DPMN Bulletin

I. Introduction

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VI. The Entrepreneurial Spirit

Increasingly, the late 1980s have seen the civil societies transform into entrepreneurs. The members of these civil societies have used these informal associations to save, to obtain credit and then to develop small and micro-enterprises. The same civil societies have developed mechanisms of obtaining credit from non-governmental organisations that provide credit to small enterprises that have no collateral using the minimalist approach of lending. Studies show that these women civil societies are able not only to access credit but also to overcome difficulties of the banking system by opening their accounts in the informal association’s name. Further, the women associations develop their own low interest loan schemes (with up to 17% interest rate) for their members to enable them to carry out various activities that assist in the eradication of poverty. These loans are used in both social and economic activities, including paying school fees for children, enabling women to raise money to take their children to a boarding school. At the end of the year, the women are able to withdraw interest accrued from their savings and share among themselves so that their families can have a lively end-of-year celebration.

Further, these women are able to approach credit-lending NGOs such as Faulu Kenya, KEPP Kenya Women Finance Trust and K-REP. The credit is used to enhance the growth of the women’s small and micro-enterprises.

VII. The Political Arena

Women’s local informal associations cannot be divorced from what happens at the national level both politically and economically. Through these informal associations women in most rural areas in Kenya neither reject the state retreating into the economy of affection, nor permit elite-exclusive access to the benefits of both public and private resources. Further, through these associations women are able to influence who their political leaders will be; for a long time any political leader vying for local government seat, or parliamentary seat has had to contend with the power wielded by these women’s informal associations.

VIII. Conclusions

The informal associations are critical in mobilising low-income women, monitoring and evaluating government programs and policies, and also in providing space within which awareness and empowerment are confined more to welfare issues than structural inequalities thus defeating the goal of empowerment. The informal associations further empower women to participate in public life by giving them confidence, bargaining power and pooled resources. These informal associations are a power to reckon with as civil societies in Kenya agitate for good governance and democracy in the era of multiparty politics as well as in the process of poverty reduction.

References

Mwaniki, N. 1986. Against many odds: The dilemma of self-help groups in Mbeere, Kenya. Africa 56 (2): 210-228.

Karega, R. G. M. 1995. Rural women in small business entrepreneurial group activities in Kitui District, Kenya. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Reading.

_____. 1996. From welfare to small-scale businesses in Kenya. Small Enterprise Development Journal 17 (1).

Stamp, P. 1986. Perceptions of change and economic strategy among Kikuyu women of Muteero, Kenya. Rural Africana 29: 19-44.