The Need
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics 2006 Demographic and Health Survey, 29 percent of rural married women in Uganda are in a polygamous union and find themselves solely responsible for providing for their children and families.
Women start micro-enterprises to supplement their subsistence farming earnings in order to provide for their families but lack: a) business knowledge and skills b) financial resources and c) sufficient time.
LACK OF ACCESS TO CAPITAL
- Micro credit institutions consistently report poor borrower skills and training as a major obstacle to borrower success. Credit-related training and project relevant training tend to be mutually exclusive. No agency currently provides both. Loan beneficiaries lack project training and training beneficiaries lack credit related training.
LIMITED FINANCIAL RESOURCES
- Attempts by WCFJC's target population to access bank loans are frustrating. A 2000 study tour conducted by principal officers of Africa's leading micro credit institutions found that existing micro credit institutions are not structured to support low-income borrowers, who lack collateral and high interest loan repayment capacity. Instead, micro credit loan programs are designed for the needs of urban and peri-urban enterprises, effectively excluding the vast majority of rural low-income women.
- Lack of property ownership excludes women from leveraging the banking system for loan facilities. It further causes women-ran income generating activities to be conducted on "hired" or "borrowed" land.
LIMITED TIME
- According to the UN Statistics Division, women globally spend at least twice as much time in unpaid domestic work as men, and the disparity is much greater in many developing countries. Women employed outside the home work significantly more hours than men due to the double burden of paid work and unpaid domestic responsibilities. The gender disparity in work hours is most striking among low-income groups: the poorer the household, the more hours women work, relative to men. (Source:2015 USAID Gender and Extreme Poverty - Getting to Zero: A USAID discussion series)
