Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) is an independent, American based, Quaker not-for-profit organization that IQFA have supported for many years. They give grants to people in developing countries to begin small businesses. They believe in sharing the abundance of God’s love by working for equity, through partnerships in developing countries around the world.
Vihiga County is an area in rural Kenya. The villages are much the same as many other rural Kenyan villages, with high unemployment, low health standards, and widespread poverty and food insecurity. In addition, cultural beliefs relegate women to the status of second-class citizens.
Maziwa Women Group formed their group to pool resources so that they could start small market businesses to try to support their families and get out of poverty. They currently fund their businesses by each making a contribution of Ksh.200. (€1.74) (1 Kenyan Shilling equals 0.0076 Euro) per month and then pooling the money to give the total as a loan to one woman a month. However, the capital is so small and received so infrequently, that the businesses can never really grow.
The RSWR grant will help them significantly increase the capital of their businesses and make them sustainable.
When funded, the monthly “table banking activity” will be replaced with a “share savings system”. The group will have the services of Pauline Ayodi, a RSWR local Field Representative. Each woman will make a minimum monthly share contribution of Ksh.200 (€1.55) and a maximum of Ksh.1,000 (€7.74) per member. These monthly share contributions will be retained within the group and will be a member’s investment in the group. They will earn her dividends annually based on the amount she has contributed and will be available to be withdrawn in case of an emergency.
The funds are awarded to the women as a group. Individual women will then receive loans from the group fund so that they will be able to increase their business stock and thereby significantly increase their profits. The individuals will pay the loans back to the group over a year and then the group will loan the funds out again. In this way, the grant will assist many women and the women will be able to take multiple loans to grow and expand their businesses. New women joining the group will also be able to take loans from the fund. The time frame is one year for the funds to be rotated once among the 20 initial beneficiaries. However, we expect the revolving of the funds to continue indefinitely so that over several years many more women will benefit from the business loans.
EXPLANATION OF HOW RSWR GRANT-MAKING WORKS – When a project is chosen, RSWR provides the group with the amount of the grant requested. The grant limit is US$5,500.
With this grant money, RSWR expects the group to LOAN money to members so that they can start small businesses (INCOME GENERATING PROJECTS).
This loan is called SEED MONEY as it seeds new businesses. RSWR expect that all the seed money will be used for income generating projects and that the proposal will clearly describe all the income generating activities.
The women who receive the loans (BENEFICIARIES) must pay back their loans to the group. All of the seed money lent to members, must be repaid.
The repaid funds (REVOLVING FUNDS) will then be lent again to women in the group. It is expected that over time, the group will take in new members and the new members will also receive loans from the group fund. In this manner, the original grant money which the group receives from RSWR will continue to be recycled and grow in your community so that many people will be able to start businesses. The group will be responsible for being good stewards of the funds and using them to enhance their community.
Budget categories must be outlined clearly and within the following guidelines: 60% or more for seed money, no more than 15% for training, no more than 5% for travel, no more than 10% for administration. Detailed reports must be returned at six months and at twelve months. (I propose to have a link to the reports that the group members have to return).
This method is tried and trusted, when we help RSWR, we know that the funds are donated in a way that will help development and help these people to learn skills in basic business and finance.
A small amount of money from you will make a vast difference to these people. Please donate now. We hope to report in the future how this group have managed
