Any woman in need can request to join our group.  After applying she is invited to attend our group meetings and visit other members projects for a trial period of 2-3 months.  After that length of time, if she is seen to be actively participating in our group she is officially welcomed to join.  Once part of the group each women donates 1,000 tsh (~USD $.44)/per month to the group, and this fund is used within the group.  She will be introduced to all the women, inducted into the programme and receive some training on any area in which she identifies a need.  Where possible, Jiendeleze will provide some small start up capital/equipment (e.g. a piglet, a sewing machine, soap making products, etc.) and this enables the women to start their own businesses.  Once their businesses grow the women refund the group either monetarily or in kind; this is then re-circulated among the beneficiaries.  Once a woman has become self-sustaining in her work, she is not asked to leave the group but to remain and continuing sharing her knowledge with others, thus creating a network of shared knowledge and progression.  You can read more about our approach here.



The women involved in Jiendeleze meet at least once a month.  The purpose of the meetings varies depending on the current activities and needs of the group.  There are two main aspects to the Jiendeleze approach: EDUCATION & SKILLS TRAINING and INCOME GENERATION PROJECTS.

OUR APPROACH

Jiendeleze believes that everyone has a talent and everyone can learn.  The women in the group have little or no education, job or skills with which to support their families.  Many are widows and single mothers.  Jiendeleze offers support and education in the areas of entrepreneurship, English, animal husbandry, making crafts, tailoring, agriculture and women’s rights.

The founding director, Jesca, invests her time into training the group as much as she can.  Jesca has a background in Law and works with the group to teach them about their rights as women.  More specifically, she teaches them about marriage laws, what to do when their husbands die and how to gain proper family inheritance.  (Read more about Jesca here). 

In areas out of her realm of expertise she invites guest speakers to work with the group. For example, the woman need to learn about agriculture and farming to help them prepare the farm so they can plant vegetables, maintain chickens, and ultimately have food to eat and sell.  A knowledgeable community member or volunteer from other countries are invited to come to teach all the woman. Alternatively, representatives of the group attend training sessions and seminars.  Jiendeleze adopts a training of trainers model (which we call the CauseWork model) to encourage sustainability and ownership.  For each of the different training programmes that our members have attended to date, a small group of representatives attend, are trained and then return to train the rest of the team.  This is not only cost effective but also encourages our women to learn from each other and builds a sense of togetherness.



Further, Jiendeleze actively encourages our younger women to go back to school to complete their formal education.  Currently a small group of girls are being supported to go back to school.  They will attend Second Chance Education Centre to receive formal tuition prior to sitting a national qualifying test which will enable them to re-enter the government system. In addition, Jiendeleze Women's Group regularly hosts visits from local health workers to speak with the women in our group.  Women in our communities face a disproportionate burden of all different type of health problems ranging from digestive diseases (caused by poor sanitation, lack of clean water and poor hygiene), reproductive health issues (caused in part from a lack of knowledge but also from a lack of choice over the sexual and reproductive health) to malaria and increasing chronic conditions.  We do not know how many of our women are infected with HIV, but continue to link them to services where they can test and find out their status.

Through donations from our supporters and our own revolving fund Jiendeleze can provide capital and/or supplies to our group members to conduct their own income generating activities.  The aim is to have 25 chickens per woman and 3 pigs per woman, which they can reproduce and sell.  A plot of land has been donated to the group and the women farm the land to raise and sell vegetables. 

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Others in the group have learned craft making skills to make bags, wallets and bracelets out of local materials and fabrics, which they can sell.  Others have received sewing machines which they use to make clothing materials for both local and tourist sales (see here).  Jiendeleze’s partnership with Honey Badger Lodge has initiated a path to the tourist market.  Some of the women in our group have been trained to make soaps, jams, clothing and accessories, which will be purchased by local businesses for their routine use, providing us with a sustained market for these goods.



The proceeds of the above go back into the group fund and a portion of the profits are distributed to each woman.  As these projects become stable, the organization will be able to fund its own projects without outside support.