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Transcript/ScriptKENYA REFUGEES MICRO-LOANS (TV)
HEADLINE: Refugees Gain Financial Inclusion in Kenya Through Microlending Project
TEASER: An International Rescue Committee-backed project is helping provide refugees with microloans to start small businesses
PUBLISHED: 6/19 /2022 AT 2:00pm
BYLINE: Juma Majanga
DATELINE: Nairobi
VIDEOGRAPHER: Amos Wangwa
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: DLJ, Reifenrath
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __
TRT: 2:53
VID APPROVED BY: MAS
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO))
[[In Kenya, efforts are underway to better integrate refugees ahead of the planned closure of camps that house more than 400,000 people, mainly from Somalia, South Sudan and Congo. One project, backed by the International Rescue Committee, provides refugees with microloans to start small businesses. Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi.]]
((NARRATOR))
It’s midday in Nairobi, Kenya, a busy time for Enock Gatangi, who attends to customers at his grocery shop in the Kayole neighborhood.
The Congolese refugee started his business with a loan from Rangers Family Group, an urban savings and loan association to which he belongs.
((Enock Gatangi, Congolese Refugee in Kenya (Swahili, 13 secs))
“I have so many customers, both Kenyans and Congolese. But most of my customers are Kenyans.”
((NARRATOR))
Gatangi’s Rangers Family Group is one of twenty such groups that the International Rescue Committee humanitarian aid organization supports in different poor neighborhoods within Nairobi.
The groups are part of a program called Refugees in East Africa: Boosting Urban Innovations for Livelihoods Development, or Re:Build, a 5-year project to empower 20,000 urban refugee businesses in Nairobi and the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
((Boniface Odhiambo, Re:Build Project Manager)) ((English, 27 secs))
“The fact that refugees themselves have faced challenges in terms of accessing financial products from the formal financial institutions, the project had to design innovative ways on how they can get access to financial services and also boost their economic livelihood initiatives.”
((NARRATOR))
Under the program, refugees and locals form groups of fifteen to thirty members. The members then contribute shares, which are pooled in a mobile money app account that members can borrow from to run businesses.
Members say the project has improved their economic well-being.
(Shantal Zabibu, Rangers Family Group Chair (Swahili, 19 secs))
“Before, we could not access funds to invest. But since we came together and pooled our resources, if a member wants to borrow ten thousand Kenyan shillings, they’ll get it. If another wants five thousand, they'll get it. So, our lives have improved since we came together as a group.”
((NARRATOR))
Out of the half a million refugees in Kenya, approximately eighty thousand are based in urban areas. Their participation in the national economy hinges on integration.
((Boniface Odhiambo, Re:Build Project Manager ((English, 10 secs))
“When we focus on economic empowerment, we are giving the vulnerable or voiceless opportunity to also have a feel and contribution in the national cake.”
((NARRATOR))
The Kenyan government said the refugee camps will close next month, and all eyes are on the authorities to see what steps they will take.
Integrated refugees like Gatangi hope that if the camps must close, those who reside in them will be ready and able to live in Kenyan communities.
((Juma Majanga, for VOA News, Nairobi, Kenya))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Juma Majanga
Embargo DateJune 19, 2022 15:17 EDT
Byline((Juma Majanga, for VOA News, Nairobi, Kenya))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
