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T@TOTO HOME INDUSTRilES

PARTNERSHI P il N DEVELOPMENT

WORKSHOP

FilELD VilSITS

INFCIRMATION PAGKAGE

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The Fie ld Vis i ts

General Information

Wednesdag,2T Julg has been set aside for f ield visits. We hove planned

six separote visits, each to a different lyomen's groups working with

Tototo. Each visit wil l be led bg a member of Tototo's f ield staff, to be

j0ined bg eight or nine workslrop participonts. The six visit ing teoms wil l

depart from the Reef Hotel in the morning and have lunch in the vi l lage

with the women's grouF. Visitors to l lkwiro, vlho wil l cross to the island

bg boat, wil l return to the mainland to dine with Shimoni Women's Group.

The tesms wil l return to the hotel of different t imes depending, in part,

upon the distonce esch has to trovel.

We hope that the visits wil l st imulate gour thinking about grass roots

portnerships ond provide 6 starting point for subsequent workshop

sessions 0n th is topic. With th is in mind we have selected the s ix

lyomen's groups to i l lustrate dif f erent problems and approoches to

promoting development with rural women. The six groups ond the major

themes of esch visit ore l isted below.

l lAl lBA: ' lntegrating communitg welfore and income generotion

projects' (team leoder: Simsn l lwero)

NAZINGIRA:The chollenge of development in a diff icult environment'

(team leader: Elizabeth Kenga)

l lKWlR0: 'Women operating an enterprise in a tradit ionallg mole

domain' (team lesder: Rachel Ruwa)

LUKUND0: 'Successful group enterprise and business training The

Tototo WoU"'(team leader: t l iraj i Jeffah)

NGAllAtl l : 'Promoting individual enterprise in 0 group context'(team

leader: l lesalimu t lopengo)

l1t(0Y0: 'Promoting individual savings ond credit in a group context'

(team leader: Evangeline Kea)

A.

ts.

C.

D.

E.

F.

Background informotion on each of the groups, together with s mop

showing their locations, is provided on separate sheets in this pockage.

We hspe that gou wil l take the opportunitg to f ind out more once Uou are in

the f ield. ldeallg we would hove l iked to take evergone on oll of the visits,

but l imited t ime ond space mean that gou wil l onlg be able to go 0n one. l f

Uou complete the Eccomponging form and return it to us (the sooner the

better!), then we will trg our best to accomodate gour preference(s) when

drowing up the f inal l ists of visit ing teoms.

The Field Visits in the f,ontext of Tototo's Evolving Programme

Indigenous N60's l ike Tototo plag a unique role among all the partners

involved in the development process. Theg oct as an intermediorg between

the grass roots and the international aid donors, tronsloting information

gothered at the vi l lage level into progrommes in which donors then invest

development funds. In this posit ion, the partnerships that the indigenous

N60 is able to build with beneficioru groups is equallg os important as

those with nsrthern NG0's and donors. In Tototo's c6se,.the foundotions for

portnerships with the women's groups were laid with the adoption of a

nonformal education methodologg introduced to them bg World Education

Inc.,6n N60 based in the U.S.A.

Following the principles of nonformal education, Tototo encouraged the

ful l part lcipotion of women's group members in the sffairs of their groups

ond, in turn, the ful ler part icipation of these groups in the affairs of their

local communities. At the s6me time, groups were left to choose their

own projects. This led to the development of dgnamic women's groups in

the earlg Uears of the programme, and hos remoined a keg component of'The Tototo Wag' as it has continued to evolve.

t lAPlBA i l lustrates a number of features of this approach. In their

pursuit of a communitg health programme ond subsequent adoption of an

income generation project to support this goal, the women have made their

priorit ies clear-- both to the government ministrg involved and to Tototo.

As a result, Tototo has hsd to modif g i ts approach to the group

occordinglg, adjusting its 0wn priorit ies (which currentlg stress the

primocg of business development) in the process. In this, as in manu other

cflses, T0t0t0's nonf ormal methodol0gg has encouraged both

self-determination on the part of the women and f lexibi l i tg in Tototo's

own role in relation to them.

In sett ing up its progrsmme, Tototo did not shun working in diff icult

Ereas. llAZlN6lRA, located in the harsh thorn scrub of the semi-orid Taru

Desert, tgpif ies the situotion of a signif icant proportion of the groups

Tototo assists. The challenge here hos not onlg been that of providing

assistance in a diff icult environment, but also one of recognising that the

crit ieria for meosuring development must be modif ied accordinglg.

l lKWlRO provides f ln example of 0 women's group working in a diff icult

social environment, where the women chose to operate an enterprise in o

domain tradit ionallg reserved for men. As in the case of t lazingira, Tototo

has learned os msng lessons from the women's diff icult ies ond their

sslutions to them as it has tought them in turn.

