THE ROLE OF THE FAMILY IN WOMEN’S ACCESS TO WOMEN ENTERPRISE FUND AS A TOOL FOR SOCIOECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT: A MIXED METHOD STUDY OF NJORO SUB-COUNTY, NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA

Women economic empowerment is one of the important strategies in a country for increasing family income and improving the standards of living. The Government of Kenya established Women Enterprise fund in 2007 to address women’s exclusion from formal credit markets. Though the intention was to improve access to credit, actual lending still falls short of demand particularly among rural women. The study explored the factors that hinder women in accessing WEF as a social-economic tool in Njoro Sub-County, Nakuru County, Kenya. Drawing on a mixed methods design guided by the Financial Capital theory (FCT) and Joint Liability Theory (JLT), the study sampled 192 respondents.  The respondents are women in women only registered self-help groups in Kihingo and Lare Wards. Structured questionnaires, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and an in-depth interview was used for data collection. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS while qualitative data was analyzed using QDA miner lite. Regression analysis revealed that the role of the family significantly influenced access to WEF (F=24.804, B=0.337, p<0.0001, R=0.507) with financial decision-making being the strongest single predictor (b=0.421, t=4.563, p<0.001). Diversion of loan funds to other family matters, unequal household decision making, spousal disapproval, the double burden of productive house chores and running enterprises, and post conflict trauma collectively contributed as both direct and indirect barriers to access to WEF. The study concludes that the family rather than being a supportive institution, functions as a structure that constrains rural women’s financial access. The study recommends that WEF develop flexible repayment schedules for rural women and products for rural women specific financial literacy. It also recommends further gender transformative training to address the unspoken influence of family in accessing funds and enhanced collaboration between policy makers, faith-based organizations and civil society.