Women Empowerment

The "Women Rising" Initiative is a comprehensive program that addresses systemic barriers to women's economic participation. Microfinance and Savings Programs include "Tusaidiane" (Let's Help Each Other) savings groups with 2,340 active members, a microcredit facility with a 97% repayment rate, financial literacy training reaching over 4,500 women, and insurance products protecting women's investments. Skills Development and Entrepreneurship encompass training programs in areas such as soap making, beekeeping, poultry farming, and food processing, business development services including market research and business plan development, trade fairs and exhibitions promoting women's enterprises, and mentorship programs pairing successful businesswomen with emerging entrepreneurs. Agricultural Empowerment offers climate-smart agriculture training for over 3,200 women farmers, distribution of improved seeds and farming inputs, installation of irrigation systems benefiting 45 women's cooperatives, and post-harvest handling and value addition training. A Case Study - From Subsistence to Success tells the story of Mary Awino from Migori County, a subsistence farmer who, through St. Martin CBO's agricultural empowerment program, transformed her life, establishing a vegetable greenhouse and poultry farm, now generating $300 monthly income and employing three other women