A keg feature of Tototo's approach has been its endeavour to remain

self-crit ical snd open to lessons drown from its experience in the f ield,

call ing upon external expertise when ond where it has been required.

Tototo's understanding of the women's groups with which it works results

both from its extended inv0lvement with them over t ime as well as from

intensive anthropological research corried out in collaboration with World

Education. This csse studu research (copies of the report written at the

end of i ts f irst phase are available for review 0n the displag table)

revealed o set of constroints at the household, communitg and regionol

levels that affect the operatisn of the women's group enterprises and

indicated thot although mang of the women had considerable experience in

operating enterprises at the individuol and household level, theg had

diff icultg in translating this informsl experience into the running 0f group

enterprises.

Insights from the case studg prompted Tototo and its partner, World

Education, to re-evaluate certain aspects of their methodologg with the

women's groups os well as the kind of training Vrtorld Education needed to

provide to Tototo f ield staff. In 1986 a World Education business trainer

worked with the Tototo f ield staff to upgrade their own understanding 0f

small business management. Theg then used the same nonformal education

methods to trsnslate this new knowledge to vi l lage women. The trainer

and the Tototo staff chose I women's groups to serve as their training' laboratorg'and to receive intensive business troining as well. Drawing on

the case studg research results as well as the staff's knowledge of these

groups, theg were able to design a set of interventions to address the

problems faced bg them.' In tirne the groups put new monagement

structures in place, instituted wage, dividend and reinvestment policies,

adopted new and better accsunting pr0cedures and Es 0 result were able to

improve economic performonce and increose income distributions

accordinglg. LUKUNDO, with i ts maize grinding mil l , is one group that

especial lg benefitted fr0m this training. l , lot onlg did members' income

rise substantial lg, but the group was able t0 expand successful lg into a

second major enterprise. 'The Tototo Wag' of business training has since

been extended to other groups working with Tototo and has become the

basis for Tototo's growing consultancg service to other organisotions in

Africa.

l leanwhile, Tototo has not cessed to reflect upon its f ield experience

and the (as get unpublished) results of o second phase of case studg

research. llore recentlg Tototo has begun to explore wCIUs of developing

its sssistonce methodologu bU using the groups to promote individual

entrepreneurship. NGANANI provides one model of how this can be done.

There, group members learned skil ls while engaged in their collective

enterprise that prompted them to estsblish individual businesses. The

group continues to run its collective enterprise and act as the locus for

troining and external interventions, while olso organising the marketing of

individual member's products. t1K0V0 i l lustrotes a different approach. The

group's highlg successful savings club for individuals has led Tototo to

investigate wags of using their collective deposit to secure bank credit

for individual members.

f,onclusion

Tototo does not pretend that i ts experience is exhaustive, nor does it

claim to have all the solutions. Rather, i t is engaged in a continual

learning process fed bg research, experiment, and assistance from its

partners. That learning process moves in two directions-- from Tototo

and its partners t0 the grass roots beneficirries ond back again. We hope

that visit ing the women's groups wil l st imulate Uou to compare and

contrast T0toto's experience with Uour own. The f ield visits wil l help us

bring the Workshop discussions of institutional partnership to the grass

r00ts, which, after sl l , is a central focus of the work for al l of us.

TlAl.lBA

Integrat ing communitg welfore and income generat ion projects

l lurindiro l lambo Women's Group is located in the small trading centre

of l1omba, south of the Shimbo Hil ls. The group wos formed in l9E0 and

has 25 members, manu of them recent sett lers in the Erea.

In the earlg Uears of its programme, Tototo encourflged an integrated

approach to development via i ts nonf ormal education troining

methodol0gg. l lamba, locoted in one of the coast's more productive

agriculturol regions, wfrs one of a number of groups which chose

communitg welfare 6s its f irst prioritg. Assistance from CEDPA and

UNICEF (mediated bg Tototo) has helped the women move E long wflU

towords, their goal of improving health core in the communitg. Four group

members, trained in mother/child heslth, nutri t ion ond fomilg planning,

organized monthlg cl inics in the vi l lage to promote this knowledge.

lledicines were donated to the group and a small grant bought them o hond

0perated grinding mil l to be used in the preparation of weaning foods.

