The Newest Programme: Five Talents in Rwanda!

The Newest Programme: Five Talents in Rwanda!

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer.

On Tuesday, 26 April 2022, we hosted a virtual lunch with friends from Rwanda! Five Talents, in partnership with the Mothers’ Union, is beginning a new programme in Rwanda - the first new country we have started work in since 2018.

During the event we introduce Annonciata Kabega. Annonciata is a priest & mother of seven. She works with Mothers’ Union, Rwanda, and will be serve as the Programme’s Coordinator. Our event also features two photographers from the Taking Pictures, Changing Lives Foundation who live and work in Rwanda: Gadi & Bizi. Gadi & Bizi provide insight into Rwanda and its people; they have both visited and photographed Five Talents programmes before.

Learn more about the new programme, the communities it will support and the people of Rwanda in the video below.

Bringing hope to Aru, DR Congo

This blog post is an excerpt from an interview between May Mak, our Senior Grants & Programmes Officer, and Irene Nyambura, the Programme Advisor in Aru, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

What are you most proud of in your job? Why? 

Irene in Aru, Democratic Republic of Congo.

I am proud to be of service to both the community and coordination team. At the end of the day I feel I am providing a solution to the serious needs of the community, lack of access to inputs, healthcare and social stability in the communities. 

When I get to hear about testimonies of effective delivery by the teams that we facilitate and the progress of the learners, I feel very happy about the mission we have with the communities in Aru. For instance, a widow who continued to pay school fees for her children after the death of her husband; women contributing to the incomes in their households; enhanced relationships achieved because of training on the rights and respect of the vulnerable members of the community. Now, in Aru, parents are allowing education for their daughters which previously was not the case and there are less gender-based violence cases reported.

We’re seeing increasing demand at grassroots level by new learners and Groups. Even after the phase out of the adult literacy classes [funded by Five Talents] there are still new classes running voluntarily in order to access the training programme for Savings Groups and business skills.  

The project is actually a room for knowledge and experience sharing. Every day presents a new challenge to be resolved or tackled. A moment to learn and to share. 

What were some of the challenges of the programme in 2021? How did you overcome them? 

Mental health of the facilitators: During a recent training on trauma healing, it was discovered that the movers of the programme themselves, our facilitators, have been through traumatic experiences in the past and some who are still living in areas currently experiencing conflict could be living with the burden of such experiences.  

We have addressed the challenge by including a series of training on topics like trauma healing, Bible study devotionals and sexual and gender-based violence awareness and prevention. The courses are aimed at helping the facilitators to cope and be able to assist those who are in similar circumstances.  

Why should someone support the Aru programme? 

It takes about 3 weeks for an ordinary person to travel from Aru using all available means combining both land and water travel to the country’s capital, Kinshasa. Aru, like the bigger Eastern region, receives very little government support due to the distance and lack of funds. In such a scenario, the vulnerable sections of the community suffer the hardest. Most of the learners in the programme are women, 83%, and if women suffer, their children are in an even worse state. 

The men are also not able to provide for their families as they would want to due to lack of knowhow, support from their wives and even lack capital to undertake farming or small businesses. The situation creates a sense of hopelessness and helplessness and finds that people fail to appreciate their own God given resources. The programme helps bring hope to the members and once they regain hope and take charge of their lives, their enhanced self-esteem brings about a phenomenal change that spirals outside the programme. 

The programme helps build peace in an otherwise conflict ridden region by facilitating social interactions and welfare. The members become accountable to one another in not only financial services, but during funerals, weddings, sickness, gender-based violence and information exchange. 

Why do we celebrate International Women’s Day?

Why do we celebrate International Women’s Day?

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer.

International Women’s Day is marked annually on the calendar on the 8th March. Every year it is an opportunity to remind ourselves of women’s achievements - but why do we celebrate it?

Historically many women have faced inequity and while some people believe this is now a thing of the past, sadly that’s simply not true. In the UK, only 29% of seats in parliament are filled by women, meaning women are heard less in lawmaking and decision-making. And in the places where our partners work, women are even less likely to be heard in the decision-making within their own homes. Here are some key figures from one of the countries where our partners work, Uganda.

Sources: UN Women & UNDP Human Development Reports

Yet, women have the power to transform communities. They are caretakers, problem-solvers, innovators and peace-keepers. When a woman is empowered she often uplifts her whole family - not just herself. When one woman changes her circumstances, the circumstances for those around her change too.

After losing both her parents, Afiya moved in with relatives and had to drop out of school because they could not afford the fees. Afiya was pushed to marry early so a husband could provide for her. After having two children, Afiya decided to leave and divorce her husband, who was mistreating her. 

“I have declared to stand and to be an example to other community members by saying; ‘time has come to start a new journey in life and our families, journey of freedom not violence, free participation for change.’”

Afiya at her business.

