2025 Harvest
Grassroots Economics Foundation with Gratitude
Join the Grassroots Economics team in Kenya for our 2025 year-end recap harvest: we open by watching the Sarafu Network animation and then speed through quarterly highlights and technology.
2025 Highlights below!
Q1 (Jan–Mar)
Platform & Transparency
Reporting page added to sarafu.network capturing: mwerya title, description, attendance, chama voucher, period, host, and location—improving transparency for donors and creating a verifiable track record for groups.
Capacity Building
Training delivered on how to use the new reporting workflow.
University-Led Pool (Lukenya)
In partnership with Lukenya University (School of Business): inception of the Lukenya University Pool.
https://sarafu.network/pools/0xB1a711609914A6A7281f4B0D0D2a52d82F48d884LUSOBE vouchers distributed to students to spend at local merchants or swap for cUSD; a month of embedded support with Abdulhakim.
Students could either spend LUSOBE in shops or swap to cUSD, demonstrating education-to-economy routing via pools.
International Training Programs
We expanded our international training programs with a U.S. mission that equipped Cooperation Jackson and Cooperation New Orleans through an interactive, visionary-approach workshop—culminating in the setup and inception of a Cooperation Jackson commitment pool. Alongside the trainings, our team had strong representation at ETHDenver and its side events, and we contributed to the GFEL conference through a panel discussion, sharing lessons on community-driven finance and pool-based coordination.
Mnyumbuni community center and demo farm
The farm keeps growing, some bees have moved in
Ongoing yearly training at the demo with now 60 neighbors on water retention systems, conservation and biodiversity, permaculture, reforestaion and syntropic farming
Q2 (Apr–Jun)
Field Visits & Retraining
Kitui and Nairobi visits: retraining group champions on Sarafu Network (report writing; voucher sending during labour rotations).
Thriving star members during a retraining session
Re-activation & Access
Revival of seven previously inactive Nairobi chamas through champion training.
Swap option added to the USSD menu, simplifying access to pools without smartphones.
Kinango Strengthening
Kinango chamas retrained; steward identification; training on reporting, loan access/limits/repayment; movement of loans in voucher form.
Kaya restoration project - Kwale county
Members from Guro A, Guro B, and the Chilumani chama launched work to revive the Kaya Chilimani and Kaya Guro forests. The team followed a clear sequence of actions: preparing planting holes, establishing a nursery from locally collected forest seeds, and excavating a pond linked to a swale on higher ground to capture road runoff and improve groundwater infiltration. Together, these steps lay the groundwork for successful reforestation and long-term ecosystem recovery,
Members of Kaya Guro and Kaya chilumani planting trees in the kaya Guro forest.
Mnyumbuni community center and demo farm
The rainy season was fruitful and new local crops have been tested and reproduced such as heirloom maize, sorghum and more fruits are being produced. We are aiming at covering the food produced in the garden for our community activities
Kahindi showing off a cassava harvest
Q3 (Jul–Sep)
Sarafu-Network - Community Impact Report – July 2025
A community-based survey conducted in July 2025 among households using the Sarafu Network. Respondents provided input across diverse questions regarding Sarafu’s use, impact, and areas for improvement. The survey was conducted across multiple regions including: rural, peri-urban, refugee camps and urban settlements. Sarafu-Network-2025-Survey-Report
Steward Expansion & Training
Dadaab and Kalobeyei: steward identification and training aligned to group growth since Aug 2024.
Kalobeyei: 22 stewards trained.
Dadaab: 7 KRCS champions and 2 chama heads per group; 25 champions trained in total.
Kalobeyei champions
Commitment Pooling Training
Dadaab: 15 groups (plus champions) retrained on commitment pooling; members created personal vouchers, seeded pools, and accessed interest-free loans.
Dadaab ChampionsKalobeyei: 22 champions trained; five groups received follow-up, on-site sessions.
ETHSafari x Grassroots Economics (Showcase Deployment)
NFC festival wristbands functioned as Celo wallets preloaded with SAFARI vouchers, backed 1:1 by a cUSD reserve.
Two-day outcomes:
1,398 total transactions; 765 organic P2P exchanges
KES 819,519 P2P volume; KES 74,400 initial airdrop
KES 99,663 on-site top-ups (cUSD→SAFARI); KES 136,829 merchant redemptions
Token velocity: 4.7×
Vendors onboarded in ~5 minutes via NFC tap-to-pay; vouchers used as commitments rather than speculative tokens; live demonstration of commitment pooling for culture and community value.
Off-Ramp Improvements
Send ‘Mpesa’ option added to USSD, enabling direct cUSD→KES conversion without third-party apps (via Pretium integration).
Mnyumbuni community center and demo farm
The farm has expanded with water retention strategies, implemented on contour design, raised beds and terraces to slow, spread and sink the water, grey water systems are developed and soil erosion control strategies are developed
The indigenous and conservation site is taken care of and tree cover is expanding
We now count on 10 full bee hives and colonies active around the farm
Q4 (Oct–Dec)
Kisima Festival (Kilifi)
Four-day gathering of wellness, ancestral memory, and future-focused community economies; opened by >60 local community members (many elder women from Kiriba) with Giriama songs, dances, and mutual-aid.
Every attendee received a Grassroots-Economics NFC bracelet (Celo wallet) with 100 Kisima Tokens.
Kisima attendees decorating calabashes to earn kisima vouchers
Participants offered skills, care, art, wellness sessions, crafts, meals, and everyday acts of generosity into the Kisima Pool, spending tokens to access one another’s commitments—many for the first time using blockchain to express mutual support.
GE team setting up NFC cards in preparation for the ETHsafari 2025
On-Ramp Improvements
Repayment of loans made easier on ussd by simply selecting send mpesa to CUSD which is eventually swapped in for vouchers repaying a loan.
Both onramp and off ramp shows as ‘get mpesa’ and ‘send mpesa’
Access & Credit Features
‘Credit - Send” option added to USSD to streamline swaps without manually checking pool availability.
Initiation of individual vouchers for loan access; pools so far seeded for individual credit at: Kiriba Community Pool, Dadaab Pool, Mnarani Community Pool, Kalobeyei Community Pool
Beekeeping for Stewardship: HSF-Supported Training in Kiriba
Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) funded a practical beekeeping training delivered by Jason Runo for Kiriba community groups, equipping members with livelihood skills that strengthen local ecological stewardship while creating new income opportunities.
Jason Runo leading the groups through beekkeeping training
Mnyumbuni community center and demo farm
More strategies on soil improvement, compost making and expansion of the productive agroforestry farm
Dhome gathering in Kiriba
A celebration of the year-long impact created through the weekly mweria to meet individual, group and community visions. The gathering brought together 6 chamas, Jezani, nguvu kazi, Mnyumbuni, kiriba, Upendo Kiriba, Neema, Muungano, Waves of change. The day was characterised by song dance, food, vision reviews and training on loans
