Reports
Our donors rightly demand results, backed by hard evidence. Hand in Hand produces regular reports – in-house and across the network – to measure and monitor progress. We also fund independent, third-party reviews of our programmes.
Survey of our members in Kenya by 60 Decibels
“In total, 95 percent of members said their life had improved.”
Review of our work in Kenya conducted by Brooklyn Economic Consulting
The project played a “critical role…in creating rural opportunities for youth and women.”
Review of our work in Afghanistan commissioned by the UK government
“99.4% of beneficiaries saw an increase in their annual gross household income as a result of being involved in this project.”
Tanzania baseline summary by Ipsos
“The programme should prioritise support towards diversification of income-generating activities and sustainable businesses throughout the year. This can be achieved through Hand in Hand’s entrepreneurship training.”
Review of our work in Afghanistan commissioned by the EU
“Women and men generally indicated that the project was extremely useful to improving women’s socioeconomic situation by enabling them to not only learn new skills but also contribute to their family’s household income in meaningful and noticeable ways.”
Evaluation of our work in Rwanda by Swedish Development Advisers
“The Hand in Hand training led to 10,385 additional full-time jobs and 105,150 part-time jobs.”
“[Project Group] businesses had, on average, 75 percent higher profit than those of the Comparison Group.”
Evaluation of our work in Kenya funded by the Government of Sweden
“Hand in Hand Eastern Africa is now being recognised as a centre of excellence in training and transformation of Self-Help Groups and in ensuring groups adhere to strict business requirements like repayment of loans.”
Evaluation of our work in Afghanistan commissioned by the EU
“Income has increased, in some cases manifolds, and this has increased their prestige both at household and community levels… This was unimaginable prior to this project (reported by beneficiaries. both male and female, provincial government representatives, and VEFs, most of them from the same or neighbourhood villages).”
Report on our work in Afghanistan by the Afghan Innovative Consulting Bureau
“The project is progressing very well… despite certain challenges in the field.”
Report on our work in Rwanda by DRIS, Bureau d'études et de conseil
“The analysis of results show that the most VSLG members were able to hire at least one person and that they are paying their employees in money (98.6%). In the Baseline Study, only 11% of VSLG members reported having hired an employee in the last 12 months.”
Report on our work in Kenya commissioned by the Government of Sweden
“The impact achieved with overall funding of approximately US $2 million certainly compares favourably with multi-million dollar injections of capital that some funders have provided to microfinance institutions.”
Impact report on our work in India by microcredit ratings agency M-CRIL
“A significant development in the respondents’ contribution to family income and overall increase in confidence was observed.”
Survey of our work in India by microcredit ratings agency M-CRIL
“Jobs supported by Hand in Hand India are long-lasting: more than 97% are sustained three years on from Hand in Hand’s initial support.”
Annual Report 2021-2022
Annual Report 2020-2021
Our Goals by 2026
Annual Report 2019-2020
Annual Report 2018-2019
Annual Report 2017-2018
Strategic Plan: 2017-2021
Annual Report 2016-2017
Semi-Annual Report Sept 2016
Annual Report 2015-2016
Semi-Annual Report Sept 2015
Annual Report 2014-2015
Semi-Annual Report Sept 2014
Annual Report 2013-2014
Semi-Annual Report March 2014
Semi-Annual Report Sept 2013
Annual Report 2012-2013
Semi-Annual Report March 2013
Semi-Annual Report Sept 2012
Annual Report 2011-2012
Semi-Annual Report March 2012
Department for International Development, University of Birmingham – Lessons learned from youth employment programmes in Kenya
What has worked and what hasn’t for youth employment programmes in Kenya? Pulling from the existing literature, this study considers a range of supply- and demand-side programmes rolled out by the government of Kenya with support from multilateral donors, including a large-scale public works programme.
It concludes that the most effective programmes adopt a demand-side approach based in part on self-employment initiatives in the agriculture and informal sectors.
In brief:
- “In spite of growth, there are insufficient jobs in the formal sector which reduces the ability of many Kenyans to transcend out of poverty (World Bank, 2016a, p. 39). Given these conditions, Fox and Kaul (2017, p. 20) recommend that countries like Kenya pursue demand-side job creation policies which stimulate employment by supporting enterprise growth.”
- “More specifically they suggest that countries like Kenya… support youth self-employment in agriculture and the informal sector through household enterprises.”