Afiya joined a Savings Group and began renting her own place. Most of the profits she earned from her business selling vegetables went towards her rent. In 2019, a friend in the Group encouraged Afiya to take a loan and invest in buying land so that she could build her own home instead of renting. Afiya took a loan which enabled her to purchase land and expand her business.

“I was now able to build a room for me and my children and now, I no longer rent. I am happy with my children in our own house. Saving in the Group has helped me become independent. I am paying for school fees and other necessities including; exercise books, pens and school uniforms.”

On International Women’s Day we celebrate women like Afiya, who took huge steps to change her circumstances, escaping domestic violence and providing more for her children. But in celebrating we remind ourselves: there are many more women, just like Afiya, who still have not access to a Savings Group; who still have not had the opportunity to change their circumstances and create a more equitable community for themselves and their family. With your support, our partners can stand with more women on International Women’s Day and every other day, to support them in creating a brighter future.

Russia's invasion in Ukraine: An event with Tim Cross

Russia's invasion into Ukraine: An event with Tim Cross

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer

Last week Rachel & Kris had a call with Retired Major General, Tim Cross. Tim is a longtime friend to Five Talents and inevitably their conversation did shift to Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. Rachel & Kris felt that Tim’s expert knowledge would be of interest to some of our supporters. We hosted a half hour session with Tim on 2 March 2022. You can view the event in the video below.

Power & Privilege One Year On

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer.

Main road to Tanga, Tanzania.

A year ago, we promised that we would report on what Five Talents is doing to shift power and become more anti-racist. We’re grateful that you are joining Five Talents on this journey. We know that this journey will never really be finished, but we’d like to share what we accomplished last year, and our next steps.

Recently, we announced that we have added six new trustees to our board (if you haven’t met them please do click here to learn a bit more about them and their backgrounds!). Their recruitment was part of our process to identify the power and privilege within Five Talents and begin to address imbalances and biases. They each have unique perspectives, and we hope they will enrich our board with new knowledge and experiences.

Over the last year we’ve continued to discover, listen and learn. The whole team has been reading books like Black and British a Forgotten History and “But Where are You Really From?” We also completed an audit of our language.

Last year, I spent time on a course on ethical content collection with BOND and developed a Communications Policy which puts more focus on the rights and voices of programme participants. This year, alongside safeguarding training for partners which also focuses on recognises where power lies in different contexts, our team hopes to develop an even more robust informed consent policy so Savings Group members and our partners hold and maintain power and control over their own stories.

We’ve also updated our Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with programme partners to make all of its clauses mutual, moving away from the colonial structure of Five Talents (as the provider of funding) setting all the conditions which the partner must agree to. Instead, our updated MoU recognises that both parties to the MoU need one another, and we’ve made many of the requirements mutual. These might seem like small changes but they are an important step toward making our partnerships more equal.

Sue Johns, Chairperson of the Five Talents International Board, created a Study Group for all board members where they could discuss issues of power, privilege and unconscious bias. Sue is also growing the international board with more members from countries in eastern Africa that bring unique perspectives to Five Talents. Our Programme Quality Committee has also introduced new members from eastern Africa which we hope will continue the journey of ensuring our governance structures are more representative. Similarly, in our own events in the UK we have consciously included more voices from the countries where we work; our climate justice event, for example.

We are continuing to revisit the 20 actions points we created to better understand shifting the power and we know we’re not finished yet. But perhaps one of the biggest changes is that throughout the Five Talents family, from Board to staff to partners, we talk about power and privilege as a matter of course now. It is on everyone’s radar.

As for next steps, we recently asked our Board to vote on two areas they would like some training on; the topics chosen were unconscious bias and decolonising development / mission. We’ll be booking these sessions soon, as well as continuing our programme of ‘Learning Afternoons’ within the staff team.

We are working together to hold ourselves accountable, but as we said last year, please call us out if you see areas where we could improve. We want to continue to learn and grow together to address systemic injustice and to better serve our partners and the communities that they support.

Is this the "endemic"?

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer.

A member’s farm in Burundi.

COVID-19 is not new news but there are reports that countries across Africa are moving towards the “endemic” phase. Of course we remain concerned, however, and as the Omicron variant spread globally, earlier this year we updated and re-shared our guidance for all partners and trainers on safe working practices throughout the pandemic. We also re-shared the Anglican Alliance’s helpful resources on 'Addressing Reasonable Concerns' and 'Countering Fake News' about vaccines.

Previously we’ve had reports of vaccine hesitancy across many of the programmes we support. Now, partners are reporting that vaccine hesitancy is reducing in rural communities. We were pleased to hear that in some communities, those who had been sceptical before are now queuing up for vaccines.

Because our partners work through the Church in every community they are trusted by Savings Group members and their neighbours, so we are uniquely well-positioned to help people inform themselves responsibly.

