Impact of women's participation on village savings and loan on children's nutritional diversity in rural Chimanimani in Zimbabwe.

Kudakwashe A Mbiro,Thabo Ndlovu

doi:10.4102/jamba.v13i1.1043

Abstract

The prevalence of malnutrition in children below the age of 5 years in rural Zimbabwe, resulting from low income and the inability to meet food and medical expenses, marks huge disparities between rich and poor households. Efforts to improve child health and nutrition status culminated in different strategies being employed, chief amongst them is the enhancement of access to financial capital for vulnerable communities through improved women participation in village savings and loan (VSL). The study sought to examine the influence of women’s participation in VSL and its impact on child health and nutrition in rural Chimanimani. Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation and the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) framework anchor discussions on the participation of women, VSL financial resources usage by women, contribution of VSL to food diversity for children and ultimately to food consumption patterns before and during women’s participation in VSL. The study was largely qualitative and explored the descriptive research design to collect data by using semi-structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The findings show that the majority of participants used funds from VSL to purchase food, invest in income-generating activities and finance medical expenses. Village savings and loan contribute to an increase in food consumption score and meal dietary diversity for children, and at the same time it improved child care, health and nutrition in the rural Shinja community. The study concluded that genuine participation of women in VSL positively influenced the improvement in children’s health and nutritional diversity and that the VSL model is a multifaceted tool, which can be intertwined with other interventions to contribute to the attainment of the sustainable development goals.

Highlights

IntroductionIn Africa and anywhere in the world, access to credit is a challenge as most households fall short of the required collateral (assets pledged by the borrower as security for repayment of a loan and in case of failure to pay it is forfeited by the lender) (Booth & Lena 2006)
In Africa and anywhere in the world, access to credit is a challenge as most households fall short of the required collateral (Booth & Lena 2006)
The section examines the deployment of village savings and loan (VSL) funds by women and provides insights on how income usage has transformed at household level with the advent of VSLs

Summary

Introduction

In Africa and anywhere in the world, access to credit is a challenge as most households fall short of the required collateral (assets pledged by the borrower as security for repayment of a loan and in case of failure to pay it is forfeited by the lender) (Booth & Lena 2006). Lack of collateral by rural households is corroborated by Yunus that financial institutions pronounce a death sentence on the poor when they turn down the poor as unworthy of credit, imposing a financial apartheid (Yunus 1999, cited in Beyene & Dinbabo 2019). Against this background, Ngegba, Kassoh and Sesay (2016) indicate that whilst many banks and microfinance institutions in Africa provide valuable services to the poor, they are most successful in urban settings, where they charge high interest rates and the costs of reaching clients is low. Village savings and lending associations pioneered by CARE International (Theophilus & Paul 2019) are largely selfmanaged associations, which provide members with a secure means to keep their money and access loans and emergency support resources (Ksoll et al 2015)

Methods

Results

Conclusion