A merry-go-round works on a simple rotation: a group of members contribute a fixed amount weekly, and each week the full pooled amount goes to one member in turn. A group of Kasarani women who started this way earlier in the year have used their turns for exactly the expense that tends to arrive without warning: school fees.
What makes the model work isn't the size of any single contribution, it's modest, but the discipline of a group meeting weekly and the certainty of knowing your turn is coming. Several members have described it as the first time they've had a reliable way to meet a large expense without borrowing at a high rate from elsewhere.
We support groups like this with basic guidance on record-keeping and fair rotation order before they start, and we're currently helping a second group of Kasarani women get organised using the same model.