Alongside the health impacts, COVID-19 has created even more economic disadvantage and has presented many challenges for Savings Groups.

A World Bank report from January 2021 reported: “Although rates of infection have not been as high as in other regions, the economic consequences of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa have been severe due to the combination of declining global demand and local efforts to contain the disease.”

Figure: Income losses in COVID-19 times

Source: World Bank’s COVID-19 High-Frequency Monitoring Dashboard

In the light of these statistics, it is no surprise that Five Talents has been experiencing increased demand for Savings Groups. Savings Groups enable resilience and many members of Savings Groups fared better than their neighbours during the last two years.

Anna, a Savings Group member, in South Sudan said, “...my only hope for living during these hard times is our Savings Group. I got loans from my Group, although meetings were temporarily suspended. I used this loan to do small business to feed my family. I am lucky that I joined this Savings Group. The few weeks we closed business and we stayed home, most of the people who were not in any Group spent all their capital and they can’t come back to business. I am lucky that my group has advanced money for me to continue with the business.”

Fortunately, Savings Groups are still operating across all eight countries where we work (though meetings in Myanmar are limited due to the ongoing unrest). Thanks to your generosity, more than 30,000 families benefitted from Savings Groups last year. We hope and pray that the places where our partners work will remain in the “endemic” phase of the COVID-19 pandemic so that more families can re-build their livelihoods.

There's No Fire Without Kindling

This blog post was written by Rachel Lindley, our CEO.

Embers burn in a member’s cafe kitchen, Kenya.

I recently moved into a little cottage in rural north Lincolnshire, complete with a wood-burning stove; it’s fair to say I’ve been on a steep learning curve on how to light it! I vaguely remembered school science classes teaching me about the three essentials for fire - fuel, oxygen and heat, and of course thinking in threes comes easily to us at Five Talents.

We often think in threes: our three offices (UK, US & Kenya); our strategic pillars (Growth, Tell the World & Addressing Injustice); and we even have three ways we ask you to help us (Give, Pray, Tell)! So, the fire triangle of fuel, oxygen and heat was easy for me to grasp - but the revelation, missed from my science classes 30 years ago, was the role of kindling!

I tried several times to get the fire going without kindling, and always failed. But just a couple of sticks of kindling, and whoosh, the coffee logs and wood logs are literally on fire.

Which got me thinking… What is the kindling for Five Talents? There are so many possibilities:

An amazing team of staff in the UK office; I am so grateful to work with a team which has stayed focused, dedicated, hard working and passionate, even after so many months alone at our kitchen tables. This includes colleagues who’ve come & gone before us too. Five Talents would not be where it is today without them.

A clear vision; right now, our teams are building an ambitious new Strategic Plan for scaling up our Savings Groups programmes. Look out for it later this year.

Our evidence-based approach; our Savings Groups have profound economic and social impact, and we have the data to prove it. This year we’re commissioning a longitudinal evaluation of our Burundi programme, revisiting Savings Groups who graduated from our support 10 years ago to trace the impacts today. This is really exciting!

Good governance - perhaps not the most exciting piece of kindling in the bundle, but it is essential. This year we are delivering a comprehensive programme of safeguarding training, and are excited that we have six new trustees on our UK Board (an outcome of our diversity audit in 2020);

Introductions via your networks - this is really the very definition of kindling! Our income, and therefore the number of programmes we can support, has more than doubled since 2015 - and almost every new supporter who has backed our work has been introduced to us by an existing supporter. Thank you!

I’m proud and grateful of all we (you, our partners and thousands of Savings Group members) achieved last year, against the odds. But now we need to do even more. There is huge demand for Savings Groups across the world - and with your help, we can meet it.

So we ask you, this year, to be our kindling! Who could you invite to one of our events - or could you invite us to one of your events? Who can you tell about Five Talents, at work, at church, in your social networks? Who do you know who might help our fire burn even more strongly in 2022?

Let us know at rachel@fivetalents.org.uk - and again, thank you all for being part of this incredible journey. As Anne, our partner in Karamoja, Uganda, told us in December: ‘It is spreading from one small area, it is spreading like fire!’

Meet a Microfinance Member: Celestine from Kenya

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer.

Celestine from Kenya

“It has been difficult because of the coronavirus, but my Savings Group has helped me.”

Celestine lives in Butere, Kenya, with her two children, aged 12 and 6. She joined her Savings Group in 2018 as a means to support her family and her tailoring shop in Butere’s market.

“I have never had a place to save until I joined my Savings Group. Every time I go to my Group’s monthly meeting, I receive training. Business management training helped me to increase my profits and taught me to plan for the future.”

Now, she is not only a shop owner, but an employer too. Celestine has hired two youths from town.

“After making some profit from my tailoring business, I bought a motorbike and employed a youth to use it as a boda boda [motorbike taxi]. The driver sends me 300 shillings each day from the proceeds he makes.”

