Kikuuma Women, a women’s collective, has signed a partnership with the Tat Sat Community Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (TaSCCOS), which focuses on community development and building. The partnership aims to give women equal access to financial services, literacy, education, collaboration with government and agencies and networking opportunities. 

In a region where women’s income levels are low, Kikuuma wants to advance their financial progress through combined efforts. This includes supporting community members who want to start or capitalise their businesses but don’t have the funding to do so, by providing access to loans with low interest rates, giving women the confidence to to reach their goals.

The group, which has a membership limit of 30 people, currently has 28 actively registered women, aged 20 and above. And the only requirement for women who want to join is to be “honest, hard working and committed to the group activities” set for the financial year.

One of Kikuuma’s main goals is to help diversify the daily income of each member’s homestead. Which is done by pooling savings and sharing the risks of loans obtained by the group, investing in small scale businesses and collective growing of seasonal food crops for sale like passionfruits, watermelon and tomatoes, and finding access to local markets for farm products. 

Outside of financial empowerment, the women’s collective also aims to raise health and nutrition awareness.