DGRV supports the Kenyan co-operative movement since more than 10 years by offering technical capacities through advisory services, training, and education programs to our Kenyan project partners.
DGRV’s local office in Nairobi is operationalized through our local NGO ‘‘German Kenyan Cooperative Development’’. We are promoting a sustainable, inclusive, and innovative development of co-operative landscape. Besides important collaborations co-operative support organizations on national level such as The State Department of Co-operatives, The Co-operative University of Kenya or the Kenya Society of Professional Co-operators, we partner with the County Governments of Nyeri, Kaijado and Narok to implement our project.
In our advisory approach we are looking at the co-operative system as a whole and provide assistance at all levels of the co-operative ecosystem in Kenya.
Macro Level
We closely partner with the State Department for Co-operatives and County Governments to influence the development and implementation of laws and regulations which are conducive for cooperatives development. In the current project phase we are assisting the regulating Authorities to standardize and strengthen the supervision of small size Savings- and Credit Co-operatives (SACCOs). Furthermore, the collaborations at this level are aiming at pathing the way for promoting and registering new forms of co-operatives such as service or health co-operatives.
Meso Level
In Kenya, primary co-operatives are supposed to be united in co-operative Unions. A strategy which is yet to be fully rolled out. DGRV Kenya assists selected Unions in their formation and establishment of a service charter which meets the demands of the associated members in order to continue meeting their needs and sustaining the business of the Union.
Micro level
On this community level our technical support services focus on introducing innovations to the Kenyan co-operative space with a strong focus on including the Youth and Health Services into Co-operative models. In the area of youth economic inclusion through co-operatives we are partnering with entrepreneurial youth groups to demonstrate how co-operatives can be utilized to allow young members to participate economically, for example through service co-operatives. The project together with its partners also explores the provision of health care solutions through Health worker co-operatives, a concept which is entirely new to Kenya.
Activities and Projects 2024 – 2026
Female Leaders Mentorship Programme for Co-operatives – FLEP-Coop
FLEP-COOP is a mentorship program dedicated to empowering and advancing women leaders in Co-operatives. The program is supported by primary, secondary and Governmental stakeholders of the Co-operative sector in Kenya. We strengthen leadership skills, promote diversity and inclusion, and drive positive change in the mentees and the co–operative organizations and the communities they represent.
The program focusses in three focus areas: Enhancing women’s capacity for opinion formation and expression at a macro level; Equipping mentees to develop inclusive work environments for women in leadership roles while addressing both family and career requirements at a broader societal level; and fostering leadership aspirations among women in cooperatives.
Together with the FLEP-Coop Mentors, experienced female Co-operative leaders, we grant women (Mentees) the support and skills to discover their leadership potentials and navigate through challenging experiences. The Mentees are being equipped with tools to ensure women have equal opportunities in Co-operative set-ups, to advance freely and feel valued in their organizations.
The 1st cohort of FLEP-Coop runs from September 2024 to December 2025. During that period 12 aspiring female co-operative leaders will be mentored by experienced female co-operative leaders to grow in their roles – professionally and personally.
Youth and Innovation in Co-operatives: KYSC CoffeeTuk Business
KYSC is the first and so far, the only registered innovative youth service co-operative society in Kenya. Guided by their Strategic Plan 2022-2025, KYSC aims at its’ institutional development as a co-operative and economic sustainability, using the entrepreneurial potential of the associated young women and men in the Kericho County.
Through the partnership between Kipkelion Youth Service Co-operative Society Ltd (KYSC) and DGRV Kenya, KYSC as a cooperative has witnessed noticeable growth in its management, leadership, operation as well as plans towards sustainability. The cooperative currently operates its popular brand KYSC CoffeeTuk business in Kericho town, a journey that started in August 2023, characterized by achievements, lessons learnt, as well as its own normal start up challenges to learn from.
