The women shown in these photographs are several of the women informal economy workers whom I had the privilege to collaborate with during the creation of a microcredit program.  Through their collaboration, I was able to gain a small understanding of their lives, their businesses and their participation in microcredit.  All of the women are mothers who work 14-16 hours a day balancing their many roles as mothers, wives, community members and business owners with their participation in a microcredit program.  Despite the fact that the women build skills and relationships with other women in the community as microcredit participants, what cannot be ignored is the fact that their participation often adds stress to their busy lives in which each must balance their daily responsibilities with microcredit requirements.

The micro-credit program provides social development, microenterprise development and legal and consumer education training for rural women running their own business in the informal sector.

Social development is the first component of the microcredit program in which women interested in building or supporting their own microenterprise are required to join and formalize a group of ten women. Through training and workshops, the women are taught how to form an organization, elect leadership, set goals and projects, and establish their own constitution to become a registered group. This encourages independence, ownership and critical analysis among the members as they implement and manage the process of development at the grassroots level, whether economically, socially or politically, and take responsibility of the changes they want to see in their communities.

Microenterprise development is the second component of the microcredit program that assists women running their microenterprises in the informal sector through training, skill building and the provision of small scale loans.   Training courses are required for each participant including simple savings, business management, and budgeting within the Kenyan informal sector.  Also, lessons are offered to expand the participant’s skills to diversify their income generating activities.  Microcredit with low interest is also available for participants who wish to expand their businesses with small amounts of capital.

Consumer and legal education is the expansion of the microenterprise training program. This program specifically ensures that women running their own microenterprises are fully aware of the legal requirements of running their own businesses and their rights working within the informal sector. There are numerous fees and taxes placed on businesses in the informal sector and often authorities are involved in the exploitation of workers who are not aware of the law thus fall victim to forced bribery or heavy fines and jail time.