Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Applied Research in Business, Management and Economics
Year: 2023
DOI:
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Microcredit Factor Analysis for Women’s Empowerment: Case Study of “Samurdhi” Microcredit Program, Sri Lanka
Dissanayake, Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Buddika
ABSTRACT:
Does microcredit have a potential to empower women? Many factors facilitate female empowerment through microcredit. The Department of Samurdhi Development in Sri Lanka provides microcredit programs to enhance the business environment of unemployed women. The Samurdhu microcredit program is designed with training facilities, market facilities, loan cycles, group lending, exposure to credit, and business support facilities. This paper illustrates the most significant factors of the microcredit facility granted by the Samurdhi Community based banks for empowering women.241 cross-sectional data was gathered by the questionnaire survey in the Madampe divisional secretariat, Puttalam District in Sri Lanka. The study population consisted of women beneficiaries who had utilized the microcredit facility of the microcredit facility of the Samurdhi program in the Madampe division. Using the simple random sampling method, the sample was selected. The data analysis in this paper revealed that training facilities and market access are two most significant factors, followed by group lending and exposure to credit components to facilitate women empowerment in rural areas.Finally, this paper proposed policy recommendations for policymakers to improve their microcredit policies with several different components..This study provides valuable insights into the factors that play a crucial role in empowering women through microcredit in rural areas.
keywords: empowerment, microcredit, Samurdhi program, Sri Lanka, women