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WOMEN'S
GROUP
ENTERPRISES:
A
Study
of
the
Structure
of
Opportunity on
the
Kenya
Coast
World
Education, Inc.
210
Lincoln
Street
Boston,
Massachusetts
02111
U.S.A
 
WOMEN'S
GROUP
ENTERPRISES:
A
Study of
the
Structure
of
Opportunity
on
the
Kenya
Coast
by
Jeanne McCormack
Martin Walsh
Candace Nelson
June
30,
1986
A
report
to
the
Human Resource Division
of
the
Bureau
for
Program
and
Policy
Coordination, Agency
for
International Development,
on
research conducted under Contract
OTR-00-78-C-00-2313-00.
World Education,
Inc.
210
Lincoln
Street Boston, Massachusetts
02111
U.S.A.
 
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Background
of
the
study
This
report
describes
the
findings
of
a
three-year study
of
the
effects
of
women's
participation
in
income
generation
projects
on
household
income
and
fertility. The
major
objective
of this
research
wRs
to
with
or
without family planning
determine
whether such projects, components, increase participants'
income and their
receptivity
to
and
Research questions included
the
following:
acceptance
of
family
planning.
--
Do
income
generation
projects increase real income?
--
Does
success
or
failure
of
groups
to
increase
real income
affect fertility
attitudes,
knowledge,
or
behavior?
--
What
program components
are critical
in
increasing
and
ncome
decreasing fertility?
--
What
external events
or colnditions
are
necessary
for
success
or
lead
to
failure? Other questions concerned
with
social
different'ation,
class
relations, group
function and
structure,
and
household
formation, gender income
and
expenditure were also addressed. The
study focused on
the
program
of
Tototo Home Industries,
a
local vcluntary organization located
in
Kenya's Coast
Province,
and
on
a
sample
of
the
45
women's groups with
which
it
has
worked. The research was carried
out
by
World
Education,
with
assistance
from
Tototo,
and was funded
by
the
Bureau
for
Program
and
Policy
Coordination
the
Agency
for
International Development. Multipurpose women's groups
are
commonplace
in
Kenya
and are
currently estimated
to
number
15,000.
Formed
in
part
as
a
response
to
the
Kenya government's self-help,
or
harambee,
policy and
partly
in
response
to
the
a
government's Vomen's Group Programme,
these
groups
normally
undertake
range
of
community development activities. Group projects
include
building nursery
schools,
organizing
day
care
programs,
forming r~iolving
credit
associations, securing safe water
supplies,
and
developing
small
businessis
on
a
cooperative
basis.
While Tototo
has
assi.
ted
rural
women's groups with
the
entire
range
of
activities,
it
is
the
development
of
group Groups generally have
25
enterprises
that
has
occupied
our
attention
here.
to
30
members
and
embark
on
such
businesses
as
bakeries, poultry production, farming,
and
retail sales.
The
study
employed
three
units
of
analysis: women's groups, individual members
of
women's
groups,
and
the
households
of
group members.
A
baseline sample survey
was
conducted
in
1983
of
406
women
from
13
locations
and
included
non-members
as
well
as
members.
This
was
followed case
studies
of
by
anthropological
field
research
which
yielded
four

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