Socio-cultural and economic determinants of women fishmongers’ access to women enterprise fund in Usigu division, Siaya county, Kenya

Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) was launched in 2009 in Kenya to help women access credit facilities through Constituency Women Enterprise Scheme (C-WES) and Microfinance institutions. In both channels women use their groups as collateral. Although studies from other small and micro-enterprises show low uptake of WEF among women in rural settings, it remains unknown in literature whether the same applies to women fishmongers in fish landing beaches such as in Usigu Division. Further, the narratives that speak to the women’s perceptions and their ability to borrow and manage loan, are missing. There also seems to be lack of proper understanding on how the socio-cultural factors such as educational level, marital status, group membership and the practice of Jaboya influence the uptake and use of WEF among women fishmongers. This study therefore, explored the socio-cultural and economic determinants of access to WEF by women fishmongers in Usigu Division, Siaya County. Specifically, the study sought to: explore women fishmongers’ perceptions towards WEF; examine socio-cultural determinants of WEF uptake, and establish economic factors that determine uptake of WEF by women fishmongers in Usigu Division. The study was guided by Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice (1977). This study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional design. The research used Glen Israel (1992) formula to obtain a sample size of 114 women fishmongers from a population of 160 women fishmongers registered with Beach Management Units (BMU) in both Uhanya and Usenge beaches. Women fishmongers were selected through simple random while purposive sampling was employed to select key informants, including 6 BMU members, 3 financial institution staff, 2 Constituency Development Fund Officers and 1 CARE Kenya official. Data were obtained using semi-structured interviews with fishmongers, key informant interviews and 4 Focus Group Discussions. Secondary data were obtained from District office of Gender and Social Development office and Beach Management Units records. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in percentages and tables of frequencies, while qualitative data were analyzed thematically and corroborated by selected verbatim quotations. The findings show that there was low uptake of WEF by women fishmongers, especially through C-WES. They perceived WEF as government free money following what politicians say about the fund. They also perceived WEF provided through microfinance institutions as death money and improvising money due to experiences with the loan. Other socio-cultural challenges included failure to meet conditions laid by the groups, lack of family support and dynamics of jaboya system, which often led to lack of fish for their businesses. Women fishmongers also reported challenges of higher interest rates, coupled with shorter repayment periods. There is therefore need to provide women fishmongers with information on how to access WEF through C-WES. The microfinance institutions should re-consider their loaning conditions to help women fishmongers benefit from uptake of WEF.