Project summary

The WApp Solution is a digital ecosystem for widows’ economic and social inclusion, designed to unify fragmented community structures into a single, accessible coordination platform.

Implemented through SWAPC (Samia Widows AiD & Protection Center) Consortium, the project integrates four pillars:

• Financial Inclusion & Economic Empowerment

• Agriculture & Climate Resilience

• Health & Social Protection

• Digital Inclusion & Innovation

The platform is designed to enable widows track economic activities, coordinate livelihoods, access services and connect to partners using both smartphones and basic phones via USSD powered by Africa's Talking.

The WApp (Widows App) is a scalable, mobile-first digital platform designed to organize, empower and economically uplift 5,000 –75,000 widows in Busia County and neighboring counties in Kenya during a 6-month pilot, with expansion potential to over 500,000 widows across Western Kenya, parts of Nyanza in Kenya and Eastern Uganda. The model is designed for high scalability, with cost per user decreasing significantly as adoption increases.

The WApp Solution is designed to transforms existing networks into a coordinated, data-driven ecosystem by:

·         Digitizing group membership and activities

·         Enabling savings tracking and mobile money integration

·         Facilitating collective farming and market access

·         Delivering trainings and information via mobile

·         Generating real-time data for monitoring and evaluation

By building digital coordination infrastructure, WApp reduces inefficiencies and unlocks scalable, low-cost impact for one of the most economically vulnerable populations.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

Overall Goal

To improve income, resilience and well-being for widows through scalable digital coordination infrastructure.

Core Objectives & Implementation

1. Financial Inclusion & Economic Empowerment

Objective: Strengthen group savings, financial transparency, and access to economic opportunities through;

• Digital savings and contribution tracking (App + USSD)

• Visibility for micro-credit and investment opportunities

• Improved accountability within groups

2. Agriculture & Climate Resilience

Objective: Improve agricultural productivity and climate adaptation through;

• Coordination of group farming activities including collective farming

• Training and dissemination of climate-smart practices

• Aggregation for better market access

3. Health & Social Protection

Objective: Improve access to essential services and safety nets through;

• Referral pathways to local services

• Regular group-based emergency support tracking

• SMS reminders (health, insurance, services)

4. Digital Inclusion & Innovation

Objective: Ensure equitable access regardless of device or literacy level through;

• Multi-channel access (App + USSD + SMS)

• Field onboarding and digital literacy training

• Real-time data dashboards for monitoring and adaptation

The core objectives are aligned to SWAPC four operational pillars that include;

• Financial Inclusion & Economic Empowerment

• Agriculture & Climate Resilience

• Health & Social Protection

• Digital Inclusion & Innovation

Implementation Approach

• Leverage existing SWAPC widow groups for rapid onboarding

• Deploy ToT’s and/ Group support team for user support,

• Integrate USSD,/SMS via Africa's Talking

• Use continuous data feedback to improve engagement and outcomes

The WApp Solution is designed not only to support widows directly but also to provide real-time visibility, coordination, accountability and measurable impact for donors, implementing partners and government(s).

Creating a shared ecosystem where:

• Donors gain transparency

• Implementers improve efficiency

• Government(s) strengthen social protection systems

Thus transforming widows support from fragmented interventions into a coordinated, data-driven and scalable ecosystem.

How will this funding be used?

The WApp Solution Project

Pilot Project Budget

Total Funding Request: $ 95,700

ITEM Amount (USD)

A. Platform Development & Testing - 23%

Mobile App (Android-first)    8,700.00

Backend System (APIs, database)    3,900.00

USSD Development    4,300.00

USSD Integration    1,900.00

SMS System Setup    1,300.00

Testing & QA    2,100.00

Subtotal  22,200.00

B. Field Onboarding & Training  - 37%

Field Officers and/ ToT's (6 months)    9,700.00

Widows Trainings & Materials    8,900.00

Travel & Logistics    4,900.00

Consultants (Smart Farming/ VSLA/ Entrepreneurship)    8,500.00

Community & Government Sensitization    3,500.00

Subtotal  35,500.00

C. Data & M&E Systems  - 14%

Data Systems & Dashboards    3,500.00

Devices (tablets)    2,100.00

M&E Staff    5,300.00

Surveys & Data Collection    2,700.00

Subtotal  13,600.00

D. Operations & Coordination  - 15%

Project Management    6,150.00

Admin & Coordination    4,100.00

Communications & Reporting    2,550.00

Legal & Compliance    1,350.00

Subtotal  14,150.00

E. USSD & SMS Usage (12 months)  - 10%

 USSD Sessions   5,900.00

Bulk SMS    3,300.00

Short Code 1,050.00

Subtotal 10,250.00

Contingencies (5% of subtotal of (A+B+C+D+E)) 4,785.00

TOTAL 95,700.00

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

The WApp Solution team combines:

