Sustainable Development Project with a community tailor shop in rural Kenya

My name is Sophie, I am an EUAV with Mondo and WEFOCO in Shianda village, Western Kenya. I am a fashion designer and a tailoring/entrepreneurship teacher working on the sustainable development of a rural community tailor shop. 

The WEFOCO tailor shop has a team of 10 tailors coming from several community groups working with WEFOCO around Shianda village. 

The aim of this project is to work together on making this tailor shop self-sufficient and sustainable in order to generate a stable income for the tailors and their community groups as well as create opportunities for more people in the community. 

The shop has four sewing machines, an embroidery machine and a TS-printing machine which makes it an ambitious ground for income generating and skills training. WEFOCO and Mondo with the help of volunteers have been working on improving this tailor shop for a few years. It has been a long and difficult process and in October 2020 Mondo decided to send a volunteer to work specifically on this project to give it a boost and understand, with the current tailors,  what is their goal and how do they see their community tailor shop situation today and in the future. 

When I arrived in October, the tailor shop didn't really have a specific team. The shop had been working on uniforms from October to January for years but the rest of the year they didn't really have regular orders. So it was only working full time during these three months per year.

I knew coming on the project that the main obstacles to the tailor shop's growth were: lack of team work and ownership, lack of capital and material, tailoring quality and respecting order delays needed improvements, lack of initiative taking and motivation. 

As I observed and questioned the tailors and the other parties involved about all of these during my first month here, I realized that there were a lot more things to be understood and talked about between all of them concerning the shop organisation as a whole. Regular communication between those parties on these topics was also something to be worked on with other problems such as rules, roles, income and activity tracking, community groups involvement, goals and ambitions, market strategies...

It all seemed like a lot to handle at once...

I had read a book on sustainable development in communities facing "unsolvable" problems called "The power of positive deviance - How unlikely innovators solve the world's toughest problems" by Richard Pascale, Jerry and Monique Sternin about a year ago. 

I knew the moment I read that book that I wanted to try their approach in my professional life someday. 

Sustainability, the complete involvement of the people I work for/with in every thing we plan and implement as well as the belief of giving a holistic view to all participants of a project have been for years something I value in my work. 

When I faced the tailor shop's challenges and obstacles during my observation phase, it became clear to me that this was a perfect ground for us to try using this Positive Deviance Approach. 

What is the Positive Deviance Approach? 

In short the PD approach is a problem solving approach planned and implemented 100% by the beneficiaries of a project. It is facilitated by someone who knows and explains the approach, brings people together and guides the participants throughout the whole process. 

There are five steps to this approach: 

1. Define the problem, current perceived causes, challenges and constraints, common practices, and desired outcomes.

2. Determine common practices and the presence of PD individuals or groups.

3. Discover uncommon but successful behaviors and strategies through inquiry

and observation. Outside work.

4. Design activities to allow community members to practice the discovered

behaviors.

5. Monitor and evaluate the resulting project or initiative which further fuels

change by documenting and sharing improvements as they occur, and help the

community discern the effectiveness of the initiative.

The approach also follows these Motos:

• “Don’t do anything about me without me”

• “Act your way into a new way of thinking rather than think your way into a new way of acting.”

• Focus on the “HOW” instead of the “WHAT” and “WHY” 

• Able to opt in and out of the project.

In the book, the experts explain how they implemented this approach in communities facing big and challenging problems such as childhood malnutrition in a village in Vietnam, female circumcision in Egypt or MRSA infections in American hospitals for example.

I thought if it worked in such huge and difficult situations and communities it could also work for a smaller project like the tailor shop.

So together with the tailors, after we built a team with regular tailors and new tailors interested in the community tailor shop, we started working on this approach.

And I am telling you: "Oh how an interesting journey it is for all of us."

Stay tuned if you want to read about how we have gone through all the steps and what is coming out of it.

Check out these pictures for a preview of the hard working team:

 I don't know how many days... 

