Abstract:
Self-help groups aim at promoting socio-economic development among the poor especially women, yet they are often faced with challenges that affect the groups’ leadership which ends up affecting the groups’ performance. In Bahati Ward, for example, 7 out of 95 women groups and 2 out of 33 mixed self-help groups had gone dormant by the end of 2013. The purpose of this study was to investigate economic, political and socio-cultural challenges affecting women leaders of self-help groups in Bahati ward. The study was guided by Maslow’s theory of Hierarchy of need and the theory of situational leadership by Kouzes and Posner (2007). The study was carried out using a survey research design on a population of 321 respondents. Stratified sampling purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 97 respondents. Data was collected using Questionnaires and an interview schedules which were validated using expert opinion from lecturers at Egerton University, Department of Applied Community Development Studies. The Questionnaire was pilot tested in two self-help groups in the neighboring Kiamaina ward, and was used after achieving a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.78. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics of percentages and frequencies. Qualitative data collected from interviews was coded and organized into emerging themes and sub-themes. The study found out that women leaders in Bahati ward were able to complete group’s tasks in time and manage groups’ conflicts. However, they were unable to meet groups’ financial obligations due to low levels of income among group members. The economic challenges facing women leaders of Self Help Groups in Bahati were
low level of income, irregular contributions, inability to repay loans, scarce natural and economic resources.The political challenges were Lengthy government procedures in acquiring relevant services , poor planning process, poor monitoring and evaluation process, local politics and group elections while socio-cultural challenges were lack of common goals in a group, illiteracy among members, little respect for female leaders, and low social class integration. The county and national government should organize training for women leaders on business management, monitoring and evaluation, and report writing. Likewise, they should review their policies on lengthy procedures followed by the group members to register their groups and to acquire government funding
