Key Highlights

• Marry-go-rounds and Chamas are quite simple to start
• Many people with different opinions are accommodated in these merry-go-rounds and Chamas. 
• Chamas attract low contribution per head, leading to low capital pool

Marry-go-rounds and Chamas are quite simple to start. Members of these groups are drawn from individual groups with a common bond of friendship, neighborhood, or even family. Due to this, marry-go-rounds and Chamas do experience some challenges that if not resolved may hurt their operations lead to their terminations. Some of the problems are listed below:

Lack of seriousness among the members

Many people with different opinions are accommodated in these merry-go-rounds and Chamas. Some Chamas comprise of people familiar with each other such as close friends or neighbors; people tend to be lax and many often miss meetings giving flimsy excuses as to why they didn’t attend the meetings while others do not bother to make contributions on time as others do not make contributions. This makes it hard for the leaders to effectively run the Chamas since leaders fear losing friends when they discipline members who happen to be their friends. This has seen many merry-go-rounds collapse because of inadequate funds to operate effectively thus hindering economic sustainability projects of the group.

Insert: Members of Wi Obieor Women Self Help Group during their 2019-December Chama Meeting. (Photo Credit:WCY, 2019)

Gossiping

Most members in these groups tend to talk about other members in the group of their bad deeds or even making comparisons of different homes they have visited and the entertainment skills of each host since most of the meetings are held at members' homes. At each time members are engage in gossiping they do not pay attention to what is being said during the meet and may not act according to the resolutions of the meetings. Some members may also opt to leave the group as a result of them being gossiped every time by other members, this may interfere with the group's operational activities thus bringing their existence to an end.

Read: Chamas or Savings Account, Which way for our sisters, mothers, and wives?

Low capital contribution by members

Little capital is another problem that makes most of the chamas and merry-go-rounds not to be economically stable as they cannot fully run their activities effectively due to insufficient funds, which also limits them from borrowing more money from the financial institutions to fund their activities.