In the forest-adjacent areas where HSHC implements its projects, most people are small-scale farmers. Three million people live in the Mt. Kenya region of which 1 million live below the poverty line and have to survive with an income of less than 2 dollars per day. We focus our work on those most in need.
Target groups include:
• Small holder farmers
• Women-headed households
• Orphans and vulnerable children
• Small-scale entrepreneurs
• HIV/Aids affected households
These groups deal with a variety of problems. Access to necessary agricultural inputs is inadequate which leads to low farm output. Food security is low and the diet is unbalanced with high malnutrition rates as a result. Lack of business skills amongst the population hampers the development of a vibrant rural economy. Those that do have the skills face the obstacle of accessing credit to start a business.
Small-holder farmers are dependent on and exploited by middle-men who buy their produce at low prices. Local resources are under-utilised; reasons include lack of knowledge about the economic potential of these resources, lack of technology to process them and lack of capital to start businesses.
Families are generally large with an average of 6 children. Even though primary and secondary school is free now, families still face costs for uniforms, books, other supplies, meals etc. Many families cannot afford to send all their children to school. Traditionally preference is given to boys. The rate of enrolment is 3 boys for every girl. The illiteracy rate is unacceptably high. Women often suffer from human right violations, e.g. (domestic) violence and the lack of property rights.
Help Self Help Centre has organised the population is so-called “Self-Help Groups” to enable them to address their problems in a coordinated way. Since 1993 HSHC has supported the formation of more than 280 groups.
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A successful group in tree nursery
Mathina (which means “problems”) women group started in 1997 by 30 young mothers who had problems getting basic needs for their young families. Because of the numerous problems they experienced, they choose the name of their groups as “problems”. When they met with the officer from HSHC, they were trained on tree nurseries as an income generating activity and approached the government for allocation of space inside the forest where there are two rivers and their request was granted.
The group has a well tended tree nursery with all kinds of trees both exotic and indigenous. The nursery has been enlarging as demand for the trees increases from the local areas and other tree planting projects supported by the government and other NGOs.
Currently, the group has a population of over 350,000 trees. The sales from the seedlings are impressive as they are able to get big orders. Estimated sales per year are on average worth Ksh 850,000 which is a lot of money in rural economy. They also have 28 beehives in the same plot and intend to increase the hives and go to commercial honey production.
The living standard of the women has totally changed, their homes are more comfortable, children are going to school and others have started income generating activities. The chairlady has started a wholesale shop and she is able to educate her children in secondary schools.
Indeed every member of the group has a success story to tell and they are all looking forward to achieve greater things. Interestingly, they are now deciding to change the group name since they are now better off.
HSHC has ensured the group is equipped with leadership, organizational and technical skills for effective project management and is linked to markets.
Members of the group all praise HSHC, as the organisation has completely transformed their lives. |
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