Empowering women to increase their financial stability
For International Women’s Day, we take a look at what Born Free is doing to empower women in Kenya and increase their financial stability and resilience.
Communities always lie at the heart of our work. Without actively engaging and working with local communities, wildlife conservation will not be successful. Women play an essential role in sustainable practices and wildlife conservation but they can be particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and environmental degradation. So, this International Women’s Day, find out more about what Born Free is doing for communities, and in particular, for women.
In Kenya, our Conservation and Community Engagement teams work in the Meru and Amboseli landscapes and across these two regions, the teams have worked with communities to help set-up 50 Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs).
VLSA in action!
A VSLA is a member-managed group of 10-25 people who save money together and use this to support small loans to group members. Members can save their money in a safe space enabling them to save and invest small amounts of money to, for example, start businesses, pay school or medical fees or buy items to improve their living standards. This is a particularly valuable tool in communities who don’t have easy access to formal financial services and may suffer from the economic impacts of relying on natural resources for their income.
At their heart, VSLAs are a simple tool to support economic development and build financial resilience. For women, VSLAs can provide financial empowerment and inclusion, new skills, leadership opportunities and social mobility. Created by CARE International in 1991, VSLAs are now used in over 77 countries across the world, with over 20 million active participants.
Conserving wildlife is not possible without the local community’s involvement. The community bear the greatest losses by living alongside wildlife: crop raiding, loss of income and fear. Loan availability is critical for economic resilience. VSLAs members are able to be more resilient, vary their income or undertake new ventures. With increased financial security people are not just surviving day-to-day but they have more capacity to care for wildlife and the environment.
A strong female leadership team providing oversight and support
In Kenya, across our groups the majority of participants have been women. VSLA participants, particularly women, have benefitted from improved access to savings and credit, which has catalysed business ventures, asset accumulation, and financial independence.
These associations usually run on a one-year cycle, with members able to take out up to three loans throughout the cycle. At regular meetings, members have the opportunity to buy shares, and it is these shares that provide the loans. At the end of a cycle, the savings and profits are shared out to group members.
“In both Meru and Amboseli, the majority of participants in the VSLAs have been women. When the groups start, the money available is often small amounts and women see the value of this” explains Phoebe Odhiang, the Education Programmes Manager “At the beginning, men were more hesitant, but after seeing how well the women’s groups have done in saving money and taking out loans, the men too were eager to join the groups”.
In the groups, women, who were often marginalised in decision-making processes at home and in their community, have now taken up key leadership roles in the VSLAs, enhancing their agency and improving their access financial services, a barrier faced by many women.
A workshop session © George Leakey Born Free
Patrick Kanake, one of our Conservation Ambassadors, shared one member’s story “One of our VSLA members is a single mother, who resides near Meru National Park, and has a small kiosk that suffered from stock shortages due to the pandemic and market restrictions. Joining a VSLA transformed her life; she secured a loan to replenish her kiosk, subsequently earning enough profit to support her children’s education and invest further in the VSLA.”
Similar stories to this one come in from women across all the groups. Through participating in the VSLAs, women have been able to set-up businesses, diversify their income sources, purchase agricultural equipment, access loans to purchase livestock feed and food for their familiars during drought and cover unexpected costs.
As the groups gather often to hold meetings, it also offers a perfect opportunity for the Born Free team to discuss conservation issues and get feedback from the community about wildlife and the work we are doing.
“I always believed that wild animals were my enemies and disliked them for the destruction they caused in our farms, eating our livestock and destroying crops” explains another group member. “Through this VSLA group, I have been taught a lot about wildlife and now I have a better attitude towards them. I now know how to handle them so that they don’t become too aggressive. I would not kill them but deter them.”
We all know how challenging financial instability can be and VSLAs are an invaluable tool to help empower women and in an ever-changing world, Born Free are proud to support women to increase their financial resilience.