Challenges and opportunities of Village Community Networks within the neoliberal context: a case study of women’s networks in Africa
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Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Identities
Abstract
Given the fact that neoliberalism continues to affect the way people
view today’s world and it will continue to do so for sometimes, women
and their networks need to make use of some of the opportunities
presented by neoliberalism. In particular, the government of Tanzania
has created an atmosphere to allow grassroots networks and NGOs
to directly implement development interventions in Tanzania. The
NGOs have implemented welfare interventions benefiting the entire
communities as well as providing financial services to a limited
number of people. As the role of welfare NGOs declines, there has
been an unplanned surge of grassroots networks including VICOBA
Women Networks following a government’s call for community’s
ownership of the development process. Although VICOBA Networks
are an unplanned change, they possess a potential which can be
used to improve microfinance projects. Besides, the government of
Tanzania has created a framework to recognize the role played by
such networks in provision of social services to the public. This is a
key opportunity that needs be utilized. Other key opportunities have
been discussed in the article. The knowledge presented in this paper
will benefit several fields including African studies, human geography,
gender studies and community development both in the field and
academia.
Description
Keywords
neoliberalism, women empowerment, rural development, women networks, Tanzania
Citation
Madaha Rasel (2018). Challenges and opportunities of Village Community Networks within the neoliberal context: a case study of women’s networks in Africa, African Identities, Vol. 16 Issue 1, pp 50-66