Towards a Just(ice) Economy
This video was produced by our accelerator/investor, HiiL, which showcases Sauti Africa’s work! Starring our Field Manager, David: “Towards a Just(ice) Economy”
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Category Archive for: "Updates"
June Update – Pilot Launch
You may remember that we were last preparing for the soft launch of our platform. The Sauti mobile platform is now live! Read the latest on our continued efforts to build a sustainable startup, one determined step at a time.
Soft Launch of Our Mobile Platform
As a culmination of Sauti Africa’s efforts to date, we held the ‘soft’ – or test – launch of our platform mid-June on the Kenya-Uganda border town of Busia! Building on the results of months of preparation, our energetic team spent the week in Busia training 40 Kenyan and Uganda women cross-border traders.
Although we began with just 40 traders, since then […]
Sauti Pilots the Platform
As a culmination of Sauti Africa’s efforts to date, we held our ‘soft’ – or test – pilot launch of our platform this past week on the Kenya-Uganda border town of Busia!
For those unfamiliar with our work, we have developed a mobile-based trade and market information platform to help enable legal, safe and profitable trade across borders in the East African Community (EAC). Building on the results of months of preparation, our energetic team spent the week in Busia training 40 Kenyan and Uganda women cross-border traders.
Although we began with just 40 traders, since then we have seen […]
Sauti and EASSI win Funding from GIZ and the East African Community
A joint proposal from Sauti and the Eastern African Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) has emerged best out of the 100 applications in the prestigious EAC-GIZ Incubator for Integration and Development in East Africa (IIDEA) competition to win a generous award that allows them to advance their pilot mobile program.
IIDEA is a joint initiative between GIZ and the East African Community (EAC) designed to promote people-centered and market-driven regional integration in East Africa. Established in 1999, the EAC is a regional economic community that includes Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania. Headquartered in Arusha, […]
February 2017 Update
We’re excited to announce new support to our pilot through the EAC-GIZ Incubator for Integration and Development in East Africa (IIDEA) and generous pro bono legal support from the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Also, please give our new Customer Discovery Report a read!
Sauti and EASSI Awarded GIZ-EAC IIDEA Prize
The joint proposal we submitted with our partner, the Eastern African Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI), has emerged best out of 100 applications in the prestigious EAC-GIZ Incubator for Integration and Development in East Africa (IIDEA) competition. IIDEA is a joint initiative between GIZ and the East African Community (EAC) designed to […]
Sauti Selected for the Hill Innovative Justice Accelerator Competition Semi-Finals
Sauti has been selected to participate in the semi-final stage of the prestigious Hill Innovative Justice Accelerator award for the most promising justice innovation of the year 2016 between 15 and 29 September 2016! These events will highlight the semi-finalists for the 2016 SME Empowerment- and Family Justice Challenge.
Each year, the most promising justice entrepreneurs compete for the prestigious Innovating Justice Awards. The awards are granted to the entrepreneurs with the most promising innovations, as selected by an international expert jury during the Annual Innovating Justice Forum.
The Innovating Justice Forum is an international event that discusses and supports innovative ways […]
Sauti is shortlisted in the HiiL Innovating Justice Accelerator!
We are thrilled to be shortlisted as a semi-finalist in the HiiL Innovating Justice Accelerator! Thank you everyone who supported us by voting in the competition. Looking forward to pitching our innovation at the Nairobi Boostcamp at iHub in September.
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Meeting Malaba’s Cross-Border Traders
Another day, another border. Yesterday we visited Malaba border crossing and met with women and men cross-border traders. As in Busia the traders here face similar challenges – rampant corruption and harassment and opaque and unharmonised policies. As their number one challenge the traders named the information gap they face in terms of understanding customs procedures and their rights as EAC traders. They also lack market information which makes them vulnerable to exploitation by middlemen. Their excitement about the Sauti platform was tangible and the traders were especially grateful to be consulted and involved in its development from the start […]
Meeting Busia’s Cross-Border Traders
Great meeting today with women traders in Busia border crossing. The women spoke of the numerous challenges they face when trading across borders, from corruption and lack of information on border procedures to harassment and gender-based violence. They also gave us invaluable feedback on our platform and how we can tailor it to their specific information needs. They are excited about our pilot and can’t wait to start using our mobile application. In the words of one trader we interviewed today “information is power – when traders are informed about their obligations and rights they feel empowered to stand up […]
Sauti’s Commitment to Local Partnerships
Sauti’s work is driven by strong partnerships and engagement with government, the private sector and civil society:
Our pilot is implemented jointly by Sauti and the Eastern African Sub Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI). Our partnership builds on EASSI existing work to date at key EAC borders, where with the assistance of donors such as DFID and TMEA, they have set up associations for women cross-border traders, trained women traders on EAC provisions and entrepreneurship skills, and set up Resource Centres where traders can seek guidance. Our platform builds on these existing projects and adopts key lessons […]