Influence of community based organisation programs on women empowernment in kibra constituency: a case of Permaco women self help group, Nairobi city county Kenya.

Abstract

The role of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the context of improving women empowerment has become a vital one. Even now nearly 50 per cent of the Kenyans live below the poverty line which has over time encouraged SHG activities which has in turn led to an increase in the number of SHGs as an approach to alleviate poverty and empower community members in the social aspect of the group with entrepreneurial activities. Despite the significant role played by SHG programs in women development, there is a scarce empirical study on the influence of these programs on empowerment among women in Kenya. The study sought to examine the influence of Self Help Group programs on empowerment among women, a case of Permaco Women Self Help Group in Kibra Constituency. The purpose of this research was to determine the influence of Community Based Organization (CBO) programs on women empowerment in Kibra constituency: a case of Permaco Women Self Help Group, Nairobi Kenya. This study had four objectives: to establish the influence of micro financing on empowerment of women in Permaco women Self Help Group in Kibra constituency, to examine the influence of capacity building programs on empowerment of women in Permaco Women Self Help Group in Kibra constituency, to determine the influence of community entrepreneurship on empowerment of women in Permaco Women Self Help Group in Kibra constituency and to assess the influence of participatory leadership on empowerment of women in Permaco Women Self Help Group in Kibra constituency. This research study adopted a descriptive survey design which was deemed fit to determine the influence of Permaco Women Self Help Group on women empowerment in Kibra Constituency, Nairobi Kenya. The target population for this study was 1,000 members and beneficiaries of the group. A purposive random sample was used to select each group. A sample size of 200 respondents was selected from a list of 1,000 members and beneficiaries of the Permaco Women Self Help Group. The primary data for this study was collected using the questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed by employing descriptive statistics and inferential analysis using statistical package for social science (SPSS). The data was then presented in tables. The study established that CBO programs influence women empowerment and that enhancing programs such as micro financing, capacity building, community entrepreneurship and participatory leadership would improve the women empowerment in Kibra Constituency as the results were statistically significant. The study concluded that microcredit programs have a positive impact on both objective and subjective poverty. There is need to incorporate more Community Based Organization programs for women’s empowerment in Kibra constituency as these programs remain a critical aspect for consideration in women empowerment. SHGs have been instrumental in women empowerment by enabling women to work together in collective agency