Summary
This is not the ordinary story about a lobby and/or advocacy campaign, with a thorough stakeholder analysis and a description of preparation and implementation of the activities. We don't even know very much about the Self-Help Groups that feature in this example. Nevertheless, their story is worth telling. They had been appealling for legal recognition of SHGs for two decades when they took the Mobilising Support training of Change the Game Academy. That changed their game too. They obtained legal recognition and immediately went on to make plans for a financial facility where SHGs can take loans and save. First they thought of establishing a bank, but the national bank law prevented that. Then they found out that an already existing financial institution was ready for a friendly takeover. They negotiated an agreement and are in the middle of buying the majority of the shares.
Problem analysis
SHGs were not officially recognised and therefore could not perform official acts, such as opening a bank account.
Solution analysis
After relentless efforts, spanning two decades, the self-help group's lobby and advocacy issue came to a positive ending. The SHGs were legally recognised by the regional government of Oromia based in Adama town. Change the Game Academy’s Mobilising Support training was a huge turning point in excelling their techniques of pleading for legalisation. The federation’s president, W/ro Nigatua Mekonnen spoke of “creating collective power from different CSAs" that has "brought a remarkable achievement in the completion of the legalisation of the SHGs in the Oromia region." From the essence of lobby to SHG legalisation, the issue was pulled to different concerned bodies through dialogues, research and experience sharing. Framing these dialogues and experience sharing presentations in a convincing and effective manner were the outcomes of the Change the Game Academy training.
Stakeholder analysis
Action period
Last two decades
Objectives
1. To obtain legal recognition of Self-Help Groups by the regional government of Oromia.
2. To create a financial facility where SHGs can save and borrow.
Action results
1. The Change the Game Academy training bolstered the SHGs lobby and advocacy capacity that guided them to achieve their long-awaited appeal.
2. Furthermore, the essential lessons of the training and coaching sessions enabled them to have collective power and do things in different ways.
3. That being the case, the SHGs started to make a move to establish a bank as their savings were increasing rapidly. They hired a private consultant and accelerated their expedition, but the national bank law was against them. The minimum amount needed to establish a bank was way more than what they had in hand. But these empowered women were not bowing out of achieving their goal that easily. Even though COVID-19, the bureaucracy of government offices and the national bank law made their maneuver harder and scratchier, they went ahead pursuing their plan B: establishing a savings and credit cooperative organisation (SACCO). This action was accompanied by various challenges even more difficult than the SHG’s plan A. Restriction of movement due to COVID-19 made the assigned team unable to travel from one office to another in order to finish necessary procedures. Viability of the to-be established SACCO was uncertain as a result of businesses crippling throughout the COVID era. These and other reasons combined together forced them to put the whole mission on hold.
Recently, around the third quarter of 2022, the SHGs resurrected their interest of establishing a SACCO. This time, they used another strategy. They put Change the Game Academy’s mobilising support training learnings to use and looked for a preferable strategy to achieve their goal. They mapped a suitable resource which had been there right before their eyes for quite a while. An already established SACCO called 'Tesfa', crumbling with decreasing capital and number of customers. The SHGs approached the leaders of Tesfa and proposed to buy the institution. After some back and forth, an agreement was reached between them enabling the SHGs to gradually establish a majority share of the SACCO. The approach bore fruit and they were able to purchase 200,000 ETB worth of shares already. They are currently negotiating to lower the interest rate on loans for the members of SHGs in the federation which is a legally registered entity with the name 'Nehemiah'. Once this matter is settled, then they will increase the amount of shares they buy to the intended majority shareholder position.
