%0 Journal Article
%T Enhancing Participation of Women Groups in Economic Empowerment: a Survey of Selected Women Groups in Kisii County, Kenya.
%A Wallace Nyakundi Atambo
%J Africa International Journal of Management Education and Governance (AIJMEG)
%P 50-55
%@ 2518-0827
%D 2018
%R -
%X Globally, women¡¯s economic empowerment is a prerequisite for sustainable development. For the expected women empowerment to be achieved, it will call for empirically informed and appropriate public policies in addition to a holistic intervention to women related issues. This cannot be realized without equally ensuring the right levels of commitment from all the stakeholders and ensuring that gender equality is observed appropriately. The question therefore that we should ask is ¡°How can women groups be effectively integrated in economically empowering their members?¡± The barriers that these women groups face cannot be underestimated at any given level. The paper specifically attempts to explore appropriate strategies through which the skills development of the group members can be enhanced, particularly starting with the officials who incidentally are the drivers of those groups. The specific objectives of the study were; to determine the role of skills development on women¡¯s economic empowerment and to establish how commitment levels affect women¡¯s economic empowerment among women groups in Kisii County, Kenya. The study was based on a descriptive research design. A simple random sampling technique was adopted to arrive on a sample of 10% from a population of 200 registered and active women groups in Kisii County, Kenya. Out of each group, two members were picked through simple random sampling. The findings revealed that over 90% of the members of these groups have minimal or no book keeping skills at all. In 17 out of 20 groups covered in this paper, there exists a wide skill gap that needs to be urgently bridged towards enhancing women¡¯s economic empowerment. The paper recommended that addressing challenges to women¡¯s economic empowerment is key to inclusivity and sustainability. In addition, appropriate systems be put in place to provide access to basic training in specific skills, especially for rural based women groups. The paper concluded that all stakeholders who have been found to play a crucial role in women¡¯s economic empowerment should propose possible innovative ways through which this can be achieved with ease and convenience.
%K Women
%K Gender Equality
%K Economic Empowerment
%K Sustainable Development
%K Capacity Building
%U http://www.oircjournals.org/images/journals/aijmeg/ENHANCING-PARTICIPATION-OF-WOMEN-GROUPS-IN-ECONOMIC-EMPOWERMENT-A-SURVEY-OF-SELECTED-WOME