Unlimited MasterPeace Kenya was initiated out of the dire need of creating partnerships and joining hands with impoverished people to alleviate poverty. The organisation has been working in three different provinces of Kenya, focusing specifically on five development areas (DA); Mombasa, Kwale and Malindi, located in the Coast province, Kibera slum in Nairobi, and Chemorut village in the Rift Valley.
We have run three key programs in the country:
- The Women Empowerment Program (WEP)
- The Capacity Building Program (CBP)
- The Education Support Program (ESP)
Most women in developing countries normally do all of the essential work in and around the house (e.g. cooking, raising the children, fetching water, etc.) and they do not generally get involved in any income-generating work. Hence, these women do not have control over the family income. They are also denied the right to own and inherit land or property.
In order to address these issues, Unlimited MasterPeace has implemented a Capacity Building Program that trains women’s groups with various skills, including: book keeping, loan appraisal, micro-enterprise business skills, leadership skills, and the formation of a constitution. In parallel with this program, the organisation has also started to provide microcredit loans to women’s groups, enabling them to establish their own micro-enterprises in order to empower them economically.
In 2008, two volunteers from Give Kids a Chance Foundation went to Kenya in association with Unlimited MasterPeace, and thanks to the generosity of independent donors, microcredit loans were given to women's groups in Kibera, Malindi, Mombasa and Chemorut.
So far, 20 women’s groups have benefited from microcredit loans, for a total of 400 women. This, in turn, means that 260 households have had access to credit in order to improve their livelihoods.
Within the various women’s groups can be found single mothers, elders and widows; many of whom are directly affected by HIV/AIDS. Mwanakombo, a forty year-old woman who is one of the beneficiaries of the microcredit program, shares the following:
“I have been married to my husband for over ten years and I have not been able to give him children, so he decided to marry a second wife. This led to all the attention being given to the second wife and I was neglected and discriminated by my husband, his family and the community at large. Since receiving a microcredit loan from Unlimited MasterPeace-Kenya, I was able to start my own business, hence becoming economically stable and independent. Ironically, now I receive all the attention and respect from my husband, his family and the community, this is because I have become the breadwinner in the house.”
Did you know…
One billion people around the world live in city slums and these numbers are expected to double in the next 25 years.
Slums do not have water, sanitation, garbage collection, storm drainage, street lighting, paved footpaths, roads for emergency access, schools and clinics within reach, and safe areas for children to play in.
