Over the Jamhuri weekend, the Alfred Polo Foundation got the honour of hosting the Open Self Help Group from Kangemi at a meeting which was held at the Highlands Platinum Restaurant. Key topics that emerged at this meeting included, but not limited to: financial management, investments and auditing techniques.
With financial inclusion emerging as a major policy objective in the Kenya, self help groups (SHGs) are playing a pivotal role to extend financial services to large sections of the population. SHGs not only empower communities but they also help alleviate poverty. They do this by allowing people to save and contribute money on a regular basis, the members can then take low-interest/interest free loans which they can use to undertake self-employment activities or to venture into businesses without depending on money-lenders who demand exorbitant interest rates.
The Alfred Polo Foundation felt that due to the crucial role these groups play in mobilizing funds, proper monitoring and auditing of accounts on regular basis will help these organizations to work in transparent manner nurturing their relationship of trust and interdependency amongst themselves. Which is why we organised the meeting with the Open Self Help Group to give them skills on how best to run their group and manage their funds and assets.
The meeting started shortly after 2pm, chaired by our director Mr Alfred Polo, whereby all parties present introduced themselves and the various roles they play. The group’s management team briefed the Alfred Polo Foundation on how they conduct the group’s activities, such as who is in charge of collecting funds, how these funds are utilized, and how they keep records. Key issues that emerged from this conversation were:
- Gender parity – In the group’s management team, there was only 1 female representative. All others were male.
- Lack of efficient audits – The group regularly conducts its own internal audits. However, lack of an external auditor who was not affiliated to the group exposed the group to risk of fraud.
- Collection of hard currency – The group collects its funds in form of hard currency which is then carried and deposited in a bank account. This is dangerous given the risk of robbery.
- The group had not initiated any income generating activities.
- Most of the funds would be used to attend to social needs. For example: bailing someone out of a police cell, funerals, weddings, hospital bills among others.
After the above points were brought out by the group’s secretary, it was now up to the Alfred Polo Foundation to advise and empower the group on good financial management techniques. We had brought in a financial expert by the name of Sunday Ochieng, who possessed a wealth of knowledge on financial matters.
The following is what he advised the group to do:
- The group was advised to include more women in its management roles in order to boost transparency and confidence in the group.
- The group was advised to properly account for every shilling spent, and to engage the services of an external and unbiased auditor which would help cap any funds leakage.
- They were asked to invest in mobile money platforms and paybill numbers which would enhance collection of funds in a fast way and help in accountability. This method is also very safe and there is no need for individual(s) to walk around with large sums of money.
- The group was discouraged from using all their money saved to use on social needs. They were instead asked to focus on economic needs, and to utilise affordable insurance covers to take care of social needs.
- The group was asked to initiate income generating activities such as agriculture and other businesses, which would help the group generate more funds for themselves.
After the above discussion, certificates of participation were awarded to the group’s members courtesy of the Alfred Polo Foundation. Snacks and drinks were also served to all participants. The meeting was adjourned shortly after 4pm.
View photos from this event here:
A video on the event will be uploaded soon.