"Exploring the links between economic visibility and social vulnerability: the case of women’s rotating credit associations in the yendi municipality"

Abstract

This paper examines the role of credit, specifically the effects of women’s rotating credit associations on the livelihoods of women and households in the Yendi Municipality. It is well-known that women are often unable to access credit for promoting their businesses compared to their menfolk, and this is especially true in rural areas where women contribute a lot to productive activities but lack access to credit to expand their businesses (Reference). To overcome this barrier, trades women have often organized themselves into credit associations where periodic contributions from members are pooled into a rotating credit to fund business ventures of its members. Using a qualitative survey of 3 women’s rotating credit associations in the Yendi Municipality; this paper shows the positive economic and social gains this kind of credit is making towards poverty reduction and improvement of living standards at the household level. It details the kinds of visibility women attain in the social ladder when they make economic successes and contribute more meaningfully to household sustenance.The fact that tradition and custom seem to endorse these negative outcomes of women’s successes prompts this paper to seek some explanations. It concludes by prompting that further research needs to be undertaken in this area as it appears microcredit alone cannot alleviate poverty significantly without understanding the bigger and broader picture of economic and social relationships at the household and community levels.