First time I came to Kenya was in 2019 February. I have since travelled and lived in Uganda but still now back to where it all started- Shianda. And it feels great! Being very selfish of course, but it feels great to see the work you've been doing and to see the people and how they're moving on with their lives. Still, struggles are there, even worse because of the year we all have had but when I'm talking with my women groups, I feel they're empowered. They tell me, they shouldn't just idle around and not do anything. They should always find some things to provide them at least some food etc. It's the mindset, that they're explaining to have changed. And it's in their actions, the ideas and plans they have! It's empowering to me and to them and we know now, that difficult times are ahead but we will keep working. I'm very happy with the Shianda community, small and with a lot of resilience.

Me and COVID: Volunteer adventures in Kenya

Me and COVID: Volunteer adventures in Kenya

In March 2020 the pandemic was spreading around the world has all of us know, in Kenya with only 2 cases identified the government started preventive measures, closing schools, sting up a curfew time, and avoiding unnecessary travels. By then I was in Ethiopia on a trip to renew my visa (I’ve completed 6 months in Kenya and was ready for another 4). 

On my way back, because there was one covid case in Ethiopia, I had to follow self-quarantine in Shianda for 2 weeks. It is not easy to follow self-quarantine in Shianda, when you depend almost daily on market food since you don't have a fridge, but with all the support from other volunteers, I managed :) 

After one week, the number of cases raised (between 8 and 16) and Kenya decided to close the airport to all international flights. Now in 2 days' time, I had to pack my bags and go back to Portugal before there are no more flights. A lot of work pending and a feeling of sadness accompanied me as I get farther away from Kenya. 

(Last days in Shianda with the other volunteers) 

Gladly EU gave us the opportunity to work remotely, to at least finish some tasks, and support WEFOCO with the new needs: provide information to the community about covid and supply them with protective equipment. 

(Esther - on the right - distributing Covid information made during remote volunteering)

Finally, in September 2020, it was possible to return, since flights were operating frequently. On the return, everything flowed really well. Knowing the community and having clear tasks and goals in mind really allow the work to flow. I was really satisfied and noticing the impact of my actions in the capacity of the community. Training for caretakers of children with a disability was running weekly in two different schools and a manual for trainers started to become real. 

(Trainings in Rise and Shine and Precious Virginia Home)

After 2 months Covid strikes again... and now it came from being around the world ... to being inside my body. I got Corona virus! How? I don't know, the truth is that in the villages people are not so cautious, so the mask use is not implemented or when it is, they are wearing it not in the proper way. While traveling in public transport in the local communities (matatu) is also impossible to keep distance, since they still overpack the vans, despite the government advice. 

With home treatment, rest, and self-quarantine, my Covid was out of my system after 2 weeks. But the work was interrupted and we are now in January 2021 and  I'm still struggling to make things flow again. Has any volunteer in the field resilience and flexibility are a must, and this time I had to focus on what I can do?  My training were all canceled since the Min. of Education was not giving permission for me to be in the schools and then there was the Christmas break. 

Noticing the rise of covid cases in Shianda and Kakamega region, together with Esther (WEFOCO), we decided to prepare a second outreach in the communities on prevention and home treatment of COVID.  

The session has been really useful and with interesting discussions in the groups, a lot of members said that I am the first person they meet that had covid, and that some people still believe that covid is not real.  We also realized that the way their grandmas used to treat them for cold and flu is one of the best ways to treat covid symptoms at home. Some members were very surprised and proud to know that this ancestral natural medicine (eucalyptus steam breathing) can be helpful to overcome COVID.

(COVID19 Outreach in Women Groups)

The sessions are conducted in a participatory way and home treatment advice focusing on the potential of local vegetables, fruits, and plants to support on covid treatment, allowing the groups to feel more confident on what to do to prevent and if symptoms arise. We also learn about breathing and chest expansion exercises to help during recovery.  Thanks to the microfinance each participant in the session receives also vitamin  C tablets and masks. 

(Breathing and Stretching Exercices)

Has Covid decided to meet me in Shianda, I decided to use it has the advantage to build capacity in the communities.

So far so good!  

Andreia (EUAV in Shianda)