Towards sustainable household income through women’s participation in income generating activities- a case study of Offinso District

Due to increasing economic hardship at household level, women have increased participation in income generating activities. They are mostly found in small-scale economic activities such as trading, hair dressing, dress making, bakery, agro-processing, among others. Their effort to improve living standards of their households is always hampered by problems such as lack of resources, poor education and unfavourable government policies. With the presence of supporting institutions in Offinso District the study intend to examine how w9men’s participation in small-scale income generating activities can contribute towards sustainable household income. Major problems faced by women are identified of which strategies to minimise them are recommended. Purposive non-probability sampling method was used to select the sample and about 71 people were interviewed. Among those interviewed are women involved in various small-scale activities, supporting institutions and other people from other disciplines Different tools were used for analysis such as SWOT and interest analysis. After the analysis the following were some of the major findings: • In Offinso district women were found to be active in almost all income generating activities. About 80% of women who participate in income generating activities spend more than 8 hours per day for their economic activities. In addition to economic activities about 80% of women interviewed are also engaged in secondary activities. • The presence of the supporting institutions in the district and the availability of cheap labour were among the major contributing factors to the achievements of women’s economic activities. For instance about 66% of the women interviewed received credits and other assistance such as instalment of agro-processing machines and training on how to manage their business. Most of these women are doing well in business. • However women are still facing some problems such as unstable prices of goods/inputs due to high inflation rate in the country, poor transport, poor farming methods, seasonal problems, high competition, illiteracy, among others. Further it was revealed that women are still overburdened by both economic activities and domestic work. Basing on the above findings, the following recommendations were given to strengthen women’s economic activities: • Access to credit and associate supports - the intention here was to encourage women who have never had access to credit to do so since most of those who secured credit are doing well in their business. • Emphasis on literacy for both adult women and girls as this stand as an obstacle to the success of women’s business. • The District Assembly, churches and community based organisations should be involved in sensitising men to contribute their labour where possible in domestic activities so as to relieve women from too much work. It is concluded that women’s participation in small-scale income generating activities in Offinso District has resulted to skill innovation and employment creation through training and employment of apprentices.

Source: KNUST