Celestine is growing with her Group. She is better able to support her family, business and community. With access to financial services and business training, Celestine is planning for her future and aspires to impact others in her community too.

“I am now more educated and open-minded. I want to expand my business and train more youth in tailoring, so that like me, they can provide for their households. I also want to buy more motorbikes because it is a good way to earn money to support my family.”

Business & Community: Breakfast with Ed Perry from COOK

Business & Community: Breakfast with Ed Perry from COOK

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer.

Five Talents’ partners support entrepreneurs across the world every day. Recently, we had the opportunity to sit down and have breakfast (virtually!) with a UK-based entrepreneur, Ed Perry, the Co-Founder & CEO of nationally recognised COOK! Ed joined us to discuss his journey as a business owner and one thing is for sure: whether you’re creating homemade food in the UK or starting a tailoring business in eastern Africa, you’re sure to meet many of the same challenges. Just like Savings Group entrepreneurs the world over, Ed shows us that with passion, courage, a clear goal and a lot of hard work, business can support a community.

A Year on: Growing Confidence & Resilience

This blog post was written by May Mak, our Senior Trusts & Foundations Officer.

Group members meet in Tanga, Tanzania, one of the new regions where we work.

Every year, Five Talents participates in the Big Give Christmas Challenge: a match funding campaign that brings charities, philanthropists and the public together to raise funds for good causes. Last year, your generosity through our Big Give Christmas Appeal, raised over £80,000 to expand our work in Tanzania across sixteen dioceses in partnership with the Mothers’ Union Tanzania.

To date, the programme has started 251 Savings Groups, enabling 5,959 women and men to learn, earn, save and invest together to build stronger, more resilient futures by themselves and to the benefit of their children and wider communities. The funds raised through last year’s Big Give campaign will continue to support the programme through to the end of 2022, doubling the impact as our partners aim to start, train and mentor an additional 57 new Savings Groups (c.1,140 women and men). Mariam and Agatha are members of different Savings Groups in Tanzania, but both demonstrate the resilience and determination of those we work with to be agents of their own change.

Mariam is married with two children. “Before joining the programme, my business was too small and I was losing hope that I could make enough money to provide for my family. Thanks to God and my Savings Group, I borrowed money to expand my business. I was able to renovate my cafe and because of my profits, I could purchase health insurance for my children. This is a big relief because I know if they become unwell, they will be taken care of.”

“My name is Agatha and I am blessed with five children. I used to depend solely on my husband for my family’s financial needs. My life was not good. I wasn’t able to do anything. I tried to establish a business many times, but was never able to because of my lack of capital and business skills. When I joined my Savings Group, I was finally able to save. I learnt about business management and then I borrowed money from my group. I started a business selling ground nuts, seeds and spices - this changed my life. My life became happy, I can pay my children’s school fees, I am even able to help people in my village with their needs. Now that I am a business woman, I am taken more seriously in meetings and I can contribute to discussions and decision making. This has improved my self-worth.”

What strikes me most about Mariam and Agatha is their new found confidence, their self-belief and self-validation that they are able to make change by and for themselves and their children. This is the power of financial inclusion and education and the difference your support has and continues to make. Thank you. If you’d like to learn more about our 2021 Big Give Appeal for Burundi please click here.

Climate Change: Already the Next Crisis

Climate Change: Already the Next Crisis

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer.

Five Talents’ mission is not to address climate change or advocate for climate justice. But the Savings Group members our partners support are disproportionately affected by climate change. For Savings Groups, climate change isn’t the next crisis - it is a real challenge they are already facing every day. Currently in northern Kenya, two years of extended drought is causing hunger and conflict among communities. Our partners in Marsabit have reported food scarcity and seen an increased burden for women as primary caretakers of their families. At the same time, 22 of South Sudan’s 78 counties are experiencing flooding with 466,000 people affected. 

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) begins on the 31st October. The nearly two week conference is sure to raise complex questions around what we can do about climate change, but often the voices and perspectives missing from these conversations are from the communities who are already facing climate change’s adverse effects like drought, flooding and unreliable weather patterns. We sat down (virtually) with three expert panelists to hear them describe what problems climate change is presenting across Africa, and to ask them what are the solutions? 

Watch our virtual panel below featuring: Philip Macloud (Team Environment Kenya), Claire Nasike (Greenpeace Africa) and Jackie Opera (SciDev.Net) - and share it with others to continue the discussion on climate justice. Contact us if you have any further questions.

Make a Will month: Inheritance Tax

This blog post was written by Vaughan Pomeroy, a Five Talents supporter.

Members in Morogoro, Tanzania.

When I received a legacy after the death of my parents, I wanted to give some of it away to support a charity in their memory. This was much easier than I expected thanks to the generosity of the Inheritance Tax regime in the UK. 

