Comparative Study of the Contribution of Self Help Group (SHG) Approach on Women Empowerment: The Case of SHGs Supported by Mission for Community Development Program (MCDP) in Addis Ababa
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Date
2021-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the contributions of SHGs on women
economic, social, and political empowerment before and after being their membership in the
SHGs, taking the case from the Mission for Community Development Program (MCDP) in
Addis Ababa. A sample of 289 women members of SHG were taken for the study using simple
random sampling as the population was homogeneous. Their homogeneity is attributed to
similarities in gender, socio-economic background, and live in the same location. Both primary
and secondary data were used for this study. Primary data was collected by questionnaires and
semi-structured interviews. Secondary data was obtained from evaluation reports, websites, and
other available sources. Qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis were used in this
study. The interview responses and the evaluation reports obtained from secondary data were
analyzed qualitatively. Quantitative data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 25
expressed in frequencies and percentages and coded according to research objectives and
presented using tables and figures. According to the findings of the study, the economic
empowerment of women was examined in terms of developing a culture of saving, access to
loans, income-generating activities, economic independence, and assets holding, and
acquisitions of skills. All these are found to be the major contributions of SHG on women's
economic empowerment after being their membership as compared to before their enrolment in
SHG membership and the majority (74.3%) of women's economic status has increased after they
join SHG as well. Concerning the political empowerment of women, a comparison was made to
see the decision power of women on key assets, finance, and participation before and after
joining SHG. In this case, it was found that the decision-making power of women on loans,
saving, and participation in meetings after joining SHG was found to be higher (95.5%) than
before being their membership. Concerning women's participation in social issues frequencies
of women's participation in social issues after being their membership are significantly higher
(98.3%) than their participation before being their membership to SHG. In addition, SHG
program supports were also correlated with economic empowerment, social empowerment, and
political empowerment. Accordingly, all economic, social, and political empowerment has a
positive and significant relationship with the SHG program support.
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Keywords
women economic, political, and social empowerment, self-help group