The project Improved livelihood through Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) strengthens the capacity and economic development of women at risk of  HIV/AIDS with low household incomes in the communities of Loro and Iceme sub-counties. The focus will mainly be on vulnerable rural women aged 15 to 30.

One of the outcome areas of the project will be the difference achieved in the lives of 240 group members directly by organising them into VSLA groups and increasing their capacity to access services and resources through government economic programmes such as youth and women livelihood programmes and linkages to financial and Business Development Services.

Eight women’s groups were formed and trained on different life skills including the savings culture. This greatly reduced cases of domestic violence by 60% because women started earning money to support the men in running their households which made the men to start appreciating their wives’ contribution. Individual women and groups started businesses due to the business skills trainings they received, a savings’ culture was promoted among women and it increased household incomes by 70% in the project area.

Change agents were identified and trained on GBV and HIV/AIDS awareness through community dialogues and trainings that were conducted. Men prefer that the women have limited income, and the savings groups offered more opportunities for income, this is what brought about a rise in gender-based violence which made the training necessary. Some of the rights holders were not even aware of some of their rights.

The community dialogues provided the rightsholders with an opportunity to engage with different stakeholders. The stakeholders were informed about the approaches the project is
using to implement its activities through village saving and loan Association to empower the
women in the community as well as strategies being used in the project implementation
which included; livelihood development, village saving and loan association governance,
linkages with other programs and opportunities, business skills trainings and finally, life-
skills and issues affecting women in the community.

The political leaders in the community got involved in most of the activities that were being
implemented including community awareness creation activities on various social
challenges affecting the community e.g. poor health services, a bad road network, domestic
violence and poor water and sanitation facilities. The communities started to organize and
respond to challenges of bad roads and health services by working hand in hand with other
stakeholders in the district to ensure that those services were improved.

Below are some of the specific results/ outcomes from the FICH Voice-supported project:

• Over 180 women started their own income generating small-scale businesses;
• Eight (8) self-governing VSLA groups were established, and they initiated group income
  generated activities;
• Women in the project area increased their savings by 80% on average;
• Three (3) women groups started farming group businesses;
• 86 existing businesses expanded their businesses and created job opportunities for
  women and family members;
• Overall, household incomes increased and women were able to mee household needs,
  meet the costs of medical/ health services and school fees for their children among
  others;
• The eight women groups were registered with the local government to help access
  government funds;
• Groups are self-managed with strong leadership ability due to leadership trainings to
  groups leaders;
• The project also led to improvements in family relationships as a result of life skills
  trainings offered to all the project participants by the Voice project; and,
• The trained community change agents gained capacity to communicate and advocate
  against gender-based violence which has resulted in decreased cases

Overall, the FICH Voice-supported project changed the lives of the rightsholders especially the women who previously were faced with gender-based violence. The project contributed to reduced cases of household and community conflicts as women and men were trained in mediation, conflict resolution and counselling.