APPEC-Education (a + b = 3’s partner in DR Congo) with the collaboration of the mototaxis union and COPEMECO trained more than two hundred people in October and November. A first training workshop was conducted in October with around thirty mototaxis on managing expenses, the importance of savings – especially for emergencies -, bookkeeping and calculating the profit from your activity as well as understanding the impact of debts. Participants found the training very useful to the point that they asked that a session be offered to their wives.
Several other trainings were therefore organized in November for the wives with an adapted programme: starting from the same story (a mototaxi and his family who have a hard time managing their money), the wives learned to budget and prioritise expenses and save. The training also included a section on how to find income ideas.
These training courses have led to others for market gardening women: they are low-income women whose main activity is growing and selling vegetables to households in Kinshasa. Some are widows and others have unemployed husbands. This training included calculating profit, basic accounting and managing personal expenses (including family budget and savings). These training courses, which are highly appreciated by the participants, were partly funded by the participants, but to reach the 300,000 mototaxis in Kinshasa and the thousands of women market gardeners, a search for funding and a strategy are under discussion.
