primarily involved in mutual assistance activities with little or no experience with income-generation projects; 2) groups that require substantial member contributions and that have more experience in undertaking economic activities; and groups organized at the initiative of Government officials for a specific purpose (i.e extension activities) (Monsted and Riunge, 1987).

Field studies of women's groups in different parts of the country point to their differences in access to resources such as land and education, and to the fact that different groups are generally accessible to different types of women (World Bank, 1989; Muzaale and Leonard, 1985). A more recent assessment of women's groups benefitting from the Rural Development Fund, however, points to the fact that the majority of the poorest women are not well represented in women's groups involved in income-generation activities (Monsted and Riunge, 1987). In addition, estimates from the Women's Bureau point to the fact that three quarters of the women in women's groups registered with the Women's Bureau came from East and Central Provinces (Feldman, 1982). Studies from different parts of the country suggest that the poorest families, landless iaborers and single women are under-represented in women's groups in large part because of the required demands of time and money (Feldman, 1982). In reviewing the composition of groups over time, it was found that women operating at the margin are unlikely to be able to make the investment in the group over the long-term. In groups studied in parts of Taveta Division, the poo-er members of the groups left as the famine (of 1981) took hold, probably because they could no longer afford the necessary financial and time commitments (Muzaale and Leonard, 1985).

With the caveats about membership and geographical concentration, women's groups can nonetheless play an important role in the context of household food security since they offer the opportunity for women to pool labor resources, to undertake soil conservation activities, to grow or produce more food, to earn income that could be spent on foodstuffs and to serve as channels of communication for agricultural and nutritional extension information. The pooling of labor among group members, i.e. women's access to reciprocal labor, is seen as part of a broader mutual assistance strategy. In addition, these efforts may enable women to adopt agricultural innovations requiring more labor, and to undertake farming tasks in a timely manner. Research has shown that women farmers in one area of the country were able to adopt hybrid maize because of their participation in women's groups that allowed them to pool their labor and undertake planting activities in a timely manner (Clark, 1985).

Women's self-help groups have traditionally performed soil conservation activities on a rotating basis on their farm plots. These efforts to terrace land have had an impact on the seasonal flow of water in streams and on reducing siltation of dams (Carloni and Horenstein, 1985). The groups' involvement in agricultural activities can provide additional food through their access to training on better production and storage techniques although output is generally low (Monsted and Riunge, 1987). Bee-keeping and honey harvesting activities, although of questionable economic viability, can contribute to family nutrition to the extent that honey is mainly used among the members for their children's consumption. Livestock projects, including dairy cattle, goat and sheep rearing, also offer nutritional benefits to women and their families.

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