Microfinance Services and Economic Empowerment of Women in Butaleja District, Uganda

Abstract

This dissertation is about microfinance services and economic empowerment of women in Butaleja district. The objectives of this study were to establish the effect of microcredit, assess the effect of training and to establish the effect of savings on economic empowerment of women involved in microfinance activities in Butaleja district. This study looked at registered SACCOs that were operational with specific focus on Doho Farmers SACCO and Butaleja SACCO, being the prominent ones in Butaleja district. For this study, microfinance services accessed by women in SACCOs in Butaleja district were microcredit, savings and training as discussed in the theory part of the dissertation. The survey method was employed and this involved administering questionnaires to selected SACCO members. The interview and focus group discussion methods were also employed for in-depth information. The study also involved review of documents about SACCOs and their operations, the status of women in Butaleja district, the population, and the economic activities women in Butaleja district are engaged in. The findings from the study revealed that 88.6% of the respondents acknowledged that access to microcredit had positively contributed to the economic empowerment of women through improvement of their businesses. The study also revealed that 59.1% of the respondents had attained basic training in credit and business management and that they all found it useful in their business operations. The study further revealed that all respondents found micro savings useful to them and 84.1% claimed to have been able support their families through their savings. In conclusion, based on the findings the researcher recommends that the government through its agencies and SACCOs should extend more credit facilities to women to expand their businesses. SACCOs, NGOs, and government agencies should provide specialized and regular training programmes for women entrepreneurs in order to improve their entrepreneurial skills. Government should institute policies that provide for women rights to possessions so that they are motivated to save not only for further investment but also acquisition of possessions.