| dc.description.abstract | Women Enterprise Fund is a powerful tool to fight poverty .When women have access to financial services they can earn more, build their assets, and cushion themselves against external shocks .Women Enterprise Fund can enable women to move from everyday survival to planning for the future. Women Enterprise fund means building financial systems that serve the poor .In most developing countries ,women are majority of the population, yet they are the least likely to be served by the banks. In spite of many efforts in Kenya to empower women entrepreneurs through capacity building and to avail them with needed resources, there is a gap between supply side and demand side, most women entrepreneurs appear not to have taken full advantage of these opportuni
ties (ILO 2008).There is a feeling that the maximum of fifty thousand given to the groups of around fifteen women is very little to start and sustain the income generating activities, given that some of these women chose to go to business individually. The researcher therefore intended to assess the performance of the Women Enterprise Fund in women economic empowerment in North Imenti Constituency. A representative sample was selected from the population using stratified simple random and cluster sampling methods. Data was collected by use of questionnaires which contained both structured and unstructured questions. The data was analyzed using
descriptive and inferential statistics and findings presented in tables, graphs and pie charts. The study revealed that the WEF is primarily reaching low-income moderately poor micro entrepreneurs, who are their target group. This conclusion is based on findings that show that those who benefited from the fund have more basic durable assets with respondents having an enterprise that generates cash on a weekly. This helps women reduce their financial vulnerability through diversification of income sources and accumulation of assets. The data suggest that WEF should consider the feasibility of providing individual loan products to participants who have been diligent in repaying their group loans. Female population should be encouraged to participate in various economic activities in order to improve their livelihoods. These include enrolment in post-primary education, observing individual health needs and accessing productive income generating activities and/or well-paying employment. Introduction of Women’s Development Fund is a positive initiative towards economic empowerment of female population, but its implementation needs strong identification and monitoring systems in order for the poor women to equally benefit. | en_US |
