Institute of Development Studies
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Item Performance evaluation of microfinance institutions on poverty reduction: A case study of Rombo district-Tanzania(Mzumbe University, 2013) William, Kimaro J.The study assessed the performance evaluation of microfinance institutions on poverty reduction of Rombo district in Kilimanjaro region. This study was guided by the following research objectives which were; to identify the lending system used by different MFIs to their members in the study area; assess the performance of MFIs, identify constraints facing microfinance institutions in the study area and recommend strategies to improve the performance, and to assess whether the customers reached by these schemes have improved their general performance in terms of economic growth, creation of employment and generation of income. Purposive sampling was used to select 60 active members as the sample who was seriously involved in SACCOS activities. Data collection for this study employed different methods which were used to collect data such as structured questionnaire, interview and focus group discussion. The findings revealed that SACCOS were performing according to the intended goals of serving poor rural community. Active poor rural community has been using these SACCOS as a source of credit to finance their business. However, SACCOS are facing some problems including lack of entrepreneurial education to its members, financial institutions to offer loans to SACCOS, inadequate qualified staff to run the institutions, low participation of members to access loans from their SACCOS due to low knowledge of using the opportunities available and low women participation. Moreover, SACCOS are facing other constraints like poor infrastructure, low capacity of SACCOS to serve its members, lack of MFIS in rural areas and inadequate entrepreneurial skills among the members and poor record and book-keeping skill. The recommendations made by this study were that other microfinance institutions be motivated to invest in the Rombo district to increase microloans disbursement to cooperative based MFIs (SACCOS) and that microfinance institutions through well-established SACCOS should train leaders and non-leader members on proper record keeping and financial management:Item Potentiality of onion production to poverty reduction: The case of Ruangwa district, Tanzania(Mzumbe University, 2013) Mbiha, Joram ReubenThis study was conducted in order to examine the potentiality of onion production to poverty reduction in Ruangwa District. The study aimed at addressing the trend of onion production, magnitude of poverty in the study area, the market potential of onions and limiting factors facing onion production in the study area. The study involved 127 respondents selected randomly or purposely to meet the study objectives. The data were collected using interview and administration of questionnaires. The study showed that onion production is a potential activity in poverty reduction to farmers engaged in onion production. This was revealed by existing market potential, income obtained from sale of onions and its expenditure. Despite of this potentiality of onions to poverty reduction, its production was not consistent as there was rise and fall due to market fluctuation, frequent climatic change, high prices of agricultural inputs as well as application of poor farming methods. That is why people decided to produce other crops in order to reduce the magnitude of poverty. The income obtained ranged between 100,000 to more than 500,000 Tshs and expenditure priorities included health (21.1%), education (36.6%), purchase of building materials (22.5%), acquisition of furniture (18.3%) and other uses (1.4%). Hindrance to onion production was also caused by existence of different challenges such as lack of extension services (26.8%), low level of farmers’ education (19.7%), presence of poor roads (14.1%), poor farming methods (7.0%), poor agricultural tools (1.4%), unreliable market (18.3%), lack of government support (9.9%) and other (2.8%). From these findings, it was concluded that onion production has high potential to poverty reduction though it was still not delivering its full potential to poverty reduction. Therefore, the study recommended that there is a need for the government and other stakeholders to ensure that there is a reliable market, prices of agricultural inputs are reduced and ensure that cooperative societies operate to safeguard interests of onion producers. There is also a need to improve delivery of extension services and quality of roads. These measures in turn can increase opportunity to onion producers to earn more income at household and national levels as well as sales of onion in the foreign market.Item Implementation of education policy in reducing school dropout in Zanzibar: A case of Tumbe ward Pemba(Mzumbe University, 2015) Ussi, Rashid MohamedThe study sought to examine the implementation of the existing Zanzibar education policy in reducing school dropout at Tumbe Ward of Micheweni District Pemba in Zanzibar. Specifically, the study examined the status of dropout, strategies used in reducing dropout, and the socio-economic effects; such as educational, economic and social effects. The study further assessed the existing Zanzibar education policy in reducing dropout rate. It was a comparative study; it was set to compare the rate of dropout between primary and secondary levels. Interviews were conducted to 06 key informants, while questionnaires were used for other 89 respondents through which both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed in this study. The study revealed the causes of dropout as poverty, early marriages and teenage pregnancies, illiterates of parents, parents‟ separation and in adequate of school teachers. The study further revealed that, females‟ dropout in Primary level was higher compared to males‟ dropout rates and males‟ dropout rate at secondary level was higher compared to that of females. Generally, it emerged from the study that, the dropout rate in secondary level was higher than primary level. Apart from the provision of alternative education, the study established other strategies used in reducing dropout rates; these include Community Police and parents meetings with school committee members that were helpful in reducing dropout. The results of the study further showed that there were socio-economic effects caused by dropouts in Tumbe Ward. The alternative education program was helpful in reducing dropout, while the law that allowed the pregnant girls to returning back to school after delivery was not effectively implemented in the area. Lastly, the study recommends measures to address dropout rate; such as punishment to parents who allow their children to dropout; recruitment of adequate and qualified teachers; provision of assistance to poor students; increased awareness to the parents on the need for school students‟ retention; and the advocacy for alternative education to be diversified specifically in rural areas.Item The effectiveness of the constituency development catalyst fund in reduction of non-income poverty in Zanzibar: a case of Dole Constituency-Unguja(Mzumbe University, 2014) Saleh, Haidary AbdallaThis study aimed at examining the effectiveness of the Constituency Development Catalyst Fund in reduction of non-income poverty in Zanzibar, in which Dole Constituency was used as a case study. This study specifically focused on revealing: the community awareness on the CDCF, the social services (facilities) supported by the CDCF projects in Dole constituency, the effectiveness of the CDCF supported facilities in delivery of services and the challenges facing the CDCF in achieving its goal. The study applied a case study design, which targeted community members in Dole constituency, as the major beneficiaries of the CDCF funded projects in their constituency. A sample size of 122 respondents was drawn by using purposive, simple random and complex systematic sampling techniques. Questionnaire, Interview and Observation methods were applied in collection of primary data, whereas documentary review method was adopted for collecting secondary data. The collected data were analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 15, Excel Software and Content Analysis then presented in tables, figures and texts. The study revealed that, community awareness on CDCF in Dole constituency was relatively low; about 87.1 percent of the respondents were not aware of the CDCF. The CDCF supported services in Dole were less effective due to limited access, limited budget and poor qualities of the services provided as shown in figure 4.2. Furthermore, the study revealed that there was a variety of social services supported by CDCF, but encountered by challenges such as; transparency in CDCF operation, low people’s participation, low awareness, dominance of political interests in fund allocation and weak CDCF Committee and Operational law. The study recommendations include: increasing Dole community awareness through social education on the fund, increasing CDCF effectiveness in delivery of services to Dole people, and control mechanism of the revealed CDCF challenges such as; political influence on the CDCF operation, amendment of the CDCF law, and raising CDCF budget.