Just Small Change

Growing livelihoods, overcoming poverty, one small step at a time.

   

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world."

Mahatma Ghandi

Just Small Change is a Registered Charity.

 

Kisumu County, Kenya.

In Kenya, over one person in three lives in absolute poverty (less than $1.90 a day) and the country is home to one of the world’s harshest HIV and AIDS epidemics.  With an estimated population of just over one million, Kisumu County has one of Kenya’s highest poverty levels and worst set of health indicators. Approximately 20% of the population is HIV positive. Female life expectancy is 58 years. 60% of the population live in absolute poverty. There are 35,000 orphans, mostly cared for in relations' or neighbours' families, and 32,000 children engaged in child labour because their carers cannot afford school fees. From 2015 to spring 2022, Just Small Change delivered, with our Kenyan partners, a project to raise incomes of the poorest households.

Early in 2022 we carried out, with our Kenyan partners, a review of our Kisumu project. Over the past ten years, the project has provided basic business training and loans to over 350 clients, enabling them to establish and grow their micro-businesses. You can read more about how this has improved incomes and standards of living in our impact report, available here. Over 50  local community groups were set up, so clients can support each other and run informal savings groups to help with cash flow and money management. The savings which clients have been able to accumulate have been essential in helping them to weather the difficulties of the past two years.

To allow clients to access the larger loans needed to scale up their businesses, we worked in late 2021 with our partners to help them establish and run a licensed credit co-operative. Now clients who graduate from the project have a friendly and familiar financial institution to support them for the long term. This was the final step required to complete the project.

In March 2022 we handed the project over fully to our Kenyan partners, who will now run it for the benefit of existing clients and the local community. 

 

New clients trained in November 21

New clients trained in August 21
   
 New clients trained October 2019  New clients trained December 2019
Group leaders training August 2019 
   
 New clients trained in May 2019  New clients trained in August 2019

 

Training courses in May and July 2018: the participants with their completion certificates.

 

Training courses June and July 2017: the participants, with their training certificates.