WEL supports a holistic, savings-led microfinance approach that provides a safe place for poor households, especially women to save and borrow money to increase their income. Through SILC and other models, WEL commits to create a highly sustainable, accessible, transparent, flexible and self-managed Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) and also employ other strategies that include Entrepreneurship Development, Disaster Risk Reduction, Tax Justice and Social Protection
WEL’s Supplier Diversity and Inclusion Project
WEL launched an exciting programme on supplier diversity and inclusion in 2017. As women’s rights organization, WEL has been leading advocate (internally) on supplier diversity and inclusion that calls for implementation of supply chain practices that empower women. To put our commitment into practice, we opened up our procurement opportunities for Women Owned Businesses and set a 70 percent target for prequalified WOB in our vendor list. To support the achievement of the 70 percent target, WEL was deliberate and supported WOB with: a) Trainings (bidding-tendering skills and exposing them to procurement and credit experts); b) Prequalification (50% target and over for the year 2019).
WEL conducted 15 trainings reaching over 300 women in business. Thus far, out of the women trained, 62 have been prequalified (this is a 50 percent increase from only 30 WOB in Januray 2017). Of these, 15 WOB have been awarded tenders to supply goods and services at WEL.
Training Programme for Gender Committee/Champions Among Smallholder Tea Farmers
The project aims at building the capacity of the gender champions in the tea processing zones. The project uses participatory training methodologies, founded on principles of adult experiential learning. The trainings are geared at awareness creation among the selected gender champions on key concepts on gender and introduce skills that will enable them identify gender issues and advocate for gender equality in their factories and communities, while positively influencing and mobilizing their peers and community members towards transformation. The project is funded through Ethical Tea Partnership.
Jenga Dada
WEL in partnership with University of California School of medicine is piloting a programme on Women’s Reproductive Health and Economic empowerment through the Self-Help Groups (SHGs). SHGs provide an important opportunity and context to promote reproductive empowerment/autonomy.
WEL in Partnership with Kenya Private Sector Alliance
The partnership between WEL and Kenya Private Sector Alliance is geared towards Making ICTs Work for Kenyan Women Entrepreneurs and Young Women Graduates.
To increase the employability of young women in the formal sector, WEL partnered with Private Sector Alliance to support an innovative intervention targeting Women Entrepreneurs and Young Graduates entering the labor market in Kenya. For this purpose, an online interactive user friendly interface system was designed to connect Women Entrepreneurs and Young Graduates in Kenya who have IT, engineering and other relevant skills with private sector companies located in Nairobi
WEL in Partnership with United Nations Trust Fund (UNTF)
With the support from United Nations Trust Fund (UNTF), WEL partnered with Trocaire to enhance the capability, confidence and access to financial services of over 1200 young women entrepreneurs in Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Nakuru and Nairobi who are either at risk or survivors of Gender based Violence (GBV) and living in the informal urban settlements. The project, delivered tailored business training, coaching and incubation support for the young women and their businesses. Most of the women are low income earners and illiterate. WEL uses visual and practical methods to teach financial management and entrepreneurship.
For example WEL used caricatures to help individuals interact with each other and understand contents easily and create manuals that help them become financially literate in order to participate effectively in economic activities and to make appropriate financial decisions, despite their illiteracy. By organizing curriculum to specifically support those who cannot read or write but are yet interested in participating in our programmes, illiteracy is no longer a barrier to participation in the programmes.
WEL in Partnership with BSR
WEL in partnership with BSR is implementing workplace-based financial inclusion program to empower women workers in supply chains in Kenya. In addition to onsite financial services, the programme provides information and develops links and partnerships with external financial service and product providers.
The programme was launched in Kenya in 2018 in Kericho has so far trained over 300 peer educators, reached over 5000 workers in 20 factories and workplace sites. WEL has used its expertise to adapt the BSR curricula and tools to the specific local context and provided qualified trainers to deliver the program. Workers participate in trainings, become peer educators, and share financial literacy information with colleagues, friends, family, and members of their communities.
WE Effect & WEL Programme
WEL in Partnership with WE Effect WEL supported WE Effect with its over 15 partners in Eastern Africa to integrate gender specific and gender sensitive issues, its housing and rural development programmes. WE Effect’s work in Eastern Africa is focused on strengthening the capacity of smallholder farmers, with emphasis on women, helping them to form and grow their own profitable organizations. WE Effect supports housing cooperatives and advocate for women’s right to land. WEL is supports with gender responsive policy analysis and capacity building of the cooperatives WE Effect is working with.
The total number of project participants targeted in the project are 20,428 out of whom a total of 10,750 (53%) are women and 9,678 (47%) are men. They are drawn from 9 grassroots organizations spread across more than 15 counties in the country. While these are direct project participants, it is expected that the project has further impacted a total of 102,140 project participants who were mainly members of the households of the direct beneficiaries.
Through the programme, WEL has managed to work and link over 600 women and youthful survivors of GBV to access financial and non-financial services to support their economic empowerment. Our trainings to the GBV survivors mainly focuses on the individual and groups financial education skills and on small business management skills.
WEL in Partnership University of California School of Medicine
WEL in partnership with University of California
School of medicine is piloting a programme on Women’s Reproductive and Economic empowerment using the Self Help Groups (SHGs). SHGs provide an important opportunity and context to promote reproductive empowerment/autonomy. WEL is currently working with the SHGs to
1) expand the formative research to include a broader range of contexts;
2) preliminarily adapt contents, materials and training to the SHGs context;
3) pilot the approach across multiple urban/rural, geographic and cultural Kenyan contexts;
4) conduct a trial to assess the efficacy of the resulting model (vs standard SHGs group participation) in improving women economic participation and gains; and
5) scale the model via existing large networks of SHGs across the country
6) Advocate for easing of structural barriers to access of reproductive health services and commodities for women
7) Systematically document the best practices from the pilot and share these with stakeholders with a view to having the model adopted at the national level. If successful, adaptation and scaling in other contexts would follow