The contribution of SACCOs on household income: a case study of Hope to Prosper SACCO in Mpererwe

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of SACCOs on people’s income/ livelihood, a case of Hope to prosper SACCO Mpererwe. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted and data collected and analyzed using STATA V15.0 SE. In the univariate analysis, 71.3% of the respondents were females, and 29.3% of the respondents were aged 35-44 years. 44.9% had attained secondary education and only 18.6% had tertiary education. Finally, 62.3 % were married. In addition, 44.9% of the respondents were self-employed, 43.7% employed and 11.4% were unemployed. Majority (79.0%) were members of Hope to prosper Sacco, 48.5% got information about the Sacco from family members. Above 50% of the respondents agreed that it is important to be a member of a Sacco, and most were benefiting from hope to prosper Sacco inform of Return on investment (27.5%) and cheap interest rates on loans (24.6%). Above 60% respondents had saved money with the Sacco above Ugx 100,000 for the previous year, and above 50% of the respondents had received loanable funds above Ugx 100,000 for the previous year. Majority (62.3%) had received advisory services from Hope to prosper Sacco and it was in form of Investment knowledge (43.1%), financial management (32.3%), and other skills (24.6%). Finally, only 42.5% of the respondents agreed that their livelihood had changed as a result of joining Hope to prosper SACCO and 57.5% had either not joined the Sacco or their livelihoods had not yet changed. In the bivariate analysis Pearson Chi-square test was used and education status of the respondent (P=0.0113), being a member of a Sacco (P= 0.0001), Amount of money saved in the previous year (P=0.0177), and amount of loanable funds acquired by the respondent in the previous year (P=0.0379) had a significant relationship with welfare improvement as result of joining a Sacco. From the multivariate analysis, factors that led to a positive impact of the SACCO on people’s livelihood were; having tertiary education (OR= 6.325, P=0.008), Amount of money saved by the respondent in the last year (OR=4.014, P=0.016), whether amount of savings was helpful or not (OR=0.237, P=0.008), and amount of loanable funds acquired by the respondent in the previous (OR=3.868, P=0.019). Findings indicated the need to train SACCO members on how to save and effectively use loanable funds for development