MICROFINANCE, WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND IMPROVEMENT IN HOUSEHOLD WELFARE: EVIDENCE FROM GHANA

Abstract

This paper examines microfinance and its effects on women empowerment and household welfare in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality in Northern Ghana using the comparative method. Based on simple random sampling, the study employed a survey design to collect information from 80 households with access to microfinance and 40 households without access to microfinancein order to compare the similarities and differences between these two groups. The research findings strongly suggest that access to microfinance positively impacts on household welfare especially with respect to education and health. The findings also suggest that access to microfinance increased women‘s participation in intra-household decision-making very significantly (75%) as well as increased women‘s participation in social networks very significantly at the community level (81%).