As strange as it seems, Inheritance Tax rules can make a really generous gift even more attractive and give you a wonderful feeling of really making a difference in memory of a loved one. 

HOW IT WORKS
If you are able to give to charity at least 10% of the net value of the estate (that is, after deducting the tax-exempt elements), tax rules allow the rate of tax payable on the remaining net estate to be reduced by 10%. 

AN EXAMPLE
It sounds much more complicated than it seems, but here’s an example: If the net estate value was worth £100,000 and was to be taxed at 40%, then the beneficiaries of the estate would expect to receive £60,000. But, if the decision is made to give £10,000 to charity, the tax is immediately reduced by £4,000 because charitable donations are free of tax. 

With a gift of £10,000 the remaining £90,000 would only be taxed at 36% - leaving beneficiaries with £57,600. Amazingly, this means the beneficiaries have given £10,000 to charity in honour of their loved one, but it has only cost £2,400 to make the donation.

WHEN TO DECIDE
Not only can you decide to write into your own Will now that you would like 10% of your net estate to be given to a chosen charity, but as an inheritor you can choose to make a donation of 10% of the net estate you inherit after your loved one has passed on. And you don’t need to make this decision whilst dealing with the hectic and distressing period of grief - you can make use of this inheritance tax rule within two years of the date of death.

When sorting out my parents’ estate, and with my brother’s agreement of course, I could enjoy making a real difference by giving over four times what the gift actually cost me. It is an extraordinarily generous provision and not well understood. The joy of giving is certainly amplified when the tax man provides such support.

Enjoy the gift of giving!

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If you’d like to learn more about making a will or leaving a legacy for Five Talents please click here. Please note that this is not professional legal or tax advice, do speak with your own solicitor and accountant when making legacy gifts.

“But where are you really from?”

This blog post was written by May Mak, our Senior Trusts & Foundations Officer.

Book covers from Amanda Khozi Mukwashi and Afua Hirsch.

I am British-born Chinese: a BBC. I look Chinese, but speak with an English accent and it throws people. Curiosity about my origins has always been something I’ve had to deal with throughout my life. I know what people want me to say when they ask me, ‘where are you from?’, but I have never seen the importance of someone knowing that - least of all strangers on a bus or on the street - but not wanting to be rude, I’d always respond with the truth: ‘I’m from the UK.’ I immediately know that I’ve not answered the question with a response the interrogator wants to hear. Unsatisfied by my answer not fitting their criteria of acceptability, the dreaded question then follows: the question that suggests (usually unintentionally) that I do not belong; the question that really makes no difference to the context in which the conversation is being held; the question that is deeply personal: 

“But where are you really from?” 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ashamed of being Chinese, nor do I mind sharing where my parents/grandparents were born (because let’s face it, that’s what is really being asked here). I love finding out about people and their heritage. I am just as curious and interested about cultures and countries as most people are. However, what may appear to be a harmless question, underlyingly, even if unintentional, carries with it suspicion, prejudices and discrimination. My reading in recent years has confirmed to me that I am not alone in my thinking and experiences, and that these feelings I have towards this question matters. Books such as ‘Brit(ish)’ by Afua Hirsh and the aptly titled, ‘But where are you really from?’ by Amanda Khozi Mukwashi speaks into this questioning of identity and the ‘othering’ that takes place when that question is uttered. Some of their experiences of being black and living in Britain heartachingly echoed mine of being Chinese and British-born, while others made me realise the prejudices and privileges that exist around different ethnic minority groups. 

Diversity, inclusion and shifting power are key topics that Five Talents is continuing to understand and work towards. In spite of and because of my experiences, I am excited to see and be part of the change towards this work. I am unlearning and relearning what it means to be ‘anti-racist’, recognising my own privileges and understanding how to use this to walk with others who haven’t had the same opportunities and whose voices should be equally valued. I’d highly recommend both books mentioned above: Mukwashi’s book is a shorter read, but both are equally beautifully written, insightful and will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions. Perhaps one day, I will write my own memoire and title it: I am really from London.

Meet a Microfinance Member: Lucia in the Democratic Republic of Congo

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer.

Lucia in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We’d like to introduce you to a Group member from Aru in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lucia.

Lucia is a single-mother of five children. When she was young, her parents did not believe in educating girls. Unfortunately, this meant Lucia was not able to finish primary school. She didn’t have the opportunity to learn how to read or write and felt she was unable to develop her own talents. Despite this, Lucia hoped that one day she would become literate and numerate. At the start of 2020 she discovered her community’s Literacy Group and everything changed.

“After three months of joining the Literacy Group, COVID-19 happened. Even though the programme stopped for a short while, in three months, I had already learnt the alphabet, basic arithmetic and was reading a little. Before I had joined the Group, I received my confirmation certificate from church. I found it recently and discovered that I had taken my friend’s certificate because at that time, I couldn’t read my own name!

