EVALUATION OF BORESHA MAMA PILOT: 2021 – 2022

Trade facilitation project

The Trade facilitation Project (TFP) is a three-year project whose aim is to create market capacity and incentives to innovate trade solutions which deliver real value for the economy, enterprises and households. Transformation of the trade system in Kenya demands innovation. The type of innovation called for here seeks to create open systems capable of integrating the widest range of producers, suppliers, intermediaries, retailers and exporters. This type of innovation is not easy given the multiple dependencies and requires new approaches together with supporting infrastructure, expertise and regulation. The TFP has 5 components viz, Trade facilitation platform solutions, financial solutions for facilitating trade, inclusion of women and youth in trade, Inclusive export promotion solutions & Blue economy – LREB aquaculture value chain component

Within the inclusion of women and youth in trade component, is the Boresha Mama Pilot, jointly implemented by FSD Kenya, and TradeMark East Africa (TMEA). The pilot is an emergency response cash transfer project designed in 2021 to support vulnerable cross-border women traders in Busia County whose businesses were affected by COVID-19. Through this initiative, interventions targeting the most vulnerable cross border women traders were implemented in phases encompassing cash injections and patient capital offerings that were aimed at increasing their resilience and business continuity during and post COVID-19.

The pilot is currently in exit phase. FSD, therefore, seeks the services of a consultant(s) to evaluate the impact of Boresha Mama cash transfer pilot against Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Women Economic Empowerment Framework (Figure. 1) & to determine the potential relevance/importance of exogenous cash injections & patient capital offerings to MSEs during economic shocks, in this case COVID-19, when financial frictions were high.