Access to Financial Resources and Women's Empowerment in the Management of Group Projects in Mua- Ward, Machakos County, Kenya

Jeniffer Mutheu Kavuti, Dr. Jack Kihiko

Abstract


Access to financial resources is widely regarded as a key driver of women's economic empowerment, yet its specific influence on the management of community-based group projects in rural Kenya remains insufficiently documented. This study examined the relationship between access to financial resources and women's empowerment in the management of group projects in Mua- Ward, Machakos County, Kenya. Anchored on the Institutional Theory and the Resource-Based View, the study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population comprised 200 officials from 40 registered women's groups, from which a sample of 130 respondents was selected using the Mugenda and Mugenda (2003) proportional formula. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics via SPSS version 20. Findings revealed that access to financial resources had a strong, positive, and statistically significant relationship with women's empowerment in group project management (r = .684, p < .001). Regression analysis confirmed that financial resources significantly predicted women's empowerment (? = 0.341, t = 4.803, p < .001), accounting for 46.8% of variance in empowerment outcomes (R² = .468). The study concludes that financial access — encompassing credit, savings, grants, and financial literacy — is a pivotal enabler of women's capacity to manage group projects effectively. The study recommends enhanced government and NGO credit facilitation for rural women's groups, streamlined access to microfinance institutions, and integration of financial literacy training into group project management programmes.

Keywords: women's empowerment, financial resources, group projects, microfinance, Machakos County, Kenya


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