With this partnership, DGRV Kenya has influenced a paradigm shift, with KYSC taking lead as an example of a successful model that can be adapted. As a result, KYSC have been able to achieve the following: Strengthened financial management and leadership competences within KYSC, Enhanced leadership guidance of the cooperative through the board, and Motivation to continue promoting innovation within their cooperative, which turns out to be a good model to other youth driven co-operatives.
The success achieved so far is remarkable, and it is an encouragement to other youths looking for business or source of livelihood, to create their own businesses through a Cooperative Model.
Healthcare Workers Co-operatives in Kenya: A DGRV Kenya’s innovation in the Health and Co-operative Sub-Sectors in Kenya
With its diverse and extensive experience derived from the previous project phase while partnering and supporting the introduction of various innovations in Kenya like the registration of the only union in the country that is offering cooperative education, training and information to the primary member cooperatives, the Kakamega County CETIC Cooperative Union; as well as initiating the only youth cooperative that is offering hospitality services and products in Kenya, the Kipkelion Youth Service Cooperative Society Ltd, DGRV Kenya continues to pioneer a major positive transformation and innovation in the cooperative sector in Kenya.
DGRV Kenya is proud once again to have taken the lead in initiating the 1st Healthcare Workers Cooperative in the cooperative and health sub-sectors in Kenya.
The introduction of the Healthcare Workers Cooperative is in collaboration with the County Government of Nyeri (The project’s partner) and healthcare professionals from Nyeri County. It is envisaged that once the cooperative starts operating, it will complement the Kenyan Government initiatives of addressing the SDG 3 – “Good Health and We-Being”. At the same, it will provide decent employment to few healthcare professionals in addition to showcasing a different innovative way of providing healthcare services using the cooperative business model.
Upscaling the Strengthening of the Supervision of “Small” SACCOs in Kenya: A DGRV Kenya’s new initiative!
To strengthen the supervision of the “small SACCOS”,DGRV Kenya has scaled up and rolled out its “Risk-Based Standard Supervision Framework for Non-Withdrawable Deposit Taking SACCOs” to the County Governments of Kajiado and Nyeri, which it had developed sometimes back, in collaboration with the Directorate of Cooperative Development, County Government of Narok.
It is envisaged that, once the framework is fully implemented, the cooperatives’ officers will be able to identify early the “red flags” in the “small SACCOS” with financial distress for technical support as well as having a helicopter view of the status of the SACCOs in their respective counties.
Madeleine Müller
Elizabeth Muhia
Stanley Migwi Wanjohi
Daisy Rotich
Paul Kamau Kangethe
Richard Kibuchi
Irene Irungu
Godffrey Kimathi
Kipkelion District Cooperative Union Youth Council
The Co-operative University of Kenya https://www.cuk.ac.ke/
Ministry of Industry, Trade And Cooperatives http://www.industrialization.go.ke/
German Kenyan Cooperative Development
C/O DGRV Kenya
2nd fl Hardy Post Mall
Ushirika Road
P.O Box 15658-00509
Karen- Nairobi
Kenya
T. +254 (0)746 964499
info@gkcd.co.ke
https://gkcd.co.ke
Africa The DGRV Uganda Country Project commenced operations in July 2019, legally instituted as a non-profit International Non-Government Organisation (INGO). It is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), through DGRV’s supra-regional Project; “Promotion of Cooperative Structures in East Africa” as a contribution to strengthening and improving livelihoods in the rural […]
More
Africa In the small landlocked country of Eswatini we work with a well-established and prosperous cooperative sector which we supported and accompanied in the last couple of years to establish the National Cooperative Federation of Eswatini (NCFE) recognized by the government as the only Apex-body of the entire sector. DGRV is and will support the NCFE […]
More
Africa In South Africa we support different governmental institutions, cooperatives as well as traditional, indigenous structures to support primary cooperatives. Cooperatives are an important tool in South Africa to foster economic engagement of marginalized parts of society especially in rural and semi-urban settings. At the same time cooperatives play an important role when it comes to […]
More
