Visit to the Kibera informal settlement in Nairobi

Often, when people talk about Kibera, they use superlatives: this is the ‘largest slum in Africa’, there are ‘more than 1 million people’ living here, 20 percent of HIV positive people live in Kibera, etc. Big statements are always made about Kibera. Because CARE actually works here, I got the opportunity to go beyond the superlatives and to meet the individuals and people who live in this part of Nairobi. I was able to go beyond the broad statements. When you do that, you see how hard people work in Kibera. Their days are incredibly long. We walked down one street where the metal workers and furniture makers are. They are mostly men. In the next street over it was full of hair salons and food stalls, mostly managed by women. There are lots of negative statements made about Kibera but people here are striving, trying to improve their lives and working incredibly hard.

In Kibera we went to meet women who are members of a Savings and Loans Group initiated by CARE. You see, many people hear about microfinance projects but not a lot is said about savings and loans groups. At the level where we work, these are mostly an insurance scheme. Group members have access to financial resources that belong to all. Because of this, when they have a critical need, they do not have to sell their livelihood assets like a sewing machine or take their children out of school to access money. I am quite happy to see those programs working. We have access to credit cards for borrowing small amounts of money but for poor people the savings and loans groups are their insurance scheme.

When you introduce these programs to people who do not normally borrow and exchange money, you actually prepare them for next step up on the financial ladder. The language around this practice may be clumsy but the concept is very powerful. If you prevent people from experiencing financial shocks they are much better off because they do not fall deeper into the poverty trap.

In urban settings like Kibera, where people come from different parts of the country, the savings and loans groups also have a role in promoting social cohesion and peace. Because people come together around a common need, financial security in this case, they are able to overcome other divisions—like ethnicity. There are definitely civil society elements at the core of the savings and loans group philosophy promoted by CARE. Although it may be challenging to measure the impact of these interventions, you can see when they work and hear it directly from the people who participate in them.