Assessment of the Effects of Selected Rural Development Interventions on Rural Women in Imo State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The study assessed the effects of selected rural development interventions on rural women in Imo State of Nigeria. The study determined the level of awareness and participation of rural women in the development projects, assessed the extent of intervention by development agencies, analyzed the effects of the selected intervention programmes on rural women’s socio economic conditions and also examined the constraints militating against rural women from benefiting in the interventions. Data for the study were collected using structured and validated questionnaire from 402 rural women in the three agricultural zones of Imo state who were selected through multi-stage random sampling technique. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, frequency distribution, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) multiple regression technique. The result showed that majority of the rural women (34.3%) had primary education and had spent more than 17 years in their major occupation. Majority (50.2%) have household size of 5 to 8 members. The average monthly income of the rural women was N15,752. Majority of the women (64.2%) had savings while majority (64.9%) did not have access to credit facility. The mean level of participation in development intervention was 1.84 out of acceptable mean level of 2 indicating low level of participation. The extent of interventions was (X = 2.84) out of 2.5 decision rule which indicated that the development agencies intervened to some extent. The level of perception of the effects of rural development intervention on women was low (X = 2.38) out of 2.5 decision rule and most of the agencies efforts were directed towards agricultural productivity. The grand mean of constraints limiting women from benefiting from development interventions was high (X= 3.07), some of the constraints women perceived were lack of continuity in the program (X = 3.60) and embezzlement of fund meant for development (X = 3.43) among others. The OLS result showed that women’s age, years of education, household size, major occupation, income and years of experience showed significant contributions in the level of participation in rural development. Also, household size, major occupation, membership of social organization, income and years of experience contributed significantly to the variation in the level of perception of effects of rural development interventions. Therefore, the study recommended among others that government should ensure that the development intervention agencies should be functional and effective in the rural areas since the rural women could not feel the impacts of these interventions. The activities of these development interventions should be well packaged by creating awareness through several seminars, campaigns, meetings, and publicity in order to encourage rural women to participate and benefit from the development interventions.

Keywords: Assessment, Effects, Rural development interventions, Women and Participation.