Kisongo
Data Co-ops in Action: A Network of Support
DURATION: Currently Active
POPULATION: 12,519 inhabitants (Growth rate 3.3%)
TOPICS: SOCIAL INTEGRATION, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, FINANCIAL RESOURCES, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, DATA & TECHNOLOGY.
URA SCOPE: ECONOMY Urban Prosperity Beyond GDP
MAIN ACTORS:Aapti Episteme Institute, Data 2X (project partners), Daniel Alphayo (intermediary for grantee organisation)
At the heart of Aapti Institute’s work lies a powerful commitment: to ensure that inclusivity, agency, and representation shape how data is created, governed, and used. Recognizing that data often fails to reflect the lived realities of vulnerable communities, Aapti launched Data Co-ops in Action, a support network for data cooperatives with a focus on empowering women’s groups through collective data ownership.
Much like traditional cooperatives that pool labor and resources, data cooperatives enable members to pool their data for mutual benefit. Rooted in the cooperative ethos, this model helps communities use their own data to enhance their quality of life, reclaim agency, and strengthen their decision-making power.
As part of its pilot cohort, Aapti partnered with Enyorata Loviluku, a women’s group in Kisongo, Tanzania. Despite initial resistance from their community, these Swahili women, with the support of intermediary Daniel Alphayo, formed a cooperative to pool resources and build financial resilience. Most members run small businesses yet continue to face barriers to formal credit. Aapti supported the group in developing a basic data infrastructure—an app that allows them to pool financial data to demonstrate creditworthiness to banks.
Aapti also recognized that technology alone isn’t enough. Data literacy was critical. Through interactive workshops, the women learned about their data rights and the implications of different governance models. Initially leaning toward individual data sharing, they ultimately chose a collective approach—pooling data to enhance group safety and bargaining power. This decision marked a significant step in asserting control over their digital identities.
Thanks to funding support, the group has developed a beta version of the app, which is now undergoing refinement. Importantly, a Tanzanian bank has agreed to use the group’s aggregated data to issue loans—offering a new channel of credit and opening the door to financial independence. Legal registration of the cooperative is now underway, building credibility for future collaborations.
For Aapti, this is more than a pilot—it’s a proof of concept. Data co-ops are powerful tools for historically marginalized communities, especially women in the Global South. Whether it’s enabling financial inclusion, informing urban planning, empowering gig workers, or driving climate resilience, Aapti sees community-owned data as a force for systemic change.
By helping groups govern and leverage their own data, Aapti reimagines digital empowerment—from the grassroots up.
Challenge & Context
In many marginalized communities, especially those led by women, the journey to financial independence is riddled with systemic challenges. For women like those in the Enyorata Loviluku group in rural Tanzania, access to capital remains a critical barrier. Despite running small businesses and pooling resources within their group, they often lack the creditworthiness required by formal financial institutions. This not only limits their ability to grow but also forces them to remain dependent on informal or internal funding—resources that are rarely enough.
Underlying this financial exclusion is a lack of visibility and bargaining power. Traditional systems fail to account for the economic contributions of women, especially in informal economies. Without recognized data to back their financial activities, they struggle to negotiate fair terms or access external opportunities.
Moreover, limited data literacy compounds the issue. Many are unaware of their digital rights or how to use data as a tool for empowerment. The absence of accessible technology and knowledge means they are left out of decisions that directly impact their futures. These intersecting challenges—financial dependency, invisibility in data systems, and lack of digital agency—highlight the urgent need for inclusive, community-driven models like data cooperatives.
Solution Proposed
In a quiet corner of Kisongo, Tanzania, a powerful transformation is unfolding. To tackle the systemic financial and data exclusion faced by marginalized communities—especially women—Aapti Institute launched Data Co-ops in Action, a pioneering initiative that reimagines data as a tool for empowerment. Inspired by traditional cooperatives, this model helps women pool their data collectively to unlock access to opportunities—most crucially, credit.
In Kisongo, Tanzania, the women of Enyorata Loviluku overcame community resistance to build a self-sustaining group. Through Aapti’s support, they began using a custom-built app to pool financial data, allowing them to prove creditworthiness to banks for the first time. This is not just about access to loans—it’s about financial independence, entrepreneurship, and dignity.
Beyond tools, Aapti also nurtures data literacy—educating women on their rights, how to govern their data, and how collective ownership can amplify their voices and safety.
By expanding this model across regions, Data Co-ops in Action aims to create a scalable, inclusive infrastructure that puts data power back into the hands of the communities it represents—enabling everything from financial inclusion to climate resilience.
Impact
What began as a modest effort by a determined group of Swahili women has grown into a living example of how community-owned data can rewrite the rules of economic participation. With the support of Aapti Institute and a targeted grant, these women—members of the Enyorata Loviluku group—have not only built a data cooperative, but are also reshaping their financial futures.
The group’s most significant breakthrough came with the development of a custom data-sharing app, designed to create a digital footprint of their collective financial activity. Where once their only option was to rely on pooled savings, the app has now made it possible to access formal credit from a Tanzanian bank. Their aggregated data—transparent, community-owned, and verified—speaks a language banks understand. It has opened a new line of credit, one that will allow these women to invest in and scale their businesses like never before.
But the transformation didn’t stop with technology. Through hands-on data literacy workshops, the women gained a deep understanding of their rights and the power of data governance. Initially unsure whether to share their data individually, they made a collective decision to pool their information. This move not only reduced risks associated with individual data exposure, but also strengthened their negotiating position—ensuring they were seen not as isolated borrowers, but as a unified, strategic group.
Legal registration of their data cooperative cemented their status as a credible entity. It laid the groundwork for formal partnerships, attracted interest from beyond the group, and made room for other women in the community to envision their own paths to financial independence.
In just a short span, this initiative has created something rare—a replicable model of community-led financial transformation, powered by data and built on trust.
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