Shimoni Hub

Mkwiro March 2014

Social Media Marketing Workshops with Subira

Community Womens Groups
Achievement Report by Matata Diomande GVI Community Development Officer
The GVI Shimoni Community Development and Education programme have entered a new phase
with Subira Community Womens Group. We have begun supporting the expansion of the groups
marketing strategy to include the use of online social media through capacity training workshops in
hopes of expanding their clientele base.

Subira Womens Group Member Photo

The very first Social Media Workshop

Shimoni lies at the most southern part of the Coastal province in Kenya. It is well known that despite
having the richest natural resources, the Coast is second only to Nyanza province in its level of
development. This trend can be followed through various employment and education factors. 62% Of
the Coastal population live under the poverty line (Otieno 2013). Education based gender disparities
are relatively high. There is a 20.8% difference between male and female literacy rate. Only 53% of
females on the coast are literate versus 73.8% of the men (Omolo 2012). GVI Community
Development and Education programmes have developed since 2007 in support of on-going
conservation efforts in the Shimoni area.
As part the programmes we focus on capacity building with local Community Based Organisations
(CBOs) supporting their efforts to move toward more sustainable livelihoods. One of these CBOs is
the Subira Community Meta Meta Product Self-help Group. The group consists of the 16 members
from the Mkwiro Community that we have been working with for several years with the aims of
capacity building to increase incomes. As the group consists of women our capacity building support


aims at providing income for maternal and child health, alleviating poverty and promoting beneficial
skills based education through English and Mathematic workshops. Recently we have begun
incorporating online social media marketing into our entrepreneurship training. The group now has a
Facebook and Gmail address that they may combine with effective web searches for local institutions
and boutiques in order to expand their clientele. The group has recently attended a light weight
manufacturers conference in Nairobi and are on the path of selling to large chains within Kenya.
Their progress has been constant and it has been an honour and pleasure to work with this group of
women.
We are very happy to get these classes from GVI. We learn so many things like math, compositions,
and now we even know how to use Facebook and Gmail. We dont want GVI to leave us. We thank
all of them, God bless them and bring them all back to us. Maimuna, Secretary for Subira
Community Meta Meta Products Self Help group
For more information about Subira Womens group please have a look their Facebook timeline:
Subira Community Meta Meta Products Self Help group or engage directly for orders or direct
questions using metameta2010@gmail.com
If you would like to read more about the possibilities of supporting the womens groups as a volunteer
in the field please visit our website: http://www.gvi.co.uk/programs/volunteer-teaching-kenya

Literature
Onditi Kenneth Otieno. Why Coast Province remains least developed despite being the second
highest contributor to the Kenyas GDP. Research Gate, March 2013.
Jacob Omolo. Regional Disparities in Employment and Human Development in Kenya. Canadian
Journal and Business and Economics. 2012.