| dc.description.abstract | KENSITA ANNET SHARON (2008-03-MA-PTR-020)
Assessing the Contribution of the Prosperity for all Programme towards the Performance of
Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies in Uganda: A Case Study of Lumino Savings and
Credit Cooperative Society in Busia District
The study aimed at assessing the contribution of the Prosperity for All programme towards the
performance of Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs) in Uganda. The objectives
of the study included: to determine the extent to which the Prosperity for All programme (PFA)
has contributed towards the performance of savings and credit cooperatives. The second aimed at
examining the factors leading to poor repayment of loans from clients that borrow from savings
and credit cooperatives that are supported under the PFA programme. The third objective was to
examine other factors that affect the performance of SACCOs. The fourth objective was to
examine the challenges facing savings and credit cooperatives. The study found out that the PFA
programme has a significant contribution towards the performance of SACCOs. The study went
ahead to discover that the PFA programme has contributed to the growth in the loan portfolio,
membership, savings, shares of the SACCO and this has subsequently ledto increased income to
the SACCO. As a result of the loans accessed, SACCOs are able to disburse larger loans to
members. It was also realised that many of the members think it is an appreciation from
government for having voted well. While others are relating it to the government programme of
“ENTANDIKWA” that also failed and people did not pay back the loans that they accessed. Thus,
“this has caused a lot of reluctance in loan repayment”, mentioned one member from the focus
group discussion. There is need to upscale membership education, skills, development training for
governance bodies and management staff. The District Commercial Officers are of key importance
in the capacity building of SACCOs. Thus, their capacity needs to further be built in order to ensure
that they continuously identify and build the capacity of the SACCOs. This will ensure
sustainability of interventions even after the PFA programme. Although government is trying to
make an effort to provide start up kits and basic logistical support to SACCOs in need and those
which are starting up, they need to also increase the period of support from 1 year to 2 years. This
period will allow SACCOs to at least reach some level of self-sufficiency. However, the SACCOs
may also be classified; those that need support for 2 years and those that need support for 1 year.
A participatory approach to training needs identification of both the staff and the clients‟ needs to
be adopted if the trainings are to be relevant to the SACCO and if they are to cause impact in the
long run. It should be the SACCO staff and/ or members to point out their areas of weakness /
capacity gaps so that UCSCU; MSCL can design appropriate trainings to address such gaps. In
other words, training packages need to be demand driven and not supply driven
Keywords: Performance of Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies, Prosperity for all,
Busia | en_US |
