Participatory grant-making pilot - Supporting women-led businesses use their power: Kenya and Senegal

Transform Trade is always evolving and piloting new ways to deepen our impact, further our mission and enhance the good work we already do in supporting marginalised people earn more for their hard work and find empowerment within their trading relationships and beyond.

We are piloting new participatory approaches and participatory grant-making (PGM) in Kenya and Senegal – to test whether a more intentional community-led approach has the potential to create even greater sustainable change for small producers.

During the pilot we’ll promote community leadership and support women claim the power they already hold by using their expert knowledge to effectively design, develop and run sustainable businesses.

Joyce Wakiini Muriithi at her farm in Meru County, Kenya. She was a participant in the SAWA project and is now part of the pilot as a member of the Ngarendare B. producer organisation. Traidcraft Exchange/Ian Gatere

“When Corona started, we sold onion at a very bad price. But just when we had planted the seed from SAWA, the price rebounded. It got to Ksh.45-50. Like my onion, I sold it at Ksh.50. From that, I got money to buy seed for the next season, as well as the building stones. That support from SAWA really lifted us!” - JOYCE WAKIINI MURIITHI

For Phase 1 of the pilot, we’ve selected farmer and entrepreneurial groups and businesses from previous projects who are having a positive impact in their communities and have great potential to do more.

We’ll engage with these Community Business Organisations to build on the successes they achieved during the projects by offering our expertise to support them to both define and lead the next stage of their journey of change – as we know, transformational change doesn’t happen during a 3-4 year project funding cycle – but when communities are supported over the longer term.

In Phase 2 we’ll engage with new businesses and organisations within the wider community to scale learnings from Phase 1.

During both phases, we’ll accompany participants by providing training, mentorship, and capital in the form of small grants, to help them realise their ideas both for new business and business development.

We’ll connect them to other previous project participants who really understand their challenge alongside service providers, local government officials, NGOs and networks who are all experts in the regional context and well placed to support them.

In Phase 2, a local Reference Group will review the business plan of new groups and decide how best to invest capital – putting decision-making in the hands of the community.

The returns we want to see are simply seeing communities and businesses growing stronger.

Project name: PGM Pilot

Where ? Kenya and Senegal

How long for? June 2021 - June 2023 (2 years)

Who benefits? 7 Community Business Organisations - members approx. 3000 women

Project aims:

• a)       Support women-led farmer small producer organisations and women entrepreneurs who are transforming trade in their communities and have great potential to do more

  b)       Pilot and test new participatory community-led approaches and participatory grant-making

  c)       Strengthen existing businesses and build new enterprise in an environmentally sustainable way

  d)       Connect participants to decision-makers and influencers in their own communities supporting them to leverage further knowledge and support

  e) Build on their ability to access their rights and amplify their voices locally, in the UK and globally

Who are we working with? We are learning from other organisations doing community-led development locally such as KCDF who have decades of experience in community-led programmes. We are also currently speaking to seed funders and other potential partners to support this initiative.

As we support participants to take the lead in designing the future of their enterprises, we’ll measure how the greater emphasis on community leadership enhances long term ownership of the business initiatives and whether it creates more sustainable change.

Learnings from the pilot will be taken forward and considered across our wider work with potential to roll out a participatory grant-making option to support our work in empowerment through trade.

 For more information about this project, please contact hello@transform-trade.org