A Canterbury man is helping lift African slum families out of poverty by providing business start-up grants and training to mums.
Martin Hayter, currently in the UK on a well-earned few weeks break, works with charity Child of Hope in the Namatala slum of eastern Uganda.
He says he’s keen to get back to his work as the social impact is so great and he loves seeing the often dramatic improvement in lives.
And that’s from providing an initial start-up business grant of just £25.
Martin lives and works in Mbale, Eastern Uganda as an unpaid volunteer and is supported by family and friends at St Mary Bredin Church in Canterbury.
He joined fledgling charity Child of Hope in 2008 to project-manage the building of its new large school in the slum, which was completed this year.
The school takes a widely holistic view of its programmes and realises that slum kids need good health, a varied nutritious meal, clothing and social care to do their best at school.
Lots of parents were approaching the charity asking for help with money and food, so Martin launched his Income Generating Activity (IGA) scheme using his own funds. It has worked so well that it is now an integral programme that Child of Hope offers to parents of its school pupils.
First Martin and his staff carry out an assessment of a family and whether or not the parent would be capable of running a business.
It is usually the mum, as men tend to want more money and are not prepared to start a business this small, and they often prefer casual work.
Then the team provides basic training (and a test to ensure it has been understood) and helps them prepare a small business plan, which gets into the detail of how the business will operate.
After providing the grant, there is follow-up training and a savings scheme to help the mums put money by to expand their businesses in the future. That also helps keep money safe from theft from their mud huts.
The sorts of businesses are basic, ranging from re-selling rice, water or charcoal to setting up tiny shops or an eating place. Some of the more profitable ones are fruit and vegetable stalls, hairdressing, carpentry and making clothes.
Martin said: “The business training is pretty basic too - for many they need to learn how to read and write, then numeracy skills are vital before they can work properly with cash.”
Where a business is seasonal, Martin and his team encourage the owner to start a second business, to provide for all-year-round income.
123 parents are currently on the scheme – including six dads – and another 25 will start the programme this May.
“The success rate of the scheme is extremely high – virtually every one demonstrates measurable improvements in poverty levels. For some that will be buying their first mattress for the family to sleep on, or moving to a slightly better hut with access to running water.
“Ideally we want to help every parent/guardian of a child at our school to start a business and become more self-sufficient.
“By helping one parent, a lot of people benefit; they may have eight children and an extended family living in the same hut.”
The cost for staff running the programme varies from £20 a month for a semi-volunteer to £40 a month for a fully-trained worker (they train at a nearby college as social workers).
