The Impact of Microfinance on the livelihoods of women in rural communities: A case study of Jaman South District, Ghana

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Date
2011
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Abstract
The Ghanaian economy, like all developing economies, has about 52% of its population being women and mostly found in the rural areas (Asiama and Osei, 2008). Therefore there was the need to extend financial services to the rural communities in Ghana. This idea gave birth to the establishment of the Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) in Ghana. These banks targeted low income clients through the provision of small loans and other facilities like savings, insurance, transfer services to poor low-income household and microenterprises. The Jaman South District, one of the deprived districts in the Brong Ahafo Region, was selected to study the impact of Microfinance Institution (MFI) on the livelihoods of women in the area. A case study was adopted for the study. Primary and secondary sources of data collections methods were used as two sets of questionnaires were administered in the study; one each for clients of the MFI and the officials of the MFI. Combinations of purposive and convenient sampling methods were used to select the MFI and the clients for the study. The main findings were; that the presence of MFIs has contributed to large extend increased in access to credit and savings mobilization. This contributed in women’s ability to improve their petty trading, hence increase in their income, and subsequently led to good health and education for their families, acquisition of assets and taking part in household decision making. Based on the findings it is recommended that financial education be intensified to educate women on financial services. Also more MFIs should be encouraged to establish their branches in rural areas.
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A Thesis submitted to the Institute of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Commonwealth Executive Masters in Business Administration,
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