• Senior humanitarian leadership (15+ years)

• Proven mobile technology development capacity

• Advanced monitoring & evaluation expertise

• Deep grassroots legitimacy and trust with widows

Core team include;

1 - Michael Agundah, Gerry — Project Lead & Founder

Michael brings over 15 years of experience in humanitarian operations, grants management, and compliance across multiple international NGOs including UNHCR, Save the Children UK, IIRR, Solidarity Islamic France and Mercy Corps.

His background includes:

• Senior-level roles in sub-grants management, financial oversight and compliance

• Direct experience of managing donor-funded programs and reporting systems

• Expertise in data systems (e.g., PROGRESS) handling sensitive beneficiary data

As founder of the SWAPC consortium and affiliated widow networks (BWAPC, MWAPC, NWAPC, TWAPC), he has:

• Built and coordinated multi-group widow support systems across Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda

• Developed a deep understanding of real-world coordination failures facing widows

2 - Collins Lotuk — Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Advisor

Collins is a senior Research, Evaluation, and Learning expert with 15+ years of experience in humanitarian and development programs across Africa. With academic and technical background of MSc in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), BSc and MSc in Statistics

Collins has technical capabilities in;

• Statistical tools: R, SPSS, STATA, CSPro, SAS

• Survey & nutrition tools: Epi Info, ENA

• Spatial analysis: ArcGIS, QGIS, ERDAS, GRASS GIS

Brings forth both relevant and practical field experience that comprise of;

• Designing data collection systems via USSD/App

• Measuring cost-effectiveness and outcomes

• Enabling real-time monitoring dashboards and

• Supporting evidence-based scaling decisions

3 – Juliana Ndeto — VSLa & Economic Resilience Lead

Juliana is a humanitarian and development specialist with over 15 years’ experience in agriculture and non-agriculture livelihoods, community resilience, economic empowerment, community-managed microfinance (savings groups), value-chains and business development services.  Has served as manager in single projects both for Feed the Children-Kenya, World Agroforestry Centre-ICRAF and Rupal Dhanani Trust Fund in Kenya.

Has executed baselines and end of project surveys, disaster risk analysis, market assessments, value-chain assessments, project evaluations for partners in livelihoods and savings groups’ implementing agencies in Kenya.

Juliana has undergone training in community-micro-finance strategies, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, community resilience, advocacy and value chain development. Holds BA in Community Development & Psychology and  M.Sc in Climate Change and Adaptation

· She over brings forth immense experience in planning, training and implementation of livelihoods projects both in emergency response and development contexts using different strategies such as Graduation model, VSLa, value chain development, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, CMDRR and Climate Change Adaptation

· She is the Founder of CECCA (Community Empowerment & Climate Change Adaptation Co.), responsible for the design and implementation of livelihoods strategies for different women groups where she has successfully;

o   Trained over 300 women on entrepreneurship skills for UNDP Kenya.

o   Conducted training needs assessments for 165 women groups.

o   Designed and facilitated training to the groups as per the identified needs with interest in VSLA, climate smart farming, entrepreneurship and financial literacy for 165 women groups. 

o   Designed Gender mainstreaming plans for women projects.

4 - Francisca Oguba — Community Development Coordinator

Mrs. Oguba brings over 25 years of experience in education, community development and grassroots leadership, currently serving as Chairperson of widow self-help groups under WAPC (Widows AiD & Protection Center) in Busia County.

