Sisters and Chicken Improving The Living Standards of the Youth- Sister Christine’s Story
Through the program, I received advice, connections, professional support, and capital needed to drive the growth of my social enterprise, making a difference in young women’s lives.
Sister Christine Imbali is a social development enthusiast who has started a social enterprise in the rural parts of Kenya that train young women on poultry farming as a method to generate sustainable income. Two other sisters joined her, and their mission is to evangelize the word of God and serve His people through empowering and engaging young unemployed women between 18-28 years.
Sister Christine was inspired to start this program soon after completing Tapona Business Training in May 2020. The Tapona Business Program is an intense training designed to support the development of women-owned startups in East Africa. Through the program, the sisters received advice, connections, professional support, and capital needed to drive the growth of their social enterprise, making a difference in young women’s lives.
Sister. Christine shares, “I feel empowered by this program as it makes me an asset to my congregation, community, and religious fraternity. It is satisfying to work with different partners and find sustainable solutions that meet my charism.”
The sisters learned more about community outreach and plan to exercise these skills by engaging 300 women and train 90% of the women on poultry management skills. The young women will receive chicks after the training, rear them, and sell poultry products such as chicken meat and eggs to the Catholic-affiliated institution provided by the sisters. This model provides young women with a means to generate income, create employment opportunities, provide for their families, and provide children with healthy and quality poultry products.
The sisters have successfully managed to run an internal poultry operation of rearing and selling over 300 chickens in 3 months. The knowledge gained enabled them to diversify their avenues to generate funding for their project. Currently, the sisters were able to generate the funds necessary to care for 1,000 and train young women within their profession (postulants) on poultry farming. Sr. Christine is positive of her next step to reach out to women in her local region.