Analysing the significance of village savings and loan association (VSLA) to community development in Uganda

Abstract

financial services to the rural poor in Africa. But poverty reduction, in the context of sustainable development, remains a major challenge. Extreme poverty ravages the lives of one person in four in the developing world. Five research questions were answered, viz. What is the role of VSLA towards poverty reduction and transforming the livelihoods of community members? What is the Contribution of VSLA on women empowerment? What is the level of participation of community members in VSLA programmes? What are the challenges encountered by VSLA members in their day to day activities? And, what is the income level of VSLA members before and after joining VSLA? The outcomes suggest that VSLA Approach has been very important for the empowerment of poor community among which women have been left out. The experience in many countries demonstrates that, once empowered; poor women make investments wisely and earn returns. The need to create a grassroots organizational base to enable women to come together and analyse their issues and problems themselves, to fulfil their needs was strongly advocated. This indicates that there have been improvements in their welfare as a result of engaging in different activities devised by members and privately supported by member savings. Such entrepreneurial skills have led to members undertaking small income generating activities that has in turn improved their income levels slightly. It is encouraged that there is an urgent need on the part of male spouses to actively get involved in these activities; also, management of village savings and loan associations should encourage their members to undertake short and medium term projects such as poultry farming, bee keeping, cattle keeping, and bricklaying