ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF MICROFINANCE ON THE ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN LIVING IN RURAL COMMUNITIES A CASE STUDY OF OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL SAVINGS AND LOANS LIMITED (OISL) ON WOMEN LIVING IN BEKWAI MUNICIPAL

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Date
August, 2015
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Abstract
The general objective of the study was to assess the contribution of OISL to the economic empowerment of women living in the rural communities within Bekwai municipal in the Ashanti region, with specific objectives of determining whether microfinance offered by Opportunity International had empowered rural women and also identifying the challenges rural women faced in accessing loans from Opportunity International. All the clients living in the rural communities could not be surveyed due to time and financial constraints; a sample size of 99 which was approximately 11% of the total women (loan clients) living in the rural communities was used. Data were collected through interviews and questionnaire administration. OISL's clients were found to be economically active, being engaged mainly in trading and manufacturing activities. A majority of these women had little or no formal education, with a lot of them also being single, either not being married to before, divorced or widowed. The women attested to the fact that they had been economically empowered after accessing loans from OISL compared to when they had never accessed loans from OISL, as a majority of them strongly agreed of having the capacity to provide better education, health and balanced meals for themselves and their dependents. A few of them encountered challenges either prior to the loan granting or during the loan repayment. It was therefore recommended that some of the stiff requirements demanded prior to the loan granting be lessened to make it more favorable for the women living in the rural communities. Such procedures included huge collateral and guarantor requirements. OISL and other MFIs should introduce medium and long term loan facilities, as well as repackage their training and monitoring tools to enable clients expand and grow their businesses for micro finance to realize its role as an engine of economic empowerment.
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A Thesis submitted to the Department of Accounting and Finance, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration (Finance Option)
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