We surveyed 733 women's savings groups, 16,917 women in all, across the seven sub-counties of Kilifi. The baseline tells us where to start, what to change and how we will know it has changed. Six findings follow. Each ends with the number we will be measured against.
What we found. 35% of groups already run a business together. Another 24% are registered and save every week but have no business yet: organised, disciplined and waiting for something to invest in.
What it means. We do not need to recruit women or build groups. The structures exist; what they lack is a route into the value chain.
What we will do. Work first with women who control land, through the groups they already run.
What we found. 47% of registered groups run an income-generating activity, against 21% of groups that are not registered.
What it means. Governance is not paperwork. Groups with elected officials, a guiding document and legal standing are the ones that hold an enterprise together.
What we will do. Functional Literacy builds the governance alongside the business, so the enterprise outlives our support.
What we found. Most members pay in cash, most groups keep it in a cash box, and most of those groups have no business. Groups that keep money in a bank or SACCO are more likely to run one: 44%, against 31% of box-only groups.
What it means. Money in a box earns nothing, builds no record and cannot back a loan. The digital tools are already in women's hands.
What we will do. Smart Money Management: save first, keep business and home money apart, and move group savings into accounts.
What we found. The youngest member is typically 28 and the eldest 60. 27% of groups include a woman under 25.
What it means. The belief that a woman cannot run a business is inherited, mother to daughter. So is the example that overturns it. When one woman rises, the next generation is in the room.
What we will do. Make each woman's success visible to the women and girls around her, and count the daughters who join in.
What we found. Amounts are small and remarkably regular across every sub-county. The discipline of saving is already in place.
What it means. Today women save hard, but mostly to borrow for survival. The savings have no enterprise to grow into.
What we will do. Mizizi gives the savings a business: hibiscus that pays within months, with trees beneath it for the years ahead.
What we found. Magarini has the most surveyed groups (125). Each sub-county has its own shape: select one on the map to see its flower.
What it means. A woman copies what she sees on a neighbour's farm. Concentrating the pilot makes success visible from one farm to the next.
What we will do. Pilot with 30 groups in Magarini, then follow the evidence across the county.
We measure rising, not attendance: the change in a woman's life, not the sessions she sat through. These are the baseline values for All of Kilifi. Pilot indicators are reported each season.
The six findings above draw on a few of the survey's questions. Here is the rest: 733 groups, answering on who they are, how they run, how they save and how they lend. The chips at the top of the page set the view for every chart. Showing:All of Kilifi.
How large the groups are, how old their members are, and what most members do for a living.
Shares of members, pooled across groups that gave usable counts, and the businesses groups already run.
Registration, written rules and elected officials: the structure an enterprise needs to hold together.
What members must pay in, what they save, how the money travels and where it is kept.
How the groups lend: how often, how much, against what security, over what period, and what happens when a member cannot pay.
Each row shades from the lowest sub-county (light) to the highest (dark). Wards with fewer than five surveyed groups are not shown, and a neighbouring ward is withheld where needed so they cannot be worked out (2 withheld).
