Abstract:
This study was done on factors that influence empowerment of cooperative members particularly in Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies (AMCOS) in Mwanza region. The study focused on the following specific objectives: (i) to determine factors for limited access to information among cooperative members; (ii) to determine reasons for limited cooperative members’ participation; (iii) to analyze causes of cooperative members’ inability to hold their officials/ leaders accountable; and (iv) to explore factors for underutilization of the available resources. The study employed multiple units of analysis, and the sample of two hundred and eighty eight respondents was interviewed. Univariate and Bivariate analyses i.e. frequency, percentage, mean, index, pie chart and binary regression model were employed to analyse data. The descriptive data show that male respondents (78%) were more than the female respondents (22%). The majority of the respondents (78.8%) had minimum level of education, while the illiterate ones were few (6.7%). The study results also show that the most important factors that influenced access to information were lack of awareness (70.7%) and biasness (83.4%). Members’ opinions and free and fair election practices (p < 0.001) were factors that influenced members’ participation. Meanwhile, the results show that members’ ability to hold their leaders/officials accountable were positively affected by factors such as auditing reports and job descriptions (p < 0.01). The study further revealed that level of education of cooperative officials, management skills, and access to loans (p <0.05) had positive effects on utilization of the available opportunities The study recommends that among the other things, the government in collaboration with other stakeholders should primarily implement CRMP strategies effectively in order to improve empowerment in the cooperative societies.
