KENYA & UGANDA WORKSHOP - The Programme Workshop in Kenya went very well - our partners were all very interested in our sessions on in-country fundraising and we also presented a range of new training manuals to begin the process of reviewing all of our business and financial training in East Africa.
Progress was also made on new M&E measures and this week PPI and PPI+ (two systems of measuring our impact, an international standard and a custom one we've developed) went compulsory for all new member registrations at MBF. For the first time ever we'll get a full spectrum of baseline data rather than the samples we've had hitherto. It was also good to meet the representatives from Karamoja, Uganda and Kericho, Kenya where we hope to work in the near future.
MBF, Tanzania - On Monday, MBF opened a new branch! It's in Ifupila, near Mafinga. This now makes four MBF branches: Iringa, Mafinga, Morogoro and now Ifupila.
Ifupila is a tea-growing region and most of the clients will be tea-pluckers. There is a strong need in this area as the pluckers do not save year-round. This means they live well in tea season but not the rest of the year. MBF plans to teach them savings and business skills so they can save for off-season and also start side businesses to give year-round income.
Ifupila is only 25km from Mafinga but the community because Ifupila communities were spending large sums on transport to and from Mafinga and really wanted services closer to home - the need was so acute that local leaders donated the building for an MBF office.
Two staff have been posted there - one is a former IT officer from Iringa who is freed up now that the cloud-based Musoni system is bedded in, and the other is a female intern who has previously been volunteering her time, but who has now been offered a job. The MBF Programme Leader, Japhet Makau, predicts this branch will break even within three months thanks to commission on MKOPA's solar loans and CRDB agency banking, and because the operating costs are very low.
Japhet is also planning to start a new branch in Dodoma region which will serve 4 dioceses. So, we currently have four branches in three Tanzanian dioceses and could add another four dioceses through the Dodoma branch if that gets going. Mama Bahati Foundation is very definitely spreading her wings.
To hear more about the specifics of these changes, please feel free to contact the programme team. As always, we ask you to consider signing up to give small amounts on a regular basis. As little as £10 a month can have huge cumulative impacts.