Mwiki Group Profile - Village HopeCore International

Final Monitoring and Evaluation Report for Mwiki
Hopecore Self-Help Group
Prepared for its Sponsor,
The Rotary Club of Sebastopol, California
August 2009
INTRODUCTION
This report presents the findings of the final evaluation of Mwiki Self-Help Group funded for
their second loan cycle by the Rotary Club of Sebastopol, California.
Mwiki Hopecore Self-Help Group
Mwiki is the second oldest Village Hopecore loan group to receive funding, and has just been
funded for a third time in July 2009. Started in June 2000, the group comprises twelve women
ages 36 to 59. The project is located in Murugi and Nganga Locations of Mwimbi Division, in
Meru South District. It lies on the eastern slopes of Mt. Kenya, in a medium agro-ecological
zone. The communities are made up of small-scale farmers practicing mixed farming. The
population density is high, with each family owning small pockets of land ranging from a quarter
of an acre to four acres. The family size ranges from six to eight people, with a number of
families caring for their aged parents or other relatives.
The group received its first loan in July of 2003 from the Rotary Club of Sebastopol,
California, with the money subsequently being used for the group’s second loan in October 2006.
The group has established a fund for giving soft loans to members based on one’s capability.
They are able to give between KSh3,000 (~US$40) and Ksh10,000 (~US$132) to individual
members at 3 to 5 percent interest. The members then use the money to pay schools fees and
medical bills, as well as to invest in small business. The previous loans given to the group has
enabled members to expand their businesses and improve their families’ standard of living. The
group feels empowered by the business management training they received from Village
Hopecore, and are also grateful for the HIV/AIDS and malaria education they have received.
Mwiki has also been chosen as one of the first ten loan groups to receive free, long-lasting
insecticide-treated mosquito nets for themselves and their families. The Rotary Club of
Healdsburg donated funds for the nets, for which we are very grateful.
Evaluation Methodology
The evaluation was carried out through a series of field visits to each member’s home to see the
individual loan projects. A mixture of participatory methodologies was applied in assessing the
overall performance of the individual member’s project, including an interview with each
member.
Key findings
Each member of the group was visited and interviewed on their activities, achievements,
problems, experiences, expectations and plans for the future. What follows is a summary of the
findings from the second loan period, October 2006 through October 2008.
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To the Rotary Club of Sebastopol, California, the sponsors of Mwiki Hopecore Self-Help
Group:
Dr. KK Mugambi and the entire staff and Board of Directors of Village Hopecore
International wish to extend our most sincere gratitude for sponsoring Mwiki Hopecore SelfHelp Group.
Your contribution is helping Village Hopecore in attaining its mission of fostering
economic and social progress in rural communities in Africa, realized through micro-enterprise
development programs that promote business, entrepreneurship, and community empowerment.
We are happy to report to you that in addition to increasing their income, these
individuals are cultivating a culture of saving and a spirit of teamwork, self-sufficiency and selfreliance that we feel is necessary for personal development and economic success.
Thanks again for being one of our development partners. We are sure that the profile and
the success stories of Mwiki Hopecore Self-Help Group demonstrates the difference your efforts
are already making in the lives of these individuals, their families, and their villages.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kajira K Mugambi
President/CEO, Village Hopecore
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1. Jane Karimi Njagi
Jane, aged 48, is married to and has three children with Francis Njagi Charari. She joined the
group as a member of its first loan cycle in 2003, and received her second loan in 2006. Her
business enterprises are varied, and include farming, rearing dairy cows, and horticulture. She
says she started her business to “uplift her standards,” and that the loans she has received from
Village Hopecore have generally improved her lifestyle.
Monthly Income
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2. Rose Muthoni Njeru
At age 57, Rose is one of the oldest members of Mwiki Group. “As a widow,” Rose says, “VHI
has [helped to] promote me [and my business].” She started dairy farming in 2002 with her
personal savings, augmented by the first Village Hopecore loan received in 2003. Mam’s Milk
Production, as her business is called, was boosted by the second loan cycle in 2006, as was her
standards of living in terms of farming, clothing, better nutrition, and better education for he
children.
Monthly Income
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3. Gladys Mwaniki Werimba
Gladys, age 43, is married to Fredrick Miriti Luka, age 48, and the two have three children. She
started her business, called Kamuci Kiosk, in 2002 before the first loan cycle using personal
savings, and has continued her business of mixed farming and selling milk through three loan
cycles. Village Hopecore has improved Gladys’s ability to work in a team; Gladys says, “It has
enabled us to work together and also [allowed us to] let other women join and form their [own
businesses].” Furthermore, Gladys has changed her attitudes about loans and life, enabling her
to know the importance of saving for the future and opening her mind to “new ideas.”
Monthly Income
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4. Mary Mukwaiti Mugambi
Mary, age 51, has two dependant children, four other dependants, and is married to Levis
Mugambi, age 57. She joined Mwiki Group as a member of the first loan cycle in 2003, rearing
chickens and selling their eggs, but switched projects for the second loan cycle because her
business was not doing well. She decided to begin beef/dairy farming and horticulture instead.