Before, I had difficulty in educating my children. I was struggling to pay school fees, which meant that my two older children had left school. If the children were hospitalised, I faced the same difficulties of paying fees. 

Now, because of the literacy programme, I am managing my business better and I know how to plan for my family and business. I also lead the hymns at church and I can teach Sunday School because I can read! 

I can stand in front of a crowd and have no fear, I am a Group Leader and I can be social.”

Literacy and Savings Groups support members with safe financial services and access to skills training they would have difficulty accessing otherwise. Although COVID-19 made meetings less frequent, it did not stop Lucia from learning, earning, saving and investing in a brighter future. Lucia’s determination has made her a leader in her Group and her community. 

Addressing Our Language

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer.

Literacy lesson in Karamoja, Uganda.

Over the last year our UK staff has spent a lot of time reading, researching and learning. As a staff team we feel it is imperative to address all forms of injustice, including racial injustice, and we’ve been exploring how to decolonise our minds and our practices. We’ve discussed building the new normal, addressing unconscious bias and shifting power. Our journey started with a workshop with our Board to discuss questions raised by Charity So White.

Following our workshop we developed twenty actions from increasing Board diversity to decolonising our language. After several months we have finally completed a language audit. We took time to review the language commonly used across all our platforms from monthly e-newsletters to the grant applications we write. 

Words have power. For example, talking about ‘the developing world’ positions it as inferior to the ‘developed’ world. Talking about ‘local partners’ suggests they are somehow less important. Writing about ‘the poor’ risks objectifying people. Calling our members ‘beneficiaries’ makes us the saviours, them, the helpless recipients of what we give. Is ‘capacity building’ really the right term? Or ‘needs assessment’? And why is ‘due diligence’ not seen as mutual? It is only usually done by the funder to the spender of funds, as if the spender has no right to know more about the organisation raising funds on its behalf and through its stories and work

We believe some simple changes in the language we use to describe Five Talents, our partners, trainers and the members of Savings Groups can help identify and redress these implicit value judgements. But we’ve found it is not always as easy as replacing one word with another; much depends on context and culture, and often the best language may change over time too.

Two main action points came from our audit:

• We will aim to be as specific as possible when discussing programmes and partners. Each Savings Group member, programme, country and culture is unique and should be recognised - not lumped together.

• We will aim to look at how our words define power, for example, Five Talents does not own Savings Groups - the community does. We are not giving a voice to communities which have been marginalised; they have always had a voice but they are not always listened to.

Our current language audit is here. We know there may be some terminology missing and recognise this will never be a finished product. We will continue to review our language as the nuance of particular words evolves and keep a copy online with our other policies.

We are now reviewing our website and media materials to edit and update the language that is already being used. We hope, as a Five Talents supporter, you will remind us when we fall short, and consider the language you use daily too.

By the numbers: the impact of Savings Groups

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer.

Five Talents has over 20 years of experience working with partners to set up Savings Groups that equip entrepreneurs with safe access to financial services and business skills training. The communities where partner organisations are working are often financially excluded and have limited access to education. Savings Groups enable members to build a brighter future. But what does that mean, and how does it look?

Five Talents works in 8 different countries. We work alongside a partner organisation in each programme country - often our partner is the Anglican Church Diocese or the Mothers’ Union. WIth funding and support from Five Talents, our partner organisation hires and trains trainers who then form, train and support Savings Groups.

Many of the members who join Savings Groups do not have access to formal financial institutions. This means they do not have a safe place to save their money or take out a loan. Alongside that, members may not have learned how to build a budget, read, write and count. These challenges make it difficult to utilise their talents, participate in society and provide an income for a family. In Savings Groups, members can receive training and begin to plan their financial future. The combination of access to skills training, finance and a community group enables members to solve their own problems in their own way. To find out more about the power of literacy, skills training and community Savings Groups, meet Sonia, a member in Burundi!

Savings Groups can have an immense impact on communities. In 2017, we conducted an impact survey across programmes in Kenya. We found that Savings Group members significantly increased their household expenditure, their ability to pay school fees, their access to healthcare and were able to afford 3 meals a day.

You can learn more about the impact of Savings Groups by reading our 2020 Impact Report. We’d love your help equipping entrepreneurs with Savings Groups! Find new ways to support Five Talents here.

Virtual Lunch in Karamoja, Uganda

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications & Events Officer.

WIth our partner, the Karamoja Community Development Trust (KaCDT), Five Talents has worked in the Karamoja region in northeast Uganda since 2017. Communities in Karamoja experience regular food insecurity due to drought and flooding. Many families are pastoralists and few have been to school. There is almost no banking infrastructure in the region.

