Economic empowerment and women development: the case of Kisarawe District

This study was carried out under the real situation that majority of women are among the poor groups that need special attention in the process of economic empowerment in Tanzania. In addition, women development depends greatly on improved life aspects including economic, social, political and cultural. Therefore this study was designed to explore the knowledge of Kisarawe district women about the concept of empowerment. It also attempted to get women’s opinions on appropriate strategies for economic empowerment and women development in Kisarawe district. The study used malt stage sampling procedure to get eight enumeration areas from four wards which represented the district of Kisarawe. The wards were Kisarawe, Kiluvya, Masaki and Msimbu. Thus from each ward two enumeration areas were selected. Then systematic sampling was used to select twenty seven households from each enumeration area. A total of 216 households with women aged between 15-69 years old were selected. It also used purposeful sampling to get 17 district officials to give information about the situation of economic empowerment and women development in Kisarawe district. The study used interview schedules, questionnaire and observation techniques to collect data. The data were edited and analyzed using both descriptive and quantitative approaches. The analysis was through SPSS programme. It was revealed that, about (86.4%) of the respondents were aware of the concept of empowerment. The main source of information was through radio. However those in urban had more advantage to learn through newspapers, journals and books. Four strategies proposed by the respondents for economic empowerment and women development in Kisarawe district include provision of social services especially clean and safe water, application of appropriate adult education programmes, enabling women to use modern technology and providing them with information and access to loans. Sectors identified for the implementation of the strategies are, the government, NGOs religious organizations, mass media and the respective community members especially women. These were suggested to work as a team in planning, monitoring and evaluating women development programmes. Successful economic empowerment and women development indicators as determined by the respondents included improved household livelihood, increased household and national income. With better standards of living especially at household leans level poverty could be alleviated to a great extent. Absence of poverty means development and hence development of women too.