| dc.description.abstract | A savings and credit co-operative organization (SACCO) is a
democratic, unique member driven, self-help cooperative. It is
owned, governed and managed by its members who have the same
common bond: working for the same employer, belonging to the
same church, labor union, social fraternity or living/working
in the same community. A savings and credit cooperative‟s
membership is open to all who belong to the group, regardless
of race, religion, colour, creed, and gender or job status.
These members agree to save their money together in the SACCO
and to make loans to each other at reasonable rates of
interest. Interest is charged on loans, to cover the interest
cost on savings and the cost of administration. There is no
payment or profit to outside interest or internal owners. The
members are the owners and the members decide how their money
will be used for the benefit of each other.
Economic empowerment is the capacity of all individuals in the
society or community to participate in, contribute to and
benefit from growth processes in ways that recognize the value
of their contributions, respect their dignity and make it
possible to negotiate a fairer distribution of the benefits of
growth.
This study assesses the effects of saving and credit
cooperative organizations on the economic empowerment of the
people with greater focus on establishing the roles of the
SACCO in economic empowerment, find out the challenges facing
the SACCO in the economic empowerment process and suggest the
possible strategies to minimize the challenges facing the
SACCO in empowering the people economically.
Study employed questionnaire and interview as data collection
methods and consequently questionnaire and interview guide as
instruments. The researcher used purposive sampling technique
to get the respondents and collect data from them, later these
data collected were analyzed through categorization method by
creating themes or topics and grouping of similar responses
this was for qualitative data while quantitative data were
entered into the computer and analyzed using excel program.
Following the objectives, the study found out that Obia SACCO
has the role to empower the people economically. This was
being done through provision of services like loans to the
members, providing the saving facilities to the members,
training and education and providing financial management
skills for the members to empower them economically. Hence all
those led to the increments in the members income level,
increased profit, improved livelihood and gaining of new
skills in the management of their business | en_US |
