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On 16 and 17 March 2024 in Mwenga, a capacity-building workshop brought together the management committees of solidarity mutuals to standardise their monitoring tools. Technical, unglamorous work — and decisive for the durability of Indigenous women's financial inclusion.

A solidarity mutual does not survive on good intentions. It survives on properly kept ledgers, correctly recorded contributions, tracked loans and accounts that every member can understand and verify. When each group uses its own formats, comparison becomes impossible, monitoring deteriorates and trust erodes.

A clear objective: speaking the same language

Under the Women in Action project, PIFEVA convened this workshop at the Bana Mwenga hotel with an explicit purpose: to put in place tools enabling sound management, effective monitoring and quality support for solidarity mutuals across Mwenga territory. Three results were expected — standardised management and monitoring tools, strengthened participant capacity, and a shared common vision.

Participatory, not top-down

The methodology was deliberately participatory. The facilitator and moderator guided discussion by drawing on participants' local knowledge in order to capture and formalise it. Breakout groups organised by structure surfaced the tools actually in use in the field, before plenary presentations and collective improvements. This is an approach PIFEVA applies systematically: existing practice is not replaced, it is the starting point.

Four levels of information

The workshop structured the information system around each actor's role. At member level, cumulative contributions and socio-economic progress are tracked continuously in individual passbooks. At mutual level, information is updated at every meeting, for testimony and follow-up. Local endogenous facilitators verify records weekly or at each visit, and supervisors carry out verification, monitoring and evaluation on a quarterly basis.

This architecture reflects an accountability standard PIFEVA applies across all its projects: every data point must have an identified producer, a defined frequency, a demonstrated use and a dedicated tool — all designed against gender- and human-rights-sensitive criteria.

Why it matters

Solidarity mutuals and village savings and loan associations are the entry point through which thousands of Indigenous women reach financial autonomy. They finance income-generating activities, absorb shocks, and make it possible to buy seed or pay school fees without resorting to predatory lending. Across the organisation, that means 300 mutuals and 600 savings groups supported, and 8,113 women-led income-generating activities backed. Solid tools are what separate a lasting dynamic from a short-lived experiment.

THE WORKSHOP AT A GLANCE

16–17 March 2024 workshop dates, in Mwenga

3 expected results achieved: standardisation, capacity, shared vision

4 monitoring levels: member, mutual, local facilitator, supervisor

300 / 600 mutuals and savings groups supported by PIFEVA