Overseas Development Institute - Informal is the new normal
This paper from the Overseas Development Institute considers the scale of the informal economy in the developing world – Hand in Hand’s locus of intervention, where enterprises aren’t registered and workers lack legal and social protection. It also makes a series of policy recommendations for improving those workers’ circumstances.
In short, the informal economy is huge and getting bigger, and governments should promote universal healthcare, pensions and minimum wages to make sure informal workers aren’t left behind.
In brief:
- “Gelb and Khan (2016) show that the number of people seeking jobs may be ten times the number of officially unemployed, stating that 2 billion working-age people (two-thirds of whom are women) are classified as ‘outside the labour force.”
- “IMF estimates suggest that, in low-income SSA, the informal sector – both self-employment an agricultural employment – presently accounts for about 90% of the 400 million existing jobs.”
- “It is highly likely that the number of jobs needed will outstrip the capacity of formal labour markets to supply them.”
- “While increasing access to capital can help tackle barriers to enterprise establishment and growth, ensuring improvement across a range of areas – including income, well-being and empowerment – requires access to capital to be just one element of an integrated, comprehensive approach to improving outcomes in the informal economy.”
World Bank Development Research Group - Growing Markets through Business Training for Female Entrepreneurs: A Market-Level Randomized Experiment in Kenya
Donors sometimes ask whether Hand in Hand’s training merely equips our members to ‘steal business’ from their non-member neighbours. Funded in part by the UK Department for International Development, this World Bank-International Labour Organisation policy research paper found that, to the contrary, ” business training can help the overall market grow.”
In brief:
- “Gains come with no significant spillover effects on untreated firms operating in the same markets, and total sales and the total number of customers are higher in the treated markets than control markets.”
- “We also find no reduction in new entry into these markets after training.”
- “We conclude that, in underdeveloped markets, microenterprise growth need not come at the expense of competitors, and business training can help the overall market grow.”
Solutions for Youth Employment – Toward Solutions for Youth Employment, 2015
Solutions for Youth Employment is a multistakeholder coalition initiated by the World Bank, International Labour Organization and RAND, among others. This baseline report considers the youth employment landscape, exploring its problems and solutions.
In brief:
- “Entrepreneurship-promotion interventions activate the highest return on productive work for young people, especially when combined with access to finances.”
- “Most jobs in fragile and post-conflict states will likely come from the informal sector, not the formal private sector.”
- “Skills programs that focus on entrepreneurship have been more effective, especially when they combine training with cash grants. The relative success of entrepreneurship programs combined with cash in fragile environments has revived attention to microfinance for enterprise promotion.”
CGAP, World Bank Group – Focus note on Financial Inclusion and Development: Recent Impact Evidence, 2014
This focus note reviews the most recent impact assessments on microfinance and financial inclusion and confirms a belief we have acted on for a long time – that mobilising credit is as important as micro-lending.
In brief:
- Savings have the most consistent positive impact of all different financial services. Savings help households manage cash flow spikes, smooth consumption, as well as build working capital.
- Small businesses benefit from access to credit by helping people invest in assets and grow their enterprises.
- The impact of credit on a household’s broader welfare is less clear.
International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group – Assessing private sector contributions to job creation and poverty reduction, 2013
In brief:
- Lack of access to finance is a key constraint to job creation, particularly for micro, small, and medium enterprises. Companies with access to finance have higher job-growth rates than businesses without it.
- Training and skills-development programs are crucial. Adequate skills are important not only for workers but also for business owners to grow their enterprise and create more jobs.
- Women influence the productivity and competitiveness of future generations by reinvesting 90 percent of their income into their families and rearing children for success. If women don’t have the opportunity to contribute economically, the years of investment in their education also is wasted. Equality of employment opportunities for men and women is associated with reduced poverty and higher GDP levels.
World Bank, World Development Report: Jobs, 2013
The report takes jobs in the development process as its starting point and reframes how we think about work.
In brief:
- The development payoffs from jobs include empowering women, stabilizing post-conflict societies, poverty reduction, economy-wide productivity growth, and social cohesion.
- Female employment matters beyond the individual – jobs for women can change the way households spend money and invest in the education and health of children.
- The potential gains from greater entrepreneurial vibrancy, and from a more substantial reallocation of labor from low- to high-productivity units, are sizeable.