THE IMPACT OF MICROFINANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES ON THE ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN: THE CASE STUDY OF WISDOM MICRO FINANCING INSTITUTION S.C, AT WOLISO WORDA

Abstract

Governments, donors and NGOs have over the years initiated and implemented programmes aimed at empowering women economically and socially. Despite these efforts, some challenges still remain. Microfinance as tool for women empowerment has become the main subject of many global and regional conferences, seminars and workshops. Ethiopia is not an exception. This study, therefore, examined the contribution of microfinance to the economic empowerment of women in Ethiopia taking Wisdom Micro Financing Institution (WMFI) Microfinance Programme. Primary data was collected from the Clients of the WMFI’s microfinance programme. In this collection of Primary data methods like focus group discussion (FGD) and in depth interview were used. The empirical analysis of the study was conducted using both descriptive statistics and Binomial Logit regression analysis. The results of the study indicate that the micro financing program has a positive impact on women’s economic empowerment as measured by the increased participation of women in household decision making and analysis revealed that access to Microfinance has contributed immensely to the economic empowerment of women through improvement in their businesses. Besides, the study showed that access to microfinance has improved the status of women both at the family level and in society as a whole. The study, therefore, recommends that WMFI should endeavour to extend more credit facilities to women clients to economically empower them. Finally, WMFI should provide more training programmes to women in order to improve their entrepreneurial skills and help reduce the problems which hinder their access to microfinance