Analyzing the factors for success
Complex and interrelated factors account for the ability of the Kalimani women to work well together and with others, say those who have studied the project. The climate itself, with its long periods of drought, has forced people to work together simply to survive. Their Akamba tribal heritage also plays a role. Akamba men have traditionally been traders and were often away for long periods, which strengthened the role of women."There is also a high level of literacy in the community, creating a critical mass of literate and trusted people" who are able to carry out a project, said Donna Pido, an anthropologist who studied the project for the IDRC. "These women are very good at forming a committee and getting work done," she added. "The Akamba women have for several decades had an outstanding record in terms of their ability to overcome the petty gossiping and picking on each other that breaks up women's groups in other parts of Kenya and Africa."
Another important factor, said Dr. Pido, has been the intervention by Rehema, specifically by Geraldine Robarts. "It goes entirely counter to the current thinking and trends in the development community - you are not supposed to say that it is a white woman from the outside who gets the thing to work in this group," said Dr. Pido. "But that is what it is."
"The Kalimani women would like to do things on their own," she continued, "but even if they could get to Nairobi and find the embassies that control the aid money, which they can't, they couldn't speak the language that the donor agencies speak. So it doesn't matter how well organized or how well motivated a group is in a rural area in Eastern Africa - if they do not have someone intermediating between them and the outside, they don't have a prayer."