Their devotion to this project was omplg demonstrated when theg

pressed the l l inistrg of Health to be included on the schedule of mobile

cl in ic v is i ts so that v i l lage chi ldren could be immunized. Af ter some

resistance on the part of the t l inistrg, their wish was granted. In addit ion

the women's group co-ordinator was emploged as a ful l-t ime mother/child

health promoter in the vi l loge. Not al l of their aspirations have been

sotisf ied though, and the group has unable to sequre l l inistg support for

their plans to build 0 permflnent heolth cl inic in l lamba. In response the

group began a small bakerg enterprise, hoping that theg could use the

income generated bg this. to help f inance their project. To help establish

this enterprise, theg received grants from the The Pothfinder Fund and the

Deportment of Social Services.

This development has led to o modif ication in Tototo's own priorit ies

in deoling with the group. The introduction of a business troining

programme has seen Tototo move EwaU from an integrated approach. In

l ine with this progrfmme, Tototo has generallg encouraged groups to keep

their business and communitg welfare interests separate. This policU was

introduced for a veru good reason: Es the cfse studies showed, the

integration of the two con sometimes impose severe constraints upon the

success 0f group enterprises. In this respect, the situation at llamba

poses a problem to Tototo. What do gou think Tototo should do sbout i t , i f

angthing?

NAZIN6IRA

The chal lenge of development in a dif f icult environment

Taru l lazingira 6roup is located in Roko, some I km north of the

Nsirobi-mombasa highwag and in the heart of the semi-arid Toru Desert.

The group was formed in l9B3 and hos 25 members,6 of them men.

As its nsme implies, the Taru Desert presents a diff icult environment

to l ive and work in. Rainfal l is scorce and mang farmers move seasonallg

to the Toita area in order to cult ivate crops. The women of Roka have to

walk long distances through the bush to collect water, mindful of the

threat from wild animals as theg do s0. The vi l lage -- a collection 0f

widelg scattered homesteads -- is remote from morkets ond locks ong

obvious kind of infrsstructure. Not surprisinglg, manu Uoung people leave

the areo in search of better opportunit ies elsewhere. As s result, the

group is primari lg composed of older women, most of whom are i l l i terate.

l leonwhile the group hos experienced considerable diff icultg in f inding 0n

educated member to act as their secretarg and co-ordinotor. Since the

group was formed it has experimented with a vorietg of projects most 0f

which have met with l i t t le success.

t lang of the groups which Tototo works with are in situotions

analogous to that of l" lazingiro. With few ressurces of their disposol, theg

have provided a constant challenge to Tototo's progrflmme. The problem is

not merelg one of devising interventions appropriate to E diff icult

environment, but olso one of revising programme expectations to toke

account of the local context. As Tototo has learned, development in a

place l ike }lozingira has to be measured rather differentlg from that in

more favoured locations.

The development of ltlazingira's goot trading enterprise pr0vides a

good example of this. l leasured on a balonce sheet side bg side with the

accounts of a group l ike Lukundo, i t shows l i t t le to impress. Assessed in

context, however, llazingira's response to Tototo's training is no less

signif icant. A simple foct l ike the participation of women on the long goat

-buging tr ips speaks volumes which the f igures in sn 6cc0unt b00k cannot.

To a casual observer, the long-term committment of women to marginallg

profitable (ond often loss-making) groups can seem 0 puzzle. Long

experience in the f ield and the integration of action research into its

programme have provided Tototo with a different perspective and E

sensit ivitg to local context which donor agencies and N60s promoting

technical interventions often lack.

l lKWtR0

Women operat ing an enterprise in o trodit ionol lg mole domoin

l lkwiro Women's Group is located in the f ishing vi l lage of l lkwiro on

Wosini lslond off the south coast. The group was formed in 1979 and has

63 members, all of them women.

l'lkwiro begon 0s one of the mang groups selling handicrofts to the

Tototo Shop. Their f irst project wos to construct a mult ipurpose house in

the vi l loge. Work on this project come to a stondsti l l when the plot on

which theg were building was claimed bg another vi l loger. Aclvised bg

Totsto to choose a different project, the women faced o diff icult decision.

Some of them wonted to purchase a boat and operate a ferrg service to the

mainland, arguing thot this would moke it much essier for them to take

their children to the cl inic there. 0thers proposed that theg should

construct o woter cistern to eose the vi l lage's woter problems ond reduce

the expense ond labour involved in having to bug and carrg water brought to

the island from the moinlsnd. Thg supporters of this project also orgued

that running o boot lag too far outside their experience: to operate and

mointain the ferrg enterprise theg would be heavilg dependent upon men.

The sea wgs E m6n's domain, not a woman's.

