Browsing by Author "Nombo, C .N."

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Socio-economic status and women empowerment in rural Tanzania: a case of onion value-chain in Simanjiro district
(Tanzania Journal of Development Studies, 2014) Jeckoniah, J .N.; Nombo, C .N.; Mdoe, N. S. Y.
This paper explores the linkage between women socio-economic status and their empowerment. A total of 402 women completed a household questionnaire, which was supplemented with focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), using SPSS version 16, was applied to the socio-economic data to obtain an index as a proxy for household socio-economic status. A composite women empowerment index was constructed to gauge women empowerment in different spheres, and F-test was used to compare the relationship between women’s socio-economic status and their empowerment. It was found that many respondents were categorized into low to medium levels of empowerment. Relatively, high levels of empowerment were found in aspects of household economic consultation, freedom of movement and political autonomy. Asset ownership and housing conditions revealed that the poorest were below average in most of the items or services in which the better-off had access or possessed. The relationship between socio-economic status and women empowerment was statistically significant (P<0.05), implying that efforts to improve women's wellbeing that focus on income and asset accumulation have the potential to empower women. Therefore the government, nongovernmental organisations and development programmes espousing to empower women should improve their approach to ensure the poorest also gain opportunities to participate in onion value-chains and in other development interventions.
Women empowerment in agricultural value chains: voices from onion growers in northern Tanzania
(2012) Jeckoniah, J .N.; Nombo, C .N.; Mdoe, N. S. Y.
Women empowerment is multifaceted concept; there are many definitions and perceptions that are used by programmes and projects espousing to empower women. This study, using qualitative data sought to assess women perception on empowerment among those involved in onion value chain development activities. The study adopted cross sectional research design where focus group discussions, key informant interviews and case studies were the main methods for data collection. Content analysis with constant comparison technique was used to analyse the data. The study found that women empowerment is linked to different achievement in their lives in their social and economic contexts such as increases in income, confidence to speak in public, awareness of their rights and participation in decision making at the household and community levels. Men’s attitude and behaviours such as reluctantancy to accept changes suggested by women and control over income accrued from their activities are among the barrier for women empowerment. The study recommends for use of gender sensitive approaches in designing and implementing development programmes on women empowerment. Men and tribal leaders should be involved in women empowerment initiatives in order to change their mindset towards women empowerment