Provision of financial training, business education and access to finance

A theme running consistently through the stories was the importance of the training in savings, financial literacy and business planning in terms of understanding how to start with even only tiny amounts of cash resource, multiplier effects of mobilising groups to work together, how to plan and how to spend sensibly and strategically.

Introduction of Financial Services in the community via OBUL

The introduction of the OBUL bank branch has provided a visible and approachable presence in the Nakivale community, removing barriers to financial services through physical access and through the mobilisation, advice and training available. Employing and promoting members of the local community also removes barriers of lack of trust in financial institutions and makes the institution more accessible.

"Most refugees don't have access to loans. To change this they formed small groups to save together as refugees and then when OBUL came to the settlement and opened a branch, they were already sensitised and organised, ready to benefit from accessing financial services, opening accounts and receiving small loans."

Mazza

Dolib, OBUL intern, Kampala

"People come together from different countries, form groups in order to train, to give ideas to each other. With a facilitator from OBUL they gain skills and can start saving even with very little. From these skills they can go on to apply for loans to create or enlarge businesses to support their families By grouping together they can overcome the challenges from where they came from. They give counselling to one another."

Simon Kibwila Kimuke, OBUL Financial Inclusion Officer, Nakivale

Changes

Changes to the living standards of refugees as well as to their well-being were recounted through the story circles, and especially through the participatory video stories that had been voted as those that demonstrated the 'most significant change'.

Increased confidence and self-esteem

As a result of the formation or joining of groups, counselling and training in income generation skills and financial management skills, participants spoke of them gaining in confidence and self esteem, feeling able to speak in public and to begin enterprises or seek work One video storyteller summed up this as feeling the 'brotherhood spirit'

Improved standard of living

Having been empowered to begin saving and in many cases start their own businesses, all of the participants in the story circles reported that they were now able to feed their children and most of them could now afford school fees for them. Some had been able to build their own houses and buy household items and equipment for their businesses. Many spoke of the transition from having to work simply to put food on the table, to being able to sustain themselves from their own enterprises and produce from their own plots of land

Business growth

The video stories in particular demonstrated that once participants had received training and had access to financial services, they had been able to grow their businesses, or diversify their income streams to have more than one source of income. The importance of empowering women in accessing loans and financial services was also seen as key to improving the position of the whole family, in that they too could run their own income generating enterprises, bringing increased income to the family

Creating employment opportunities

One participant described how the ability to invest in additional sewing machines not only increased her capacity as a business to generate more tailoring opportunities, but also to gain income through training others and then provide employment for them

Increasing food security

Some participants benefitted from training in agricultural practices and through sharing plots of land or being able to buy their own plots were able to move from working solely to gain food, to being able to provide food for their families through their own farming endeavours, thereby decreasing dependency and becoming more self-reliant.

Hope for a better future

Many participants described their arrival at Nakivale in terms of the enormous barriers they faced, which seemed at the time insurmountable. The enabling interventions had shifted their mindsets to a point at which hope was again possible and a future was worth imagining

"The three days were a success for us - we have managed to capture the challenges, enablers and changes. People are now having access to financial services - they can open accounts, they can save and they can get loans and from those we have seen people creating jobs They have now their own businesses and have started working."

Nelly Kamikazi, OBUL Financial Inclusion Officer, Nakivale

Most of them have created jobs after accessing financial services - they have also grown their businesses. Most are selling, employing other workers and improving their standard of living. They take their children to school, pay rent and this has also benefitted their self-esteem. They can now stand in public, they can get married, they can stand confidently to teach each other and teach others

Confiance Ishimwe, OBUL Financial Inclusion Officer, Nakivale

Dreams/ aspirations

During the story circles and the recording of the six participatory video stories, trainees were struck by the forward visioning of the participants, so added the category 'dreams/aspirations' to the participatory analysis, as it demonstrates that the interventions of the programme do not end with the changes that have already taken shape up to the midline evaluation point, but project into the future. These dreams set some additional milestones from which to measure distance travelled on the journey to independence and self-reliance at the end point evaluation. Perhaps more importantly they show the greatest journey of all that could continue after the end of the programme, and that is having the tools, confidence and support to aim high and speak out.

Continued support and guidance from financial services

In order to create sustainable futures and improve living standards for refugee families, participants want access to more trainings and access to loans to enable existing entities to expand and/or diversify their businesses/income sources and to ensure that those in the community who have not yet benefitted from the programme interventions to date have access, with the additional support of those who have already benefitted The participants identified women in particular as a focus for more interventions.

Developing support and guidance in identifying and pursuing new income generating activities

Building on the examples presented in the videos whereby groups such as Wentezu have enabled skills sharing in craft making activities, or Pamoja and Abamwe have focused on agricultural skills development and skill sharing, participants felt that training or guidance in identifying new ways of generating income to help diversify their businesses, or start new enterprises would help to create more diversity in business ventures thereby avoiding saturating the market with too many businesses offering the same products or services as well as being beneficial to the community in terms of adding to the choice of goods and services available locally.

Continuous business growth

Continuous business growth came through the story circles and through the examples of future aspirations in the video stories, as well as in the community screening discussions. To enable this, participants identified improving access to loans, by making larger loans available to refugees, with easier repayment options and lower interest rates

Investment in the next generations

Whilst the interventions to date have enabled many families to send their children to school and generally improve their standard of living, participants identified the need to create the circumstances in which children would be supported in gaining their education, whatever the circumstances of the parents or their businesses.

Recommendations by the local evaluation team

The following recommendations have been generated by the local evaluation team as they concluded their participatory analysis of all of the data and created their video report and from the discussions at the community screening The animated and lively groups at the community screening conducted their discussions in their mother tongue and captured their key observations via a flip chart and through presenting back to the wider group at the event. Trainees translated these and sent through their notes following the final event to be incorporated into this report

Most significant changes

The programme has brought a better life to the population of Nakivale. Through financial literacy, the programme has given people skills and knowledge on how to manage their small incomes and has taught them how to save and where to save their money. It has also built their confidence to apply for loans and the capability to pay them back.

The RISE programme and OBUL have united people - they work together and trust one another. People now save enough for food and to start small businesses. They can feed their children. They have gained self-reliance, they understand personal money management and they have lost their fears of working with financial institutions. The programme has reduced poverty within the population by helping people understand how properly to use money It has given hope of having better lives and confidence to start businesses.

"We have peace because poverty has been reduced. We use and share knowledge to do our activities - we work together in groups."

Community discussion, Group One, October 19 2022