Irene Khaoya joined One Acre Fund in August 2008 as the bookkeeper for Chwele District, Kenya. Chwele District has doubled in size in the past year, and Irene’s responsibilities have grown—she now manages the books for a team of over thirty field officers.

When you first joined One Acre Fund, what did your duties include?

I worked on the roster database [to track client enrollment and repayment] and often went into the field to check compliance and assist the field staff as needed.

How has the job changed since then?

When I started working, I was doing field work most of the time, but now I am mostly based in the office entering data and carrying out other office duties.

How would you describe the growth of your technical skills?

When I first starting working for One Acre Fund, they were not so good. As time went by, they really improved. My typing was much better with practice, and I even learned how to work with databases using Microsoft Access.

Do bookkeepers generally prefer being in the field or in the office?

They like being in the office more because they can understand the program as a whole and not just what is happening in the field. They have a bigger picture of everything that’s going on in the organization

Does the bookkeeper’s input ever change how things are done in the field? Yes. For example, when a problem arises with repayment collection, the bookkeeper can talk to her field director and give suggestions about how to improve the system. She can suggest changes in field policy because she knows where there’s a problem and where improvements can be made.

So the bookkeeper is like the right hand man of the field director?

Yes.

Even though there is only one bookkeeper per district, do One Acre Fund’s bookkeepers feel like a team?

We definitely feel like we’re a team. While I run duties in Chwele, a bookkeeper in another district might have a problem and contact me to know how to solve it. During our [monthly] bookkeeper meetings, we interact and share how we can improve our performance on the job.

What is a work week like for a bookkeeper?

Monday: Run the district meeting and collect repayment from the field officers.

Tuesday: Data entry on the roster database and quality control to ensure that I’ve completed all the entries and to see if there are any problems.

Wednesday: Sometimes I’m sent out into the field to do compliance or data accuracy checks.

Thursday/Friday: I sit down with the field director to plan ahead on the coming week, determining the materials or possible policy changes that need to be made.

What are some of the highlights of being a bookkeeper?

So many people respect us and trust us with the money. Whenever we collect repayment, we ensure that it’s banked and that field staff have a rough figure of what each farmer has paid and his remaining balance. We are conversant with almost all the farmers in each location. We feel highly appreciated and like being able to see the bigger picture of One Acre Fund.

What are some of the challenges?

We are responsible for a lot of cash! Also, we interact with all levels of the field staff, so we are constantly attending to the needs of the many field officers, field managers, and field directors.

Are you a farmer yourself?

I do farm. I hire other people to plant on my land, and I teach them the One Acre Fund technique so I can get a good harvest. If you compare someone who’s used the One Acre Fund technique and one who hasn’t, there’s a very big difference. It’s a lot of work but the end result is good.