The role of Village Community Banks (VICOBAs) on economic empowerment to women smallholder farmers in kilosa district, Tanzania

Masters Thesis

Village Community Banks (VICOBAs) have been working in Kilosa District to empower farmers; in particular women farmers since 2015. Some of these VICOBAs are those which work under Rice Post-harvest Management (RIPOMA) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA). Some VICOBA female members benefit from the services provided. Although the services are crucial in increasing incomes of some female members through agricultural production, a few male members disproportionately benefit from the services provided. Despite the fact that, some studies have explored the contribution of VICOBAs on women’s empowerment, studies that focus on the role of VICOBAs to empower women farmers in inputs access, agribusiness training and agricultural technologies are limited. Therefore, the study on which this dissertation is based was done with the main objective to determine the role of VICOBAs, specifically Inter-religious VICOBAs (IR-VICOBAs), on economic empowerment of women farmers in the District. Probability and nonprobability sampling methods were used to select villages, respondents and key informants from VICOBA groups that engage in agricultural activities. The sample size was 100 women VICOBA members who are also smallholder farmers. In a primary data collection, a questionnaire-based survey, FGDs and key informant interviews were employed. The quantitative data were analysed using Statistics Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics Version 20 whereby descriptive analysis was done. Qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. The study revealed that, more than 80 percent of respondents received services (input access, agribusiness training and agricultural technologies) that lead to their economic empowerment from farming business. This study recommends that, agricultural actors and other faith based organisations should be employing VICOBAs as platforms to empower women farmers.