Microfinance With Education In Rural Ghana: Men’s Perception Of Household Level Impact
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Date
2012
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African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development
Abstract
Microcredit schemes have been shown to enhance women’s Income Generation
Activities (IGA), household food security, and child nutrition. However, spouses or
Male Household Heads (MHH) can influence how women’s loans are invested and
how incomes ensuing from the investments are expended. This study describes how
MHH perceived and experienced the participation of female caregivers from their
household in the Enhancing Child Nutrition through Animal Source Food
Management (ENAM) project. The ENAM project was designed as an integrated
intervention providing microcredit, entrepreneurship, and nutrition education to
women in rural communities in Ghana. Eighty-five MHH of ENAM project
caregivers in two regions of Ghana were interviewed about their awareness of the
microcredit and education intervention, their involvement in the IGA that the
caregivers’ loans were invested in, and their perceptions of the impact of the project
on the caregivers’ IGA as well as household and child nutrition. The majority of
MHH indicated that they had been consulted by the caregivers about the decision to
participate in the ENAM project. The most common reasons given for consenting to
the caregivers’ decision to participate in the program were expectations that the
caregiver would receive business capital (30.6%), education on optimal child feeding
(36.5%), and income to enable caregivers to contribute more to household expenses
(31.8%). Concerning the project’s impact, MHH perceived that the caregivers’
project participation had a positive impact on their business practices, particularly
concerning improved customer relations. The MHH perceived that caregivers’
incomes increased because they participated in ENAM as evidenced by regular
income savings and increased contributions to household food and non-food
expenditures. However, MHH reported decreases in their contributions to almost
all household expenditure categories in response to the perceived increase in
caregivers’ incomes. The MHH also perceived improvements in home meal quality.
In summary, MHH credited the ENAM project with improved caregiver’s incomes
and increased share of household expenses. However, this outcome resulted in
unanticipated declines in MHH contribution to household expenses. Further studies
are needed to understand the impact of empowering women through social
experiments on households.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Microcredit, Income, Household expenditures