Impact of Women Enterprise Fund on Women’s Socio-Economic Empowerment in Nakuru County- Kenya

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the impact of Women Enterprise Fund on the empowerment of women in Nakuru County Kenya. The study objectives were; to establish the demographic characteristics of women who obtained funds from WEF, examine how women had utilized the same funds, identify the challenges women faced in accessing and utilizing the funds, establish the impact of WEF on women‟s socio-economic empowerment and come up with the strategies that could enhance accessing and utilization of the funds from WEF by women. The study was guided by Sara Longwe‟s framework on Economic empowerment. A descriptive research design was used in the study. Data was generated through Focused Group Discussions with randomly selected women groups, and interviews with the officials of the Women Enterprise Fund. Qualitative data was cleaned, sorted and analyzed based on the common themes which were generated from the study objectives. The study results indicated that many of the women in the groups were married with an average of five to ten dependents. The funds received from WEF were utilized in various business enterprises and projects ranging from livestock rearing, poultry farming, construction of rental houses and starting up business enterprises. The study also established that the women were empowered both socially and economically in that they acquired trainings which accorded them opportunities to share information with others in addition to increased income from income generating activities which supplemented their other sources of income. The study further identified a number of challenges experienced by the women groups while accessing the fund these included; stringent fund policies, lack of information, delays in loan disbursement, low loan limits and spousal consent. Challenges encountered while utilizing the funds included; limited and shrinking market, lack of skills, spousal demand of the fund, emerging family needs and loss of funds due to uncalculated spending. The strategies identified to address the challenges during accessing the funds were increasing the loan amounts, individual loan lending and reviewing the lending policies so that they are flexible to individual lending as opposed to strictly lending to women in groups. Strategies addressing challenges experienced while utilizing the funds were; timely disbursement of the loans, regular and continuous trainings and sensitization forums