By Lucianne Limo
At the age of nine, Esther Mwaura knew the career path she wanted to pursue after completing her education.
She did not visualise herself in a big office with messengers at her beck and call, but instead she wanted to work with the community to improve their living standards.
"I came from a poor background and I saw and experienced poverty all around me. I questioned why people were poor and yet I could see rich families," she says.
Her passion to do community work became evident when she was at Loreto Girls in Kiambu where they were allowed to venture outside the school on Saturdays to help the community. "I began by giving out food and cleaning the environment," she recalls.
Ms Mwaura remembers that when she was called to the University of Nairobi to pursue double maths, she was very unhappy.
"I went to the dean to ask if I could switch from the science faculty, which was quite prestigious, to humanities. After persuading the dean, I was allowed to study sociology and economics," said Mwaura.
Years later, Mwaura is executive director and founder of Grassroots Organisations Operating Together in Sisterhood (Groots) Kenya, a network of women self-help groups and community-based organisations with a membership of more than 2,500 grassroots women across the country.
"I realised that there was inadequate visibility of women taking charge of development and decisions affecting them in their communities," she said.
She added: "Groots is a strong movement of women that brings them together to share experiences, common values, and challenges and do businesses to improve their living standards."
Mwaura says her vision was to create a movement of women who were capable of leading various community initiatives that would improve their livelihoods instead of taking a back seat.
She says Groots has enabled grassroots women who were once helpless and without any source of income form self help groups where they engage in income generating activities like knitting, merry-go-rounds, farming and starting businesses like salons and shops.
Mwaura’s passion to help women was evident when she left a well paying and secure job with a bilateral aid programme where she worked as a community development expert to concentrate on helping grassroots women.
"I wanted to do something different from other NGOs that look for donor money before putting up projects. I mobilised grassroots women to start their own initiatives," she added.
She recalls that in the initial stages, she used all her savings to help women attend meetings and workshops because they could not afford it.
Her approach helped since by the time the women sought financial assistance, it was easy for the donors or Government to come to their aid because they could easily see their efforts.
The leaders of the women groups were also encouraged to accompany Mwaura to boardrooms whenever she went to seek financial help.
"This was important for me because I wanted to set an example for the women to be in a position or the place where decisions that affect them are made," Mwaura said.
The organisation has begun self-help groups in Kendu Bay, Gatundu, Kakamega, Kitui, Shinyalu and Mathare slums.
The organisation mobilises women to form groups before they are trained through advocacy, capacity development and mentorship.
Unique issues
"Each community has issues unique to their environment and we ensure that the programmes we initiate respond to members’ needs," Mwaura says.
Groots has begun several programmes that are suitable to the needs of the various communities they operate in. Mwaura cites a self-help group that responds to the HIV and Aids pandemic where women volunteer their time to care for and train community members on the scourge.
Mwaura believes the best way of helping the poor communities deal with the pandemic is to strengthen home based care by creating social networks that will support and care for the sick as well as the growing number of orphans.
Groots has also formed a network of women who monitor and guard against inheritance and property violations of vulnerable members of the community.
"Women have over the years suffered disinheritance and we decided to form a group that will increase awareness of issues relating to property and inheritance of women and girls," she added.
As a result, Groots formed community land and property watchdog groups that have helped so many widows and orphans either reclaim their properties or help them begin life afresh after being disinherited and even mobilise resources to file cases in court for widows fighting disinheritance.
Groots has nurtured women who never thought they would be leaders in their communities. It has become a strong movement and has now embarked on training women leaders.
