Partnering with African Governments

A smiling woman wearing a colorful beaded headband and shawl, standing outside, with a rooster in the background.

In this section

Taking collective action with governments to end extreme poverty in Africa

African governments are best equipped with the mandates and resources to end extreme poverty, but too often they aren’t utilizing proven approaches. We’re on a mission to fix that.

By advocating for wider adoption of our evidence-backed poverty graduation approach, we’re influencing government policy in Africa. We’re also working alongside local and national governments to train their staffs on how to implement poverty graduation independently and integrate it into their social protection programs. Our efforts today are laying the groundwork for a future where entire countries are free from extreme poverty.

Taddeo Muriuki

Chief Government Relations Officer

Ending Extreme Poverty in Rwanda

A woman sewing with a machine smiles at a young child beside her against a bright blue wall.

A woman standing behind a vibrant market stall with fruits and packaged goods, with a smile on her face.

A woman in a vibrant yellow and navy dress stands smiling in front of a brown building with a blue door.

At the end of 2023, USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) awarded Village Enterprise $6.5 million to work in partnership with the Government of Rwanda to help end extreme poverty in the country. This results-based grant was DIV’s largest in over a decade and their second largest ever. In July of 2024, the Fund for Innovation in Development awarded Village Enterprise an additional $1.3 million for the project. This co-financing is enabling Village Enterprise to scale our poverty graduation approach in Rwanda, train government staff to implement our model independently, and incorporate climate change adaptations into our model. Through our partnership with the Government of Rwanda and the creation of a Rwanda Outcomes Fund, our goal is to transform the lives of more than 4.6 million Rwandans by 2030. This would end extreme poverty in the country and provide a blueprint on how to eradicate extreme poverty in other African nations.

Partnering with County Governments in Kenya

Two men in suits shaking hands in front of Village Enterprise and Makueni County banners.

Three men in an office signing documents at a table, with a Village Enterprise banner in the background.

Thanks to funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we are working with the Kenyan county governments of Makueni, Taita Taveta, and West Pokot to develop clear poverty graduation policies and build the capacity of government officials to manage poverty graduation programs. The partnerships with these three counties also include creating a management information system to measure the impact of the programs on the lives of participants and improve the programs’ effectiveness with data-driven decision making. This project is building a foundation for the counties to independently implement and scale graduation programs, ultimately helping their most vulnerable citizens to become business owners and lift themselves out of extreme poverty.

Taking Collective Action through Kuza Jamii

A smiling woman stands beside colorful clothes hanging on a line outdoors.

A group of poeple sitting around a table doing business.

Kuza Jamii is Swahili for Transforming Communities. The project launched in 2024 to support the Government of Kenya in increasing the socio-economic resilience of households living in extreme poverty through the poverty graduation approach. Funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and led by BOMA, Kuza Jamii is helping 17,000 people living in extreme poverty to launch businesses and become entrepreneurs across eight counties. Village Enterprise is equipping 8,500 of those entrepreneurs to launch sustainable businesses and savings groups in Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit, and Tana River counties.

Transforming Lives through KSEIP

https://photos.smugmug.com/Kenya/Muranga/Muranga-Photos/i-DJzKJqj/0/KSzN9xXnxntxWFBCgbm7qbxz69PWXzsphV6LXWrtq/M/AE_VEKY_091323_0491-M.jpg

Woman and child standing outside the doorway of a home.

A smiling woman in a yellow shirt cuts a mans hair in a salon filled with posters.

Village Enterprise began working alongside the Government of Kenya in 2019 to integrate our poverty graduation model into their existing social protection programs as part of the Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Project (KSEIP). Funded by the World Bank, and in collaboration with the Global Development Incubator and BOMA, KSEIP is now in its final stage. During this stage, the Kenyan Government is implementing the poverty graduation approach to lift a cohort of 7,500 households out of extreme poverty. Depending on KSEIP’s overall success and the resources available, the Government of Kenya hopes to expand the project to transform the lives of millions across Kenya.