Micro-Credit Groups’ Socio-Economic Functions’ to Sustainability of Government Revolving Funds in Murang’a County, Kenya

Abstract

The government of Kenya overtime has formulated a series of revolving funds to counter the poverty in the rural areas and to make the citizens living in these sections to earn a decent living, through their on-going income-generating activities. The most common is the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and the Women Enterprise Fund. There have been issues on the loan repayment affecting sustainability of the revolving funds. The main focus of this study was to analyze the loan repayment and sustainability issues of government revolving funds in Murang’a County. The study was guided by the following specific objective:- to examine the implication of socio-economic functions of groups to government revolving funds sustainability. The study adopted a positivism philosophy of research, where the researcher was independent on what was being observed and studied. Descriptive survey design was used to determine the level of government revolving fund repayment and its effect on sustainability for other borrowers. The target population was 1520 social and economic groups in Murang’a County. Clustering and Simple Random Sampling techniques were applied to select a sample size of 307 groups, in addition a census of 16 constituency credit officers, who were also interviewed. This, in total accounted to 19.5% of the total population. A questionnaire and an interview schedule were used to collect data. Descriptive data were analysed using tables and charts. Quantitative data were analysed using Chi-square, Analysis of Variance and Logit Regression Model. The results indicated that socio-micro groups’ functions’ was statistically significance to loan repayment and sustainability. The study recommended review of the education curriculum to reverse the teaching business studies in primary schools.