The KaCDT Community Trainers and Programme Leader, Anne Lokure, are passionate about meeting communities where they are and enabling them to support themselves through Savings Groups, literacy and business skills training. Savings Group members in Karamoja are proud of their Group ownership and are building a brighter future for their families.

Recently Anne joined us on Zoom live from Karamoja to discuss the programme’s challenges and success since it began and particularly in the last 18 months due to COVID-19. The KaCDT Community Trainers also prerecorded messages to share what it is like working directly with Savings Groups. Hear their stories by watching the video below.

Bond Conference: What we’re learning

This blog post was written in part by several members of the UK team: May Mak, Rachel Lindley, Charles Harvey & Megan Henderson.

Tanga, Tanzania.

Bond is the international development sector’s network in the UK and is an incredible resource. This year our UK team attended the Bond annual conference virtually to continue listening, learning and evolving. Here are some highlights of what we learned throughout the week.

May - Sustainable Economy
Dr Jason Hickel, Goldsmiths - University of London, highlighted that low-income countries (LIC) contribute the majority of resources, energy and labour that go into the global economy every year (on which high-income countries (HIC) are utterly dependent) and yet receive a mere fraction of the income generated by the global economy. Plainly put, the poorest 60% of humanity receive only 5% of the income from global growth every year. Value is disproportionately produced by the ‘global south’ and yet disproportionately captured, consumed and capitalised by the ‘global north’. Dr Hickel calls for a paradigm shift from ‘charity’ to ‘justice’ - so that LICs are not producing for consumption in the ‘global north’, but growing to meet their own needs first; while HICs need to move towards economic degrowth. His closing words perhaps pack the hardest punch: “Poverty is a consequence of exploitation.”

Rachel - Impact beyond Western Ideals
Evaluation is too often something NGOs do TO communities rather than WITH them. The language we use (“capacity building,” “developing world”) reveals an inherent assumption of superiority; that we have capacity which we need to transfer to the developing world so it too can be developed. We need to unlearn these assumptions (decolonising our minds), and instead learn to recognise and value the inherent skills in the different communities and cultures where we work.

When evaluating projects, we should ask communities “What does success look like for you?” Institutional donors often evaluate against fixed timelines, outputs and outcomes, with tools to measure them and a formula for ‘Value for Money.’ These are not bad in themselves - measuring effectiveness through evidence is important. But we must learn also to value communities’ own goals, perspectives and ways of knowing, as well as organic, unplanned outcomes.

It may be hard for us to ‘let go’ of our Western models. We spent years developing the analytical skills valued so highly in our culture. We should invest time in unlearning too, and getting comfortable with different ways of thinking, knowing and understanding. If the community (not the NGO or donor) owns the project’s objectives and its evaluation framework, the project is much more likely to achieve real and lasting impact.

Charles - Power
Power is at the heart of all equality, diversity and inclusion work. It is important for us to understand power dynamics because people might perpetuate inequality without knowing it. That's why it’s helpful to think about the different forms of power each of us have - some are obvious and others are not.

Less obvious or invisible forms of power can have a big impact on our behaviour. There are internalised beliefs that affect social norms such as sexism and racism, and historic structures embedded in our society that privilege the interests of some people over others, such as patriarchy and settler colonialism. Both shape our sense of what is normal, right or real and impact the decisions we make.

While it is important to look at the power within ourselves - as organisations we also need to consciously think about who we invite to our discussions so we don’t exclude any voices that should be heard.

Being aware of power dynamics and looking critically at how NGOs operate is the first step to being more inclusive and ensuring we maximise the impact of our work.

Megan - Ethical Communications
Five Talents started reviewing our communications last year - we’re currently undertaking a language audit and continuing to evaluate the processes we use when gathering stories from members. But, there is still more for us to learn.

There is no one size fits all approach to informed consent when collecting stories. On top of that - even the language we use as a sector is contested. It’s important as an organisation to continue evolving. What works in the UK may not work for our partners! It is a constant process of reviewing and re-reviewing to ensure that:

• Members hold the power in telling their story - it’s their story and should be in their voice;

• Our work is displayed accurately, authentically and with context; and

• We are not reflecting need as the only aspect of a community where we work.

Finding a balance to illustrate the work of our partners, appeal to funders and involve our members in content collection is difficult. We’re conscious that we are going to get it wrong sometimes! But we are grateful that our supporters are taking this journey with us as we work to make sure our content creation is always ethical and anti-racist.

We hope you’ve enjoyed these short snapshots of our learnings from this year’s Bond Conference. Why not join our next pop-in and ask us how we’re applying them in our work at Five Talents?

Our virtual Journey: the 2021 Tour de Talents

This blog post was written by Megan Henderson, our Senior Communications and Events Officer.

