Microcredit and Women Empowerment in Kabartonjo Division: Baringo County, Kenya

Women empowerment is a theme which has attracted interest from various organizations, government agencies and individuals from all sectors of the Kenya national economy. The study sought to establish the role of microcredit institutions on women empowerment in terms of credit and cost of microcredit. The study used both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected through field research using questionnaire and interview schedule, while secondary data was collected from performance records. The study employed explanatory research design. The population of the study comprised of 514 women and 3 microcredit institutions in Baringo County, Kenya. Random sampling method was used to select the respondents. The respondents comprised of members of the women groups and both managers and employees of the microcredit institutions. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics mainly measures of central tendencies, regression, analysis of variance and correlation. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to ease analysis. The study found positive significant relationship between access to microcredit and women empowerment (β=0.771, p-value=0.000 and R square=0.694 or 69.4%). The study also found positive significant relationship between cost of credit and women empowerment (β=0.604, p-value=0.005 and R square=0.765 or 76.5%). The results suggest that microcredit significantly influence women empowerment.