What we set out to do, how we report against it, and why our sustainability case does not depend on a single funding source.
Read this first. The figures below are programme targets and design scope, not delivery results. Verified delivery figures are published in the annual report and audited accounts.
Programme targets
30,000Groups and MSMEs to reach annually
8Government and financial partners in the consortium
2Results Areas, one integrated pathway
3Priority counties for phased replication
A systemic approach
Our potential for systemic change lies not in any single partnership, but in the shift from fragmented, bilateral service delivery to a single, integrated system that other actors can plug into and scale.
Changes the risk calculus
A pipeline of registered, tax-compliant, dispute-resilient groups turns an unknowable segment into a measurable, de-risked market for banks and insurers.
Feeds policy from practice
Real-time platform data on registration, exclusion and compliance gives government partners an evidence base to refine regulation — moving policy from reactive to informed.
Builds local capability
Training community leaders as literacy and mediation champions embeds capacity within communities rather than concentrating it in CECF.
What we measure, and why
MeasureWhy this oneReported
Certificates in handNot applications filed. Only the certificate counts.Quarterly
Accounts actually openedA referral is not an outcome. An open account is.Quarterly
Groups still active at 12 monthsThe number most programmes avoid publishing.Annually
Disputes mediated and settledIncluding those that failed and went to court.Annually
Cost per group formalisedSo a funder can compare us honestly with alternatives.Annually
Built to last
Our sustainability case is stronger than a typical time-bound programme because it is built on diversified, self-generating revenue streams rather than dependence on a single funding source.
The platform already generates its own revenue. A modest user fee to access and use the application gives the core service a built-in commercial base independent of grant cycles.
Funding scales reach, not day-to-day operations. External funding expands the platform’s beneficiary base nationally, strengthening its commercial value as it grows.
Diversified income reduces single-point-of-failure risk. User fees, private-sector sponsorships, advertising and potential referral fees or data products give CECF multiple independent revenue legs.
In short: our model shifts from impact that must be re-funded to impact that funds itself.
Impact
Stories from the ground
What the numbers look like when they happen to one group.
Stories are published with the written consent of the group and the individuals named. Where consent is limited, names and locations are changed and we say so. Replace the illustrative examples below with your verified stories before publication.
Formalisation
“The bank had refused us twice. It was the same bank.”
A women’s group in Kamukunji had been saving for four years, held KES 240,000 between them, and had been turned away twice — not for lack of money, but because there was no group to lend to. The savings sat in the treasurer’s personal M-Pesa.
Registration took nine weeks. The account opened three weeks after that. The third application, to the same branch, was approved.
What changed was not our money. It was that we finally existed on their paper.
Mediation
A dispute that would have ended a fourteen-year chama
Two office-bearers disagreed over a withdrawal. Within a month the group had split into factions and stopped meeting. Fourteen years of savings were sitting untouched because nobody could agree who had authority to move them.
A community mediator trained through the Judiciary programme — herself a member of a neighbouring group — brought both sides to a settlement in two sessions. The group has since registered and reopened contributions.
Market access
“We could finally show a buyer a transaction history.”
A hardware traders’ cooperative had supplied the same customers for six years on trust and handwritten receipts. A county tender required a compliant invoice and a bank reference neither existed.
Registration, a KRA PIN and eTIMS onboarding took under three months. The cooperative’s first tender bid, aggregated with two other groups through the digital platform, was successful.
Impact
Reports & publications
Everything we publish, in one place.
We publish annual accounts, programme reports and the policy work we submit to government and development partners. Anybody may request any of it, not only funders.
Annual report and audited accountsFinancial year 2025–26 · PDF
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Group formalisation programme reportDelivery, outcomes and what did not work · PDF
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Results programme reportRegulatory access and market entry, outcomes and what did not work · PDF
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Digital platform: data protection and user-fee policyHow platform revenue is generated and how member data is handled · PDF
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Safeguarding policyChildren and vulnerable adults · PDF
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Complaints and escalation procedureEnglish and Kiswahili · PDF
Request
Attach live PDF links before publication. Requests currently route to info@cecf.or.ke.