2021 Tour de Talents original route map.

On the 1st May 2021 Five Talents set off on our first-ever virtual challenge: the Tour de Talents! We encouraged as many people to sign up as possible and asked participants to spend a week journeying with us across the six eastern African countries where we work. We started in Morogoro, Tanzania, and set our finish line at Bujumbura, Burundi to travel (running, walking, cycling or even swimming) a total of 2,848 miles. With the help of three generous sponsors (Eigen, Glorious Brands and Weatherbys Bank), each mile logged raised £1 and crossing the finish line tripled the pot to a total of £8,544 - and what a week we had!

The week started off strong - on the morning of 3rd May we had already arrived in DR Congo, passing through 5 of the 6 countries on our path! Each time we entered a country, we shared the story of one of our inspiring entrepreneurs from the new destination - such as Selena from Uganda and Mary from South Sudan.

“We have always found pleasure in helping someone less fortunate than ourselves. We were particularly interested in reading the success stories Five Talents published during the Tour.” - Erica & Dave, Tour de Talents participants.

Just 48 hours in, there were only around 700 miles to go to make it to our end goal in Bujumbura, Burundi. Our staff and sponsors were bowled over at the enthusiasm of our participants. It was a result beyond our wildest dreams. We had participants from as far as Australia logging miles, and people of all ages. One primary school teacher had her students logging miles as a class during P.E.!

“I happened to be on The Isles of Scilly last week, just walking and appreciating what I have, especially after the many months with COVID restrictions. I was delighted my trip coincided with the Five Talents challenge, and over the week I logged 80 miles.” - Glenys, Tour de Talents participant.

Route map from Bujumbura, Burundi, to Mombasa, Kenya, with a stop in Terekeka, South Sudan.

By the end of the day on 3rd May we had already reached Bujumbura, but we knew we had to keep our momentum going. Another generous sponsor joined us on our journey and we decided to stretch our finish line from Bujumbura, Burundi, to Mombasa, Kenya, where Five Talents will begin a new programme this year. Along the way we made a stop in Terekeka, South Sudan, site of another new programme - this added 1,813 miles to our journey!

“When I heard that Five Talents needed volunteers to do some miles for Tour of Talents, I was up for it. I enjoy running and cycling and the further the better. My approach was going to be different as two weeks earlier I had fallen off my bike and injured my shoulder needing surgery. I could not run but I could walk, and I could only cycle on an inside static bike. So, during that week in May I walked and cycled as far as I could knowing that every mile was bringing in valuable resources for Five Talents.” - David, Tour de Talents participant.

By the morning of the 6th May, our virtual team had travelled all the way to Mombasa with another big finish - and still our walkers, runners and cyclists were hungry for more! So we chose to stretch our target again to Nyapyidaw, Myanmar, encouraging everyone to log as many miles as possible in the last few days. 

By the end of 8th May the team of over 240 participants logged a total of 7,040 miles and met nine talented entrepreneurs along the way! Together, with the generous support of both the participants and our sponsors, we raised over £11,000 which will bring Savings Groups to over 440 new members. 

We’re incredibly grateful for the overwhelming success of our first-ever Tour de Talents. We know, as a team, we can accomplish anything.

“When people work together, things become easier. My Savings Group is a place of relief.” - Honorine, Savings Group member in Burundi

Measuring Social Impacts of microfinance: the ESG podcast

This blog post was written by Charles Harvey, our Director of Partnerships, Trusts & Corporate Fundraising.

From a Savings Group meeting in Tanzania.

When investing in the future, companies often consider three main factors: Environmental, Social impact and corporate Governance (ESG).

Companies and their stakeholders are becoming much more aware of the ethical impact of their decisions with recent pressing concerns about the environment and social justice. COVID-19 has also thrown a spotlight on these issues and highlighted the need for us all to take collective responsibility for our actions.

Along with this has come a new generation of consumers who want to make a positive and sustainable impact, reducing or removing any harmful consequences from their actions. It can be difficult for companies to demonstrate their ethical credentials without a clear and tangible story to tell about the positive impacts they have through their business.

Five Talents provides women and men around the world who have been marginalised access to financial services, and training on how to grow a small business. Our community saving and loans schemes bring about lasting and systemic change, providing education opportunities and sustainable income. Training is delivered locally with partner organisations in the country & region where we are working; Savings Groups create a sustainable route for income generation and bridge societal differences at home and in the wider community; and they are owned and operated by the members themselves - they elect their own leaders and make decisions as a Group.

Five Talents CEO, Rachel, recently featured on the ESG Foundation’s podcast to discuss the social impacts and outcomes of microfinance on the communities where we work, highlighting how investing in our work can make a real difference to communities that have been marginalised, helping them to become resilient to frequent economic and environmental shocks.

The ESG Foundation exists to focus organisations on the positive Environmental, Social impact and corporate Governance behaviours that are vital to the wellbeing of the stakeholders they serve. It is a social enterprise which promotes and invests in ESG.

Listen to the podcast by clicking here or on the audio below!

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