Nairobi Girls Get A Feel Of Finance….Business!

AUGUST HOLIDAY 19^th – 21^st REPORT

THEME: ENTREPRENEURSHIP

We recorded an average attendance of 73 girls. The participants are a holiday group largely from the community around Nairobi County and upcountry, aged between 10 and 19 years, with majority being 14 years of age.

Schools in Attendance

1. Ngei Primary14 girls
2. Uhuru Gardens Primary 9 girls
3. St. Michaels Primary 1 girl
4. Malezi Primary 4 girls
5. Malezi High  2 girls
6. Karen ‘C’ Secondary 3 girls
7. Langata Barracks High 2 girls
8. Langata Barracks Primary 1 girl
9. Nairobi Day Secondary  2 girls
10. Shunem Girls 2 girls
11. Mwaani  Girls 1 girl
12. Kinyw Girls 1 girl
13. Olympic Primary 17 girls
14. St. Catherine’s Primary 5 girls
15. Red Rose Academy 1 girl
16. Soweto Academy 1 girl
17.  Langata West Primary 3 girls
18. Free Methodist School 1 girls
19. St. .Marys Primary 1 girl
20. St. Michaels High 2 girls
21. St. Andrews 1 girl

Day 1 19^th August Tuesday

Covenor/Trainer: Ja Young Margaret

Lifeskill Games: Coach Mary Florence Akinyi and Rehema Akinyi

Attending: 83 Girls

The theme of the day was Being Money Savvy Jayoung Naphtalie Margaret. 

The girls were taught on all the essentials of money ;

• What is money: Girls were able to discuss in groups what they each think money is , why we use it, where we get it from. Answers ranged from ..’its what we use to get needs and wants, …what you take with you to the shop, market or super market…its coins and shillings…..its valuable and has value….its means of exchange in form of coins and bank notes.’’ Some appeared blank having never thought of the question before. With regards to why they answered..,…’use to buy what we need, …use to save….use to start business.’ When presenting on where do we get it from they said …..’ banks,…..savings….parents give….pick ‘’okota’’ ….business…De La Rue’.
• Evolution of money. Under this sub topic girls were able to see and discuss different forms of money as used in the olden days up to today. They discussed and shared what they think currency is some saying its like a form of money as everyone else agreed that it must be an acceptable means. We also got to see some samples of money in different forms as well as discuss the value of it inclusive of learning to know how to , what to change and which currency is used where.
• Papers for Life. This is a session done in goal and was important to teach the girls on what this papers/documents are for the simple reasons that access to lots of facilities in life including money in most instance would require this documents. Birth certificates, IDs, Passports, academic certificates, Marriage Certificates, land and property titles, business permits, health certificates, death certificates, baptism and the like. The girls were able to identify at least each one of the mentioned and see how they can use it in relation to money and other things.
• Skills v Qualities. This session was closely followed after papers for life where the girls were required to differentiate between the two as well as talents vs skills. This is an important session as they girls get to discover themselves have a basic or rough career guide outlook by weighing their abilities as well as seeing income opportunities. Eg one who is attentive to details, artistic and loves beauty would easily see and point out a skill related, develop it and market it and create a business from it therefore, income!
  
• Wants & Needs, Spending Decisions & Budgeting. This sessions were done closely together. Girls identifying and distinguishing wants from needs, doing a spending decision exercise where each group must have a budget with everything they want minus an income bit. Then each group is either allocated exact money , less or more their list. They need to use the wants and needs lesson and decide whats worth the spending.
• Saving Game and Saving. After lunch the girls had a saving game from which they drew broad lessons , that would be use through out the week including business , marketing , branding. They also each shared what they know about saving drawing lessons from the game and previous learnt sessions in the day.
• Each group had to prepare a song with the words ‘spend less than you earn and save something everyday or everyweek ‘ to present at the end of workshop. The composition is their own, the tune could be own composition or a tune they like, they could rap or anything as long as its creative.
• End of Day 1!

Day 2 August 20^th  Wednesday

Covenor/Trainer: Dr. Elizabeth Odera

Lifeskill Games: Coach Mary Florence Akinyi and Rehema Akinyi

Attending: 75 Girls in Attendance.
Theme Of The Day: Understanding What A Business Is

We started the day with the girls leading their ice breaker and recap of previous day sessions.

·      What’s a Business. The girls were each given a group to work with and supplied with business demonstration papers. 8 different business in picture and each of the groups needed to share what they see and make comments. Then each picked a business of choice to discuss on with guide questions on what they think the business is, why they think it was developed, what service or product is being provided, advantages to the customer, disadvantages, what could be improved. Each group had an extensive discussion and later each presented their findings.

·      Money, Business, Market game. Coach Mary Florence organized for two games, a number tag game & ‘rounders’. For the mid morning before lunch. We had 4 big groups and four ‘rounder’ fields. Each team had to play by the rules of the game paying attention to details as they relate it to everything we are learning under Girls and Finance. The main concepts and lessons were, learning to count and keep business records, learn to save, learn customer relationship, understand our products, learn value of time and speed in relation to the business products, understand risks, know what are smart risks and what are not, doing prior research on a business before launching on it, understanding the rules of the business, knowing when you need to change the business tactics to keep playing, know the health hazards depending on business.

·      Taking advantage of new opportunities , women in business. The afternoon was spent by girls looking into examples of women in business. They read Esther Pasaris Story and analyzed it by looking at the idea, its uniqueness, her income, and service to the community. We ended the day with each girl going home to think of an idea that they have.

Day 3, 21^st August Thursday

Covenor/Trainer: Dr. Elizabeth Odera

Lifeskill Games: Coach Mary Florence Akinyi and Rehema Akinyi

Attending: 75 Girls in Attendance.

