All the three Women’s Groups received as cash donation to start a shared fund (pool) from which they can borrow small amounts of money for emergent needs. This is a short-term loan that charge very low interest rate of repayment to ease access to finance to resolve matters quickly. The Groups also started “table banking” by collecting money at every meeting to boost their cash flows and bank balances.

Additionally, gate-collection at the meeting was introduced as a revenue stream to improve cash flows. Some groups are also trading in cereals to boost their cash flows, and to guarantee food security during spells of drought, where members buy cereals at a discounted rate contrary to the public.

Another fund is being established for business loans and subsidies for small-scale start-ups and on-going businesses. Several group members are small-scale traders and face difficulty to access finance from large financial institutions. This will help them to mitigate the challenge.