Social economic determinants of performance for women empowerment projects: a case of womankind in Garissa County, Kenya
Date
2023
Authors
Yussuf, A.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
The Kenyan government has enhanced its efforts to encourage women to venture into business by creating policies and investing in projects that create competitive business environments as well as improve women’s’ entrepreneurial efficacy. Despite significant efforts to increase women’s involvement in business, a host of unique challenges have still resulted in men owning more than a third of all businesses globally. The research therefore aimed to identify key social economic determinants of performance of women empowerment projects in Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to establish the effect of gender roles, access to capital and access to technology as they affect performance of the women empowerment entrepreneurial projects in Kenya. The study is guided by Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital. In this study, a positivism research philosophy and a descriptive survey design was adopted. The population being unit of analysis of this study was the women empowerment entrepreneurial projects that have been implemented by Womankind in Garissa County, Kenya. The respondents included 230 project staff covering project managers, project coordinators and community liaison officers. Stratified random sampling was adopted to select respondents. Reliability of the data collection tool was determined through Cronbach Alpha Coefficient; while validity was determined by sharing questionnaire with the experts in the field of project management for review. The overall reliability result was 0.833 implying that the study tool was reliable. The analysis of the collected data was done through means, standard deviations and regression analysis. Overall, the research established that socioeconomic determinant has a positive and significant relationship with performance of women empowerment projects. The study concluded that gender roles had a significant effect on performance of women empowerment entrepreneurial projects. Based on the second objective, the study concluded that access to capital had a significant effect on performance of women empowerment entrepreneurial projects. Findings from the last objective concluded that access to technology had an insignificant effect on performance of women empowerment entrepreneurial projects. The study recommends encouraging men to take an active role in supporting women's entrepreneurship, whether as mentors, investors, or advocates, which can help create a more inclusive and supportive environment. Further, recommendations are that providing training on financial management and literacy can help women entrepreneurs understand how to manage their finances effectively, which can improve their chances of accessing formal credit. The study also recommended enhancement of digital literacy among women entrepreneurs including the digital literacy skills needed to use technology effectively.
Keywords: Project management, Women empowerment, Entrepreneurial projects, gender roles, access to finance, access to technology
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Full- text thesis
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Citation
Yussuf, A. (2023). Social economic determinants of performance for women empowerment projects: A case of womankind in Garissa County, Kenya [Strathmore University]. http://hdl.handle.net/11071/13447