Moshi Chacha (47) is a widow living in Kubitere Village, Tarime District, Mara Region. Her late husband left Moshi with six children to look after and without a reliable source of income.

A turning point in Moshi’s life came in 2018, when she joined a USAID Waache Wasome (“Let them Learn”) Livelihood Improvement for Mothers and Caregivers of Adolescents (LIMCA) group. LIMCA is a community-based savings and lending platform that supports socio-economic change at the household level. The group’s interventions help put families in a better position to meet their daily needs and support the continued education of their daughters and sons.

Voluntary groups are made up of 20 to 30 members. They meet weekly to collect savings and contributions for social and education funds, to issue loans, and to make and monitor loan repayments. During the meetings, members also discuss community and business issues to support each other and receive training from volunteers and subgrantee staff in business and parenting skills.

“In LIMCA, I was able to take various loans at different times valued at TZS 500,000 ($217). I used the money to buy 50 chickens for the purpose of fattening them and selling at a profit,” says Moshi. “After a while, buyers started coming to my home to buy the chickens. For the first time, I started having a regular income.”

When her group completed the first cycle, Moshi collected TZS 200,000 ($87) as a “share out” from her savings and the share of interest paid on members’ loans. She used the money to start a second-hand clothes business, buying in bulk from Migori County in neighboring Kenya and selling at open air markets in Tarime District.

Through this business, she sells an average of TZS 50,000 ($22) per market, which translates to monthly sales of TZS 400,000 ($174).

“I am using the proceeds from my businesses to buy school materials for my children, and pay fees for one of them who is in a private school,” says Moshi, adding that all this would not have been possible had it not been for LIMCA.

Moshi Chacha is one of over 6,500 members (nearly 4,900 of whom are female) who have joined LIMCA since the inception of Waache Wasome in 2017. By the end of 2019, LIMCA members had cumulative savings valued at TZS 1.4 billion ($61,800) and had received loans worth nearly TZS 2 billion ($87,000).