli landscape, with a multi-year, three phase project, geared towards transforming each one of them from financial dependency and climate vulnerability to financial independency and climatic resilience.

Phase one of the project is designed to train and empower the 60 women through acquisition of vocational skills in hairdressing and beauty therapy, plumbing, IT, dressmaking, and catering. Phase two involves practical skills in financial matters, business mentorship training, set up and operation, while phase three involves adaptive management and sustainability of these businesses.

It is anticipated that at the end of phase three of the project, all 60 women will be able to set up successful microenterprises that generate sufficient and sustainable income for their families and communities.

OVERALL GOAL OF THIS TRAINING.

The overall goal of this training is to equip the 60 women with financial literacy and awareness as well as knowledge and skills to be able to set up, equip, operate and sustain their own micro enterprises.

JUSTIFICATION

To empower the Jenga Mama women with talent and skill-based training by focusing on business and entrepreneurship skills, psychosocial support and capacity strengthening to boost employability, increased incomes, entrepreneurship opportunities, diversified incomes, expanded livelihoods, gender equality and women empowerment. When women are empowered and can claim their rights and have access to incomes, opportunities and choices, economies grow, food security is enhanced, and prospects are improved for current and future generations.

Employment Act 2007 states that among barriers to female entrepreneurship in Kenya are “harmful gender norms.” Women are faced with unequal access to property, discrimination in the labour market, and business-related obstacles which hinder women prosperity in the economy. Despite women constituting the largest percentage of the workforce in the economic sector, they continue to lack access and control over assets and other productive resources. Cultural taboos prevent women from owning land, owning livestock, denying them freedom of mobility and the opportunity to cultivate land for food or business. When women generate their own income, experience shows that they invest in their families and communities. IFAW and MBS aims to empower the women – economically and socially – to become leaders and agents of change for economic growth, social progress and sustainable development.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THE TRAINING

1. To instill financial literacy and awareness of both personal and business finances.i.e basic bookkeeping, profit setting and management, stock management, marketing, customer relations and risk management.
2. Train different types of loans, how to access loans and manage credit (loan).
3. Know how to establish and operate a successful membership-based micro-finance that can provide affordable credit to its members sustainably. (Include training on legal guidelines towards establishing such entities in Kenya. At both national and county levels).
4. Learn how to start, register, equip, and sustainably operate a microenterprise or small business. and learn and compare for both joint and single ventures.
5. How to mitigate against negative intra-business socio-economic dynamics and challenges for sustainable joint enterprises.

TRAINING OUTCOME

1. A financially literate / aware participants cable of making informed financial decisions and choices at a personal and business level (separate personal and business finances).
2. Creation of a Jenga Mama micro finance outfit, name, composition for onward formalization and registration.
3. Identification and composition of various business outfits, both individual and joint, for onward formalization and registration.

TRAINING DURATION

This training is expected to take 5 days.