Research implications
The WGs should:
. Involve beneficiaries when assessing the community needs. This is one aspect of
good management because it ensures production of goods and services that are
highly demanded by the community which in turn implies a ready market and
higher profits.
. Be transparent and accountable in everything they do especially when it comes
to financial matters. They should lay everything on the table and explain to
members clearly the decisions that they want to take and the reasons for taking
them
. Give members incentives by occasionally sharing of profits from the MSEs.
. Take insurance covers against insurable risks if they run insurable businesses.
The insurance cover taken could be used as collateral to borrow funds from
various micro-financing organizations.
. Regularly hold elections as required by their constitutions.
. Frequently call meetings to discuss various issues pertaining to the MSEs
operations. This should also be a forum for communication, for airing ideas,
views, and opinion by members with an aim of ironing out any differences in
order to instil confidence in the members.
. Recruit new members on a continuous basis.
. Incorporate management and project design approaches that are derived from
the strongly held local norms and practices.
. Register with the government under the ministry concerned.
. Prepare and keep proper records of the activities.
. Encourage members through financial incentives, to offer enough labour to the
WGs’ MSEs. Thus the members to occasionally receive some income from the
MSEs however small this may be.
. Resolve to use hired labour where the MSEs require full time labour.
. Hire skilled labour in order to increase productivity.
. Mobilize and use locally available resources.
. Computerise and mechanize production processes in order to increase production
efficiency, quantity and improve quality.
. Regularly organize fund raising activities in order to improve their financial
bases.
. Open and operate bank accounts.
. Involve all members in identifying, planning, implementing, monitoring and
evaluating the MSEs.
. Adopt MSEs project designs to the strongly held local norms and practice and
not replicated from those of the successful groups.
. Prepare a strategic plan and project propsals in accordance with the national
development plan and and the Kenyan Vission 2030.
Stakeholders should:
. Provide project management training to the WGs as a strategy to develop human
resources and build capacity required in the operation of women groups.
. Provide technical training to WGs mostly through participatory approach where
participants learn from one another and provide continuity and support to
others.
. Provide technical training and make follow-up through monitoring, reviewing
and evaluating WGs’ MSEs.
. Provide training in book keeping for proper record keeping.
Micro and small
enterprises
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. Sponsor selected members of the WGs for specialized training to acquire skills in
areas of management, bookkeeping; leadership and secretarial skills.
. Intensify gender sensitization programmes in the rural areas with the aim of
changing anti-development traditions and cultural beliefs such as women’s
rights to own land and other properties.
. Be involved in advocacy for rural WGs MSEs activities.
. Spread their activities throughout the country rather than concentrating in
certain areas for too long.
. Offer guidance and counselling services to encourage WGs members to work as
a team.
. Follow-up to ensure that funs and equipment donated to the MSEs are used for
the intended purpose and not shared or sold.
. Strengthen the skills of WGs in terms of project design, planning,
implementation, monitoring, management and evaluation through provision of
training.
Micro-finance institutions should:
. Provide credit to WGs’ MSEs relying on ability to pay and not on collateral. This
should take the form of special credit schemes advocated by the Government for
small-scale jua Kali enterprises (Republic of Kenya, 1992, 1997b, 2007).
. Accept tokens or household properties as collateral.
. Lessen their lending conditions as regarding insurance policy, cash flow
analysis, collateral and prosecution in case of default.
. Be exempted from paying taxes and duties to the government so that they can
extend more financial assistance to the MSEs owned by the WGs.
. Sensitize WGs on the availability of credit and on changing attitudes in order to
remove the natural fear about taking a loan.
. Post technical officers to work with WGs’ MSEs to advice the members and
evaluate the performance of the MSEs.
The government should:
. Supervise WGs’ MSEs financial and managerial activities.
. Offer guidance and counselling on a continuous basis.
. Encourage NGOs and micro-finance institutions to extend their outreach
programmes to the interior rural areas and avoid concentrating their activities in
urban places.
. Sensitize WGs on possible sources of funds such as embassies and international
donor agencies.
. Consider exempting MSEs owned by WGs from paying taxes so that the groups
can improve their financial bases.