ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES ON WOMEN’S SOCIO-ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT IN LOGINDO DISTRICT, ARUSHA, TANZANIA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess income generating activities (IGA’s) in Longido District and their impact on women’s economic empowerment and poverty reduction. The objectives of the study are to: Assess the kinds of IGA’s that women are involved in Longido District; Analyze the level of women’s skills in IGAs in Longido District, To determine the social, economic and cultural challenges facing women in IGA’s; and finally analyze women’s socio-economic empowerment in relation to poverty reduction in Longido District. The study is descriptive in nature and it involved a population of 550 respondents from which representative sample was drawn to represent key stakeholders using simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using questionnaires, interviews and observation. This was analyzed by summarizing key findings for qualitative data, as well as using excel to analyze the quantitative data. The study found that, the major business activities engaged in by the women respondents in Longido district were Petty Businesses, livestock selling, goat selling, posho mills and bead art making and selling. However the Challenges facing women entrepreneurs in Longido District could be categorized into social-related and economic-related. Of the social-related, traditional beliefs on land ownership, role of men, and role of women in society were the major ones. Of economic-related, lack of collateral security and low income per-capita were the major ones. Furthermore, an improvement of socio-economic challenges is likely to improve the status of the women-run small scale businesses. On conclusion, Lack of collateral securities, high levels of unemployment, low per-capita income, and unequal allocation of income tend to lower the status of women-run small business enterprises. Therefore addressing of these challenges could help boost the sustainability of women-run small business enterprises. Apart from that the researcher has come up with the recommendations that, Land Laws and regulations should be revised so that women can have access and ownership rights to land and be able to use land as resources for starting and improving their income generating activities (IGAs). Banking and Micro-finance Policies should be revised and develops strategies to guarantee the impediments against women borrowing are addressed. This will accommodate and guarantee the access of women’s loans with low interest rates.