Abstract:
Women entrepreneurship plays a critical role in
economic development and in enhancing livelihoods within the
family of societies in both developed and developing countries.
This paper seeks to establish the contribution of women
Enterprise Fund (WEF) to sustainable rural livelihoods of
Elgeyo Marakwet East Sub-County. The study was guided by
two research questions which include; what challenges are faced
in allocation of Women enterprise fund in Elgeyo Marakwet East
Sub County? What strategies can be used to ensure effective and
efficient allocation of funds in Elgeyo Marakwet East Sub
County? The study employed a cross sectional survey research
design. It adopted simple random sampling with a target
population of 360 beneficiaries of WEF projects. The study was
guided by Sustainable Rural Livelihood Framework. Test-Retest
technique was used to determine reliability of the instruments
results. The data was collected through questionnaire method
and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study established
that there was the main challenges faced in allocation of WEF is
Lack of security or collateral, lengthy procedure of loan
application and processing, high competition from the
commercial banks, inadequate funds and fund diversion. The
man strategies for effective utilization of Women Enterprise
Fund are the reduction of loan disbursement grace period from 3
months to 1 month, good management of the funds by the
leaders, reduction of administration fees, training programmes
for the stakeholders and increase of loanable fund. The study
concluded that inadequate funds; delayed in loan disbursement;
lengthy procedure of loan application and processing inadequate
funds; high administration cost; lack of security/ collateral; poor
infrastructure were the main challenges faced in allocation of
funds. The study recommended that women enterprise fund
should be increased; capacity building of women entrepreneurs
enhanced, policies which will reduce the mismanagement of
funds developed and improve dissemination of information.