Theme Of The Day: I Have An Idea and SWOT Analysis

Day three started with thorough cleaning of class and environment, with Florence Akinyi and Goal Champions.

• I have an Idea . Each girl had to report their idea to the group and decide which was the best to take.
• SWOT Analysis. Having arrived at the final idea , each group needed to analyze their business idea against its own Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats 
• CAMERA SHOTS were taken by Dr. Liz and Florence of each group and their ideas. THE VIDEOS WILL BE POSTED IN THE UPCOMING PLATFORM FOR GIRL POWER, LATER THIS YEAR.

Sigomere Ward, Siaya County Embrace Girl Power Clubs Africa!

Mary Florence leads an outdoor session

It finally happened! From the 16th to 23rd March 2014, more than 166 girls from 7 schools in Sigomere Ward became the first group outside of Nairobi to become Girl Power Clubs Africa members! The schools included St. Paul Sigomere Secondary, St. Ignatius Sigomere Primary, Moi Uloma Secondary, Ugana Primary School, Small Homes Sigomere, Got Osimbo Primary and Madungu Secondary. We were particularly pleased to welcome our hosts and new member, Small Homes Sigomere, which, for the first time, brings in inclusion of girls with physical disabilities and of whom have gone through social abandonment and emotional trauma, who are cared for by the Catholic Church, but who hunger for acceptance by other normal girls.
It was a wonderful week in March, one to remember, marking the first Girl Power Clubs launch in rural Kenya. Kudoas to the team: Project Assistants Jayoung Naphtalie Margaret and Paulette Akinyi under able leadership of Dr. Liz Odera, Maria Okong'o and Coach Mary Florence. 

Maria Okong'o in a light moment with the women team

 Championed by Maria Okong'o a phenomenal women's leader in the county, girls from this rural area, through their teachers, got the chance to attend the Girl Power Introductory Workshop, that provided them with a chance to attend an orientation on various important aspects of Girl Power Clubs Africa. Girls, their teachers and women from the community played soccer and netball, and attended discussions on issues affecting their lives and rights, both positive and negative with Dr. Odera and Coach Florence for 3 evenings. The women received Sadili t-shirts and balls to help them do more practice and improve self esteem.

Girls playing soccer

The Girl Power Workshop was ably led by the main facilitator, Dr. Liz Odera, while organization of meals, space usage, was coordinated by Coach Florence, who also assisted Dr. Liz with the outdoor life skill sessions on "My Body", Communication, and learning to say "No". Influenced by the feedback from the girls during the pre-workshop sessions, Dr. Odera included "A letter to may mother", a problem solving project that the girls and their patrons did an impressive analysis on and "This is MY body", an outdoor communication through body language session. Said Dr. Odera, "Its obvious that a lot of abuse, suffering and self doubt is going on in the community, and we must begin to address some of them, if we are truly going to help girls understand and choose how to get their power back."

Women and girls at netball

Jayoung Naphtalie Margaret tackled the "Communication" section of the Goal Book, with help from Queen. Each day closed with an open forum on "knowing my rights" which was led by Dr. Odera, with input from Maria Okong'o and Jayoung Naphthalie. 

Queen and Paulette ably set up the various activities, organized the registrations, and handled the icebreakers special group discussions and baseline questionnaires, while Queen led the video and photography.  The girls enjoyed having them, and approached them on personal issues that they needed to talk about. 

Young lady leads in an icebreaker

Digital storytelling continued to form an important part of our workshops and we presented stories from various girls that Florence Akinyi had put together, and she also had a chance to tell her story.

During the breaks, Dr. Odera ran an in-depth interview with the new patrons (teachers) from the schools. 

Primary girls communicating!

The next 8 months will see these girls become agents of positive change in their communities. They will use the Goal Book, but there will be great emphasis on entrepreneurship, and digital storytelling as well as traditional methods of communication as a means of connecting the girls, their schools and the women in order to enhance community involvement. Two project assistants and a coach will be required for this and have been identified after interviews in Sigomere.

Time for the baseline questionnaire

For the first time in their lives, many women and girls got a unique chance to express themselves openly amongst their peers, and a number were pleasantly surprised to find that thy too, have rights like boys, like everyone else, recognized by the Constitution of Kenya. Teachers were very happy, and expressed the hope that the program would help their students take eduction more seriously, grow their their self esteem, and be more active in both inside and outside the classroom. The Founder of Girl Power Clubs Africa expressed this event was historic, and emphasized,"every girl who comes in contact with Girl Power Clubs will be inspired to change for the better, that's was always my dream!"

This tour to Siaya was made possible by support from DLA Piper, a Women Win partner. We thank them both! What comes next? Just know that we are ready to talk to any organization or person who sees the great opportunities available in changing lives positively, contact us on girlpowerclubs@gmail.com with your offer. We want to keep this project going for the next 4 years to make an impact in the community.

 Background On Siaya County

In addition to being one of the poorest districts in Kenya, Siaya district also has the highest rates of

morbidity and mortality in the country due to infectious diseases. Infant mortality rates in Siaya are very high ranging from 80 to 200 per 1,000 births. The most common diseases in Siaya district are malaria, HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, and skin diseases. Severe malnutrition is another major problem within the community, with rates estimated at 2.5 to 5% in children less than 36 months of age. Over the last decade, the health within the Siaya community has been dramatically affected by HIV/AIDS. Recent unpublished studies by an NGO working within the region show that as many as 33 to 41% of the women who attend antenatal clinic during pregnancy are HIV positive.

Reported by Sadili Media Team