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accelerators by the numbers : content

Results (so far)

Data experts 60 Decibels surveyed 700 members from our first Accelerator programme just seven months into their training. The results were overwhelmingly positive.

Eighty percent of members who’d taken out loans attributed the decision to their training. Nearly all of them, 97 percent, said those loans had helped their businesses. Ninety-six percent said their quality of life had improved as a consequence of the programme, and would be likely to recommend it to a friend. Profit margins members nearly doubled, to an average of 29 percent from 16 percent.

For more information about our Accelerator programme, contact Progamme Manager Jack Ord.

By the numbers

Members: 23,500

Profit margin: 29% (up from 16%)

Loans: 97% of borrowers say loans helped business

Quality of life: 96% report improvement

Learn more about What we do

Institutions – our goals

Content : AR our work with women – displaced

Average income of US $23.50/mth (starting from $0)

1,894 displaced Afghans mobilised this year

90% of project members are women

Content : AR evidence – v2

Evidence

Two reports published this year gave Hand in Hand fresh insight into the success and sustainability of our programmes – and, just as importantly, the ambitions and concerns of our members.

Understanding members’ needs

From designing new projects to evaluating old ones, Hand in Hand puts our members at the centre of everything we do. That’s why we asked 60 Decibels – sector leaders in measuring impact through a “customer feedback lens” – to find out what they’re saying about our work.

For two weeks in November, the team at 60 Decibels interviewed more than 170 members in Kenya who’d completed our training, all within the last two years.

Here’s what they had to say.

Hand in Hand’s training is useful
95 percent of respondents said they were still using it in their business
Our training improves people’s lives
95 percent saw improvements in their quality of life. Bigger incomes were the main reason why
Hand in Hand goes where others don’t
92 percent of respondents said there was no alternative to Hand in Hand where they lived
People prefer Hand in Hand
Among respondents who had an alternative, 85 percent preferred our programmes

Asked for suggested improvements, respondents cited a range of issues. Increased financing was far and away the most common, at 34 percent. Teams in Kenya are already trialling expanded financial solutions including longer repayment periods, training on external credit options, and more loans tied to productive assets such as water tanks and irrigation kits.

Read the report

Microbusiness sustainability

By teaching our members the skills they need to run their own micro-enterprises, Hand in Hand necessarily puts sustainability at the core of our work. What good is a livelihood if it doesn’t long outlast our training?

Earlier this year, we published a report funded by generous private donors after checking up on members from a project in Kenya nine months after their training had concluded. Were they still saving? Were their enterprises still going strong? Had Hand in Hand made good on our promise to help them sustainable businesses?

Here’s what we found.

92 percent of members were still saving (86 percent regularly)
80 percent of enterprises were still operational – and expecting to grow (identical to the new business survival rate in the US)
87 percent of jobs still existed
Members had increased their incomes, on average, by more than 100 percent

The report also made a number of recommendations, including carrying out more research, improving data collection and analysis methods, and strengthening mechanisms for feedback from members.

In the time since, we’ve developed a new monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) framework in London for application across the Hand in Hand network. We’ve also started a project to digitise our data collection and analysis in Kenya and Tanzania.