In the event, supporters of the water project were outnumbered and

the ferrg enterprise was chosen. Helped bg E grant from NATCH

International, the group bought a boot and on engine, 6nd their ferrg

service went into operation in late 1983. Almost immediatelg the

enterprise began running into problems of the kind which some group

members had predicted. A local man wss emploged to pi lot the boat,

purchose petrol and supervise its maintenonce. Income from the boat was

divided everg dog into three, and later four, equal port ions fol lowing the

practice of local f ishermen: one portion for the pi lot, one for purchasing

petrol, one for the boat's maintenance, and one for the group itself. As o

result the pilot was paid much more than if he had been 0 salaried

emplogee, and the women effectivelg exploited their own labour bg paging

themselves a minimal sum for their turns working as the boat's conductor.

The group's accounts were also thrown into disarrag bg this practice: onlg

budgeted and not actual expenses were entered into their books.

Faced with a host of other problems, small and large, llkwiro was not

faring verg well when Tototo introduced its business training progrsmme

there in 1987. The group's Eccounting sgstem was relativelg easg to

remodel, but Tototo staff were unable to persuade the women to pag their

pil0t a monthlg wage instead of a fixed proportion of boat revenue. The

practice of dividing income into equal portions was too deeplg rooted in

the local economg. The result was E compromise between traditionol

practice and Tototo's advice. With a portion alloted to group dividends the

women are now benefitting from their enterprise to an extent which theg

had previouslg not. At the same time business perfomance has improved

considerablg and the group has now revived its original building project.

LUKUNDO

Successful group enterprise and business training 'The Tototo Wag'

Lukundo Women's Group is located in the vi l lage 0f Sechu on the

southern slopes of the Taita Hil ls. The group was formed in 1983 and now

has 44 members, al l of them women.

Lukundo is, in conventional economic terms, the most successful group

that Tototo ossists. There are mEnU reasons for this. TheToita Hil ls are

one of the most fert i le and developed areas in the whole of the Coast

Province. Cash crop production is well established and educational snd

literacg levels comparotivelg high. When the women 0f Lukund0 decided t0

lnvest in a maize grinding mil l theg made o particul0rlg wise choice given

the high level of moize production in the vi l loge areo and the existing lack

of such a service there. 0nce the machine had been purchased (with the

help of o grant from tlATCH International of Canada) and installed (in

Plarch 1985) theg lost no t ime in organising themselves into a dutg roster

to supervise its dailg operation. In organising their labour effectivelg

theg succeeded where m6nu groups fai l ; col lective labour usuallg suffers

in competit i0n with more pressing h0useh0ld demands upon vromen's t ime.

In Lukundo's cose, however, the women yere not new to collective

lsb0ur-- a strong tradit i0n in the Taita Hil ls, whether working for one

another or for the long estoblished churches. Theg were also not new to

the diff icult ies thot women's groups can experience: the groups in Taito

have a longer hist0rg than angwhere else 0n the coast and most of

Lukundo's members had alreodg been (or still were) members of other

women's groups. For these and other reasons their moize mil l ing

enterprise got 0ff t0 a verg good start.

Starting a business, however, is one thing, maintaining and expanding it

is another. This is a lesson which Tototo hod learned from post experience

with other groups and helped prompt the decisi0n t0 introduce 0 new

business training pr0gr6mme. Lukundo was one of the first groups to

receive business training The Tototo Wag' when it was introduced in 1986.

Sure enough, and despite i ts good stort, i t was clear that Lukundo's

enterprise w6s heading for diff icult ies. One of these stemmed from the

fast that the women were decloring monthlg dividends in excess of their

earnings. ln effect theg were decapital ising their business: al l the more

serious a situation in view of the fact that theg were about to stsrt s

second enterprise-- a retai l shop. In the absence of regular f inancial

reports none of the group members had recognised this fact. Tototo's

t imelg solution was to introduce their new sgstem of pictorial f inancial

statements and encourage the odoption of a new dividend policg (wherebg

50fr 0f net cosh flow was distributed as dividends and 50fr retained in the

business). As a result of this and other measures (which visitors can ask

about when theg ore there: selected lessons from the Tototo Training Kit

wil l olso be on displag st the Workshop) Lukundo's imminent diff icult ies

dissolved. Their new shop wos opened in lote 1986 and the two

enterprises now thrive side bg side. The women have subsequentlg

received higher dividends thon ever, making their temporarg sacrif ice

when the business training was introduced more than worthwhile.

NEA}1ANI

Promoting individuol enterprise in o group context.

Ngomani Women's 6roup is located in the vi l lage of Ngamani on the west

mainlond of Plombasa overlooking Tudor Creek. The group was founded in

1975 ond hos 30 msmbers, oll women.

