The two groups have been recognised by both NGOs and government officials and are offering
collaborative support as channels of policy implementation for household energy initiatives.
It is surprising to note that no member of the groups can remember how much money the women
used to have before marketing of the stoves. They just explain that they used to ask for money
from their husbands to buy salt, soap and small household utilities. One of the members explained
that none of them ever dreamt that they would be able to pay school fees and more still,
contribute to and even build a house. Now the members of the groups have control over an average
of Tsh.20, 000 to Tsh.25, 000 (US$28.6 to US$35.7)* a month from stove sales.
Some individuals within the group have benefited more depending on the level of capital used and
labour provision available. In November 1998, Rahel Shigela of Juhudi women’s group reported
that she made Tsh.918, 000 (Us$1,312) out of stove sales. After buying iron sheets, she had a
balance of Tsh168, 000 (US$240) in that same month. The men now want to learn how to
produce stoves from the women and are sharing responsibilities in the home.
MATI-U is moving forward with these groups to improve their skills in record keeping and proposal
writing, to enable them to source for funding and establish a small-scale ceramic stove production
factory which will enable them to request for loans from micro-finance institutions.
Source: Ben Mwenda, Farmers Training Coordinator, Ministry of Agriculture Training Institute,
Ukiriguru.
Case study developed by Sengendo, Muchiri and Gitonga.
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