Women in Trade Engagement Activities in Siaya, Makueni, and Kilifi Counties

TradeMark East Africa’s Women in Trade (WiT) Kenya programme, seeks to contribute to the greater inclusion of women in trade as one of the pathways to increased business competitiveness and increased participation in cross-border trade and export within the agricultural sector in Kenya by eliminating barriers of entry to trade which includes information asymmetry. 

To achieve this, Sauti took the lead on increasing participation of women traders in select sectors through the expansion of its digitized platforms, specifically USSD/SMS and WhatsApp. The targeted project counties included Siaya, Makueni, Kilifi, Migori and Bungoma. 

Sauti implemented the project in two phases; information phase and engagement activities phase. The Information phase focused on expansion of Sauti’s digital platform content through the support of partners and subject matter experts to include information on  agriculture, health, legal aid , finance management as well as business operations information. Sauti also expanded its information channels to include Sauti  whatsapp. 

The second phase of implementation is the engagement activities focused on sensitization and awareness activities characterized by training and media campaigns. Sauti is working closely with the Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme II through the county programme coordinators to ensure successful implementation of the programme to the targeted beneficiaries in the targeted counties.  

The TOT model of training has been adopted for the digital training workshops and so far 220 women traders and farmers have been trained in Siaya, Makueni and Kilifi counties. The TOT’s have been strategically selected to represent the local women leaders of the different community groups in the respective counties. The community groups represent various interests including: table banking groups, poultry farmers, dairy farmers, disability groups, youth and gender groups, women’s rights advocacy groups among many others. Each of the trained TOT was equipped with marketing materials to distribute and train fellow members in their respective groups.

To further increase outreach and awareness on the digital information platforms, Sauti has engaged local radio stations that target farmers and traders in the project counties. Sauti is working with Nam Lolwe FM, Mbaitu FM and Radio Pwani that have coverage in the western, eastern and coastal regions respectively.

Get in touch with Sauti

Contact us to find out more about Sauti and our services. We are happy to answer any questions you may have!.