Kiondo Basket Weaving

Project Background

In Nairobi the Euphrasia Centre for Women was founded in 1995 to offer hospitality and hope to many girls of the South B slum, especially adolescents and orphans, often victims of violence, prostitution and abuse. In the 14 years, 360 girls have received training at the centre. The courses offered are in knitting, weaving, tailoring. Thus, the women produce necklaces, baskets, bags, tablecloths, clothes. These products are sold in the local market and through the international network of the Good Shepherd Sisters.

In Embu, the Mission was founded in 2000 to help poor uneducated women of the local rural community. These women live in a culture traditionally hostile to them. The Sisters have created a strong relationship with the women of the poorest districts, offering them the possibility to find work or start their own business.

In Kangeta, a small village west of Nairobi, the Mission was created in 1990 to meet the many needs of the local women. Many Kangeta girls were offered scholarships with the help of European and American sponsors. At the Center the Sisters offer health care and free medicine for the poorest, operate a kindergarten and an elementary school for over 300 children whose families cannot afford to pay for uniforms or meals to send their children to the free public school.

Problem

This project is addressed to women who live in abject poverty in the slums or related surroundings. Most of them are being forced by circumstances and oppressive cultural practices to drop out of school very young. They are often engaged in early marriages, (sometimes to old men equal their fathers), which often do not last long. Therefore they end up being single mothers rejected also by their families. These women do not have a steady source of income. They earn their living through sale of illicit brews, drug trafficking or prostitution. Whatever income that comes from these kind of activities, it is not steady and too low even to provide the women with basic needs. The lack of awareness of their rights creates difficult family situations: girls widowed, left by husbands or forced to marry the brother, deprived of their inheritance and also rejected by their families of origin. 

Objectives

General objective: Euphrasian Kiondo Basket Weaving project, is an initiative of Good Shepherd Sisters in Kenya sponsored by Handcrafting Justice (US) and its American benefactors. The project aimed at creating a sustainable source of income for the poorest women and girls in three locations, Nairobi, Embu and Kangeta in Meru through three major activities : skills training; production and marketing of Basket Weaving. This project was addressed to women between 18 to 60 years old, all single mothers. 

Specific objectives :

• Training 40 women and girls in traditional basket weaving skills annually
• Integrating basket weaving with other life skills and spiritual formation
• Establishing a stable and competitive market for all baskets made by the trainees
• Paying the trainees and later graduates 50% for every basket made and sold
• Creating social and economic support groups among trainees who will eventually run their own projects
• Developing leaders among the trainees
• Utilizing locally available materials 

Activities

• Home visits to identify the neediest women living in the slums and in the poorest villages surrounding the 3 locations, followed by recruitment
• Recruitments of three instructors, coordinators and administrator and appointment of a part time designer who helps in finishing the baskets.
• Basket Training
• Monthly quality control with the help of the designer
• Trainings in basic business management, leadership, human and spiritual development courses
• Counselling and guidance is also available for those interested 

 Challenges

• The first months of the project were difficult because of a lack of reliable instructors.
• Some young women from Kangeta location dropped from the weaving.
• Following the worldwide tendency, the prices of materials have increased and sometimes doubled.
• Local market offers very few outlets and does not pay much for baskets.
• The number of women interested in weaving exceeded the targeted group in Nairobi.

Overcome challenges

• Changes were made among the staff members until finding the right instructors.
• Those who dropped were replaced by other willing weavers.
• More local available materials that do not require much spending were used, like banana fibers for instance.
• Quality control remains crucial for the products made by the women.
• Exploration of the local market and development of marketing skills among the women are continuously undertaken.
• Alternative skills like bead work, jewelry and other locally marketable products like soap making and poultry keeping would also be seen as possibilities for weavers.
• For the moment the main focus is on the targeted group in Nairobi for proper management of the resources. 

Progress/Results

• 43 women between 22 and 60 years old were involved in the program during the first year
• 50 KES daily salary have been regularly paid to trainees since Dec 07-Jan 08
• For every basket made and sure of selling, the women get paid 50%. This has helped to decrease the number of crimes women were involved in before joining the weaving program such as prostitution, illicit brewing, thefts and drug trafficking.
• The basic skills training took 6 months for each group and later they continued learning new patterns in weaving. 
• The weavers also are getting accustomed to saving the little that they get.
• They are also encouraged to visit each other in their families as part of their group life.
• In one location each weaver has begun contributing 5 KES to a common fund each week.
• A professional accountant and auditor went to see the accounting system and helped them inputting proper books of accounts. He also offered to print contract forms for Euphrasian weavers.
• The women begin making suggestions on how to better their training and the project, they are also involved in the evaluation of the project at the end of the year.They have groups meeting, gospel sharing and support each other in the group even better than any one else. 

Next steps

• Investing 600,000 Kenya Shillings that has come from the sales since the project begun into fixed deposit as a move towards savings for sustainability in the future.
• Exploration of more markets in different countries and with various agencies.
• Simple marketing course will be taken by one or two staffs in the project.
• Other locations of Good Shepherd Centers Kitale and Kambakia working with poor women in the slums are requesting to be incorporated in the weaver’s project. 

We give special thanks to Handcrafting Justice (U.S.) for their collaboration and generosity.