One of the keg observations made during the case studg reseorch of

Tototo-assisted groups wos the fact that women's group members owe

primarg al legiance to the different households to which theg belong.

Households operate their own enterprises and hove their own structures of

control and decision-making. t#omen's investment in group enterprises is

verg much condit ioned bg this fact and groups often suffer from the

competing demands which households place upon their member's t ime,

labour and cash. This obersvation might be taken as a good reason for

designing assistance strotegies which pronrote individual enterprise: the

constraints which operote uFon group businesses ore circumvented ond the

benefit t0 individuals and their households is more direct . l t might might

even be interpreted as En argument in favour of withdrawing assistance to

group enterprises altogether.

The experience of Ngamani helps set these arguments in their proper

context. Ngamani's moin enterprise, poultrg-raising, has witnessed m6nu

ups snd downs over the Uesrs. When, howevlr, group members started

their own individual poultrg projects with assistance from CEDPA and the

NCDK, the women demonstroted an obil i tg to run successful enterprises

which had never been evident in their csl lective efforts as 0 group. At the

sffme time their new-found committment to these home-based projects

wos such that the group enterprise become even more run down thon ever,

and was clearlg 0n the verge of collapse.

This does not, Es it might first appefrr, offer unqualified support for the

argument 0utl ined above. There are two main re6s0ns for this. First, i t

sh0uld be noted thot the individual projects did not develop in a vacuum.

The group, effective or not as collective entrepreneur, was the means

through which externol assistance was channelled to the individual

members. lt functioned as a locus for training and further providetl the

women with'experience in o particular business which theg subsequentlg

transferred to ther households. Heanwhile, the group continues to plag an

important role in marketing the individual members'products (eggs).

Second, the development of individual businesses did not render the

group enterprise begond repoir. This was amplg demonstrated when Tototo

included the group in i ts new business training progrEmme. In the wake of

this training the group's broiler project has performed significantlg better

than ever before. One result of this is that group members have begun to

receive dividends from their enterprise where theg had received none in

the past. The important point here is thot if s group business can be

developed to a level where it can provide regular income distribution to

its members, then it can draw labour committments from them which

theg would otherwise onlg give to their households. In this wag Ngamani

has shown that both individual and group businesses can be developed side

bg side.

t1K0Y0

Promoting individual savings and credit in a group context

l lkogo Women's 6roup is located in the Tiwi area on the l lusl im (Digo)

South Coast. The group was formed in 1977 ond currentlg hos 4E members.

Tototo has worked with t lkogo since the beginning of i ts Rural

Developntent Programme in 1978. 0ver the Uesrs llkogo has demonstrated

lit t le income generation potential Bs a group. l ts major projects, o

nurseru school ond a house (sti l l under construction) to be rented out to

local schoolteochers, indicate rother the importance of communitg

concerns. The women's comparativelg weak record in collective enterprise

hos, needless ts sEU, 0 simple explanation. Living close to the coastal

highwag and with easg Eccess to various markets mflnu of the group

members are activelg engoged in pettg troding of one Rind or another. As a

result the women fre not bereft of individual sources of income and have

been happg to treot the group largelg as a focus for sociol interaction and

conrmunitg welf are efforts rather than as o profit-making bodg.

This situation also provides part of the explanotion for the phenomenal

success of l lkogo's savings club, which has deposited over 50,000 Ksh on

behslf of i ts 76 members (10 of them men). This is more than ong of the

other 50 sovings clubs in Tototo's pr0gr6mme-- including manu which have

been in operation much longer.

The Savings Club Progromnre 0s 6 whole has been one of Tot0to's most

successful interventions. l ts introduction from Zimbabwe and further

adaptstion bg Tototo (sketched in our pre-Workshop psper 'Tototo and its

Partners') provides f l msdel of portnership at different levels. The

popularitg of the Clubs, whose membership is open to the wider

communitg, orises first ond foremost from the fact that theg open up

bonking to mgng people who would not otherwise be able t0 afford the

minimum deposit of 500 Ksh.

Tototo's experience with the Clubs, ond in psrt icular with l lkogo, has

led Tototo to explore the possibi l i tg of a further innovation to the

programme and one with potential lg wide-reaching effects. The idea is

deceptivelg simple: to use the Savings Club deposits as collateral for bank

loans to individual members. In this wog it is hoped that the women of

I1k0go wil l be given a chance t0 expand their individual enterprises and as

a g_roup provide a valuable f inancial service to the communitg which it

otherwise would not have had.