ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF VILLAGE SAVINGS & LOANS ASSOCIATIONS (VSLA) ON MATERNAL AND CHILD NUTRITION IN GUSHEGU DISTRICT OF NORTHERN REGION, GHANA

Abstract

Malnutrition is associated with poverty. Developmental interventions targeted at reducing poverty have positive impact on household income and nutrition especially for children under-five. One such intervention funded by the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) is Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) project implemented by Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING) implemented across 17 MMDAs in Northern Region of Ghana between 2014 and 2019. To date, no populationbased evaluation on the effect of VSLA on the other interventions has been conducted to elicit the relationship. This study was purported to determine the effectiveness of VSLAs on the general well- being of mothers and their children. A Cross-sectional comparative study design was used for this study. This involved 150 mothers and their under-five year old children, selected from VSLA and Non-VSLA households in the Gushegu District of the Northern Region of Ghana. Respondents were interviewed using a questionnaire developed for the purpose. The findings of this study indicated that the RING VSLA program helped in increasing household income for VSLA members. All project beneficiaries interviewed indicated their income was better compared with the previous year against 18.2% of the Non-VSLA respondents. The study also indicated that on household dietary diversity, VSLA household scored 7 out of the 12 food items, whiles non VSLA households scored 5 out of the 12 food items. Significant number of children in the Non-VSLA group were severely and moderately malnourished (12.9% and 25.8%, respectively), while 1.6% and 22.2% of children in the VSLA household were severely and moderately malnourished. Furthermore, Wasting and underweight in children reduced among VSLA households compared with non-VSLA households. Conclusively, it is observed that VSLA contributed to improving household income and dietary diversity, which in effect had positive impact on household nutrition. The VSLA programme should be scaled-up to cover all communities in the Gushegu district, especially to less income households or communities. Nutrition education and promotion should be intensified or strategized during mother-to-mother support groups.