She has community expertise in;

• Direct leadership of widow groups across multiple wards with

• Deep experience in:

  • Group formation and governance

  • Conflict resolution and psychosocial support

  • Gender-based vulnerability and inclusion

Her Professional Background;

• Trained teacher with undergraduate degree in Education

• Additional certifications in:

  • Gender Equality

  • HIV/AIDS counseling

  • Community Development & Guidance

Francisca has specialized strength and she;

• Is trusted by widows as both a leader and counselor

• Ensures high adoption, retention and ethical implementation

• Bridges the gap between technology and real human needs

5 - Aggrey Lutsinga — Lead Developer (Digital Tailor Agency)

Aggrey is a senior full-stack mobile engineer and founder of Digital Tailor Agency (DTA) with 10+ years of experience delivering production-grade mobile systems across Sub-Saharan Africa. Has technical expertise in;

• Native & cross-platform development (Android, iOS, REST APIs, backend systems)

• Experience integrating mobile money ecosystems (e.g., M-Pesa APIs)

• Scalable system architecture for high-usage, low-bandwidth environments

• UI/UX optimization for low-literacy and first-time digital users

Successfully completed projects include among others;

• Frigoken Farmer Management App (agri-supply chain digitization)

• MyAgent (Safaricom) – M-Pesa agent management system

• MFARE – public transport (matatu) booking platform

• Wac Bajaj (Somalia) – Uber-like mobility platform

• Kenya TVs – streaming app

• Imax Cameras – e-commerce platform

• KLMC App – livestock price intelligence & analytics

Aggrey brings onboard relevant advantage for WApp development including;

• Proven ability to build real-world, user-facing systems used at scale

• Experience designing for offline/low-connectivity contexts and

• Capability to integrate App + USSD + SMS ecosystems

Africa’s Talking

USSD and SMS functionality will be implemented in collaboration with Africa's Talking, a leading communications infrastructure provider across Africa. Leveraging their APIs and telecom integrations, WApp will deliver real-time, session-based access for users without internet connectivity—significantly increasing reach, reliability and scalability across underserved communities.

Africa’s talking thus enables reliable, scalable access for both smartphone and non-smartphone users, ensuring that widows in low-connectivity and rural settings can fully participate in the WApp ecosystem.

The WApp core team thus combines deep humanitarian experience, proven mobile technology development, rigorous impact evaluation capacity and trusted grassroots leadership positioning it uniquely to deliver a scalable, cost-effective solution for widows at scale.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

Risks: Causes & Outcomes if the Project Fails

Key Risks

1. Low Adoption

• Digital literacy barriers

• Resistance to new systems

Mitigation:

• Strong community leadership (existing widow groups)

• Training and USSD access

2. Technical Challenges

• System instability or integration delays

Mitigation:

• Experienced developer (proven track record)

• Use of established infrastructure (Africa’s Talking)

3. Funding Constraints

• Inability to fully deploy or scale

Mitigation:

• Lean pilot model

• Phased rollout strategy

4. Coordination Complexity

• Managing large, distributed user base

Mitigation:

• Structured onboarding

• Data-driven monitoring systems

If the Project Fails

Likely Outcomes:

• Limited or no improvement in coordination efficiency

• Reduced ability to scale digital inclusion

• Continued fragmentation of widow support systems

What Still Remains Valuable:

• Established widow networks

• Partial digital infrastructure

• Learnings for future iterations

Why the project is highly expected to be successful;

• Builds on existing, active widow networks (not starting from zero)

• Combines technology + community trust

• Uses multi-channel of access (App + USSD + SMS)

• Strong execution team (tech + M&E + field leadership)

• Designed for low-cost scaling and high reach

The WApp Solution is not just a digital tool, it is a coordination infrastructure layer that increases the effectiveness of existing interventions (financial inclusion, agriculture, health, advocacy and social support) enabling scalable and cost-effective impact for hundreds of thousands of widows.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

We have not yet raised external funding specifically for the WApp Solution in the past 12 months.

However, the project builds on ongoing work by the SWAPC Consortium and WAPC Network, which have been actively supporting widow-led community initiatives. This includes organizing savings groups, agricultural activities and social support systems across multiple wards in Samia Sub-County and within Busia County.

To date, progress has been driven through volunteer effort, community contributions and in-kind support, including time, coordination and local mobilization.

We have also begun early engagement with potential funders through the Effective Altruism ecosystem and are developing this proposal as a first formal funding opportunity for scaling a system that already has strong community foundations.