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The Mother of Excellent Development
Esther Ithau is a founder member of the Utooni Development Project - the inspiration for Excellent Development. At 30 years and counting, this self-help group have managed one of the most successful and longest running development initiatives in Africa.
Esther has been elected chairlady of the Utooni group many times, and continues to steer the group on a successful path. She is also a Founder Member and Board Member of Excellent Development Kenya (EDK), where she can ensure that the principles of the Utooni group guide the development of the NGO that seeks to imitate it. Sophie Bown, Excellent Development's UK Communications Manager, caught up with Esther at her home in Kola, near the EDK offices. How did you develop the idea of the Utooni project? Well we did not copy any other group, in the first instance it was the problem of water that made us come together, and I’m pleased to say it is not a big problem anymore. How many members do you have? We have 42 now, but at the start we had 120. Many people were put off by too much hard work, but now they see the benefits that we have created, they want to come back again. But they are not allowed! Why is that? The secret of our success is our strong rules, and our enforcement of these, such as: • we can’t take on new members. • if you come late to work on a project day you must pay a fine • everyone should work, even the committee members • if you’re too old to work you should bring your next of kin to work in your place What else has helped the group to remain strong? We are never told what to do by outsiders, they must assist us with our problems. I hope that Excellent Development been a good partner to work with then? Yes, they have tried to uplift us from where they’ve found us. Together we realised the benefits which came through our hard work. They found us with many ideas but little cash, so they helped with finance and training. • They encouraged our idea of tree planting and gave us some financial support for the programme. Together we developed the concept. Tree planting used to be unsupervised and no follow up, now it is more systematic and we use manure, so it is more successful • We have benefited knowledge wise from their extension officers • And of course through helping us build sand dams which are providing water • The work has also created some employment for our children What is your role as chairwoman like? I am leading many different women together, and we share our responsibilities according to age. I must know and understand members’ problems, know what we should do, see that we achieve what we have planned and also think of new ideas and create new opportunities. I feel good about this job – I am not pushed by anyone to be here but I enjoy being a leader, and I like that all the members are happy with me, they keep re-electing me so I must not let them down! How come there are so many more women than men in the group? Nowadays more men are staying in towns for work. My husband was a member before but he couldn’t afford to keep paying the daily fine. We have four men in the group now, including Joshua [Mukusya, founder of Excellent Development] and they do work hard! What is it like to be the leader? There were many days when the members were not working, but as leader I was always working, even on Market Day. I like to put a lot of effort in so the rest of the members learn from me. I have had to learn to plan my work so I can attend the project as well as get things done at home. Also when I attend leaders meetings I gain knowledge which I use on my shamba (farm) and transfer to members. Other groups often learn by seeing what we do, and they also learn how to form groups based on our principles. EDK often arranges visits so we can share our experience with new groups so they can see what can be achieved with hard work. What do you see for the future? Each member should learn how to make their own income so they can save for old age. We encourage members to produce cash crops like watermelon, maize, beans and tomatoes so they can send children to school. We also train our children to join the project so it will carry on after we are gone. Now they can see that a decent life can be had in this area they are keen to get involved. Our success has meant nowadays I have more money to buy a dress or get my hair done if I like!
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