MICR0FINANCE INSTITUI1ONS AND ALLEVATIOiN OF POVERTY AMONG WO~’1EN IN MAKINDYE DIVISION, KA~IPAL1~: A CASE STUDY OF FINCA UGANDA, KAMAPAlA BRANCH.

A BSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between micro finance loans and

alleviation of poverty in Uganda and the specific objectives, to establish the effect of

microfinance poverty alleviation programs on access to food, to find out the effect of

microfinance women empowerment loans on access to shelter and to examine the effect of

microfinance school fees loans on access to quality education. The study revealed that MFIs

have special loans for women, women have received women empowerment loan from MFIs,

MFI encourage women to start their own businesses and that they can pay rent for their

households because of a women empowerment loan except that most of the respondents

rejected that MFIs train women special business skills, the interest rate for women loans is

favorable and also that they have constnicted houses because of the women empowerment

loan. From the study it is evident that most of the respondents agreed that they got school fees

loans from the MFIs, their families have benefited from school fees loans, they can afford to

pay school fees for all my household members due to access to microfinance school fees

loan, 54.3 of the respondents say that Microfinance school fees loan has greatly improved the

quality of education in their families. Results from the study gave evidence that there is a

positive relationship between microfinance loans and alleviation of poverty among women in

Makindye Division that is an improvement in microfinance loans improves on poverty

alleviation among women in Makindye division. The study generally recommended that the

government should advise microfinance institutions to reduce on interest rates especially on

women empowerment loans to increase on clients and eradicate poverty in among households

and that apart from loans microfinance institutions should promote other poverty eradication

projects like educating masses about business management.