About kisoqo

KISII SOAPSTONE QUARRY OWNERS comprise of Tabaka ward/ Sameta Mokwerero/ Bogetenga ward/ Boikanga ward quarry Owners Self Help Group is a community based initiative started by soapstone quarry owners with the view of coming up with  more realistic way of the society making use of soapstone more profitable than it has been.

KISOQO Self Help Group is a registered in a newly created county of Kisii, Nyanza region .The group was started in 2006 December with its member coming up with realistic goals,mission and objectives.

We are four hundred members, whereby one hundred and fifty are women and two hundred and fifty being men, who are ensuring that the group has fetched success.

Functional office is available with all its logistics in place.All members work in a voluntary basis where members  work on a voluntary basis.

executive summary

poverty is still a challenge in Kenya  to date. This has been brought about by many reasons like; ignorance , lack of skills, inefficient capital, project management skills  among others. The situation on the ground is growing more  worse than it used to be in the past few years. Children have dropped out school , unwanted pregnancies are on the increase, early marriage are experienced, child labour is evident and infact more worse-HIV/AIDS  has claimed lives of many people especially the middle age.

Tabaka/ Sameta Mokwerero/ Boikanga wards in Kisii county are places where poverty is on the increase  even if there is plenty of soapstone carving which  brings a lot of cash to the community. Now the question is , what is happening until the area is growing poor and poor as days come by?

Research has revealed that people in this area have not really known the importance of soapstone carving to the outside world. They depend on the little they get each day on disposal. This is due to lack of information over soapstone carving , designing and exporting.

On the other note, middlemen are another problem altogether. They bargain on an item at a very low and indeed low price but at the end making ten times profit for themselves making the producer to suffer all through.

Bargaining power is compromised due to unavailable means of transport and communication. Mines are far to the interior and make it hard for carvers to expose their products.Market trend is not revealed to members each time changes occur until middlemen find an opportunity to get more than members.

Tourists visits this place but under the control of brokers, whereby whatever the broker say the tourist end believe them more than the real person could have been the truth of the product.

VISION

Make this wards a better place in terms of development using soapstone product and minimize the level of poverty come 2010-2030.

CORE MANDATE

1.       Develop community  soapstone schemes and spearhead crasher construction for soapstone products to be made available e.g. white wash,chalks, creem, tiles etc

      2.       Develop, retain existing and expand bulk soapstone wastes into a more useful items and make it known to the outside world for a market on a ready product.

OBJECTIVES

1.       Enhance levels of awareness on the locally available raw materials

2.       Give insights on our core activities and values

3.       Provide information on the range of services and by-products availed from soapstone

4.       Set standards for our  clients expectations

5.       Continuously improve in pursuit of client satisfaction and excellence in our operations in soapstone delivery systems and mechanism in the local community.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The industry of hand crafts has been in so many years abuse by many people who pretend to be knowing much on it. It has now reached a point where the most important beneficiaries have been identified as a community where a certain commodity is available locally in this case soapstone mining in the Kisii region especially Tabaka /Sameta Mokwerero /Bogetenga /Boikanga wardswhere it is mostly spread and covers almost half of soapstone mines in Kisii region.

The problem statement is basically based on the following points:

1.       Brokers/middlemen enjoy the soapstone stake while the owners are left with bones to struggle with.

2.       Given that brokers give little cash to the soapstone owners and of course compromised by poverty, most children have dropped out of school due to lack of enough money to take them to school after standard eight and this is due to free primary education that has enabled most of them to advance up to this level- standard 8. Should the community succeed with such kind of initiative, the situation will be opposite, middlemen will enjoy less while the community will enjoy the stake that has been denied over a long period of time hence their children will go to school up to high institutions of learning.

3.       International Market has been pulled right to the producer. Those involved in buying of soapstone internationally have been exposed directly to the producer by the so called middlemen. Price compromise is so high hence denies the producer the right to enjoy the flowing demand in the outside market. All exhibitions and demonstrations are attended by middlemen and brokers instead of producers themselves in order to network with the rest of other producers in different crafts, exchange ideas and come up with new designs and samples. The initiative will minimize this kind of relationship and set a sight where all the products will be brought for markets.

4.       Soapstone wastes are scattered all over, hence making part of fertile grounds to lose its fertility living the community to suffer the consequences. An initiative like the one set in place will consume all the wastes and make them more important in other part through the crasher. It will be grounded to make other important commodities like white wash, paints and other things.

5.       The grounds/mines are so deep that have endangered most of the people’s lives. People have mined deeper to a level where an homestead is just two meters from the mine, endangering the lives of many- animals, young children playing around and more so visitors who may come at night are not aware of the situation on the ground.

MISSION OF THE GROUP  

To develop the locally available resources that has no meaning today to a meaningful degree to improve the living standards of the beneficiaries in an understanding atmosphere and close supervision through valuable, identified and justified channels

VISION OF THE GROUP

To combine efforts logically, systematically and valuably to create meaning in a resource that has for centuries been wasted so as to make it compete locally and internationally to benefit its inhabitants for real.

NETWORKING AND COLABORATION

Tabaka /Sameta Mokwerero /Bogetenga /Boikanga wardsquarry soapstone self-help group networks with the following partners.

a.       Government of Kenya (GOK)

·         Ministry of trade and industry

·         Ministry of tourism

·         Ministry of social services

Among other key partners.

b.       Non-governmental Organizations:

·         USAID

·         IFAT

·         FARE TRADE etc.

c.       Registered community based organizations

d.       Faith based organizations (FBOs) recognized

e.       Civic society organizations (CSOs)

ORGANIZATION DESCRIPTION

The information below gives a clear picture of Tabaka /Sameta Mokwerero /Bogetenga /Boikanga.

a.       Most of the people work in the organization full time.

b.       None of the members receive monthly salary in the organization.

c.       All members in the organization are volunteers.

d.       The group has no computer.

Organizations accounting records include

·         Income generating activity records;

ü  Napier grass plantation

ü  Soapstone sale (wholesale)

ü  Quarry produce

·         Cash book

·         Inventories

·         Maintenance and logistics- these include transportation of soapstone from the quarry to the production station, printing and photocopies and bank charges.

·         Revolving fund established from a Merry-go-round deductions.

·         Ledgers and purchase orders.