The Contribution Of The Foundation For International Community Assistance (Finca) Microcredit To Household Poverty Reduction: A Case Of Majengo, Dodoma Urban

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the contribution of the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) microcredit to household poverty reduction; taking Majengo area in Dodoma Municipal as a case study. The researcher used both primary and secondary data collection methods. The study came up with several conclusions. That FINCA offers several services but lending is the highly preferred service. Other services include money transfer, insurance and savings. Moreover, the accessibility of FINCA loans have increased household incomes, facilitated health care expenses, promote education and enhance private ownership of properties. These findings reveal that access to FINCA credit has impacted positively toward household poverty reduction. However, there are some challenges such as inadequate amount of loan and high interest rates that were identified by the study. The study has therefore recommended the following; The government, through the Ministry of Finance should establish fiscal and financial policies, together with increasing supervision and deregulations on microfinance institutions. This will encourage competition which will allow growth of microfinance and hence give room for poorest clients to be served. Moreover, it should also continue to complement it with other development social programs like public works and community development programs which will help boost more poor out of poverty. On the other hand, microfinance institutions should increase the level of their transparency, information sharing and allow supervision from the Bank of Tanzania (BOT), increase their innovations in their products, make use of high technology when they serve and offer loans and their staff should be well trained. This will increase operational efficiency and attract more poor people to get loans.