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Chamas for Change Gender and COVID-19 Matrix

The ‘Chamas for Change: A gender-responsive and microfinance-based approach to empowering women’ is an intervention and applied research project based in Trans Nzoia County in Kenya. It is part of a community-based programme in Western Kenya that was established in 2012 to support rurally residing pregnant women, adolescent girls, and mothers during the first 1000 days of their child’s life. To strengthen maternal and child health while supporting economic empowerment, the programme, led by community-health promoters, creates opportunities for group-based health education, peer support, and microfinance. Project evaluation indicates that participation in Chamas contributes to positive health outcomes associated with increased antenatal care visits, delivery by trained healthcare workers, exclusive breastfeeding, family planning uptake and infant and child immunization. Chama women also have more peer support including through relational accountability and agency in problem solving amongst themselves and the community at large. Chama women have reported feeling more empowered to care for themselves and their families. There are currently 659 Chama groups with 7,274 women participating across Western Kenya and over 17,000 members who have graduated from the programme since its inception. 

*Chama is Swahili for ‘group’. Gaining momentum from the 1980s through the philosophy of harambee (community self-help), Chamas are self-organizing micro-saving groups that continue to be popular across Kenya particularly among women  

Methodology

Through research, we set out to assess risks, impacts, and resilience at play during the COVID-19 pandemic under the backdrop of ongoing Chamas for Change interventions. The Gender and COVID-19 Matrix was utilized as a research framework for data collection and analysis. 

Developed by the Gender and COVID-19 Project (now, Gender and Public Health Emergencies global consortium), the Matrix supports analysis of how gendered power dynamics shape COVID-19 pandemic experiences. It includes domains that interrogate how gender interacts with access to resources, roles in society, societal norms and beliefs, distribution of decision-making power, institutional provisions, and how these subsequently shape differential risks and impacts of the pandemic across pre-selected COVID-19 topical domains. 

Our analysis was informed by data collected through 11 focus groups and 11 key informant interviews— a total of 95 research participants. Focus groups included participants and nonparticipants of the Chamas for Change programme, men partners of women who had participated in the programme, as well as women and men community health promoters. 

Geographical and social context

The Chamas for Change Matrix analysis was based on research conducted in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. The County borders Uganda on the West and is divided into five administrative sub-counties (see Figure 1) which are further subdivided into 25 administrative wards. It has two main urban centers (Kitale and Kiminini towns) and one referral hospital serving patients across the county (the Wamalwa Kijana Teaching and Referral Hospital). 

The population of Trans Nzoia is 990,341, with just over 500,000 being women (Kenya Population and Housing Census, 2019). Over 77 percent are below 35 years of age and 2.4 percent of the population lives with a disability. The County reports higher rates of poverty compared to national average rates. The main source of livelihood is agriculture: the County is said to be ‘Kenya’s breadbasket’ due to its large-scale production of maize (County Government of Trans Nzoia, 2023). 

Gender roles in Trans Nzoia are produced and reproduced by norms and beliefs that designate women as caregivers and men as providers and protectors. This consequently limits women’s participation in paid employment and hence access to resources. Our study indicated potential shifts in gendered power relations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 1 Map of Trans Nzoia County Source - Ngera Echaune and Wamalwa 2023

Figure 1: Map of Trans Nzoia County. Source: Ngera, Echaune, and Wamalwa, 2023

COVID-19 Risk

What is the community perception about COVID? E.g., not believing its existence

How did people respond to the pandemic? e.g., attitudes/actions towards public health measures

What is the perception on who is most or least at risk & why?

What situations presented higher/lower risks? E.g., urban-rural movements

*The Kitale County & Referral Hospital has, since 2024, been replaced with Wamalwa Kijana Teaching and Referral Hospital

 Acknowledgments 

The Chamas for Change research project team includes Julia Songok (Principal Investigator), Astrid Christoffersen-Deb (Co-Principal Investigator), Sammy Masibo (Co-Principal Investigator), Violet Naanyu, Michael Scanlon, Laura Ruhl, Julie Thorne, Justus Elung’at, Anjellah Jumah, Anusu Kasaya, Sheilah Chelagat, Sally Maiyo, John Hector, Samuel Mbugua, Abiola Adeniyi, Nadia Beyzaei and Alice Mũrage.

Alice Mũrage facilitated the adaptation of the Gender and COVID-19 Matrix. 

A Community Advisory Board representative of various segments of society in Trans Nzoia (county system-level representatives and community members with lived experiences) offered community-based expertise throughout the project and shaped our research approach. 

This project is funded through the International Development Research Center’s Women RISE. 

Contact information 

For inquiry about the Chamas for Change project: deanmedicine@mu.ac.ke or juliasongok@gmail.com 

For inquiry about the Matrix: alice_murage@sfu.ca

KENYA
MTRH
AMPATH
MOI UNIVERSITY
ubc
KENYA
MTRH
AMPATH
MOI UNIVERSITY
ubc

Gender Working Group

We meet online every month to discuss key issues, activities, opportunities and ideas for collaboration. We have a long and growing list of resources on gender and public health emergencies.

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Chamas for Change Gender and COVID-19 Matrix Copy

Gender Working Group

We meet online every month to discuss key issues, activities, opportunities and ideas for collaboration. We have a long and growing list of resources on gender and public health emergencies.

JOIN US >

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