RESILIENCE 2017 IMPACT REPORT Photos: Adam Dickens
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RESILIENCE 2017 IMPACT REPORT Photos: Adam Dickens MY SAVINGS GROUP HAS BEEN A HUGE HELP TO ME. NOW WHEN THERE’S DROUGHT, I HAVE“ MONEY TO BUY FOOD. Esther, Kenya STEP ONE Outreach & group formation From the Chair STEP SEVEN STEP TWO Loan repayments return to Training in business skills the group savings pot and financial literacy BUILDING RESILIENCE and are recycled Building resilience is key to what we do. Thanks to your support, 35,000 families are now able to spend more on their basic needs (food, housing, education, medicine) and are better able to cope in times of drought or sickness. Working through local partners, Five Talents provides business and financial skills education to groups who save together and then make loans to one another from their pooled funds. We believe that enabling communities to use the resources they STEP SIX STEP THREE % $ already have is essential and so we use a unique savings-led model. Interest kept by group Six months of saving and shared as dividends 1 as a group With 20 years of experience, a proven programme model, an established, successful fundraising platform in the UK and a network of local partners in East Africa, we now plan to accelerate our outreach significantly. Neil Sandy is Chair of Trustees at Five Talents UK STEP FIVE $ $ $ STEP FOUR Loan repayments typically Loans made to members at rates made over 3-6 months determined by the group From start to sustainability in five years Other NGOs are like WHY FIVE TALENTS? firefighters, they come and We all want to make a difference in the world, but how? How go in their Land Cruisers can we have the biggest impact with the little that we have? but nothing changes. What our people need is For me, the journey started twenty years ago as I read about microfinance and the mindset change, a way to opportunities it was giving to the poorest of the poor. But then came the stories of over- save and use what they indebtedness and unscrupulous lenders. Ten years ago I was introduced to Five Talents and “have. I like that Five Talents what I found excited me hugely. Here was a small team helping change lives in some of the builds sustainability and is poorest countries in the world, not by lending them money but by teaching them how to save. there for the long-term. The focus was training and the difference they were making was huge. As people saved so their confidence grew and their wealth increased. Their children were fed and clothed and Bishop Joseph Abura, schooled. Businesses were started, homes were repaired, relationships were restored. Karamoja Diocese, Uganda Stronger communities are more resilient communities, and nowhere is this more evident than in Karamoja where there is such an appetite for growth after so many years of conflict. It’s a great idea with a great team having a great impact. I love it! Richard Garnett is supporting a new Start to Sustainability programme in Karamoja South Sudan KONDOK I am able to feed my Growing up on the border of Unity State in South Sudan, Kondok witnessed family from my business, frequent attacks on her village. Amidst poverty and harsh conditions, she became the which I started through third wife to one of the elders of her village. Tragically, Kondok lost her first four children this programme. Last due to lack of medical treatment - sadly this is not uncommon today in South Sudan. month my daughter was sick with malaria and I In 2012, Kondok fled her home with her only surviving daughter, escaping an attack that took her to hospital. I lost killed many of her neighbours. Leaving everything behind, Kondok and her daughter found “ refuge in a settlement camp for internally displaced people. my four other children because I could not afford There she found Five Talents who supported her to join a savings group. Slowly she was hospital fees. I would have able to build her savings and has now used her first loan to start up a vegetable stall. lost her too if I had not joined this programme. There she found Five Talents and joined a savings group. With the support of her group, Kondok was able to afford the hospital fees when her daughter became ill with malaria, Kondok, South Sudan and her daughter recovered. She has now taken a loan to start up a vegetable stall, and hopes to use her profit to provide a better future for her daughter. Five Talents US has been working in Sudan and South Sudan since 2007 Percentage of members meeting basic needs 10 year impact evaluation 100% A LOOK AT THE DATA At Five Talents we’re driven by demographics. The results showed increased, the majority put it down 80% a desire to see an impact for the that over time, more and more to the financial discipline of saving rural households we work with. members reported an increase in rather than to taking loans. By impact, we mean households household expenditure. 60% being able to meet their basic Saving is not easy for families who needs; nutritious food, education As the graph illustrates, over a ten live below the poverty line. The and healthcare. These are the truly year period, our members’ ability training they received on basic 40% transformational outcomes we seek to eat three meals a day, pay budgeting, money management - but they are notoriously hard to school fees and access healthcare and business planning encouraged 20% measure. increased dramatically. We found members to develop the habit of that even the most vulnerable putting aside a small sum of money So in 2017, we commissioned an members (women, youth, those in every day whilst the regular savings independent evaluation to help semi-arid areas, illiterate people) group meetings reinforced the us understand these sorts of real also experienced this positive habit. 1 year 1-3 years 3-5 years 5-10 years impacts we’ve had in Kenya over change over time. Reaching these the past ten years. most marginalized populations has As Paul, a member from Embu, put Length of membership always been central to Five Talents’ it: “Saving by yourself is hard. The We conducted household mission. Group helps you because you are surveys and in-depth focus group accountable to bring savings to discussions with a sample of our When we asked members why each meeting.” Increase in household expenditure Able to access to healthcare members from different regions and their household expenditure had Able to afford three meals a day Able to pay school fees Changing household relationships 73% EMPOWERING WOMEN of female members now able to cope during emergencies In East Africa, women are Enabling women like Mary to on the floor whilst men have chairs, significantly more likely to have grow a safety net of savings and and they are even buried next to no access to financial services. diversify their businesses, Five the kitchen where they will have We know that in Kenya, just 34% Talents helps protect them during spent most of their time. of women have a bank account these difficult times. compared to 50% of men. This But after joining our programme, makes it even harder for women Our evaluation found that by we found women experienced a to save the little money they have supporting women to grow their significant change in household or invest in their small businesses. incomes, we not only help them dynamics. One woman said: “Now When they face an emergency to meet their basic needs and to my husband respects me and we 72% cope during emergencies, but we discuss things as equals.” of female members no longer suffer food shortages such as drought or sickness, they have nowhere to turn. can also have a significant impact on their decision making and This evaluation was made Mary from Nakuru explained status at home. Women told us that possible through the generous that “Before my group started, as a result of our programme, they support of the Commercial there was an emergency and so now have more say in household Education Trust. I had to sell my cow to get some decisions and no longer have to money quickly. The cow used to rely on their husband’s income. provide milk which I sold, so I lost my income too. But now, with my In many of the places where we group and my new business, they work, women are regarded as 84% help me to deal with troubles.” inferior; in some cultures, they sit of female members reported improved household relationships Kenya Impact Marathon, Kericho Democratic Republic of Congo SMALLER, POORER, RISKIER In 2018, Five Talents is launching a a year ago. The population has lived relationships within communities new programme in the Democratic through the deadliest conflict since and an incredibly fertile land. And so Republic of Congo (DRC). 1950 and there are currently 4.5 as always, the most important part of million internally displaced people. what we provide will be the training; Even taking into account the huge helping the communities identify numbers of people fleeing conflict At Five Talents, we’ve seen our and make use of these assets. in Syria and Yemen, the largest savings-led model work in other number of families forced to leave unstable contexts; from camps for One of the reasons I became their homes last year was in DRC. internally displaced people in South interested in Five Talents was their Unfortunately, this was not the first Sudan to the now post-conflict area mandate to reach the most at risk year the DRC has been at the top of of Karamoja in northern Uganda.