Case Study
Tap and Reposition Youth (TRY) Program: Providing Social Support, Savings, and Microcredit Opportunities to Adolescent Girls at Risk for HIV/AIDS in Kenya
How can microfinance reach out to adolescent girls at risk for HIV/AIDS?
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13 pages
This brief reviews the microfinance aspect of the Tap and Reposition Youth (TRY) project that aimed to:
- Provide social support, savings and microcredit opportunities to adolescent girls at risk for HIV/AIDS in Kenya,
- Reduce adolescent girls vulnerability to adverse social and reproductive health outcomes by improving their livelihood options.
The TRY project:
- Targeted young out-of-school women aged 16-22, residing in low income and slum areas of Nairobi, Kenya,
- Used a group-based microfinance model to provide credit, savings, business support and mentoring to program participants.
The brief describes the problems that arose during various phases of the program:
- Girls lacked access to their savings,
- They disliked the pressure to take out and repay loans,
- Some girls were unable to meet the business plan requirement of the program,
- There were delays in loan disbursement.
The brief recommends the following actions to reduce the number of program drop-outs:
- Make savings flexible,
- Reduce social pressure,
- Eliminate the business plan requirement,
- Lower loan amounts and shorten terms.
The brief concludes with recommendations for microfinance organizations that wish to provide financial services to adolescent girls:
- Provide training in savings and money management,
- Tailor products and services specially for this group,
- Encourage research and new product development.
