Article

Role of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in case of Wisdom Microfinance Institution, Dilla Town - Ethiopia.

Author : Tiblets Nguse Baraki

In a male dominated society, women have always been underestimated and discriminated in all spheres of life be it their family and social life or their economic and political life. Therefore, empowerment of women is one of very important issue in developing countries. Microfinance plays a significant role in empowering women through accessing both financial and non-financial service to empower the poor women. The main objective of this study is to assess whether the provision of microfinance services has brought changes on active women clients on living standards, decision making, and level of self-confidence in case of Wisdom microfinance institution. Primary data were collected through structured interview from active women clients those had been a client of program for more than two years. Interview with employees of the institution were also administered to capture qualitative information about their views toward women empowerment. A total of 50 samples were selected by convenience sampling method. Secondary data were gathered from different published journals and other relevant materials related with the subject of study. The study mainly applied descriptive statistics such as percentage and frequency distributions to analyze the data. The findings revealed that Wisdom microfinance institution has made a positive impact on poor women clients by improving their living standards, self-confidence and participation in decision making. Therefore, strengthening the development of microfinance institution in Ethiopia is an appropriate and appreciated policy instrument to realize the objectives of empowering women.


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