Assessing the contribution of village savings and loan association (VSLA) financial inclusion model among women living in Jinja case study of Bugembe town council Jinja district

Abstract

A Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) IS A GROUP OF 10-25 people who save together and take small loans from these savings. The activities of the VSLA run in cycles of about one year, after which their money is shared out in proportion to what they have saved. The study registered a response rate of 98.33% representing a total of 177 VSLAs members out of the established sample size of 180 VSLA women members. A proportion of (74.01%) had ever borrowed loans for VSLA and these loans were mainly used to acquire household asset by an average of 670,000 shillings, followed by investing in business average of 399,000 shillings and agriculture was the least represented by an average amount of 239,000 shillings. On the other hand, savings were mainly invested in business closely followed by acquisition of asset mean while agriculture and school fees shared an equal and emergency was the least addressed using the weekly savings realized. In conclusion, this paper has provide sufficient evidence that clearly showed that Village Saving and Loan Association has significantly improved the loan financial market intermediation of household welfare and economic activities in remote rural areas of developing economies like Uganda. Indeed, when rural poor women have access to finance, they can lift themselves out of poverty. This is because VSLA harnesses a saving culture among the local community which is reinstated locally and the entire process is self-managed.