Microfinance and Rural Women Empowerment in the Kpandai District of Ghana: The Role of SEND Ghana Microfinance Scheme

摘要

The study investigated the extent to which SEND Ghana’s provision of financial resources has improved the livelihoods of poor women in the Kpandai District in the Northern Region of Ghana. It particularly evaluated method and type of financial services that the organization extends, the type of economic activities that clients invest their credit in the informal sector of the economy, the challenges associated with the financial programme and ways that the programme could be improved to address their economic and social problems. It found out through the use of focus group discussions and personal interviews with beneficiary women that there were significant improvement in beneficiaries’ lives. Apart from training in business and loan management that each beneficiary woman benefits; 39% reported improved access to child education, 27% in access to healthcare services and 14% in improved nutrition among others. The study therefore concludes that SEND-Ghana’s unique approach of training women and giving them loans on incremental basis have empowered many women in the Kpandai. We recommend to make the scheme more useful; SEND Ghana should review the loan package for each cycle by about fifty Ghana cedis (Gh? 50), a downward review of the interest rates and an extension of the period for repaying the credit. We further conclude that microfinance could be a tool for vulnerable groups’ empowerment if they are properly targeted and the approach tailored-made to suit them. Keywords: Women, economic empowerment, microfinance, Kpandai District, SEND Ghana.