Mary has greatly benefited from Village Hopecore, through both personal and economic growth,
and says she can now support the church without much strain to her budget.
Monthly Income
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5. Ann Muthoni Mutegi
Ann, age 43, has a family of four with her husband, Gerald Mutegi M’ribu, age 51. Ann joined
Mwiki Group for its second round of funding, starting a horticulture and dairy farming business
called Mutankemi Farm Ltd. Ann is grateful to work with Village Hopecore, as she is now able
to pay school fees for her children and can contribute towards community development projects
as well, something she was unable to do before receiving her loan. She says, “I developed the
right attitude towards saving for future use,” and has earned respect from other members of her
community in regards to business and finance. With the savings of her loan, she was even able
to foster an orphan and aid in her education, and encourages others to join Village Hopecore to
“uplift their standard of living for themselves and their families. ”
Monthly Income
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6. Mary Murija Kawira
Mary, age 47, and her husband, Fredrick Miriti (age 55), have four children. Mary is one of the
original members of Mwiki Group, and has taken her business through two complete loan cycles.
Kawira’s, as her business is named, offers tailoring services, with Mary supplementing her
income through horticulture as well. With the money she has saved from her loans, Mary has
also been able to buy two sewing machines, further supplementing her income and helping her
store. She feels proud of her accomplishments and motivated now to succeed, saying that the
Village Hopecore loan has “improved my family’s way of living, feeding, and school fees; more
than that, it has made me be more active [in the community] and focus forward.”
Monthly Income
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7. Mercy Karimi Nyaga
Mercy is age 54 and together with her husband, Dicki Miriti Nyaga (age 58), has three children
and two other dependants. She started a dairy farming and horticulture business in 2000 with her
personal savings, and successfully completed the first loan cycle in 2005. After receiving her
second loan in 2006, Mercy improved her dairy farming and banana selling, and cut back on the
number of egg-laying chickens she had by half in order to buy a dairy goat. She is excited to be
able to expand her business, saying she has “learnt a lot and changed my attitude towards success
in life. I have been funded and tasted success through teamwork and hard work.”
Monthly Income
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8. Lucy Kathure Daniel
Lucy, age 36, is married to James Kinyua, age 37, and has three children and four other
dependants in her household. She runs a small shop in Mwiria Market, and supplements her
income from the shop with mixed farming, and selling manure, bulls, and piglets. Although she
has been farming since 1990, she started the shop with her first loan through Village Hopecore.
With her second loan in 2006, she improved her shop and bought a bull. She is thankful to have
been able to improve her living standards, and likes working with Village Hopecore because the
low interest rate makes the loan more affordable compared to other financiers in the area.
Monthly Income
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9. Lucy Kainyu Ngaruthi
Lucy and her husband, Justus Mwenda, are 48 and 49, respectively, and have three children and
one other dependant in their family. Lucy started selling milk and doing mixed farming in 1996
with merry-go-round funds unrelated to Village Hopecore, and joined Mwiki Group in 2002, for
its first loan cycle. With her second loan, she bought two piglets and two dairy cows, and
improved her horticulture as well. Because of the improved income her family has better
nutrition and she was able to send her children to secondary school. She encourages others to
join Village Hopecore because she wants others to benefit as she has.
Monthly Income
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10. Mary Nkonge Nyaribura
At 59, Mary is the oldest member of Mwiki group, and has stayed with the group through all
three loan cycles, including the current one. Her husband, Leonard Nkonge, is 72, and together
they have one child and three other dependants. She received her second loan in 2006, and
improved her business of buying and selling cereals locally, adding maize, beans, and coffee to
her stock. She feels she has benefited greatly from working with Village Hopecore, and has
started a bank account so that she may save for the future. She has also been able to promote her
business and educate her children, and wants others to be as economically and socially benefitted
as she has. Finally, Mary likes working with Village Hopecore because it has “helped me to be
social [and] have international friends.”
Monthly Income
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11. Harriett Kanyua Miriti
Harriett, age 42, is married to Alfred Miriti, age 45, and has four children along with two other
dependants. She joined the group in 2002, and started a business of buying and selling cereals
from her home. For the second loan cycle in 2006, she bought more maize and beans, and
planned to start selling wholesale as well as retail, in order to broaden her client market.
Working with Village Hopecore has enabled her to boost her business as well as improve her
living standards, and hopes to expand her business to larger towns in the future.
Monthly Income
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No Picture Available*
12. Santis Karimi Phares
Santis is 49 and has three children, and joined the group for the first and second loan cycles,
although she has since left Mwiki Group. She started her business in 2000 by selling cow’s milk
and calves, and with her second loan, expanded her dairy farming and opened a retail kiosk.
Because of the loan, she was able procure enough milk to improve her family’s protein intake,
and was able to send two children to secondary school.
Monthly Income
*Santis has since relocated outside of the Chogoria area, and consequently, we were unable to interview and
photograph her for this profile. The information is from a previous questionnaire.
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