| Indicator | All of Kilifi | Magarini | Malindi | Kilifi North | Ganze | Kilifi South | Kaloleni | Rabai |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered | 56% | 62% | 40% | 67% | 68% | 62% | 48% | 39% |
| Run a business | 35% | 39% | 29% | 28% | 41% | 45% | 30% | 37% |
| Guiding document | 89% | 90% | 81% | 93% | 92% | 95% | 94% | 82% |
| Agreed loan procedure | 73% | 79% | 64% | 85% | 74% | 88% | 56% | 62% |
| Save weekly | 80% | 70% | 87% | 78% | 81% | 93% | 79% | 77% |
| Cash box only | 60% | 63% | 55% | 45% | 82% | 59% | 59% | 60% |
| Members with M-PESA | 85% | 62% | 86% | 92% | 94% | 91% | 85% | 97% |
| Members with bank or SACCO | 26% | 19% | 19% | 49% | 29% | 34% | 8% | 18% |
| Members who control land | 49% | 46% | 38% | 51% | 53% | 48% | 68% | 43% |
| Ask for loan security | 30% | 41% | 11% | 55% | 43% | 11% | 30% | 8% |
| Typical saving (KES) | 400 | 400 | 300 | 400 | 1,000 | 500 | 200 | 500 |
| Typical loan (KES) | 5,000 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 3,000 | 5,000 |
| Groups surveyed | 733 | 125 | 111 | 120 | 104 | 97 | 81 | 95 |
| Ward | Sub-county | Groups | Registered | Run a business | Cash box only | Save weekly | Typical saving (KES) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adu | Magarini | 21 | 62% | 48% | 76% | 86% | 200 |
| Garashi | Magarini | 37 | 76% | 46% | 86% | 95% | 500 |
| Gongoni | Magarini | 19 | 42% | 26% | 58% | 74% | 500 |
| Magarini | Magarini | 21 | 48% | 52% | 10% | 81% | 800 |
| Sabaki | Magarini | 22 | 64% | 18% | 64% | 0% | 200 |
| Ganda | Malindi | 27 | 59% | 0% | 44% | 89% | 100 |
| Jilore | Malindi | 21 | 29% | 24% | 100% | 95% | 500 |
| Kakuyuni | Malindi | 22 | 50% | 95% | 59% | 100% | 3,000 |
| Malindi Town | Malindi | 19 | 37% | 26% | 37% | 79% | 800 |
| Shella | Malindi | 22 | 18% | 5% | 36% | 73% | 200 |
| Dabaso | Kilifi North | 19 | 68% | 32% | 58% | 84% | 400 |
| Kibarani | Kilifi North | 20 | 90% | 40% | 10% | 50% | 500 |
| Matsangoni | Kilifi North | 21 | 76% | 52% | 29% | 95% | 400 |
| Mnarani | Kilifi North | 21 | 57% | 24% | 52% | 81% | 200 |
| Sokoni | Kilifi North | 16 | 69% | 0% | 38% | 81% | 400 |
| Watamu | Kilifi North | 23 | 43% | 13% | 78% | 78% | 600 |
| Bamba | Ganze | 21 | 38% | 10% | 86% | 86% | 200 |
| Ganze | Ganze | 28 | 71% | 39% | 93% | 89% | 3,000 |
| Jaribuni | Ganze | 29 | 69% | 38% | 83% | 83% | 700 |
| Sokoke | Ganze | 26 | 88% | 73% | 65% | 65% | 2,400 |
| Chasimba | Kilifi South | 17 | 59% | 35% | 35% | 100% | 1,000 |
| Junju | Kilifi South | 19 | 100% | 63% | 26% | 95% | 200 |
| Mtepeni | Kilifi South | 20 | 75% | 40% | 75% | 85% | 600 |
| Mwarakaya | Kilifi South | 20 | 45% | 30% | 70% | 90% | 200 |
| Shimo la Tewa | Kilifi South | 21 | 33% | 57% | 81% | 95% | 500 |
| Kaloleni | Kaloleni | 21 | 67% | 38% | 95% | 86% | 200 |
| Kayafungo | Kaloleni | 21 | 52% | 43% | 71% | 62% | 1,000 |
| Mariakani | Kaloleni | 19 | 53% | 5% | 58% | 79% | 1,500 |
| Mwanamwinga | Kaloleni | 20 | 20% | 30% | 10% | 90% | 100 |
| Kambe/Ribe | Rabai | 29 | 41% | 45% | 66% | 72% | 200 |
| Mwawesa | Rabai | 23 | 52% | 35% | 70% | 87% | 1,000 |
| Rabai/Kisurutini | Rabai | 23 | 30% | 26% | 70% | 65% | 3,000 |
| Ruruma | Rabai | 20 | 30% | 40% | 30% | 85% | 100 |
Source: Ongoka Mama, Kilifi women's savings groups baseline (2024), 733 groups after removing 1duplicate record. Answers given in free text are grouped into categories; the text itself is not published. Values that are impossible (for example an age over 100, or more members with land than members) are left out of the figure they affect.Download the sub-county summary (CSV)
A structured survey of women's savings groups in Kilifi's seven sub-counties, completed in 2024 by trained enumerators, usually with a group's chair, secretary or treasurer. Member figures are as the group reported them. Shares of members use only groups with complete counts. One duplicate record was removed.
What this data cannot tell you: it describes groups as their officials reported them, not individual women's incomes. Figures are provisional until reconciled with the approved content pack.
Download the sub-county summary (CSV) ↓