In May 2000 Rose Molokoane and the late Shanangu from Zimbabwe went to Dar es Salaam for a conference arranged by Gregor Meerpohl from Misereor. While they were there they joined up with WaterAid and started savings scheme in the slums of the city.

 

Two years later Tim Ndezi and Meki Mkanga from Wateraid went to India where they spent time with NSDF and Mahila Milan. The savings schemes in Dar es Salaam we were still active, but without support from the SDI network they had gone in a different direction and had not been able to expand to other settlements in the city.

 

Then in 2004 Skulile Nkhoma from Malawi took a group of women from the Malawi Federation and went to Tanzania to find these forgotten savings schemes. She found that four groups were still alive and that Meki, who had left Wateraid, was trying to give them some support.

 

In late March 2005 an SDI delegation went with UN Habitat to Dar es Salaam to give a presentation about savings and Federation building to East African Government officials. Officials came from Dar es Salaam, Arusha (Tanzania), Mwanza (Kenya), and Kampala (Uganda). On the second day of the workshop SDI took them to the slums of Dar es Salaam where they watched the Malawians and Ugandans start savings schemes, prepare a questionnaire for a survey, conduct a settlement profile and count the shacks.

 

 

 

Hasan, community leader with Jockin (SDI India) and Meki (CCS Tanzania)

 

 

Bahinde Salongo (left) from Uganda starts savings group in Dar es Salaam

 

 

Preparing Questionnaire for Socio-Economic Survey

 

Filling in Savings Book Keko Settlement, Dar Es Salaam.